You can turn out dinner and dessert pretty quickly without turning to the microwave oven, writes DOMINI KEMP

I REMEMBER A time when anything out of a microwave seemed incredibly exotic and even a tad sophisticated because you could produce a whole banquet of food in just a few minutes. Frozen fish dishes swimming in bubbling parsley sauce were a delightful novelty, once upon a time. And although it seems unthinkable nowadays to regard such dinners as gourmet, people are still attached to their microwaves. In fact, I know most people would be horrified at the thought of throwing out their microwave.

I remember being on Pat Kenny’s radio show and seeing the steely man visibly shudder when I suggested it as a great way to force you to do more cooking. So I get it. But getting rid of mine forced me to stop being so lazy and just give in to the thought that cooking dinner does take at least 45 minutes in the evening, if not an hour. Maybe it’s the equivalent of getting rid of your car and walking everywhere or getting rid of your TV. After a while, you just stop missing it – although I’m not quite ready to go that far with the telly or car.

Both of these dishes remind me of something that could come out of the microwave, in the sense that they are both almost instant.

I would normally be a bit snobby about using mayonnaise to embellish home cooking, but after reading Ferran Adrià’s tip for making gazpacho extra silky – put a good spoonful of mayonnaise into the soup before blitzing – I figured if it’s good enough for Mr elBulli, then it’s certainly good enough for me. A bit of yoghurt, obviously, would be much better for you from a saturated fat point of view. So feel free to make this lighter and ditch the mayo, but use full-fat yoghurt which will “cook” much better.

For a “ready-meal” type dish that’s full of flavour and speedy to make, then it is fine to cheat once in a while with something from a jar – which in this case is mayonnaise.

This is one of those dishes kids will particularly love and, although you can ditch the curry powder, I find a lot of them like it. It’s good to expand taste buds in this way, but please tweak to suit your own household.

The lemon in the breadcrumbs gives it a good kick, but again, some people may find this overpowering. It’s a straightforward dish that is user-friendly and will be a bit of a crowd-pleaser. It’s not dinner party food, but is perfect for when you really have 30 minutes to get dinner on the table.

The dessert was a winner for pure ease and as an emergency dessert filler. It could not be simpler and we reckon other fruit would work well, although the peaches (as in fruit, not my sister) were particularly nice. You need ripe fruit for this.

Ours were a bit stiff first time around, but next time we did it, we macerated them a little with some of the brown sugar and lemon juice, which made the fruit layer extra soft and juicy.

You also don’t need a blow torch for this one – it brûléed perfectly well under the grill as there are no eggs, so it is handy for those who like a little crunch without having to use a blow-torch.

Herb and curry-crusted fish fillets

Serves 4

4 x 200g white fish fillets

Salt and pepper

Good glug of olive oil

Approx 3 dessert spoons mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tsp mild curry powder

100g breadcrumbs

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Bunch flat leaf parsley or coriander

Heat an oven to 200 degrees/gas 6. Place the fish in a shallow gratin dish, drizzle with olive oil and season lightly. Mix together the mayonnaise, garlic, mild curry powder and lemon juice. Spread a layer over each piece of fish. Mix the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest, salt and pepper, and the parsley or coriander. This is easier to do in a food processor but, if you are too lazy to wash it up, just chop the parsley and give it a good mix with the breadcrumbs and lemon zest. Add a couple of glugs of olive oil to the crumbs.

Sprinkle this generously on top of the mayonnaise topping, and then bake for about 15 minutes. The fish should be well cooked through and the crumbs should just be starting to brown in parts. Serve with salad and if you need a starch to go with it, some boiled rice or mash.

Peach and crème fraiche crunch

We used little Amaretti biscuits as they are very dry and crisp. I reckon other biscuits would go a bit soggy, but you could always give it a go. Just make sure they are super tasty crispy little biscuits. Otherwise, just leave them out or use some toasted almond flakes or granola. Nectarines would also be good instead of the peaches.

6 ripe peaches

Approx 4-6 dessert spoons soft brown sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Tiny splash of vanilla essence (optional)

Approx 15 Amaretti biscuits

Approx 2 x 200g tubs crème fraiche

Chop the peaches into small chunks or slices and macerate with two spoons of sugar and the lemon juice. Add a tiny splash of vanilla if you like it. Mix well and leave this to sit for about 30 minutes. Crush the biscuit in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Preheat your grill to high. Arrange the peaches in a gratin dish in a thin layer. Sprinkle half the crushed biscuits on top. Mix the other half with the crème fraiche and spoon this on top of the fruit. Sprinkle the last two to four dessert spoonfuls of brown sugar on top of the crème fraiche. Grill until bubbling and caramelised. It should look like a make-shift crème brûlée. We found it worked better on a lower shelf as you want the fruit to warm up a bit and the top to brûlée as evenly as possible. This really is something to tweak to your own taste, and you may prefer to eat it cold.

Domini recommends: Clonmore cheese – I can’t stop grating a few bits into green salads with a lick of olive oil, rock salt and a little lemon juice or reduced balsamic vinegar. It’s a lovely goat’s cheese that adds so much flavour to everything