There are at least two ways of getting a meal on to the table fast, excluding the reheating of something you bought at the supermarket on the way home.

My kind of cooking is called ‘scratch’ cooking, and is regarded increasingly as something of an esoteric pursuit. Why bother when you can buy chicken someone else has already prepared, cooked and mixed with a sauce? The problem for me is that someone else has also seasoned the dish, not to my taste, of course, but to a vague generality that will offend no one, but probably delight no one either.

Rather than reheat and dish up someone else’s boeuf bourguignone, or fricassee of rabbit and mustard, you could reheat your own homemade version in the same amount of time.

But this bespeaks careful planning and time spent earlier on, making up two or three dishes for later in the week that you keep in the refrigerator or freezer.

There is little room in my freezer for such dishes, crammed as it is with bread, shellfish stock, miniature desserts such as chocolate pots and fools, a summer pudding, lavender stalks, Seville oranges, cranberries, sweet corn from this summer, some frozen cubes of reduced red wine and some unidentifiable solid, brown lumps, which I hope turn out to be good things, like game gravy. Not exactly enough to put together a square meal.

Incidentally, I once had a guided tour of HMS Victory in Portsmouth and saw the square, wooden trays on which food was served, and which gave rise to this expression.

Assuming you have not prepared a mess of pottage in advance, and that you have already eaten pasta at least three times in as many days, another solution to a quick meal is small pieces of protein, to which you apply heat.

The protein needs to be tender: fish fillets or cutlets, rump, fillet or feather steak, lamb loin or chops, pork fillet or chicken breast; the heat generally needs to be high and dry. A grill, griddle or non-stick pan will do the job nicely.

Searing a piece of lamb to a juicy pinkness takes a matter of minutes. Use the time saved to prepare a vegetable accompaniment, as well as a green salad.

A piece of charred meat on its own is not a very appetising prospect but serve it with a leek mash, a creamy risotto or aubergine purée and it becomes more pleasing by the minute.

Vegetables too can be cooked by roasting, grilling or frying, and these sit well atop a risotto cooked in white or red wine and vegetable stock or stoved, garlic potatoes.

Quick sauces can be made with the pan juices, with the addition of wine, spirits, fruit liqueur or preserve, cream, butter, herbs or cheese, as the mood takes you.

The other day, for example, I fried the legs of wild duck to serve on some salad leaves and made a dressing or gravy by deglazing the pan just with water, adding a little pineapple chutney and some walnut oil – weird but tasty.

Oriental rice noodles are marvellous if you are in a hurry, as these do not even need cooking as such. Put them in a large bowl and pour a kettle of boiling water over them and let them sit, while you prepare your dishes.

Pomegranate-glazed duck breasts with griddled pumpkin

(Serves 4)

4 duck breasts or 2 magrets de canard
Juice squeezed from 2 pomegranates, plus extra for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
3 tbsp extra virgin oil, plus extra for the pumpkin
300g pumpkin, sliced, not too thick
Gozo salt

Marinate the duck breasts overnight in the pomegranate juice, pepper, nutmeg and olive oil.

Next day, dry the meat, but keep the marinade.

Heat a heavy skillet and fry the duck breasts, skin side down, for at least five minutes, until most of the fat has been rendered.

Pour off the fat, and continue cooking the duck until done to your liking. The magrets, from French ducks reared for foie gras, are much thicker and require longer cooking.

While the meat is cooking, heat a griddle, brush the pumpkin with olive oil, season if you wish and grill until just tender.

To serve, cut the duck and plate it, together with the pumpkin and a few pomegranate seeds. Boil up the marinade and pour around the meat.

This is very good when served with creamy mash, olive oil, crushed potatoes or polenta.

Smoked haddock with leek mash

(Serves 6)

Now that excellent, undyed, smoked haddock from Scotland is occasionally available in Malta, I pass on one of my favourite recipes.

4 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced
600g undyed, smoked haddock fillet, skinned

Put the potatoes and leeks in water and boil until soft. Drain the vegetables, keeping the water if you like, as a soup or risotto base. Mash them with olive oil or butter, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg and some milk. Divide the fillet in two, and place on top of the mash. Cover with a lid and set over the lowest possible heat to prevent the mash from burning, but enough to let the fish cook in the steam. Serve in heated, shallow bowls, with or without a poached egg.

Blackened pork fillet

Care needs to be taken with this recipe. A popular style of cooking, originally from Louisiana and now spread far and wide, it entails heating a sturdy, well-seasoned, cast-iron grill, griddle or frying pan, to almost white heat.

A piece of fish or meat that has been dipped in melted butter and a hot, spicy seasoning mixture is then cooked by fast searing. More suited to the professional restaurant than the domestic kitchen though it may be, I include this recipe because good results can be obtained, either with a heavy frying pan or on the barbecue. Flat cuts, which cook evenly and relatively quickly, are best done over such fierce heat.

You can make up your own seasoning mix and store it in a jar. Variations can be made along this:

3 pork fillets, split down the middle and opened out, but not cut through
75g butter melted
3 to 4 tbsp Cajun seasoning (see below)

Cajun seasoning:
50g cayenne pepper
25g Gozo salt
25g freshly ground black pepper
25g freshly ground white pepper
25g ground coriander seeds
25g ground cumin
25g ground celery seeds
25g dried oregano, or marjoram

Heat the frying pan or griddle. Thoroughly dry the pork and dip in the melted butter. Sprinkle liberally, on both sides, with the seasoning, pressing it in well.

When the frying pan, or barbecue coals, are as hot as you can get them, put on the meat. Cook for four to five minutes on each side and serve. A crisp, cooling salad and a baked potato with soured cream or mashed potatoes are good accompaniments.

Steak with balsamico

Modena, in northern Italy, is the home of traditional balsamic vinegar, one of the world’s most special condiments. Made from grape must, then acetified and aged in a solera system, somewhat like that used for sherry, in a succession of small barrels made of different fine woods, each barrel smaller than the one of the previous year, it is a complex, sweet yet sharp, richly-flavoured vinegar.

For the real thing, bottled under the Consorzio’s seal, you can expect to pay over €60 for 100ml. Bottles of balsamico-style vinegars, which do not bear the seal and which have not undergone the same ageing process, are available from supermarkets for a few euros. They too can be used in the following recipe.

(Serves 6)

6 beef fillet steaks
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or use a well-seasoned, non-stick pan
Gozo salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 to 6 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Trim any fat from the meat. Heat the olive oil, if using it, in a heavy frying pan and sear the meat on both sides until it is done to your liking. Or grill, if you prefer. Season and place on serving plates. Put the vinegar in the pan, boil and scrape up any residues and spoon on to the steaks. Serve immediately.

Pad Thai prawns with rice noodles and vegetables

(Serves 6)

30 medium prawns
3 tbsp each soy sauce, lime juice water and dark muscovado sugar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 or 3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lemongrass stalk, thinly sliced
1 tsp each grated ginger and lime zest or
2 shredded kaffir lime leaves, if available
1 small, green or red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced, or more to taste
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
2 carrots, shaved into strips
1 leek and 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced diagonally
Oriental vegetables – see recipe and greens, such as bok choy, if available
1 tbsp groundnut oil
400g glass noodles, prepared according to the directions on the packet
Coriander or basil leaves for garnish

Put the prawns in a shallow bowl and mix in the marinade ingredients, down to, and including, the chilli. Fry the vegetables in a wok, or sauté pan, in the groundnut oil for a few minutes.

You can add torn-up oyster mushrooms, snow peas and baby corn at this stage. Strain the prawns, retaining the marinade. Remove the vegetables and put them on one side. Raise the heat and quickly fry the prawns. Return the vegetables to the wok with the prawns and add the noodles as well as the marinade, together with a little water if necessary. Reheat all together and serve in warmed bowls. Scatter the herbs on top.