10 minute meals?

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

I'm going to be really busy soon so would love some ideas for really fast but delicious dinners.

My regular standby is a pasta dish which is fresh spaghetti, passatta, spinach leaves, garlic, juice of a lemon and a pack of ready cooked seafood. Usually served with part baked ciabatta.

Roasted asparagus with balsamic vinegar and parmesan served inside an omelette.

Pitta bread pizzas served with a rocket salad.

Steamed/poached chicken breasts (take less than 10 minutes to cook - and in fact, cook them until they're almost done but not quite), then pop them under the grill with a slick of olive oil and thinly sliced feta on top for a minute or two to start the feta melting and complete the cooking. Serve with salad/steamed veggies. [best using smaller pieces of chicken breast as the big ones can get a bit hardcore].

We do spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, chilli and parmesan. Delicious, but not massively well balanced.

Pasta sauce made with fried bacon, then some lemon zest, capers and creme fraiche and spinach - normally i just throw the spinach in with the pasta just before the end rather than adding it to the sauce which involves the extra faff of wilting it.

If you have time to cook stuff and leave it, roast tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic (I used about 3 tblspoons of each for a small punnet of tomotoes), chilli powder and some mixed italian herbs. Once starting to caramalise, serve with spaghetti and parmesan.

Also, this recipe which I posted on another thread a while back and am loving:

It?s called Caramel-Soy salmon:

[this uses salmon but you can use scallops, monkfish, firm tofu or beef too. Serve with rice and lime wedges].
Serves 4 (I halved to make for DH and me)

1tbsp groundnut oil (I used sesame oil)
800g skinless salmon fillet, cut into 3 cm cubes
4 shallots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed and sliced
40 g brown sugar
60 ml soy sauce
2 limes, juice only
mint spigs
½ cucumber, halved and sliced

1. Place a large non stick frying pan or wok over a medium heat and add the oil. Brown the salmon on all sides ? do not try to turn the pieces to soon or they will stick (or in my case, break up). When golden, remove to a plate.
2. Add the shallots, garlic and lemongrass to the pan and stir fry for a minute or two (smells amazing). Sprinkle with sugar and continue to sitr. When it begins to melt and caramelize, pour in the soy, one table spoon of water and the lime juice.
3. Let everything bubble down and reduce for a couple of minutes, then turn the heat down and re add the salmon to the pan. Carefully coat with the carmel sauce and serve immediately with mint sprigs, cucumber and lime wedges.

Stir fry - finley sliced meat (chicken/pork/beef lamb) or prawns and/or veg plus fresh noodles

Or if you have a freezer, do some bulk cooking.

Remove from freezer in the morning and just cook pots, pasta, rice whatever to go with it.

Or invest in a slow cooker.