Spanish slow-roasted pork belly is widely known as the tapas bar dish 'torreznos con mojo dulce,' a sweet spicy sauce. But it also has other guises such here, served with a fresh, green salsa verde, skin-on roasted potatoes, Rioja-style beans and grilled padrón peppers. It's a slow dish, but gets on with it in the background while you get on with other things. A great weekend family meal or alternative to a traditional Sunday roast.

My father chanced upon this spicy Sicilian spaghetti with scallops in Palermo in the 1960s and it's been a family favourite ever since. It's brimming with flavours—scallops, anchovies, peperoncino, capers, shallots, and more—but takes less than 30 minutes to make. Above all, good quality olive oil is the star. It's a healthy, easy option perfect for hot weather.

Indian methi chicken curry—chicken with fresh fenugreek leaves—is a dish traditional to a number of regions of India, each with their own take on it. It's not really a "curry" in the popular sense, in that the spices are mild and relatively minimal and the gravy lighter and less complicated to make than better-known Indian dishes. Yes, it's very easy to cook.

Thai red curry is one of the best-known Thai dishes around the world. One of the four in the quartet of Thailand's most successful culinary exports, it can be vegan, pescatarian or carnivore. More importantly, if you use this recipe based on how street vendors produce it, it's easily adaptable to the needs of dining parties with different requirements.

This easy Malaysian beef curry is very simple; easy to slow-cook, but ensure you allow enough time for it. The dense flavours of the beef and coconut are balanced by fresh green flavours, in this case green beans and choy sum, These are all wrapped in the heady flavours of lime, ginger, lemongrass, cloves and nutmeg, among numerous others.

This weekend leftovers Durban curry turns remnants from a weekend roast or braai into a delicious weeknight meal whether chicken, lamb or beef—as I'm doing here—without it tasting like an afterthought. A modern tradition from South Africa's Eastern Seaboard, you can enjoy it anywhere there are leftovers

A riff on the British Sunday roast, this Eastern Mediterranean roast lamb is served with autumnal veggies and spätzle dressed in the fresh flavours of spinach, feta and parsley. It's a nod to the food culture that Turkish immigrants brought with them to Germany. But, don't let the highfalutin concept get in the way: it's a delicious meal and, importantly a slow-cooked treat that won't stress out whoever is cooking the Sunday roast.

This vegan mushroom masala from Durban has become a go-to weekday curry, easy and fairly quick to make. If you love mushrooms and a bit of spice, this should definitely be in your repertoire. It's also easily adapted for non-vegans.

This chicken leftover pie is a great way to make use of roast chicken, a perfect second act for all those households that love roast chicken, but don't have the capacity to devour an entire bird at the Sunday table.

A chorizo and chickpea stew (potaje) from the north of Spain full of vegetable goodness. In addition to the core ingredients, it includes shallots, sweet peppers, tomatoes, broad beans and a plethora of leafy green herbs.

Lombard chicken with pumpkin, fennel and asparagus; adaptation an 18th-century recipe