There are some meals I love to eat but very rarely cook, especially on weeknights. Roast chicken, lasagne and chilli, for example, are all among my favourite dinners, but it’s fanciful to imagine that I could finish a full day at work then get any of these on the table before someone – adult or child – has a complete meltdown.
When “quick” and “simple” are two of your key cooking tenets, as they are here at Dinner Sorted, it would seem that certain dishes are ruled out by virtue of the time or complexity, or frequently both, they require. But that doesn’t have to be the case.
This week, I bring you cheat versions of five dishes often not considered doable on a weeknight. Are they authentic recipes? No. Are they the versions of these dishes you’d choose to cook if you had a whole day (or even longer, in some cases) in front of you? Possibly not. But can you get them served up in under an hour? Are they tasty? Yes, and definitely yes. So you should give them a go.
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Quick roast chicken
Get the recipe here
Feel like a roast chicken but only have an hour? This recipe is a great solution.
Mushroom lasagne
Get the recipe here
The vegetarian version requires only one sauce, not the traditional two.
Cheat’s ricotta and spinach gnocchi with cherry tomatoes
Get the recipe here
Wow your whānau by whipping up fresh pasta on a Wednesday night.
Pork cutlets with cheat’s kimchi
Get the recipe here
Traditional kimchi takes a couple of days to ferment – this one? Five minutes.
30-minute chilli beans
Get the recipe here
The ultimate comfort food, ready in half an hour and perfect on rice, with chips, or as it is.
