Five-minute meals from Australia's top chefs

• Good Food's 15-minute dinner collection

Let simmer for six hours. Soak overnight. You'll need to begin this recipe two days in advance. Ergh. Recipe instructions like these promise wonderful, tasty things, but who has the time? Gravlaxing a salmon or slow-cooking a lamb shoulder might fly on a Sunday, but midweek?

Forget it. Here's a collection of meals from some of Australia's best chefs that shouldn't take you more than five minutes from prep time to plonking yourself in front of the telly. Most ingredients can be sourced from the back of the fridge or the international section of the local grocer.

Simmer for 30 seconds. Soak for a minute. Begin these recipes anytime you like.

The old pea and egg trick

Mike Eggert – Pinbone, Sydney

A classic combo that does the job on a cold night or when you're impatient and on rations.

Put the kettle on and melt a good spoon of butter in a pan. Add a cup of frozen peas to the pan – the peas will have enough water to cook themselves.

Add a good pinch of stock powder for seasoning if you have it. If not, salt and pepper are fine. Anything in a tin, such as Spam, is also good chopped and thrown in at this point. Add half a cup of boiled kettle water. Make it taste nice with anything else you have in the kitchen that would suit, like mint or parmesan cheese.

Put the delicious pea-butter-soup-stuff into bowl and add an egg – poached, fried, boiled, whatever you can do quickly.

Now eat and drink booze.

Grilled calamari with onions, currants and macadamia

Josh Niland – Saint Peter, Sydney

For this recipe it's best to ask a fishmonger or shop assistant to point you in the direction of a calamari hood that has already been skinned and is ready to cook.

To prepare the calamari hood make sure cavity is clear and wiped thoroughly. Insert a wide palette knife 80 per cent of the way into hood. Using a sharp knife, make even cuts across the calamari that don't puncture the other side (the palette knife is there to prevent this). This will ensure beautiful presentation and speed of cooking.

In a hot pan with a splash of olive oil, saute a small of bunch of spring onions sliced into 2cm batons, with a couple of tablespoons of currants and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar mixed with a teaspoon of castor sugar. Season with salt and add two tablespoons of chopped roasted macadamia nuts to the onion mix. Remove mix from the pan and set aside.

Wipe out the pan and add another splash of oil. When the oil has reached a light haze, add the calamari and roll it around on the cut side for about one minute until nice and golden brown. Flip to the other side for about 10 seconds. The calamari should be tender and slightly translucent.

Place a spoonful of the onion mix in the centre of the plate then drape the calamari hood over the top as if it were a Slinky. Serve immediately.

Minute-steak cheese wrap

Richard Ousby – Stokehouse, St Kilda and Brisbane

Heat two pans on the stove, one on high and one on a medium heat. In the medium-hot pan, place your favourite type of wrap and sprinkle with grated cheese. I use cheddar, but any cheese will suffice. (I see you, Colby tasty.)

Place a minute steak such as thin-cut sirloin or scotch fillet in the (now very) hot other pan and pan sear for about one minute. Flip the steak and cook for another 30 seconds. Deglaze with a dash of fish sauce and immediately remove the steak from the pan. Squeeze a liberal amount of lime juice over the steak and crack a pinch of black pepper. Let rest for one minute.

Remove your now crispy, melty wrap from its pan and place it on a plate. Slice the steak and place it on the wrap with some fresh coriander and mint. Drizzle with olive oil and Sriracha or your choice of sauce – mayonnaise, peri peri, whatever tickles your pickle juice. Eat however you like, it doesn't matter if it's folded, pizza-style or wrapped. Be creative!

Mussels and cauliflower

Dave Verheul – Embla, Melbourne

Heat a cast iron pan, add 125ml of fish stock, 30g of butter and a tablespoon of vadouvan spice mix (and Indian blend you can get from suppliers like Herbie's). Bring to a boil and add 300g of cleaned and debearded mussels (I use Sea Bounty brand), one bay leaf, a sprig of rosemary and two stems of fioretto cauliflower, broken into little florets. Cover with a lid and steam until just done. Remove the mussels, herbs and cauliflower from the pan, reduce the stock slightly then pour over the top. Serve with grilled crusty bread.

Tuna and leek crostini

​​Duncan Welgemoed – Africola, Adelaide

Slice the whites of a leek into very tiny ribbons and set aside (keep the leek greens for a future stock). Mix a 200g tin of tuna in olive oil with 80ml of mayonnaise and a splash of brandy. Stir until you have a smooth paste. Season with black pepper, salt, Tabasco and a squeeze of lemon. Spread onto slices of toasted baguette and scatter leek ribbons over the top. BOOM!

Coolroom rissoles on 'Aussie naan'

​James Viles – Biota, Bowral, NSW

For a staff meal, we often mince up all the leftover meat we can find in the coolroom. It's usually a mixture of marsupials, bovine and the odd pig. We then sandwich the fried rissoles between white bread – or "Aussie naan" as we like to call it in the Biota kitchen.

To make at home, use 500g of any leftover mince or sausages (cases removed) you can find in the fridge. Add a finely-chopped onion to the mince and 150g of chopped herbs. Any herbs you have in the kitchen – the more variety the better. Mix everything together. Add two whole eggs and mix those in. Season to taste and shape into rissoles.

Pan-fry the rissoles. Slap between white bread. Throw a few pickles on it if you're feeling talented. Eat.

Salmon and tamarind mayo prawn cracker tartare

​​Amy Hamilton – Liberte, Albany, WA

I'd happily make a full meal out of these while sitting on the couch, but I suppose you could serve them as snacks at a party.

This recipe will make about 12 crackers. Sourcing good prawn crackers is important. I fry Vietnamese sesame and shrimp-flavoured rice papers – but you can totally use store bought ones.

For the tamarind mayo, mix 150ml of Kewpie mayo with 60ml of tamarind puree, a couple of drops of toasted sesame oil, a quarter of a 10g sachet of bonito powder (the type used to make dashi – it's an MSG-laden goldmine), 10ml of Sriracha, the juice of half a lime (save the other half for the gin and tonic you're drinking with this meal) and a couple of pinches of fresh-cracked black pepper. One of my former Italian chefs told me pepper and seafood should never be seen together. I say: BALLS. The flavour of the Western Australian salmon we use can totally stand up to more assertive spices such as pepper.

Dice 150g of salmon into 2cm cubes and throw it into a bowl. Season with salt and stir in 60ml of tamarind mayo (reserve the rest for future deliciousness), one finely diced pickled green chilli, half a tablespoon of finely-chopped coriander stem, half a finely-diced French shallot and half a finely-chopped clove of garlic.

Spoon the mixture onto the prawn crackers (one tablespoon per cracker) and top with seasonal greenery such as dill, fennel tips and coriander.And crisp-fried shallots… love those things.

Tamarind puree and bonito powder are available from Asian grocers.

Fried eggs with hummus and spicy green sauce

Phil Marchant – Gauge, Brisbane

I make this for breakfast using a little gas stove and tiny blender every time we go camping. The recipe for the green sauce makes more than you need for the eggs, but it'll keep in a jar if refrigerated and you can throw it on anything.

For the green sauce, you'll need one green capsicum (chopped), six large green chillies with the stalks removed, one clove of garlic, one bunch each of Italian parsley and coriander, the juice of half a lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. Blitz everything together and you're done.

Melt a large knob of butter in frypan. Add a garlic clove (sliced) and a pinch each of cumin and smoked paprika. After 30 seconds, add two eggs. Fry and baste until crisp and golden.

Toast a Lebanese-style flatbread directly over a gas flame and spread with hummus and green sauce. Throw the eggs on top and enjoy.

Kale with radicchio, chestnut and anchovy

Sean McConnell – Monster, Canberra

I cooked this up on the Weber recently to go with a roast chook and it was one of the best knock-together dishes I've ever created at home. Roasted chestnuts are everywhere in winter and you should be able to pick some up from a farmers' market or street vendor.

Pick a nice bunch kale leaves – cavolo nero, Russian kale, purple kale, whatever you like. Give them a quick blanch in boiling water, refresh, roughly chop and set aside.

Roughly chop 200g of roasted chestnuts. Drain and reserve the oil from a 60g tin of Ortiz anchovies and roughly chop the anchovies. Pour the Ortiz oil into a hot, heavy-based pan with a good knob of butter. As the butter starts to foam, add three cloves of garlic (bruised with the side of your kitchen knife), a few sprigs of thyme and the chestnuts. Cook over a medium-high heat to caramelise the garlic and chestnuts then add the anchovies and zest and juice of one lemon. Finish with a handful of chopped Italian parsley.

Toss with the kale and a head of radicchio, roughly julienned. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Noodles with miso-poached fish and mushrooms

Karen Martini – Mr Wolf, Melbourne

Dissolve quite a bit of white miso paste in water, or chicken stock if on hand. Bring the liquid to a simmer and poach a fillet of diced fish of your choice. Sliced beef, roast pork or firm tofu also work. Add a chopped spring onion (or wakame seaweed if you like) and a few mushrooms (shiitake are good). Simmer for a minute and pour in a bowl over cooked instant ramen-style noodles. Top with kimchi from the jar and a grind of sesame seeds. For a deluxe version, you can drop in a soft-boiled egg.

B.E.G.O ochazuke

​Morgan McGlone – Belles Hot Chicken, Melbourne and Sydney

This is my favourite quick and easy five-minute meal – bacon, egg and green onion ochazuke, a type of Japanese rice soup. I've been making it since I was a third-year apprentice. You'll need a cup of cooked rice on hand – Japanese short grain is best.

Make a quick chicken dashi of 500ml chicken stock to one-half packet instant dashi. Heat dashi until it's boiling. Meanwhile, slice one rasher of thick-cut bacon into lardons and fry in a nonstick pan on medium-high heat until crisp. Slice three green onions and chop a clove of garlic. Add these to the bacon with a teaspoon of sesame oil. Cook for 30 seconds.

Add cooked rice and spread thinly so the rice will crisp – about 90 seconds. Whisk two whole eggs while the rice crisps, add to the pan and cook for a further 30 seconds. Pour 1½ cups of the boiling dashi over the rice mix and season to taste with salt and white pepper. Pour into a bowl and garnish with togarashi (Japanese spice mix).

Baked bean ragu alla Monty

Monty Koludrovic – Icebergs Dining Room and the Dolphin, Sydney

This dish has its origins from my London days, sharing a flat with my mate Soren. It was a lifesaver the morning after the night before. I don't think any two batches were ever the same, but the recipe was simple: random fridge bits, a can of baked beans, chilli and voila! A nutritious masterpiece.

I've listed my go-to vegetables here, but get creative and use up whatever you've got. Go fancy with bacon and an egg, maybe. Or curry paste and leftover barbecue trims for a wild west version!

Splash 50ml of olive oil in saucepan over a medium-high heat. Roughly chop one garlic clove, a quarter of an onion, a handful of spinach, four cherry tomatoes and three leftover steamed or roasted potatoes. Throw all of it into the saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Add the one can of baked beans and stir well. Once hot, mix in 100g of feta cheese. Spoon onto a plate to and top with any leftover herbs and your two favourite chilli condiments – chilli bean paste and Tabasco, say. Get on it.

Hokkien noodles stir-fried with ginger

Kylie Kwong – Billy Kwong, Sydney

Whisk two eggs in a bowl and make a fluffy omelette. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel. Roughly chop the omelette and set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in a hot wok with ginger slices and green onion stems and stir-fry for one minute. Toss in Hokkien noodles (if the noodles are fresh, simply blanch in boiling water for four minutes, refresh under cold water and drain thoroughly), a sprinkle of brown sugar, a splash of soy sauce and stir-fry for three minutes or until noodles are hot.

Add a drop of sesame oil, freshly chopped chilli, bean sprouts and a handful of fresh herbs. Serve hot noodles topped with the omelette.