5 with 5: Create 5 meals out of just 5 ingredients

As culinary experts at Inspire, we genuinely have a passion for serving up our creations and new recipes to people each day. Although now we are all refined to our houses more, cooking up dinner dishes each night can become overbearing!

So, in the meantime until we can be back to serving you up our dishes, I am taking the heat off (pardon the pun) the dinner pressure at home and giving some easy recipes for 5 delicious dinner options – each using only 5 ingredients.

Having fewer ingredients for each means less kitchen waste and likely to reduce the kitchen chaos – always a plus!

Mushroom Risotto

-Arborio rice

-1 white onion

-400g shiitake or button mushrooms

-180cl dry white wine

-5 cups chicken stock

Sauté your onions and mushrooms together in olive oil for 5min, then add white wine.

Add the rice and white wine, then bring to a boil. Add chicken stock gradually (around 1/2 cup at a time) and make sure you are stirring constantly. Once all the stock has been absorbed, reduce your heat low. Once the rice is chewy, your risotto is ready to serve!

Spaghetti with homemade meatballs

 -Spaghetti

-500g lean beef mince

-Garlic powder

-Italian herbs

-Tomato passata

In a large bowl, hand mix beef mince with garlic powder and Italian herbs. In the palm of your hand, roll small pieces of mince into meatballs. Cook meatball in a pan with olive oil, and add tomato passata once they are cooked.

Add more garlic powder and Italian herbs to the sauce, season with salt & pepper, and cover. Let the sauce simmer for 8-10min, add the cooked spaghetti and stir nicely until the pasta is fully coated in sauce.

Provence-style tomatoes and cod fillets

-Cod fillets

-Tomatoes (2 per person)

-Garlic powder

-Dried basil

-Chilli flakes

Season your cod fillets with chilli flakes, salt and pepper and cook in a pan with olive oil.

Chop the tomatoes in halves and cook in olive oil on each side. Slightly sprinkle with garlic powder and basil, season with salt and pepper and serve – simple!

Homemade mash and cajun chicken

-800g large potatoes

-Lightly salted butter

-Chicken breasts (1 per person)

-Cajun spices

-Onion powder

In a large pot, boil peeled potatoes until soft. Drain and mash the potatoes, and add 5 tablespoons of salted butter gradually whilst mashing. Add salt and pepper to taste. Preheat a pan with olive oil, season the raw chicken breast with onion powder, cajun spices and salt & pepper.

Cook chicken breasts on each side on medium heat and not high to avoid burning the outside. Serve and enjoy!

Homemade Margherita Pizza

-Pizza dough

-1 canned peeled plum tomatoes

-Fresh basil

-Oregano

-Fresh mozzarella ball and shredded mozzarella

Dust flour on your worktop and roll out the dough, shaping it in a circle. Blend the canned plum tomatoes with oregano, salt and pepper to make the sauce. Sit your dough onto a pizza tray, add pizza sauce onto the dough (not too much as the dough could go soggy) and top with fresh slices mozzarella and shredded mozzarella.

Top with fresh basil leaves, and cook in oven for 10-15min (or until cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden). Slice and enjoy your fresh pizza!

These recipes are all really easy and goes to show that you do not need an endless list of ingredients for your meals to taste amazing.

And even if you have leftovers, all of these meals will taste just as good the next day. Try them out and enjoy the stressless cooking of these home cook favourites!