Give Me Five: Beef with sesame and spinach

With a newborn baby in the house, I need to have easy, nutritious recipes at hand more than ever. It has been great to raid the freezer and simply heat up all the pre-prepared meals that I cooked before our lovely baby girl, Hazel, arrived, but now it’s time for some fresh flavours and to ease back into some home cooking again.

This week’s dish is one that I’ve made a few times recently: beef with sesame and spinach. The spinach and beef are both a great source of iron, and it’s a one-pan dish, which saves on washing-up. Slight changes can be made; for example, you could add extra greens, such as kale or chard. This works just as well with pork or lamb mince. I sometimes use a few different herbs, such as mint, basil and coriander, to really brighten up the taste. Toasted sesame seeds can be sprinkled on the finished dish for added texture and to echo the nuttiness of the sesame-seed oil. A drizzle of sweet chilli sauce or a pinch of chilli flakes add some heat.

Sometimes I double up on the spinach. Steamed basmati rice or rice noodles would be great accompaniments. I keep organic minced beef in the freezer so that dishes such as this can be whipped up in no time; only a bag of spinach and some herbs need to be picked up. The remaining ingredients are all from the store cupboard. Oyster sauce is a great cupboard staple that adds flavour to stir fries and noodle dishes. Soy sauce can be used in its place. It won’t give the same results but will still be delicious.

I’m delighted to be back in the kitchen and to have loads of recipes squirrelled away that I want to cook, mostly focusing on simple, tasty, healthy food. Sleepless nights often drive me to the biscuit tin. I quickly develop a need for carbohydrates or any sugary food that provides an empty sugar hit. By planning my meals and staying well-fed and nourished, I’m hoping to avoid falling into that sugar trap. So far it seems to be working, but it does take a lot of planning. My favourite thing at the moment is online food shopping for the basics, and visiting the farmer’s market at weekends for everything else. It really does take the stress out of food shopping.

Midleton Market in Cork recently celebrated 15 years in trading. It is a lovely, family-friendly place to visit on Saturday mornings, a not-too-ambitious trip out with a newborn. It's also a fantastic source of local produce, such as smoked salmon from Frank Hederman, Ardsallagh goat's cheese and Arbutus bread.

I always feel quite spoiled for choice having such quality producers as Woodside Farm nearby. Their pork and apple burgers are legendary: pure pork from their own Gloucester old spot and saddleback pigs mixed with a little white pepper and grated apple.

The beauty of the farmer’s market is that you get to chat to the producers or farmers. You hear at source about the new litter of piglets born or the first of the new season’s potatoes being picked. There’s a huge opportunity for learning about where our food comes from and what to do with it. I pick up so many cooking tips and ideas there.

It's fantastic having so many markets to choose from in Cork. Almost every day of the week there is one on. There is also the English Market, of course, which has built up a well-deserved trade in food tourism, with people coming to Cork to eat good food and enjoy guided food walks of the city, hosted by the likes of Fabulous Food Trails. fabulousfoodtrails.ie

BEEF WITH SESAME AND SPINACH: SERVES 4

The five ingredients

• 600g minced beef
• 200g baby spinach leaves
• 30g coriander
• 4tbs oyster sauce
• 2tbs sesame seed oil

From the pantry

• Olive oil

Method

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan or wok.

Add the minced beef and cook on a high heat until browned and starting to crisp up on the edges.

Add the oyster sauce and the spinach leaves. Cook for another minute or so until the leaves start to wilt.

Remove from the heat and drizzle with sesame seed oil. Season to taste.

• Every Thursday we'll tweet the five ingredients from @lillyhiggins and @irishtimeslife so you can have them ready for Friday. Email givemefive@irishtimes.com with your suggestions for recipes