Three easy and healthy weekday lunch ideas from Jack Monroe

The chef shares the simple recipes you can whip up on your lunch break from her book, Tin Can Cook

Lunchtime cooking needn't be boring, expensive or tiresome, here's three easy recipes to cook in minutes (Bluebird/The Independent)

Working from home can have its perks, from not having a commute to not needing to get properly dressed, or even brush your hair (unless you've got a zoom meeting).

It also frees up your lunch hour to cook yourself something delicious, instead of your usual salad or leftovers from the night before hurriedly shoved into a Tupperware box and eaten at your desk.

However, if like us, you may have been struggling to fit the preparation, cooking time, eating and washing up into your lunchtime and still enjoy a break in the day, before you head back to work.

Jack is best known for her easy, affordable recipes that use tin canned food (Bluebird)

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In which case, we can share three easy recipes you can do in minutes, from chef Jack Monroe’s book Tin Can Cook (Amazon, £5.94), featuring affordable ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen cupboards.

Anellini con cacio e pepe

Anellini con cacio e pepe (Bluebird)

This is one of my favourite dishes; in its true form, it’s soft spaghetti tossed in butter or olive oil, with Parmesan or Grana Padano finely grated in, and a hefty dose of black pepper. I make that version often, but this is a sloppy stand-in, that’s about 95 per cent as good as the original, with 5 per cent of the work. And it’s ready in 2 minutes, too.

Serves one

1 x 400g tin of spaghetti hoops 
15g butter or 1 tbsp oil 
hard strong cheese, grated 
pinch of black pepper

Tip the spaghetti hoops into a sieve and gently rinse them to get rid of the tomato sauce. Transfer to a microwave-proof bowl.

Microwave on full power for 90 seconds. Remove, stir and microwave for 30 seconds more. If you don’t have a microwave, heat through gently and quickly on the hob – they will fall apart a little but will still be delicious!

Remove the pasta from the microwave and add the butter or oil, cheese and a pinch of pepper. Stir through. Enjoy immediately. Repeat as desired.

Cheeky corn fritters

Cheeky corn fritters (Bluebird)

A good corn fritter recipe is an excellent thing to have up your sleeve, for breakfast, brunch, or making a meal out of a tin of corn. This is as good a recipe as any, and once you know how to do it, you’ll never be short of a speedy, filling brunch recipe. ​

Serves 2-4, depending on appetite

1 small onion, finely chopped or 100g frozen sliced onion 
75g self-raising flour 
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper or ¼ tsp chilli powder 
salt and pepper 
300g drained, tinned sweetcorn 
2 eggs 
2 tbsp milk or water 
2 tbsp cooking oil

Toss the onion into a large mixing bowl. Add the flour, cayenne pepper or chilli powder, salt and pepper, and stir well to coat it all.

Add the sweetcorn to the bowl and stir again. Crack in the eggs and add the milk or water, then mix well to form a rough batter.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat. Drop in the batter, 2–3 tablespoons at a time. Cook for 3–4 minutes on each side, and serve.

Something like a feijoada

Something like a feijoada (Bluebird)

Feijoada is a Brazilian stew, traditionally made with pork, beef and black beans.

Some versions are served with caramelised orange slices on top and stirred through, so I have used mandarins here; their bright citrus flavour helps to lift the heady, heavy black beans and beef.

Serves 4

This improves with a day’s rest, as do most of us, so keep leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge and enjoy them the next day.

1 x 400g tin of black beans, drained and rinsed 
100g frozen sliced onion or 1 small onion, finely sliced 
2 tbsp garlic paste or 4 fat cloves of garlic, crushed 
2 tbsp tomato purée or ketchup 
1 tbsp paprika 
1 chicken or beef stock cube 
1 x 300g tin of mandarins, drained 
1 x 400g tin of stewed steak, drained and rinsed 
A few pinches of dried chilli flakes

Tip the black beans into a large saucepan. Add the onion, garlic, tomato purée and paprika.

Cover with 700ml water and crumble in the stock cube, then bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until the beans have started to soften.

Add the mandarins and stewed steak to the pot. Cook for a further 20 minutes, then finish with dried chilli flakes to taste, and serve.

Extracted from 'Tin Can Cook' by Jack Monroe (Pan Macmillan, £6.99, paperback and ebook available)