Ready, steady cook with Neven Maguire

TAKE out your stopwatch and try the following experiment: phone in your favourite takeaway order and wait for it to arrive.

Then, pick a far more nutritious and healthy option, from Neven Maguire’s new book, The Nation’s Favourite Food Fast!, and start cooking.

Chances are the healthy option will be ready at least in the time you waited for your takeaway to arrive. All the recipes in this sumptuous new book have been tried and tested and take, on average, 40 or 45 minutes from chopping board to plate.

It does depend on how quickly you chop, of course, but celebrity chef Maguire has devised the recipes in his 11th publication with the time-pressed family in mind.

“This book is a response to the incredible time pressures that people are under,” he says.

“I noticed, in my travels around the country, that people are busier than ever and often feel they don’t have time to cook, which means they are more likely to resort to quick and unhealthy fixes.”

These are a poor solution, he says, because they do not nourish you for the challenges of daily life.

Maguire says he has changed the way he cooks since he and his wife, Amelda, had twins, Connor and Lucia, almost three years ago. He now looks for quick, nutritious recipes that can be easily made and then frozen.“The best gift you can give your children is to cook for them. One of the most popular courses in my cookery school, in Blacklion, Co Cavan, is for parents and children. If you can, get your children into cooking and baking.”

Studies consistently show that good nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is vital for long-term health and development. Neven and Amelda are strong supporters of the ‘First 1,000 Days’ campaign, which highlights the importance of good, early nutrition. Even if your children don’t go on to be award-winning chefs, teaching them the basics of wholesome cooking will serve them for life, he says.

“I remember the first time I baked with my mother. I made apple tart and shortbread — a mess — but I knew it was for me.”

Neven’s advice to parents — and to anyone who is pressed for time — is to cook from scratch: pick something simple and make it from start to finish.

That way, you have complete control over the amount of sugar and salt that goes into each dish.Don’t be afraid to experiment, either, he says. Some ingredients, like chicken thighs, are very underrated, but are wholesome, tasty and very quick to prepare. He has a recipe that teams them with puy lentils, and which will be on the table in under 40 minutes. There are other dishes that people tend not to choose when they are under time pressure, but Neven’s chicken and chickpea tagine (with honey and ginger), and his favourite, lamb tagliata with puy lentils and goat’s cheese salad, will be ready in the time it takes to order a pizza.

He includes his own version of a takeaway, which, when teamed with some of his vegetable sides (beetroot barley risotto, sweet potato wedges, curly kale with chorizo and almonds), will provide you with most of your five-a-day and a healthy smattering of superfoods, too.

For ideas on how to get wholesome food on the table fast, see The Nation’s Favourite Food Fast! which is published by Gill & Macmillan, €22.99.

Neven's top tips for cooking fast and nutritious meals...

* Buy fresh:

Invest in high-quality seasonal food available. Go to your local grocer, fish shop and butcher for the best flavour — and the best value.

* Make time:

Set aside a morning or a few hours each week and get cooking.

* Eat together:

That was lost during the Celtic Tiger but it is so important. Enjoy your family and eat together.

* Freeze:

Don’t be afraid to cook in bulk and then freeze.