As the end of the year approaches and the weather warms up, the energy to plan, cook and clean up after meals can start to fade, especially as the days get longer.
Also see: Pork bobotie
A quick and easy recipe that is also filling and nutritious can save the day, and what is a better quick and easy meal than a one-pot recipe.
Here are five quick and easy recipes to try this summer.
1. One-pot chicken and lemon pasta
A great meal for summer evenings, chicken and lemon pasta is light, fresh, and filling. All you need to do is brown the chicken with onions and garlic. Once the chicken is ready, add the pasta with some chicken stock. Once the pasta is cooked, stir in some lemon juice, a few spinach leaves, and cherry tomatoes.
Plate by grating some cheese over the dish.
2. Chicken and rice with chakalaka
This meal is mainly quick and easy when you incorporate the chakalaka in one of two ways. Add ready-made chakalaka to the one-pot chicken and rice meal or chop up the ingredients that make a chakalaka dish and combine them whilst skipping the cooking part.
With the one-pot chicken and rice element, simply brown the meat and, as soon as it is ready, add the rice to the pot, some chicken stock, and wait until the rice is ready.
Also see: Coconut curry pork meatballs
3. Tuna pasta
This meal can be a side as well. It is a refreshing meal for a summer afternoon. All you need to do is cook some pasta and combine it with tuna, robot peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, canned corn, and some mayonnaise or whichever sauce of your liking. Some blue cheese sauce is a wonderful substitute.
4. Creamy lemon butter hake
This dish is filling, tangy, and refreshing.
In a pan, shallow-fry your seasoned hake fillets, and sear it in some butter and oil. Once cooked, remove the fish from the pan and make the lemon butter sauce.
Start with a roux by melting two tablespoons of butter and combining it with flour. Once a paste, pour in two tablespoons of lemon juice, then whisk in some milk until the roux reaches your desired thickness.
Add spinach and tomatoes for a minute. Bring the hake fillets back into the pan and let them sit in the sauce with the stove off as you plate the dish with some garlic bread.
Also see: Crunchy pork belly with apple, coconut and ginger salad
