BUDGE T SAVVYSAVE ENERGY

Cook in 8 mins

Dress it up

Any leftover dressing can be drizzled over salads, dipped with prawn crackers or glazed over fish fillets

Vietnamese-style rice noodle salad

Impress your friends with fancily-prepared vegetables in a fresh and filling salad.

Serves 4 | Ready in 25 mins

Faff factor

• 650g boneless chicken thigh fillets

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 4 limes

• 2 tbsp light brown soft sugar

• 1½ tbsp fish sauce

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1 red chilli

• a few sprigs each of mint and coriander

• 3 medium carrots

• 1 cucumber

• 1 bunch spring onions

• 1 x Little Gem lettuce

• 2 x 225g Asda Mild & Delicate Rice Noodles

1 Remove any excess fat or sinew from the chicken thigh fillets, then roughly chop into 3cm chunks and set aside. Place a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and add 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Add the chicken and cook until golden all over and almost cooked through, about 8 mins.

2 Meanwhile, make the sauce. Boil the kettle. Squeeze the juice of 3 limes into a medium bowl, followed by the sugar, and fish sauce. Finely grate in the garlic cloves, then add 2 tbsp of just-boiled water, stirring gently to mix together and dissolve the sugar. Finely chop the chilli and coriander stalks, adding half to the sauce and reserving half for serving. Pick the coriander and mint leaves and set aside.

3 Peel the carrots into thin strips. Do the same with the cucumber and spring onions and divide evenly between four bowls. Pick away the leaves of the lettuce and finely slice the core, then divide the leaves and shredded lettuce between your bowls.

4 Just as the chicken is almost cooked, add half of the sauce to the frying pan, take it off the heat and allow to cook for a moment, stirring so all the chicken is evenly coated in the sauce. Divide between the bowls, then put the frying pan back over a medium heat and, with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, cook the noodles for a couple of minutes until heated through. Add to your bowls alongside the chicken, then top with chopped chilli and coriander stalks, whole mint and coriander leaves.

Raspberry and rosé punch

Sip a prettily pink drink of bubbly fizz with a dash of rum. Best enjoyed in warm sunshine – here’s hoping!

Serves 4 | Ready in 10 mins

Faff factor V

• 50g frozen raspberries

• 20g golden caster sugar

• 75ml coconut rum (use a little more or less depending on how sweet your rosé is )

• 300ml rosé wine

• 1 lemon, half juiced, half sliced

• 1 orange, half juiced, half sliced

• 5g fresh mint

• 150ml fizzy water

• ice

1 Put the raspberries in a blender with the sugar and coconut rum.

2 Blitz until pink and smooth, then push through a sieve to remove pips.

3 Pour the strained mixture into a large jug and add all of the other ingredients.

4 Stir well and serve straight away.

Leftovers tip: This recipe doesn’t use a whole bottle of rosé so serve the remainder with sparkling water and lemon slices as a refreshing spritzer. Serving suggestion: Garnish with fresh raspberries, when in season, and mint.

Waldorf scones

Put a posh spin on the English classic with walnuts and a hint of blue cheese.

Makes 6–8 | Ready in 45 mins, plus cooling | Faff factor | V d

For the scones

• 50g butter, chilled and diced

• 300g self-raising flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 50g walnuts, sliced

• 50g blue cheese, diced

• 200ml milk

• 1 egg, beaten

For the fillings/toppings

• 1 tbsp butter, softened

• 120g Asda Red Leicester Cheese, sliced

• 1 apple, cored and sliced

• 1 stick celery, sliced

• 5–6 red grapes, sliced

• 1 tbsp mayonnaise (optional)

• 5g fresh chives, chopped (optional)

• ½ tbsp walnuts, crushed

1 Heat oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips to make breadcrumbs.

2 Stir in the baking powder, walnut slices and blue cheese. Season with black pepper and a little salt. Add two-thirds of the milk and lightly mix. Add more milk and bring the dough together with your hands, it’ll be soft but not too sticky. You may not need all the milk.

3 Shape the dough into a disc approx 1.5–2cm thick. Use a straight-sided 6.5–7cm round cutter to cut out 6 or 7 scones; shape the remaining dough into a similar sized round disc – even if it looks different, it’ll taste good!

4 Put the scones onto a baking tray lined with baking paper or a silicone mat. Brush with the beaten egg and bake for 15–18 mins or until risen and deep golden on top.

5 Allow the scones to cool on a wire rack before splitting open, spreading with butter and filling with the toppings – all inspired by Waldorf salad.

Get ready to crumble

Use leftover rhubarb to make a crumble – add a bit of stem ginger for extra flavour.

Rhubarb & ginger bakewell tarts

These little almond bakes get a seasonal makeover to delight the senses.

Makes 12 | Ready in 1 hr, plus cooling Faff factor | V d

• 150g rhubarb

• 100g golden caster sugar

• 1 ball of stem ginger, finely chopped and 1 tbsp of the syrup

• 375g sheet Asda Ready Rolled Shortcrust Pastry

• 1 egg

• 20g plain flour

• 30g ground almonds

• 50g melted butter, plus extra for greasing

• ¼ tsp ground ginger

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 150g icing sugar

• Red and yellow food colouring

• Optional other decorations include: Asda White Chocolate Stars, Asda Choco Beans, Asda Rainbow Sprinkles, orange zest

1 Use a vegetable peeler to cut some thin strips from a piece of rhubarb, you want about 50g. Put these in a bowl of cold water and then chop the rest of the rhubarb into chunks. Put the chopped rhubarb in a pan with 50g golden caster sugar, 3 tbsp water and 1 tbsp of syrup from the jar of stem ginger. Heat for around 10 mins, stirring occasionally until the rhubarb has turned mushy and the mixture has started to thicken slightly. Leave to cool.

2 Heat oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Grease the holes of a 12–hole bun tin and cut out 12 circles of pastry with a 7.5–8cm fluted cookie cutter, then use them to line the bun tin.

3 Whisk the remaining sugar with the egg, flour, almonds, melted butter, ground ginger and baking powder until smooth and pale. You don’t need an electric whisk to do this, a balloon whisk or even a fork will be fine.

4 Divide the cooled compote between the cases then top with the almond sponge batter. Ensure the compote is fully covered by the sponge mixture.

5 Bake for 12–15 mins until risen and golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

They may settle flat, which will give you a nice flat surface to decorate.

6 While the tarts cool, mix the icing sugar with water to get a thick spoonable consistency and add pink or coral food colouring.

7 Once the tarts are cold, top with icing and decorate with a piece of curly rhubarb and some finely chopped stem ginger. You could also add another swirl of icing in a different colour or add some sprinkles too. Serve once the icing is set – if you can wait that long!

Cook’s tip: You can make the rhubarb compote ahead of time, the rhubarb curls will sit happily in water overnight.