Has anyone else been recently promoted to the Fridge Police or Snack Drawer Monitor? Who knew our kids ate so much AND so often throughout the day? We asked Nadiya Hussain for her go-to recipe using up what’s left in the store cupboard and freezer drawer even after the hungry hoards have done their grazing – who knew spaghetti hoops could be so exciting?

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HOOP FISH BAKE

This is something I used to cook for my kids when they were much younger, and I still make it sometimes among the floods of recipes that I test.

I don’t like spaghetti hoops as they are, neat out of the tin, but I can really appreciate their sweetness and ability to bulk out a dish when they are mixed with other things. So this is exactly that – lots of white fish, mixed with a few vegetable-drawer staples and canned hoops and topped with breadcrumbs. If you’re making one of these it’s worth making two, as we do here, so that one can sit in your freezer until next time.

2 x 380g pollock fillets, defrosted and chopped into bite-size chunks

10 cherry tomatoes, halved, or 2 tomatoes, chopped

3 spring onions, finely chopped

2 red chillies, thinly sliced

7 florets of broccoli, chopped roughly (or you could use frozen defrosted broccoli, with all the moisture squeezed out)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

2 x 385g tins of spaghetti hoops, drained

 

For the breadcrumb topping:

4 small slices of bread or 2 large (approx. 100g)

1 teaspoon garlic granules

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

 

Have two oven and freezer-safe dishes, approx. 20cm x 26cm, at the ready. I like to use the ones that have plastic lids. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C. Start by putting the fish into a bowl – if there is too much liquid, squeeze out any extra water by hand so the dish doesn’t end up being too wet. Add the chopped tomatoes, spring onions, chillies and broccoli and mix together. Stir in the salt and paprika, then mix in the drained hoops. Divide the mixture equally between the two dishes and level the top. To make the breadcrumb topping, put the bread, garlic granules, salt and oil into a food processor and whiz until you have fine crumbs. Top each dish with half the breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes. Serve one dish as soon as it comes out of the oven, and leave the other one to cool completely, then cover and freeze.

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Photo credit Chris Terry, recipes taken from Time to Eat by Nadiya Hussain (Michael Joseph £20)