Tim says: “One of my favourite easy meals is sausage and peppers, a simple, crowd-pleasing staple of Italian-American communities across the States, but particularly associated with Philadelphia. Add some pasta to this and you’ve got yourself a complete, delicious meal that cooks in the microwave in no time and in one dish.”

Serves at least 3, possibly 4

Ingredients

• 200g (7oz) penne
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon chilli (hot pepper) flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 250ml (8fl oz/1 cup) water
• 1 × 400g (14oz) tin of tomatoes (any kind)
• 60g (2oz) pitted green olives
• 2 (bell) peppers, de-seeded and roughly chopped (any kind)
• 300–400g  sausages (fresh Italian fennel sausages are best, but any will do), pricked all over with a fork
• a handful of basil or flat-leaf parsley leaves, torn or chopped
• salt, to taste
• grated Parmesan or similar, to garnish (optional)

Method

Combine the penne, oil, garlic, chilli flakes, oregano, water and tomatoes in a large bowl and stir to mix. Add the olives, peppers and sausages on top. Cover and cook for 24 minutes, stirring every 8 minutes. 

Stir in the basil at the end of cooking, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt as you like (for me it usually doesn’t need any). Garnish with grated parmesan, if you like.

Tim says: “En papillote is one of those weird French cooking terms that has stuck with me, even though there’s really no reason to keep using French for it – it just means ‘in parchment’. (See also: jus. Why don’t we just say ‘juice’?) Anyway, it’s simply a method of steaming food within a baking parchment or foil parcel, which is actually unnecessary in the microwave – ordinary containers do the same thing – but I gotta say, I love the theatre of food cooked this way. Opening up the parchment is like unwrapping a little present.”

Serves 2

Ingredients

• ½ red (bell) pepper, very thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, very thinly sliced
• 8–10 pitted black olives, roughly chopped
• a couple spoonfuls of capers
• 2 smoked haddock fillets (200–250g), boneless and either skinless or scaled
• a couple drizzles of olive oil
• a couple little splashes of white wine
• a little bit of flat-leaf parsley or dill, chopped

Method

Cut two large squares of parchment, as wide as the roll of baking parchment itself. Lay a little mound of the sliced peppers, garlic, olives and capers in the middle of each one, then place a haddock fillet on top of each mound.

Add a drizzle of oil and a tiny splash of white wine to each fillet. Add the parsley or dill, then fold up the sides of the parchment over the fish like an envelope, then gather up the other sides and bundle them together as if you’re packing a paper bag. Use a small wooden skewer or a toothpick to keep the bundle closed (poke it through the parchment just below the bundled-up top, which will be too thick to punch through).

Place the parcels on a plate and cook for 5 minutes. Serve in the parcels, to be unwrapped at the table.

Tim says: “Ramen and curry shops in Japan often offer a variation on their product called gekikara, which roughly translates as ‘extreme spice’. Inspired by this phenomenon, here’s a spicy, one-pot ramen dish – the broth, the chicken and the noodles are all cooked in the same bowl. Whether or not you consider its heat level ‘extreme’ will depend on your tolerance for chilli, but it definitely has a kick!”

Serves 2

Ingredients

A

• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 900ml (30½fl oz/3¾ cups) water
• 1 chicken leg, bone in but skin off
• 1 lemongrass stalk, split lengthways
• 4 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon miso (any kind)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce, or more, to taste
• 2 tablespoons hot chilli oil

B

• 1 fresh hot chilli, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 150g (5½ oz) dried ramen/egg noodles
• ½ pak choi (bok choi) or 1 baby pak choi, halved
• 100g (3½ oz) bean sprouts

C

• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, coarsely ground
• a few big pinches of chilli (hot pepper) flakes

Method

Divide the spring onions into white parts and green parts; set the green parts aside to use later. Combine the white parts with the water, chicken leg, lemongrass, tahini, miso, soy sauce and chilli oil in a large bowl, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the lemongrass and discard, then take the chicken out and set on a board or plate to cool. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it with your hands or forks into large chunks.

Add the fresh chilli and garlic to the broth (A) and whisk well to dissolve the miso and tahini. Add the noodles, pak choi and bean sprouts, cover and cook for 3–6 minutes until the noodles are done. Different noodles will absorb different amounts of water, so taste the broth and adjust the seasoning with more soy sauce as necessary.

Transfer the noodles (B) to large bowls, then pour over the broth and top with the pak choi, bean sprouts (B) and shredded chicken (A).

Garnish with the green parts of the spring onions, ground sesame and chilli flakes.