Ultimate Beans on Toast

Everybody loves beans on toast. It's a student staple, and is perfect for a quick hunger fix at the end of a long day. But it doesn't have to be just emptying a tin into a saucepan - with a few more basic larder ingredients and an extra five minutes, you can transform it into something spectacular.

Ingredients (serves 2):
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- ½ a red chilli
- 1½ x 400g tins baked beans
- 200g tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- handful fresh parsley
- 4 slices bread, toasted and buttered
- handful grated cheddar cheese

Alternatively, you could just use two tins of Heinz 5 beans, though they're a bit more expensive unless you can get them on offer.

1. Pour a dash of olive oil and a knob of butter in a saucepan, and add the onion, garlic and chilli. Cook for five minutes until beginning to soften, then tip in the kidney beans.
2. Add the baked beans and simmer, stirring regularly, until they're beginning to go slightly mushy (or however you like them - this is my preference). Add the parsley and a twist of black pepper.
3. Pour the bean mixture over the toast, and sprinkle over the cheese. Enjoy!

Spaghetti Bolognese

As a child, I never much liked spaghetti bolognese. My sister always loved it - I have a vivid memory of a trip to Disneyland Paris more than ten years ago, and her spilling bright sauce down her new white Disney princess dress. 

The issue for me was always the pasta - I swirled and swirled my fork but just ended up doing what Fraser dubbed the 'furtive spaghetti face', as I anxiously tried to ensure I wasn't getting pasta all over my chin. It took me much longer than I'd like to admit before I realised I could just cut the damn things (though Mum and Shannon mock!), and suddenly my resentment of the whole dish vanished.

Since being at university in particular, I've loved making this. Cook in bulk, pop the leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch or freeze for next week's tea. It's an all-round winner!

Ingredients (serves 4):
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 1 stick celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 300g Quorn mince
- 1tsp each of dried oregano and rosemary
- 400g chopped tomatoes
- 400g kidney beans
- 1 Oxo cube
- glass of red wine
- 1 bay leaf
- 1tbsp red pesto
- handful fresh basil, torn
- salt and pepper, to taste

Some chopped mushrooms would go really well in here too, though I'm personally not a fan.

1. Grab yourself a large saucepan, and throw in the onion, carrot, celery and garlic along with a knob of butter. Cook these gently for about 10 minutes, until softened.

 

2. Tip in the Quorn mince (no need to de-frost) and cook 'til it starts to brown, then crumble over the Oxo cube and add the dried herbs, chopped tomatoes, red wine, kidney beans, pesto and bay leaf.
3. Bring the sauce to a boil, then allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes. This is a good time to sort out your spaghetti, too - 75g per person.
4. Season your bolognese to taste, and scatter in the fresh basil. Mix in the pasta, sprinkle with cheddar and enjoy your fork-swirling (/surreptitious cutting).

An Indian Feast

Before the end of term I decided I wanted to do a proper big dinner for a few of us, because I like cooking and I like people. Zosia had an 'Indian dip selection' in the fridge. That was that, really.

Sooooo I made a mixed bean curry and onion bhajis and chapatis and coriander rice. And it was exhausting. And also wonderful. The curry recipe belongs to a friend of my aunt and has been a favourite at home for years - it went down pretty well here, too! It's a long list of ingredients but don't be daunted: most of them are just store-cupboard spices. Also, because it needs time to marinade it's a good one to make earlier in the day.

Ingredients (serves 4):
- 1tbsp mustard seeds
- 1tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 2 chillis, chopped
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
-  ½tsp turmeric
- 1tbsp ground coriander
- 1tbsp ground cumin
- ½pt boiling water
- 4 large tins of beans (I tend to use 2 of chickpeas and 2 of kidney beans)
- 3 balls of frozen spinach
- handful fresh coriander

Method:
1. Grab your biggest saucepan and drizzle in some olive oil. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and heat until they start popping.
2. Add the onion, garlic and chilli and soften 'til the onion becomes clear (about 8 minutes).

3. Add the chopped tomatoes and spices and cook for a few more minutes, then add the water.
4. Stir well, then put on a lid (or some tin foil) and simmer on a low heat for 30-40 minutes.
5. Add the beans and spinach and stir until the spinach has de-frosted, then allow to cool and marinade for as long as you have time for.
6. Cook through when required, then season and add the fresh coriander.

Simple. For the rice, I cooked some basic brown rice and then added a squeeze of lime juice, some salt and pepper and some fresh coriander to liven it up a bit.

The onion bhajis I made were a very yummy side, and seemed to work fine with gluten free flour.

And it's easy to make chapatis. You need a tablespoon of both wholemeal and white flour per person (OR you can buy chapati flour and use 2tbsp per person. All the flour in our house at uni is gluten free, so it was actually cheaper for me to do this). Add a drizzle of olive oil and enough warm water to bring it all together in a dough, then knead for a couple of minutes. Cover with clingfilm, and then leave for an hour. 

Divide the dough into pieces (4 each, so it depends how many you're making for): they'll look small, but it's all good. Roll out as thin as you can without breaking them, then grab a frying pan and and cook the chapatis one at a time, for about a minute each side (you don't need any oil). Once cooked, transfer to a plate and spread with butter, then onto the next!

Serve up to your hungry friends and enjoy your feast.

The One That Made Rebecca Eat Vegetables

Mum could never make risotto - she has no patience for all the stirring - so we always had savoury rice instead. And as risotto is my university staple, this was my Mum's. And it's awesome. 

I made it last year for Zosia, Rebecca and Felix, and we noticed Rebecca leaving all the vegetables, which she'd done before but we'd never picked up on. We then discovered that Rebecca didn't like vegetables. Cue going through each one ('these are mange tout, they're kind of like peas...'), until SHE'D EATEN ALL THE VEGETABLES. This is my claim to fame and also brilliant-ness.

The 'Getting Rebecca to Eat Vegetables' Process

Ingredients:
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 300g brown rice
- 600ml water
- 1tsp marmite
- 1-2tbsp herb de provence
- 1tbsp tomato purée
- salt and pepper
- handful green beans
- 75g baby corn
- 75g sugar snaps, or mange tout
- 150g cheddar cheese, grated

Method:
1. In a large saucepan, fry the onion  and garlic with a knob of butter for a few minutes. Add the carrot and cook for about 8 more minutes, until softened.
2. Add the rice and stir well. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the water, marmite, tomato purée and herbs, and season.
3. Bring to the boil, then put on a lid (or tin foil if you don't have one), turn down the temperature and simmer for 30 minutes - stirring halfway through so it doesn't stick.
4. Add the beans, corn and sugar snaps and cook for 5 more minutes before adding the cheese. Turn off the heat and put the lid back on for a minute so all the cheese melts, then serve - preferably with lots of garlic bread or courgette fritters.

 It's super simple, and unlike risotto it requires no effort whatsoever. So no patience required! The only thing is it doesn't keep so well (though I may attempt savoury rice patties at some point), so make sure you have plenty of people to eat it all!

Spanish Bean Stew

Or 'Spanish Bean Cassoulet', if you're trying to feed someone fussy (*COUGH* Shannon, *COUGH* Alex) who gets put off when they hear 'stew'. The recipe belongs to my Mum's friend Christine, so I'm hoping I've done it justice and that my alterations aren't frowned upon too much! It's super cheap to make and the flavours are like nothing else I've ever had, and oh lordy the smell.

Ingredients:
- 3 shallots
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 peppers (not red)
- 2 sticks celery
- 10 new potatoes, washed
- 3 large tomatoes, chopped
- 400g tin green lentils
- 400g tin chickpeas
- 400g tin borlotti beans
- 2tbsp smoked paprika
- 1tbsp sweet chilli sauce
- water to cover
- 1 glass red wine
- 100g curly parsley

The celery is Mum's addition, and the wine is mine. Not just because I'm a student and that's what we do... I think it gives it an extra depth of flavour and helps everything else to come alive. Also, in terms of the beans, you can pretty much use what you like - this time I had cannelini beans instead of borlotti, and they were brill. ALL OF THE BEANS.

Method:

1. Roughly chop the shallots, garlic and celery into small-ish pieces (you're not going to blend it at the end like a soup, so however big you chop everything is pretty much the size they'll be at the end) and throw into a large pan with some olive oil.

2. Cook on a low heat while you chop the peppers, potatoes and tomatoes, and then add those too. Cook for a further 10 minutes or so, until everything's softened.

3. Stir in the beans and lentils, then add the smoked paprika and sweet chilli sauce. Pour in the wine and enough water to cover everything, then bring to a low boil. Cover (use tinfoil if you don't have a lid) and simmer for about an hour and a half, stirring every 20 minutes or so (I usually take the lid off for the last 20 minutes, too).

4. Once it's nicely reduced and you just can't stand the smell any longer, chop up the parsley and add to the pan along with some salt and pepper. Serve with lots of bread and butter.

NB: You can freeze any leftovers, though it does make it go slightly mushy. Still good though!

Vegetable Chilli (the best you've ever tasted)

This chilli is so easy to make that it's really impossible to get it wrong - it just takes a bit of time. It feeds a whole bunch of people (about 6) so is great if you're having friends round, plus it freezes brilliantly. It's also packed with the things your parents always ask if you're eating enough of, like BEANS (look, Mum!), and what’s more, you can adapt it to whatever you fancy or just happen to have in the fridge - use different kinds beans or vegetables, or play around with the spices to vary it.

 

Because of the awesomeness I ended up making it two days in a row last week - first to feed my friends before a night out, and the second time because Fraser requested it when he came to stay. I'd made double quantity the first night (there were 9 of us) but my hopes of leftovers were in vain!

Ingredients: 

- 1 onion

- 2 peppers (yellow and red)

- 2 sticks celery
- 1 large carrot

- 2 cloves garlic

- 2 chillies (red and green)

- 300g Quorn mince

- 1tsp chilli powder

- 1½tsp ground cumin

- 1tsp ground coriander

- 2tsp cinnamon 

- 1tsp paprika

- 1 glass red wine

- 2x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

- 2x 400g tin kidney beans (or any you like)

- 200ml vegetable stock

- 1 bay leaf

- 30g fresh coriander

Method:
1. Heat some olive oil in a large pan or wok. Roughly chop the onion, peppers, celery, carrot, garlic and chillies and add to said pan, then cook for about 10 minutes, until softened and beginning to colour.

2. Add the Quorn mince (straight from frozen, but bash it a bit to break it up first) and cook for a few minutes until it's browned, then add the spices and cook for a further 5 minutes. This is the only point where you really have to watch it, or the spices will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

3. Stir in the tomatoes, red wine, bay leaf, vegetable stock and beans (drained), then give it a good stir to mix it all together. Bring it to a boil, then let it simmer for about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so to make sure it isn't sticking.

4. Turn off the heat, then roughly chop the coriander and add it to the pan, along with salt and pepper to taste. You can serve it with basically anything - my favourite is in tortilla wraps with sour cream and a strong cheddar, but you could do it with rice and add chopped spring onions, or even just eat it by itself. The choice is yours! But do eat it - you're missing out until you do.

A Study in Pink

 

Advance warning: This is the most literary-related risotto recipe ever. It's also amazing and you should make it. Just don't blame me if you just can't handle the awesome that is PINK RISOTTO with roasted beetroot and butternut squash. Yes, I said pink risotto. Keep reading.

Ingredients (serves 4):
- 1 butternut squash
- 1 bunch raw beetroot 
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 large onions (or 1 onion and 1 leek, if you fancy)
- large handful French beans - approx 150g
- 300g/12oz arborio risotto rice
- 2 glasses white wine
- 1500ml vegetable stock
- 10-12 sage leaves
- 10 sprigs thyme
- 125g block soft goats' cheese
- salt and pepper



1. Start by peeling the squash and beetroot. Chop the squash into small-ish chunks and the beetroot into slices, then peel and finely chop three of the garlic cloves. Put into an oven dish and toss with some olive oil, salt and pepper and five of the thyme sprigs (the only way I've ever been able to do fresh thyme is to pick the leaves off a few at a time, which is very annoying, but always worth it.). Also, be aware that after peeling and chopping the beetroot you WILL feel like Lady Macbeth:

'Out damned spot! Out, I say! ... What! Will these hands ne'er be clean?'

2. Stick into a preheated oven at 180°C for 45-60 minutes, taking out every 15 minutes to stir. And while those are roasting, you can start your basic risotto - olive oil in a large pan, melt some butter, chop onions and the remaining garlic and add, and then cook for approx 5 minutes until soft and starting to colour slightly. Add the French beans (topped, tailed and halved) and cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Add the risotto rice and stir to coat, then tip in the wine and let it bubble and reduce down for a few minutes. Begin adding the stock, about a ladle-full at a time, and stir LOTS. The stock-adding process should be finished at about the same time the roasting vegetables are.

4. When the stock is all added and the vegetables are done, add them to the pan. Stir in, then season, chop the sage and the rest of the thyme and add that too. Then add the whole block of goats' cheese. Yes, all of it. Trust me. While you're doing this the hob should be on a low heat, and you should still be stirring lots. Your risotto will then make the transition...

...and become pretty in pink.

5. When all the cheese is mixed in and there are no white streaks, serve to your impressed and astonished housemates. Also, the more you stir it the pinker it will get. Garnish with a couple more sprigs of thyme for prettiness, and enjoy. It's particularly good served with garlic bread.

Yes of course we have a sunflower in a Champagne bottle - doesn't every student house?

 Ps. Zosia would like me to add that she is alive and will post again soon, but that life is very crazy and at the moment she doesn't have time to cook and only has time to eat my food. She didn't say that last bit, but it's totally true. I should start charging.

Flatbreads and Bean Dip

My madre always complains that I don't eat enough beans. 

 

At the beginning of the year I turned up at uni with thousands of cans of beans and chickpeas and things and when it came to it, I think I used about two of them. Maybe she's right but I'm not usually a bean fan. 

BUT when it came to the end of term, I was using up whatever was around. And that just happened to be beans.

These flatbreads were super easy to make and delicious with bean dip.

AND here's how you do it:

For the flatbreads:
1 cup of flour (I used Dove's Farm gluten free bread flour but this will work with ordinary flour too)

1/2 a teaspoon of yeast powder

1/4 of a teaspoon of sugar,

1/4 of a teaspoon of salt

1/3 of a cup of warm water (add more water if the dough gets too stiff and more flour if it gets too sticky)

1. Mix together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt.

2. Gradually add the warm water, mixing with a wooden spoon. 

3. Knead the dough about ten times. 

4. Form into eight balls. Flatten each with a rolling pin.

5. Heat up a frying pan. You don't need to use oil or butter.

6. Dry fry the flatbread for about 2 minutes on each side, or until it looks done.

For the bean dip:

400g can of butter beans

3 cloves of garlic

a splash of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of olive oil

lots of mint leaves

salt and pepper to taste

1. Drain the butter beans.

2. Chop and crush the garlic. Add to the butter beans along with the olive oil and lemon juice.

3. Blend this all together into a paste with a blender.

4. Chop the mint leaves. Stir them into the dip along with salt and pepper. Serve with the flatbreads.

Potato and Butterbean Curry

This has been one of my favourite things for a long time. 

When Mum says "what do you want for tea on your birthday", I often ask for this. It's utterly gorgeous and special enough for an occasion, but it's also relatively simple and easy to make. Winners all round!

I made this the other day at my dad's house in London, and it's somehow different to Mum's despite following her recipe, but Dad tactfully said it was "different but just as good" to avoid argument between Mother and myself. (Side note: I wasn't sure if we should post things that we hadn't cooked AT university, hence the lack of posts for a while, but Zosia pointed out that we're still students and we're still cooking! So looks like you won't be free from us in the summer hols after all, sorry folks.)

THE RECIPE:
- 8-10 small/new potatoes
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 or 2 fresh red chillies
- 1 rounded tbsp flour
- 2 1/2 tbsp med. curry powder
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 desert spoon of chutney*
- squeeze of lemon juice
- heaped des. spoon peanut butter
- 400g tinned tomatoes
- 2x 400g tin butterbeans
- 2 bay leaves
- 2/3 large pot of natural yoghurt

*we use our homemade marrow chutney but any would do - best would perhaps be a mango one.

It's a lot of ingredients, but I promise it's worth it. Plus the majority of it is larder-foods, which you can use over and over in other recipes. So there. ALSO this makes enough for 6-8 hungry people, so you can freeze your inevitable leftovers and use on a a lazy-day.

THE HOW-TO:

1. Chop the potatoes into small pieces and boil for 10/15 minutes, until tender.

2. Chop the onion, garlic and chilli(s). Put some olive oil in a wok or large saucepan and fry the onion garlic and chilli until soft - about 5/10 minutes.

3. Add the dry ingredients - the flour, curry powder and ginger - and cook for another 3/4 minutes. At this stage it should look something like this:

4. Add the tinned tomatoes, then fill the empty can 3/4 full with water and add that too. Also add the chutney, lemon juice, peanut butter and bay leaves.

5. Drain and rinse the butterbeans, and add those too. Season, and cook gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Add the potatoes. Put on the pan lid (or an upside-down plate if you don't have one) and simmer for a further 15/20 minutes.

7. Add the yoghurt and EAT.

Best served with long grain brown rice and chapattis. At home we make these ourselves, but that's just too much faff at uni so I bought some. Easy peasy. 

If you DO want to make them though (say, if you want to be gluten-free) - the mixture is a heaped tbsp of both white and wholemeal flour per person, drizzled with olive oil and enough warm water to make a dough. This is kneaded and left for at least an hour. It's then cut up into small pieces (4 per person) and rolled out, then dry-fried for about a minute each side and spread with as much butter as you dare.

And there you go. You can add or miss out anything you want - when I did the leftovers for myself and Rebecca yesterday I added some more ginger and a desert spoon of wholegrain French mustard. Plus, Rebecca said it was the best thing she'd ever tasted in her life. Beat THAT.

The Food Of The Gods: RISOTTO

Or the god of students anyway. But when life kicks you in the teeth there is nothing you can do but try and cook (and eat) your way out of it, and use it as an excuse to indulge in things like butter which you normally try not to have too much of.

And so, risotto is a natural choice. Especially when you just so happen to have made up a new recipe for one a few weeks ago which was the best ever. Win.

I'm going to vaguely call this 'green vegetable risotto'. I made enough for five people (note: Zosia believes this was more like enough risotto for eight people. Bryony loves to feed the world. Just sayin. :D), as there were three of us and I wanted some leftovers (the amazing things made with said leftovers will be posted in the next few days, so stay tuned folks). Soooo, I used:

- 1 large onion
- 1 medium-sized leek
- 4/5 spring onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- a good handful of French beans
- 375g/15oz arborio rice (75g/3oz per person)
- 2 glasses of white wine
- 1 1/2 litres veg. stock (75g rice = 375ml stock)
- approx. 100g parmesan, to taste
- and the SECRET INGREDIENT. Which is, one Tesco Finest green vegetable side dish. It sounds unimpressive, but everything in there is beautiful and it's miles cheaper than buying all the vegetables separately - plus it comes with the most gorgeous herb butter. Trust.
 


 Put some olive oil in a pan, and add a generous knob of butter. Chop up your leek, onion, spring onions and garlic and throw them in. Let them soften for about 5 minutes, then add your French beans.


Add the rice and stir to coat, then pour in the wine and simmer until slightly reduced. Now begins the epic stock-adding mission. As annoying as it is, stock should be added a ladle-full at a time, and the rice should have completely absorbed it before any more stock is added - meaning that you will be doing this for about 45 minutes. You also need to stir your risotto relatively regularly or it will stick, so pull up a chair and put some music on, and think of it as a work-out for your arm.

The 'Parmesan Grating Stance'

The strange 'before stock' stage

 
Once all the stock is in and has been absorbed then add your Secret Ingredient - but NOT the herb butter yet. Let your risotto cook for another 5 minutes or so, then add the parmesan and herb butter, and season.

And VOILA! It is time consuming but it's so easy, and certainly worth the effort. I served it with fresh herbs to garnish and some home-made garlic bread (mix spreadable butter with a clove of garlic per person, a squirt of lemon juice and some parsley, and spread over part-baked bread. Stick it in the oven - usually for about 10 minutes, until the edges of the bread are becoming golden and the butter has melted. Heavenly.).

Check back here soon for the best 'what-to-do-with-your-left-over-risotto' recipe ever. Trust me - it's well worth it.

We love herbs

And Americans don't get them.

At least, the Americans we lived with in the first term of uni didn't. But I LOVE HERBS, and hence on our kitchen window-sill there is a large plastic pot containing basil, parsley, mint and coriander.

The Hunny pot is our watering can.

It's a family trait I think. As well as making everything taste better there's a certain pride about cooking with something that you've looked after, if not grown from scratch because you're a student with no space/money/resources. I have such big plans for the garden in our house next year...

My favourite at the moment is parsley, which is why I have a GIANT pot of that. And also why I invented a new recipe a couple of weeks ago that uses shed-loads of it. It's basically my take on a cream and white wine pasta sauce, but it sure is yummy.

- 2/3 shallots or 1 onion
- 1 large clove of garlic (because garlic is amazing)
- 3/4 baby leeks, or 1 small normal-sized
- decent handful of french beans
- large glass of white wine (plus one to drink - chef's perk)
- half a stock pot*
- 150ml double cream, or to taste
- 1/2 handfuls of fresh parsley
- salt and pepper

*I like using half of one of those posh Knorr vegetable stock pots, which gives a lovely fresh flavour without being too strong. An OXO cube would be fine, but I'm lucky enough to have several boxes of these which my mum sent down in a food parcel. Thanks Mum :D

Stick some olive oil in a sauce pan and melt a knob of butter (adding the oil first will stop the butter from burning). Add your shallots, baby leeks and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the beans. Cook until they're starting to colour a little and smelling pretty good - about 8 minutes - then add the wine and let it simmer down a bit (about 5 minutes).

Next add your stock pot/cube, the cream and half the parsley so the flavours can infuse. This will take quite a little to reduce and thicken, so now's a good time to drink your own glass of wine and have a dance around the kitchen.

When you're happy with the consistency and the amount of sauce you have add your seasoning - I think it's important to taste with this recipe to get it spot on. Add the rest of the parsley, and voila!

I think this is best served with some sort of ravioli, and something bready like garlic dough balls to get all the sauce at the end. Parmesan (real cheese, not the weird pot stuff that claims to be vegan) finishes it off beautifully.

And a word to the wise, never leave your herbs unattended with Americans around. It's just not worth it.