6 quick recipes for an impromptu dinner with all the trimmings!
It's time for dinner. You are preparing to devour the boiled vegetables that you have in the fridge for a few days, when the phone rings (or even the intercom rings). Within a few minutes, you will find your best friend, your mother-in-law or the friend passing through the city at your home. The fridge is empty, or almost empty, and you have to invent something to cook, to avoid making a fool of yourself.
Here are 5 quick, original and delicious ideas to amaze anyone who arrives at your table, more or less suddenly, using ingredients that we usually always have in the pantry or in the fridge.
1. Omelette roll
10 easy and delicious cold pasta recipes!
Eggs, mozzarella and ham are the protagonists of this delicious rolled omelette, which can also be served as an aperitif, cut into slices. In fact, eggs are the only truly irreplaceable ingredient in this recipe, which lends itself to infinite variations.
To make your rolled omelette, you can also use other types of cheese or cold cuts. You can also prepare it in a vegetarian version, using the vegetables you have available. In short, in about ten minutes you will have a dish that will make everyone happy!
Preparation:
Shell the eggs and beat them vigorously; add a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and the grated cheese, then continue to mix.
Clean the mint, chop it and add it to the egg mixture. In a non-stick pan, heat some extra virgin olive oil and cook the omelette on both sides, until golden.
Take it out of the pan, arrange it on a flat plate and season with the diced ham and the provolone, also diced.
Now roll the omelette on itself, if necessary stop it with kitchen twine and let it rest for a few minutes.
Cut the omelette roll with provolone and raw ham into slices, arrange it on a serving dish and serve.
If you prefer the traditional omelette, try this tasty recipe! It's quick and easy and your guests will be hooked on the first bite!
2. Crispy spaghetti nests
The most important thing about this recipe is the original procedure to follow to obtain crunchy and delicious spaghetti nests. After that, if you don't have all the ingredients it doesn't matter! In our version, this first course is rich in vegetables, complete and light at the same time. If you wish, let yourself be inspired by the flavors you find in the fridge! One thing is sure, this dish will amaze even the most curious palates.
Ingrediants (for 4 people):
- 300 g of boiled spaghetti
- 3 zucchini
- 2 shallots
- 1 eggplant
- 1 red and 1 yellow pepper
- 1 tomato
- 2 carrots
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon of chopped basil
- 1 clove of peeled garlic
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons of flour
- 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- peanut oil
- Salt to taste.
- pepper as needed.
Preparation:
Put the spaghetti in a bowl, add the flour and mix well.
Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them with a fork.
Divide the spaghetti into twelve portions.
Arrange the portions one after the other in a basket for nests, pass them in the beaten eggs and fry them in plenty of previously heated oil.
Cook the nests for about two minutes then drain and place them on absorbent paper.
Clean the vegetables well and cut them into very fine pieces.
Finely chop the shallots together with the garlic clove.
Heat about four tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick pan, add the vegetables and sauté them for a few minutes, season with salt and pepper and leave to cook, covered, for about ten minutes over very low heat.
Arrange some of the cooked vegetables in the center of each nest and serve.
3. Pesto pie
We all have a jar of pesto in the pantry. That very jar there could save your life when an unexpected guest arrives at your table. And to make something more delicious and original than to season the usual plate of linguine!
This delicious basil-based sauce lends itself to becoming one of the main ingredients of this tantalizing savory pie, ready in half an hour.
Ingrediants (for 4 people):
- 1 pack of shortcrust pastry
- 1 jar of pesto of 200 g
- 5 tomatoes
- 3 slices of ham
- 2 eggs
- 300 ml of cream
- 1 ball of mozzarella
Preparation:
In this recipe we must remember not to add salt, since both the ham and the pesto are already quite salty! Roll out the dough on the bottom of a cake mold, lined with baking paper, prick the base of the dough with the help of a fork, so that it does not swell during cooking.
Place half of the pesto on the pasta and cover with the tomatoes, previously washed and cut into slices. Cut the ham into strips and arrange it on the tomatoes.
Mix the eggs, cream and the rest of the pesto and pour over the cake. Finally cut the mozzarella into thin slices and arrange them on the rest of the preparation.
At this point, cook in the oven (preheated) for 20 minutes at a temperature of 220 ° C (thermostat 7). Once cooked, serve the pesto pie on the table and enjoy it with a salad!
4. Fusilli with tuna sauce
Tuna has always been the absolute protagonist of improvised dinners (and anyone who is a student, or has been in the past, knows it well). And this is because everyone happens to have a few cans of tuna in olive oil in the pantry, ready to calm hunger pangs at any time of the day or night. Yet, this tuna pasta recipe has something original ... find out what by reading the recipe!
Ingrediants (for 4 people):
- 200 g of fresh tuna
- 350 g of fusilli
- 500 ml of tomato sauce
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- mint
- salt
- pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
Preparation:
Ask your fishmonger for a tuna steak of about 200 g, or to cut it into two slices.
Clean the tuna and remove the outer skin, then cut it into medium sized chunks with the help of a sharp knife.
Peel and finely chop the garlic and onion and fry them in a pan with extra virgin olive oil. As soon as they are slightly wilted, add the diced tuna and brown it for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the tomato sauce, season with salt and pepper and cook for about 20 minutes. As soon as the tuna sauce is ready, turn off the heat and leave it aside.
Cook the fusilli in boiling salted water, drain lightly al dente and place them in a bowl.
Season with plenty of tuna sauce and garnish with fresh mint leaves then serve.
5. Sundried tomato muffins
Assuming that flour, yeast, eggs and milk are never lacking in your home, if you have a jar of olives and dried tomatoes, you can make these delicious savory muffins. This recipe also lends itself to being reinvented in different versions, so test it with a variety of ingredients and flavors.
You can also prepare them in different flavors, so that all your guests can taste them at will!
Ingrediants (for 12 muffins):
- 300 g of flour
- 100 ml of milk
- 2 eggs
- 100 ml of seed oil
- 1 sachet of baking powder for pizzas and savory pies
- 12 dried cherry tomatoes
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Salt to taste.
Preparation:
Drain the dried tomatoes and dry them then chop finely. Wash the olives under running water and stone them then chop them finely.
Break the eggs into a bowl, add salt and freshly ground black pepper and beat them with a fork, then add the milk, flour, oil and yeast.
Mix everything well using an electric whisk until the mixture is homogeneous and consistent.
Add the chopped cherry tomatoes and olives and incorporate them into the dough.
Divide the mixture obtained into molds.
Put the molds in the oven, previously heated, and cook for about thirty minutes at 180 ° C (thermostat 6).
Remove the molds from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes then unmold the muffins.
Arrange the muffins on a serving dish and serve warm or cold.
6. Cinnamon apples
Since "an apple a day keeps the doctor away", it is preferable to always have some at home. To end your impromptu dinner on a sweet note, you can prepare this greedy and quick dessert, reflecting on how next time you will be the one to swoop into your friend / mother-in-law / or friend's house from afar (yes, yes, which best excuse to organize a nice trip?) suddenly!
Ingrediants (for 2 people):
- 2 large apples (or 3 small ones)
- some sugar
- cinnamon
Preparation:
Peel and cut the apples into slices. Cook them in the microwave for 5 minutes (in a container suitable for microwave cooking or in a bowl covered with cling film). Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Serve hot or warm with a scoop of ice cream.
