The Sunday Times Ultimate Cookbook - part 2: Quick Eats

So following on from my first post about the Sunday Times Ultimate Cookbook, the Sunday Lunch edition, this weekend it’s all about fast, fabulous Quick Eats. Once again, I got a little sneaky peak of the recipes and there are some absolute crackers in there. Just because you’re time pressed or busy, it doesn’t mean that you can’t eat well. I was delighted to see Nigella’s wonderful lemon linguine featuring - it’s a family favourite here, often served simply with some peppery watercress salad for a satisfyingly quick supper. We keep grated parmesan in the freezer, which is really convenient and means that we avoid that awful moment when you reach for the block of cheese in the fridge and discover it’s gone a pretty shade of blue.

Yotam Ottolenghi has a delicious Jerusalem artichoke soup - a great choice for a quick and easy meal, this soup contains egg and yoghurt and I’m dying to give it a go. Eventually though, as we love a bit of spice, we decided to cook Ken Hom’s Sichuan prawns in chilli sauce. I couldn’t find any chilli bean sauce locally, so used our favourite spicy chilli sauce. It’s such an easy recipe - the hardest thing is chopping up a couple of cloves of garlic. The sauce is rich, spicy and zingy. I served ours simply with some buttered noodles and fresh green salad. Delicious, healthy, fresh and simple. Who needs ready meals?

Get your copy of The Sunday Times Ultimate Cookbook: Quick Eats this weekend, the second in a four-part series. Featuring a selection of the finest recipes of the celebrity chef era, The Ultimate Cookbook is part of The Incredible Edibles Food Series dedicated to food and dining.

Upcoming editions in the series are Brunch & Baking on Sunday December 1 and Dinner Party on Sunday December 8.

Visit thesundaytimes.co.uk to subscribe and to find out more details about exclusive Times+ chef events, hosted at some of the country’s best restaurants.