a cut out and keep guide: mid-week meals for the frazzled and/or time-poor

I've been somewhat of a mentaloid these past few weeks, if truth be told. There's been bugger all cooking going on for one thing, save for the odd sausage or rasher - on one particularly dire day I ate nothing but peanut butter, bread and porridge. The furthest afield I've managed to go shopping is the local Tesco Express. Yesterday it took me five hours to summon the fortitude required to have a shower.

So I wouldn't blame you if you were to dismiss any advice from me regarding cooking when you've no time as being about as much use as pheromone spray on Gregg Wallace. But it wasn't that many years ago that I too was working 50-60 hours a week, feeling knackered when I got home. Is it worth cooking for yourself when you can't really be arsed? Abso-fucking-lutely.

This really began, though, as a kind of memo to my currently listless self, an attempt to revive my culinary mojo, a reminder that if I could rend asunder arse from sofa for just long enough to jot down a few ingredients and walk up the road to the shops then: a) I could knock out a delicious, simple supper in a matter of minutes and b) getting back to a little kitchen action would, of itself, act as an anti-depressant, a mood-enhancer.

I reckon that if you can find a couple of hours at the weekend to plan your week's meals and get to the shops you'll actually be saving time that you'd otherwise spend during the week dithering in a supermarket every evening on the way home from work.

And how about this for a time-saving tip: stop watching cookery shows on TV and use the time to cook for yourself instead. Just a thought.

And of course I needn't really mention that by cooking your own meals rather than buying ready-made or takeaway you'll be saving serious coinage.

Anyhow, below are ten suggestions for quick mid-week suppers. That's two week's worth.

Mojo restored, and being time-rich, I'm off now to buy the ingredients for a meal that is always one of the first things I cook after emerging from the pit of despond - cod and white bean stew.

Hello kitchen. I've missed you.

1. Make something with eggs

poached egg, chorizo + peas
serves two
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
100g of cooking chorizo, sliced
200g of frozen petit pois
up to 250ml of chicken stock
black pepper
2 eggs, poached
2 tbsps chopped flat-leaf parsley

Dry fry the chorizo slowly to release its oils. Remove with a slotted spoon and fry the onion and garlic until soft. Return the chorizo to the pan together with the petit pois and just enough stock to cover. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season with pepper (it may not need any salt). Spoon into bowls, nestle a poached egg into the centre of each and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

2. Make a simple salad

mozzarella, peach + prosciutto salad
serves one
1 peach, just ripe but still fairly firm, cut into 6 segments
a handful of mixed leaves
leaves from a sprig or two of mint
3 dsps of olive oil
1 dsp of lemon juice
a small ball of mozzarella, roughly torn 
2 slices of prosciutto, roughly torn
olive oil for drizzling
salt + black pepper

Griddle the peach segments on both sides over a fairly high heat until beginning to caramelise.

Make a dressing with the oil, juice, salt and pepper.  Dress the mint and leaves with it. Add the peach segments and prosciutto and mix. Arrange on a plate.

Scatter over the torn mozzarella, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle some black pepper over.

3. Put something on toast

chicken liver bruschetta
serves two as a light snack or one for a more substantial supper
200g chicken livers
milk
flour
2 tbsps olive oil
20g butter 
1 shallot, finely diced 
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
a blob of tomato purée
2 tbsp chicken stock
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 thick slices of pugliese or sourdough bread, toasted on a griddle
salt + black pepper

Soak the chicken livers in the milk for a few hours or more. Remove and drain, Season them and coat with flour. Heat the oil in a frying pan to fairly high and fry the livers until they start to colour - a couple of minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and pour off any excess oil. Melt the butter in the pan and add the shallot and garlic.  After a minute or two add the balsamic and tomato purée,stir and then add the stock. As the stock bubbles away, return the livers to the pan together with the parsley and reheat, stirring all the time. Put the toasted bread onto two plates and spoon over the livers and juices.

4. Rustle up a quick pasta dish

spaghetti carbonara
N.B. contains raw egg.

serves one
80g-100g spaghetti
a splash of olive oil
10g butter
½ a garlic clove, slightly squashed but intact
25g pancetta, in small dice
1 tbsp of white wine
1 egg, beaten
1 dsp chopped parsley
20g pecorino or parmesan, grated
salt + pepper

While the spaghetti is cooking, sauté the pancetta in the oil and butter with the garlic until crisp (in a pan big enough to hold the cooked spaghetti). Remove the garlic and add the wine, letting it bubble away for a minute. Mix the egg, parsley and cheese together in a bowl. Season. When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the pan with the pancetta in. Spoon over the egg/cheese combo and toss everything together.

5. Make a quick puff pastry tart

Wonderful stuff, puff pastry. Buy a block, cut it into six pieces and freeze them. They take no time at all to defrost. Roll a piece out to your desired thickness and make the shape you require, a rectangle, square or round, and crimp up the edges. Add your chosen toppings and bung in the oven - job done.

You'll find recipes giving you oven temperatures ranging between 190C and 230C and timings between 15 and 25 minutes. I find 200C/fan 180C and 20-25 minutes about right for my oven.

goat's cheese tart
serves one
a 14cm round of puff pastry
½ chevre (i.e. sliced horizontally)
thyme leaves
salt + black pepper

Lay the chevre in the centre of the pastry. Season and sprinkle with thyme leaves. Crimp the pastry around the cheese, closing over the top but leaving a small opening. If you have a drop of wine you can pour a teaspoon or two in. Bake until the pastry is crisp and golden.

6. Fry a nice piece of fish

fried mackerel fillet
serves one
1 x large mackerel fillet, halved
1 tbsp butter
1 dsp sherry vinegar
salt + black pepper

Put a frying pan over a high heat and allow it to get fairly hot. Throw in the butter. When it has stopped foaming, add the two pieces of mackerel, skin-side down. Immediately press down on both with a spatula, to stop the fillets curving up. Season the flesh-side of the fish. When the skin has crisped up (a few minutes), turn the fish over and add the vinegar to the pan. Give the pan a swirl and season the skin. Remove to a plate after a minute or two.

7. Roast a small bird

Small game birds are great for a quick and easy supper - and remember that pigeons are always in season.

simple roast quail
serves two
4 quail
salt + pepper
olive oil

Season the quail generously inside and out and coat with olive oil. Roast in a 210C/190C fan oven for 20 minutes or so, until nicely coloured.

8. Fry or grill a some meat

Steaks and chops, of course,  but here's a ridiculously quick dish. I like to firm up the liver in the freezer before slicing it wafer-thin.

lamb's liver + balsamic vinegar
serves one
125-150g lamb's liver, in slivers (5mm or less)
salt + pepper
olive oil
several splashes of balsamic or sherry vinegar

Season the liver. Heat a frying pan to high and add a splash of oil. Fry the liver for no more than two minutes, adding a splash or two of vinegar to deglaze the pan.

9. Take something out of the freezer in the morning

If you get into the habit of making your soups and stews for 4-6 servings and freezing the uneaten portions, you'll soon have a freezer full of your very own ready-meals.

10. Don't bother cooking at all

Just buy some top quality charcuterie, cheese, bread and fruit (doughnut peaches are wonderful at the moment) and you've the makings of a meal fit for an emperor.

Buon appetito!