Easy and Delicious Recipes for Busy People

Cooking on a weeknight fails for one of two reasons: the recipe takes too long, or it needs an ingredient you do not have. Every recipe below avoids both. Each serves two, takes under thirty minutes, and uses things that keep.

1. Garlic butter pasta with lemon

Boil spaghetti. Meanwhile melt butter with sliced garlic and chilli flakes over low heat — do not brown the garlic. Add the drained pasta with a ladle of the cooking water, toss hard until the sauce emulsifies, then finish with lemon zest, juice and parmesan. Total time: fifteen minutes.

2. Sheet-pan chicken and vegetables

Chop chicken thighs, potatoes, red onion and peppers. Toss with olive oil, salt, smoked paprika and oregano. Roast at 220°C for thirty minutes, stirring once. The trick is spreading everything in a single layer with space between pieces — crowding steams rather than roasts.

3. Crispy chickpea and spinach curry

Fry onion until golden, add ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander and turmeric for a minute, then a tin of tomatoes and a tin of chickpeas. Simmer ten minutes, stir in spinach and coconut milk. Serve with rice or flatbread. Keeps well for three days.

4. Soy and honey salmon with greens

Whisk soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, ginger and garlic. Pour over salmon fillets and roast at 200°C for twelve minutes. Steam or stir-fry any green vegetable alongside. The glaze works equally well on tofu.

5. Shakshuka

Soften onion and pepper, add cumin and paprika, then a tin of tomatoes. Simmer until thick, make wells and crack in eggs. Cover and cook five minutes until the whites set. Bread is not optional.

Stocking a weeknight kitchen

Tinned tomatoes and chickpeas, pasta and rice, onions, garlic and ginger, olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, cumin, paprika, chilli flakes, frozen spinach, eggs and parmesan. With those on hand, all five recipes above are always within reach — which is the actual secret to cooking on a weeknight.