Midweek Meals

RECIPES VICKI RAVLICH-HORAN | IMAGES BRYDIE THOMPSON

The perfect midweek meal should be quick to put together. Just as importantly as speed of preparation is a quick clean up, so a great midweek meal should also create only a minimum of dishes. Here are a few recipes that tick both these boxes.

STICKY HOISIN MEATBALLS WITH NOODLES AND BROCCOLI

If your family love spaghetti and meatballs try this Asian inspired twist. I love meatballs, as you can hide a bunch of veg in them, and while they are a little bit of work (with this recipe the forming of the meatballs is the most work), the noodles and broccoli are cooked in one pot in a matter of minutes.

500g chicken mince 2cm piece ginger, peeled and grated 3 garlic cloves, crushed 2 spring onions, chopped 1 zucchini, grated 1 egg 1 cup crushed water/Snax crackers or breadcrumbs ½ tsp salt ½ cup hoisin sauce 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce 2 tbsp soy sauce 350g fresh egg noodles 1 head broccoli, cut into florets or bunch of broccolini 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Combine the mince, ginger, garlic, 1 of the spring onions, zucchini, egg, crushed crackers, salt and 1 tbsp of the hoisin sauce in a mixing bowl. Form into 24–26 meatballs and place on the tray. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. While the meatballs are baking, put a large pot of salted water on to boil.

Mix the sweet chilli and soy sauce with the remaining hoisin, and after the initial 15 minute baking time, brush the mix over each meatball and bake for a further 5 minutes.

The water should be boiling now, so plunge the noodles in along with the broccoli and cook for around 3 minutes. Drain, and then toss with the meatballs, coating the noodles with the sauce. Scatter over the remaining spring onion and sesame seeds and serve.

PORK, FENNEL AND CABBAGE PASTA

I love this seriously quick pasta. Who would think that cabbage would work in pasta? But it does! If you can’t find pork and fennel sausages, a good quality pork sausage will work, just double the amount of fennel seeds added when sautéing the onions.

250g dried pasta 1 tbsp olive oil ½ onion, thinly sliced 1½ tsp fennel seeds 4 pork and fennel sausages (I used L'Authentique sausages available from Vetro and La Cave) ½ cabbage, finley sliced 1 cup mascarpone Parmesan

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. When boiling, add the pasta. Meanwhile, in a large pan heat the olive oil and sauté the onion, fennel seeds and sausage meat squeezed out of their casings, stirring often to break up the meat. When the onion is soft, add the cabbage and cook for a further five minutes. If things start to stick, add a tbsp of water. Finally, add the mascarpone, mix and heat through. When the pasta is cooked, drain and mix with the sauce. Serve immediately topped with grated Parmesan.

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The perfect meat-free meal the whole family will love. This dish uses ready-made gnocchi, something I always have on hand ever since discovering the shelf-stable Granoro brand available from Vetro and La Cave. Trust me, I was sceptical at first too, as store bought gnocchi is usually just hard little bullets, but the Granoro variety is not only convenient it’s in no way a compromise. If you don’t have gnocchi on hand, pasta will work just as well.

1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, thinly sliced 2 capsicums, thinly sliced 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 tsp brown sugar 1 tin cherry tomatoes ¼ cup water ½ tsp salt large handful of fresh basil 1 packet of ready-made gnocchi 1 150g pottle of cherry mozzarella

Heat the oil in a large oven proof pan, add the onions and capsicum and cook over a low heat for 20–25 minutes until they are soft. Splash in the vinegar and allow this to cook off before adding the sugar and cherry tomatoes, water, salt and basil. Bring the sauce back up to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes.

Add the gnocchi, arrange the cherry mozzarella on top and bake at 180°C for 15 minutes.

To serve, scatter on more basil leaves.

WHAT’S FOR PUDDING?

We definitely don’t have pudding every night of the week in our house. For one, who has the time?

But when we do have pudding, I always try to include some fruit, so having some tinned fruit on hand is always a good idea.

CHOCOLATE AND PEAR PUDDINGS

Pear and chocolate—always a winning combination! This easy pudding is quick to whip together and the fudgy centre is very decadent for a midweek pud you can whip up in a few minutes.

125g butter, softened ½ cup sugar 2 eggs ½ tsp baking soda ½ cup milk 1 cup self-raising flour 100g dark chocolate, chopped 1 tin pear quarters Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk. Fold the flour and chocolate into the butter mixture along with the milk. Grease 6 tea cups and divide the cake mixture between them. Place two to three pear quarters in each and bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Serve warm with a dollop of cream or scoop of vanilla ice cream.

APRICOT AND ALMOND PUDDING

The addition of ground almonds to this super simple pudding adds a delicious dimension which pairs beautifully with the tart apricots. No ground almonds, no problem, you can replace it with flour. You can also swap the apricots for tinned peaches or plums, even frozen berries would work!

100g butter ¾ cup sugar 3 eggs 2 tsp baking powder ¾ cup flour ¾ cup ground almonds 1 large jar/tin apricots (I used Greek apricots from Vetro) ¼ cup slivered almonds Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between. Fold in the flour, almonds and baking powder. Drain the apricots and layer on the bottom of a greased 1-1.5 litre baking dish. Pour the cake batter on top, then scatter on the slivered almonds.

Bake at 170°C for 45–50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

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