A delicious, hearty meal needn’t take much time to make. Here are some startlingly quick options for big taste sensations – from midnight spaghetti to fried green plantain
Any meal we eat after 10pm is frantic and addled. I often want something salty, spicy and flavoursome, preferably in a bowl, so “midnight spaghetti” is my go-to. Put enough spaghetti for two in a pot of heavily salted water and bring to the boil. Finely slice four garlic cloves, a red chilli and the stems of four leaves of rainbow chard (saving the leaves for later) and add to a frying pan with a generous glug of olive oil, then heat gently until golden. Add a couple of teaspoons of capers and a lot of ground black pepper. Roughly chop the chard leaves and a couple of handfuls of parsley. Add the chard leaves to the frying pan along with the almost-cooked spaghetti and 4 tbsp of pasta water. Turn off the heat after a minute or two, add the parsley and stir through, then serve with grated parmesan. The whole meal should take about 10 minutes. Ella Blackburn, teacher, London
