Slightly disconcerting that I'm resorting to another round of Midweek Madness again already but here we are, so let me tell you about a couple of nice, speedy recipes that I came across this week. First up, these delicious baked herb and pistachio felafel:

Milder than the traditional variety these baked felafel are a fine deviation, and make for a fresh and light alternative to the rich winter stews that have been gracing the table of late. While the lime and mint yoghurt was a particular highlight they were—on the whole—rather scrumptious, and will no doubt go onto high rotation come spring.

To contrast this new find with an old favourite, while this Ottolenghi recipe for baked chicken with saffron, hazelnuts and honey does need more time, the effort required is still minimal, making it the perfect dish to just throw on, go relax, and then come back to at the end of a long and strenuous week.

But if you've got dinner covered and just need a quick treat, then I'd recommend this beautiful and moist buttermilk cake, which can be thrown together in minutes and is gratifying without being too sweet. In this particular case I opted to throw in some ground almonds and use up a few blood plums I had frozen away, but I suspect it will work beautifully with whatever fruit's in season.

Now, if I could just have those five minutes to put my feet up, and maybe a strong cup of tea...