Student Food

[Brucelles]

Cottage / Shepherd’s Pie

Since chicken mentioned it, here’s quick cottage pie. The difference between cottage pie and shepherd’s pie is beef or lamb. If you are a student and can’t work out which is which you deserve to fail .

Ingredients
Lamb or Beef mince - 500gms
Potatoes - 1kg
Carrots - 3 or 4 depending on size
Onion - one large or two medium
Tomato - either 1-2 tomatoes, chopped, or a tablespoon of tomato paste
Stock cube - (one beef OXO will do)
Cheese (strong Cheddar is best) - at least 50g
Butter 75g

Preparation
Fry the mince and the chopped onion in a pan until the meat is browned.
Add the chopped carrot (a single stick of celery sliced really thin is nice but not necessary) and stir on the heat for another 2 minutes. If you add a tablespoon of plain flour at this point the gravy will be a bit thicker.
Crumble in the OXO cube with the tomato / tomato paste and stir a little until it’s all mixed, then add 250 ml of hot water. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or so.
Peel and boil the spuds. You can cut the spuds into smaller chunks than usual to help them soften. About 15 minutes.
Drain the spuds and mash with a lump of butter (about 75g) and grate in some of the cheese leaving a slack handful for later.
Pour the mince into a baking dish and spread the potato over it. I tend to use a spatula to flatten lumps and then flop them on like layers of clay.
Scatter the remaining cheese on top.
Bake for around 25 minutes at 190C/375F. If the top isn’t crusty and brown leave for longer.

Variations
Use a can of tomatoes instead, and don’t add water.
Use 2 leeks instead of the onion

[Instinct]

So far ive been living on a mix of soup, pasta chille con carne, bolognese and urrr Beans?
Oh also cooked up some mean fry ups xD (For the morning after a big night out xD

Anyone have a recipe for toad in the hole cus thats so yummy and quite easy to make i know (A huge yorkshire pudding with sausages, how can you go wrong ?)

[Brucelles]

OK. Here's my

Toad in the Hole

Serves 4

Ingredients
Pork Sausages - 8
Plain White Flour - 110g
Milk - 300ml
Small Eggs - 2
Salt - ½ tsp

Sieve the flour into a bowl, then make a dip in the centre and crack in the eggs.
Pour in half the milk and then mix with a wooden spoon until smooth then add the remaining milk.
Beat or whisk or stir vigourously with a fork until fully combined.
Allow to rest for 15 to 30 minutes, whisk again before use.
Preheat the oven to 230°C; 450°F: Gas 8
Fry the sausages in a pan to lightly brown them and remove excess fat, keep the fat.
Place the fat in a small roasting tin adding a little oil, if necessary, to bring the amount of fat up to about 4 tbsp.
Heat the fat until smoking hot (This is not optional, if the fat isn't really hot the batter won't fluff properly) then pour in the batter.
Add the sausages and place into the hot oven.
Bake for about 5-10 minutes at the temperature given, then reduce to 200°C; 400°F: Gas 6 and bake 20 to 30 minutes or until the batter around the sausages has risen and is a deep golden brown. Don't open the door to look until the whole time has passed. Nice if you have an oven with a window and interior light.
Serve immediately or the pudding will deflate.

Gravy
The best gravy for Yorkshire Pud / Toad in the Hole is beefy onion gravy. This is easy to do while you are doing the TITH. Here's a simplified version.

Ingredients
2 large onions, thinly sliced in rings, ideally including red or sweet onions
250 ml beef stock
Optional - 50 ml of booze - red wine, beer or anything flavoursome (Martini Rosso for instance)
75 g butter
1 tsp plain flour
Salt and black pepper (to taste)

Method
Melt the butter in a heavy pan and cook the onion on the hob for 20 minutes, stirring frequently until soft (Note that you can nuke the onion for 3-4 minutes first in the microwave to save time)
Turn the heat down very low, do not cover the pan, and cook until the onions are brown, this could take around 1 hour or more, don't rush it, leave them cooking stir occasionally, just to check that they aren't burning. The long, slow cooking gets the best of the taste from the onions.
Sprinkle in the tsp of flour and stir, then add the stock and, if using it, the booze
Bring the gravy to the simmer, stir frequently, check the seasoning and serve.

[mycarsavw]

Notice how the OP hasn't replied.

Super Noodles FTW!
I could easily live off supernoodles.

I wonder how long someone would survive on spernoodles alone....

Maybe he attempted this?

[me5354]

I survived for a year over Microwaved ready made meals from large super markets, not always cheap but its tasty and easy and all you need to wash is the fork :3

[bledd]

tesco & asda sel super cheap noodles, about 11p per pack i think, they come with flavourings too

use them as a base, then add these to them.. change each day..
chicken
sausage
bacon
/rotate

[freddie]

Go To Supermarkets Late, About 5pm Onwards, Sandwiches Should Be Half The Price.

Always Look For The Promotions, If It's Long Life, Stock Up On 2 Packets Of Cereal Or Ribena. It'll Keep.

Pasta Is Filling As Is Noodles, Buying Or Making Sauce Is Fairly Cheap As Well. Iceland Usually Have Plenty Of Deals For Frozen, If You Have A Freezer. Aldi, Lidl And Asda Are Also Very Cheap For Food.

Buy Fruit And Veg From A Market, Much Cheaper And More Seasonal Than Supermarkets.

There Are Planty Of Recipe Ideas On The Web, Quick And Easy - But Tasty!

Enjoy!