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Recipe ideas for 15 minute suppers

You’ve had a long day at work. You couldn’t get your mother off the phone. The kids refused to go to sleep. It’s getting late and you haven’t even started dinner. What you need are recipe ideas for quick, simple suppers that are both filling and fulfilling.

Here are a few of those rescue recipe ideas:

1. Stir-fries: easy and nutritious, stir-fries can be made even more quickly now, thanks to the timely invention of pre-cooked noodles and packaged vegetables.
2. Quesadillas: so versatile, so speedy, so scrumptious. Buy a pack of tortillas (freeze the rest); spread one with chipotle sauce, sprinkle over cheese, vegetables, chillies – in fact, anything you like – then cover with the other and dry fry.
3. Anything on toast: but not beans or cheese. No student suppers for you! Use ciabatta or sourdough bread so you have a classy base, then either top with tomatoes, salami, mozzarella and grill for a makeshift pizza, or try sliced avocado with tomatoes and a poached egg.
4. Fresh pasta: this is a tired diner’s best friend. It takes five minutes, it knocks the socks off the dried variety, and it can be smothered in all manner of sauces: pesto, carbonara, even just olive oil, chilli and lemon. Always have some in your fridge.
5. Omelettes: they don’t have to be dull. Topped with the right ingredients they make a satisfying supper. Chorizo, salami, artisan cheeses, chillies and fresh herbs can all make a good omelette great.
6. Steak: pick a thin one, such as a minute steak, which only needs a couple of minutes each side and serve with a salad, or in a baguette with lashing of hot mustard.
7. Salads: not a heap of greens that wouldn’t fill a rabbit, but a warm salad of tinned chickpeas, pea shoots or spinach, red onion, tomato and feta.
8. Nachos: naughty they may be, but they were made for Friday movie night. All you need is a bag of nachos, a jar of salsa, some Cheddar cheese and a tub of guacamole.

With these eight recipe ideas for quick, simple suppers you need never slave away in the kitchen after a hectic day again.