What are the best one-pan dishes for midweek meals? Rukmini Iyer is answering your questions live

Rukmini Iyer, author of the bestselling cookbook series Roasting Tin, is here replying to your food queries on quick, simple weeknight dinners and ways to save time in the kitchen.

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UtterlyExhausted asks: As someone who’s almost always exhausted by the time work is done but also don’t want to just eat cereal for dinner or a basic sandwich, I’m looking for simple, healthy weeknight one-dish dinners that take 10-15 minutes of prep max, don’t have many ingredients, and will provide leftovers.

Rukmini: I hear you, this is exactly me after work as well, and why I think a ‘chop and chuck’ traybake where the oven does the work for you is exactly what’s needed. If you eat fish, think wild salmon, trout or sustainable white fish fillets in a roasting tin drizzled with soy, honey & sesame oil, roasted with vegetables that take 15-20 minutes to cook too, like tenderstem broccoli and sugar snaps (there’s a video of baby me cooking a version of this here.)

As a rule with a roasting tin recipe, I always think of ‘building’ a dish – so if you have eg a fillet of fish or chicken breast, add flavour by spreading it with something quick from the fridge like harissa, or tapenade, or mustard, then top it with something crunchy, like breadcrumbs, chopped nuts or seeds (Paneer or tofu work well if you’re veggie, or an entire block of feta). Then the rest of the dish includes things which take a similar amount of time to cook – cherry tomatoes, small florets of cauliflower, red onions, dressed with oil and salt. That should take no more than 10 minutes to chop and put in the oven, then when it comes out, a quick dressing of lemon or lime juice, olive oil, salt and fresh herbs which complement the dish will really lift the flavours, and bring everything together.

Rukmini: Rice is your friend here I think, and an all-time reader favourite from The Green Roasting Tin is the all-in-one sticky rice with broccoli, squash, chilli and ginger. Instead of cooking the rice in water, you stir it through with coconut milk, spiked with ginger, garlic and soy sauce. Then you layer it up in a dish with squash and broccoli, and pop it in the oven to bake, and then take five minutes to mix up a lime, chilli and coriander dressing – and that’s it!

Nowadays, I’d add in some cubed plain or smoked firm tofu for extra protein – it is absolutely not cheating to buy ready diced butternut squash if you’re in a hurry. You can find the recipe here along with an old recipe video on ITV. Generally, I would lean into recipes & cuisines which are often naturally gluten-free – think soupy noodles or laksas with rice noodles, stir-fries with a peanut chilli dressing, curries and fried rice.

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