The secret to a great TV dinner | Kitchen aide

. UK edition

Zena Kamgaing's creamy tomato and harissa pasta.
Pasta is a reliable go-to for sofa suppers: Zena Kamgaing’s creamy tomato and harissa pasta. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura/Bloomsbury. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay.

It’s all about ‘easy bowl food’, and grub you can shovel in on the sofa without having to cut anything up

What are the best summer TV dinners?
Mel, by email
Few are as committed to teas on knees as Ella Risbridger: “It appals my parents, but I eat on the sofa just about every day,” says the author of The Kitchen Book. The key, she says, is not having to cut anything up: “One-handed cooking is a good way of thinking about it,” which is to say that Mel should be looking for meals that require only a fork, a spoon or chopsticks. “That’s easier to do in winter, because then you’ve got the likes of casseroles, soups and stews, whereas a lot of summer food is based on big sharing platters, which are not ideal, because, while you can put them on the coffee table, there’s lunging involved.” Said movement not only upsets the balance, but often also results in spillages: “I’m currently looking at a lump of bicarb sopping up a turmeric stain on my sofa,” Risbridger adds by way of confirmation.

Other considerations of the sofa supper include getting as many textures and flavours as possible into every mouthful. “Wherever you dig, you want to be getting something good,” says Zena Kamgaing, author of Dinner Time. That’s why pasta is a regular go-to: “It’s easy bowl food. On a hot day, say, I’ll do a no-cook sauce by blitzing mascarpone with sun-dried tomatoes, a little harissa and fresh basil.” Risbridger, meanwhile, is partial to US-style chopped salads, although Vietnamese-inspired numbers also feature regularly: “Invest in a julienne peeler, because that can make salad feel fancy, and put any kind of protein in it: salmon, sliced steak.” Add rice – “Cold salad and warm rice is a delight” – or deploy twirlable cold noodles. “If you’re watching telly, curtains drawn, you’re not looking for a beautiful plate,” Risbridger says. “You want the focus to be on the deliciousness, and I cannot stress enough that a Vietnamese salad is the optimum, because it’s beautiful, but not in a way that means you have to concentrate on its beauty.”

Feeding more than one mouth is where sofa meals get more complex, though, Risbridger says: “You’re negotiating the elbows in, elbows out thing, then someone gets up and you all tip.” As a general rule, anything customisable will be welcome. “I’m very committed to the taco bar as a way of life,” she adds, but fajitas work, too. “Cocktail sticks are invaluable here, because you can skewer them closed, which helps with the transition from kitchen to sofa.”

On further consideration, however, Risbridger concludes that perhaps the best answer is actually quesadillas: “There’s a recipe in my book for a herby, spinachy, cheesy, mashed chickpea situation that’s the sweet spot between healthy and pizza.” Alternatively, throw caution to the wind and just embrace the mess, Kamgaing says: “My family are massive chicken wings people, and those are great if you’re watching a movie.”

All that said, Risbridger can’t help but return to Hetty Lui McKinnon’s tomato salad with dumplings: “You can’t believe how good it is – I ate it every day for a month.” Chop a load of tomatoes, fry the same weight of freezer dumplings, then toss the two in a mix of rice-wine vinegar, soy sauce and chilli crisp, as well as grated garlic and fresh basil. “Now that’s truly the perfect summer sofa food.”