8 quick and healthy recipes

You didn’t sleep well last night. It’s been a long day at work. Your train home is delayed. It’s raining and you left your umbrella at the office. You finally stumble through the front door, and you realise you still have to sort out some dinner for yourself. The last thing you want to do is start rattling pots and pans around, but you promised yourself you’d stop ordering from the local takeaway. Never fear – we have you covered, with some delicious, quick, easy and healthy recipe ideas.

All of these recipes can be on the table inside half an hour, so there’s really no excuse to be reaching for the Yellow Pages. And you can find lots more quick meal ideas or healthy recipes by following the links!

This is the sort of recipe that characterises Anna Hansen’s food at The Modern Pantry – smart flavour combinations built around fantastic fresh produce. This dish relies on the greenery being at its very best – Anna uses Tenderstem broccoli, but feel free to substitute for something else similar and seasonal. She whips up a sweet dressing with olives, black garlic, pomegranate molasses and muscat wine vinegar, blanches her broccoli and finishes the dish with a scattering of earthy hazelnuts and some crisp endive.

The beauty of Shu Han Lee’s speedy Sichuan salad is all in the dressing – a punchy mix of garlic, soy, black rice vinegar, creamy tahini and mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. Black rice vinegar is readily available from specialist Asian food stores but don’t fret if you don’t have any, you can substitute it with rice vinegar easily enough. Best of all, this salad doesn’t even require a pan – just make the dressing, slice up your veggies and toss it all together.

Like much of Tom Aikens’ cookery, there’s lots more to this humble looking bowl of salmon, egg and watercress than meets the eye. Whilst many of us would be happy poaching or steaming salmon in water or a court bouillon, Tom’s poaching liquor uses thirteen different ingredients to coax a new level of flavour out of his organic salmon fillets. The salmon is the star of the show – soft and yielding – but the dressed watercress and boiled eggs are important accompaniments to this surprisingly elegant dish.

Andrew MacKenzie’s Thai beef salad is a brilliant way to use up any leftover roast beef you might have – perfect for a dreary Monday evening. It’s a simple mix of fresh julienned vegetables, stir-fried strips of beef and rice noodles, tossed liberally in a soy, brown sugar and lime dressing. Scatter some fresh herbs over the top, grab your favourite pair of chopsticks and devour.