Roasted cauliflower pasta and an easy leek, shallot and anchovy tart

Two low-stress dinners for the start of spring

In a day I need to fit in putting another load of washing on first thing, then emptying the bins and the dishwasher and checking the fridge to see what’s left to make for dinner and whether we need more milk. I need to remember to defrost those banana muffins from the freezer for later, or my son will have a meltdown at nursery pick up. I should probably wash my hair and find time to iron something. Prep breakfast for my son because he’ll be like a limpet from the second he wakes up. Then he does wake up and we somehow manage to get out of the door. I’m texting back on my friends’ Whatsapp group and remembering to order a present – two days late – for my nephew’s birthday. I get a notification from the nursery on the train. World Book Day is coming up. Surely he’s too young for a costume?! I try to write on the train. Then I do a days’ work and leave early to get home for pick up and dinner and oh fuck I forgot to defrost the muffins. I check Teams on my way home and scroll through Vinted because my son has grown out of all his clothes again, pondering what he might tolerate. I open the Substack app and wonder why I’m not a more prolific and successful food writer with a massive audience. I get home and attempt to ask my husband how his day was while wrangling the toddler.

Then we eat and it’s bedtime and we get ready to do it all again tomorrow.

On these frantic midweek days I need Really Easy Dinners only. Here are two we’ve enjoyed lately – a slow-cooked leek and anchovy tart and an easy, Sicilian-inspired roasted cauliflower pasta. Because there’s already enough to do in a day, right?

Leek, anchovy and shallot tart

Serves 4

2 leeks
4 banana shallots
1 white onion
A knob of butter
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 sheet (320g) puff pastry
6 anchovies fillets in oil
50g parmesan

Preheat the oven to 180C fan. Finely slice the leeks, shallots and onions (into rounds). Heat the butter with a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan and add the onions and leeks with a pinch of flaky salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for around 15-20 minutes, until sticky and caramelised. Add the sherry vinegar for the last 3-4 minutes.

Unroll the pastry onto a flat baking sheet. Score a 2cm border around the edge and prick the base all over with a fork.

Spoon the sticky leek mix all over the tart then tear over the anchovies and grate over the parmesan (you can leave a non-anchovy bit for little people if you like).

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is puffed up, golden and cooked through.

Roasted cauliflower, caper and olive pasta

Leave out the anchovies and parmesan to make this vegan.

Serves 2-3

1 head cauliflower
1 red onion
4 anchovy fillets
250g pasta
A handful of Kalamata olives
2 tsp capers
Fresh basil, to serve

Preheat the oven to 200C fan. Cut the cauliflower into small florets and place on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes until brown and starting to char.

Meanwhile, finely slice the onion into half-moon shapes. Add a splash of olive oil to a large, deep pan and add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until soft and sticky, then stir in the anchovies, letting them melt away (before adding the anchovies I took some of the caramelised onions to stir into some cooked pasta for my son with a bit of butter).

Cook the pasta in a pan of salted boiling water. When it’s almost done, stir the olives, capers and cooked cauliflower into the onion mix.

Use a spider to drain the pasta into the onion and cauliflower pan, adding a splash of pasta cooking water and tossing to create a glossy sauce. Serve with fresh basil and parmesan, if you like.

PS This week I’m loving…

We’ve taken to lighting candles in the evening in an attempt to get the littlest person to go to bed earlier. I love these, from Ian Snow, in candy-striped pastel colours and currently on sale and giving spring vibes only.