Cinammon Chicken with bean salad

9:31am Friday 22nd February 2008

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IT'S all very well promising to wean yourself off ready-meals, takeaways or those routine recipes that you churn out week after week, but all too often that resolve crumbles when you get home at the end of a long day.

Don't beat yourself up over this. Three lethal ingredients - TCH (tired, cold and hungry) - combine to deal killer blows to good intentions, especially when you and the family want food, and want it NOW!

Thankfully, chef Valli Little, food director of magazine Delicious, perfectly understands how we all feel and has raided the publication's huge collection of recipes to reveal meals that can be made in minutes and taste great. They've been published in a new book, Delicious - Five Nights A Week (Quadrille, £14.99).

Little says: "With the busy lives we lead, there's less time for planning, shopping and preparing weeknight meals. Not to mention the fact that it can be hard to come up with new and exciting ideas for dinner which won't take hours in the kitchen."

She's grouped recipes in easy-to-use sections including soups, salads, something on toast, vegetarian and by ingredients such as sausages, mince, or by country- Moroccan, Indian and Thai.

Other handy ones for desperate mums are kids' favourites with recipes for cheesy spaghetti with bacon and peas or chicken dippers, right through to mid-week entertaining with stress-free but interesting treats such as warm duck salad with beetroot and pomegranate or veal saltimbocca.

Her top tip for making the whole mealtime process easier and still producing impressive meals, is to "keep a well-stocked store cupboard, identify the staples that you need, add some favourites and invest in things like onion marmalade, tapenade, quince paste and aioli, which are readily available and, believe me, can turn a simple meal into something quite special."

IngredientsServes 41tsp ground cinnamon2 heaped tbsp brown sugar80ml dry sherry80ml olive oil4 chicken breast fillets (with skin and wing bone attached, optional)20ml balsamic vinegar1tsp Dijon mustard200g thin green beans2 x420g cans three-bean mix, rinsed and drained2 heaped tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsleyBeetroot relish (available from delis) to serveMethodPreheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Mix the cinnamon, sugar, sherry and half the oil. Season, toss with the chicken and marinate for 15 minutes Meanwhile, combine the balsamic vinegar, mustard and remaining oil in a large bowl, then season.

Blanch the green beans in boiling water for two minutes, then drain and refresh in cold water.

Toss with the dressing, parsley and canned beans. Heat an oven-proof frying pan over a medium heat.

Cook the chicken, skin-side down, for two minutes, or until it turns a golden brown.

Turn and cook for one minute, then place in the oven for 12 minutes, or until cooked through.

Serve the chicken on the salad, topped with beetroot relish.