We brought you our favourite, easy to make recipes from Sodexo in City Social this week. Throughout October we have been bringing you our ‘Look After Your Mate’ Campaign and there is no better way to feel good when the weather is cold than a hot meal! But better than that is a hot meal with friends, all the recipes are great to share and inexpensive.
The below recipes are all student favourites or remind them of home and come from your RSAs:
Adam’s Flapjack Recipe
Ingredients and utensils
· 125g of butter or margarine
· 100g of soft brown sugar
· 4 tablespoons of golden syrup *Top tip get the squeezy bottle and do 4 squeezes (less messy ?)
· Optional
· Chocolate (break into the individual squares and stir in later)
· Baking tin
· Large bowl for mixing
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C
2. In a saucepan on a low heat (3 or 4) add the butter/margarine, sugar and golden syrup and stir until the butter is melted.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl add the oats and chocolate (if using chocolate)
4. Once the butter mixture is melted slowly pour into the bowl with the oats.
5. Stir to ensure all oats are coated and are starting to stick together.
6. Once the mixture is sticking together pour onto the baking tin. The mixture should be fairly thick. (if it is looking thin only cover half the tin and make thicker squares.)
7. Bake for 30 mins or until the top is golden.
8. Once removed from the oven place on a large plate use a sharp knife to cut the flapjack into squares.
9. Leave to cool and enjoy.
Patrick is your RSA at Percy’s Lane!
Ziti al forno
This dish is a famed Italian comfort food. It is essential baked pasta with several layers of cheese and tomato sauce… Sounds enticing, no?
While (if prepared correctly) this can easily feed a small family, be warned: it can take several hours and a lot of preparation to capture the authentic Sicilian taste. It’s also best served with a glass of red wine, as you may expect.
Ziti al forno was first prepared in my own house this summer. Though it took me three attempts to cook properly, my family were greatly satisfied with the end result.
With that in mind, don’t panic if your first attempt doesn’t turn out quite how you expected. Practice makes perfect, especially with dishes such as these.
As the Italians say: tutto finisce a tarallucci e vino (it all ends with biscuits and wine!)
Ingredients
2 onions, coarsely chopped
180g olive oil
2 800ml cans peeled plum tomatoes, puréed
8 – 12 basil leaves
2 teaspoons salt
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
450g whole milk ricotta
2 eggs
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano, plus extra for serving
225g mozzarella, diced
450g ziti or other tubular pasta
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Instructions
In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the onions until they’re golden brown. Add the tomatoes to the onion. Add the basil, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for 1 hour.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
In a large bowl combine the ricotta, eggs, parsley, 2 tablespoons Parmigiano, ¾ of the diced mozzarella and the remaining salt and pepper.
Cook the pasta for half of the manufacturer’s directions. Drain, and add it to the ricotta mixture. Mix in half of the tomato sauce. Coat the bottom of a 9 x 12 inch baking pan with a spoonful of sauce. Add the pasta mixture to the pan. Cover with the remaining mozzarella and Parmigiano and a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce. Bake, uncovered, at 180º C for approximately 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the sides are bubbling.
Serve immediately with a spoonful of sauce and grated Parmigiano.
Chris is also the RSA down on Percy’s Lane!
A simple Hunters Chicken recipe
Ingredients
2 skinless chicken breast fillets
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon
1 tub BBQ sauce
2 to 3 handfuls grated cheese
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 190 C / Gas 5.
Bring a small pan of water to the boil. Add the chicken and boil gently for 10 minutes, then drain and place in an ovenproof dish.
Wrap each breast with two bacon rashers, then cover in BBQ sauce. Finally, sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, or till the cheese is bubbly and the chicken is cooked through.
Emily is your RSA at St John Central!
Tortilla wrap pizzas
Ingredients:
2x mini tortilla wraps
1x jar tomato passata
Toppings of your choice (e.g. ham, mushroom, pineapple)
Italian herbs
Mozzarella/cheese of choice
Salad bag
Method:
1. Heat oven to 180 degrees
2. Place tortillas on baking tray sprayed with frylight/greased
3. Spread passata thickly on top till all apart from outer centimetre is covered
4. Sprinkle Italian herbs on top, and arrange toppings as desired
5. Sprinkle cheese on top, and then bake for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on your ‘pizza’ in case the edges start to burn. Add 10 minutes extra if you want your ‘pizza’ to be on the crispy side
6. Serve with a portion of salad for a healthier alternative that will quash student comfort food cravings
Here’s an easy, not so expensive recipe I love to make when I’m on the go!
It’s high in protein so helps you stay fuller for longer and is extremely nutritious so gives you an instant boost in energy 
🙂
🙂Siya is also the RSA for St John Central
Chorizo Hummus Bowl:
- 400g chickpeas
- 2 olive oil
- 1/4th tbsp lemon juice
- 1 – 2 small cooking chorizo (chopped)
- lemon juice
- seasoning such as Italian herbs or chilli flakes
- flatbread, to serve
1. Warm the chickpeas in a microwave. Drain and reserve the liquid. Tip half the chickpeas into a small food processor with 1 tbsp oil, the lemon juice and a splash of the liquid from the tin and whizz to a paste. Season with herbs.
2. Put the chorizo in a small frying pan and cook over a low heat until it starts to release its oils, then turn up the heat and continue cooking until the chorizo starts to crisp. Add the remaining chickpeas and stir for a couple of mins. Stir in the kale and cook until it wilts.
3. Spoon the warm hummus into a bowl and tip the chorizo, chickpeas and kale on top. Drizzle over the remaining oil, season well and serve with flatbread for scooping up.
Lauryn is the RSA at the Grange Site!
Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe
You will need –
A Patak’s Tikka Masala Meal Kit which includes spices, curry paste and the tikka sauce.
500g Chicken
Bit of oil
Rice
How to:
Dice chicken
Fry the spices in the pan in oil for 30 seconds
Add the curry paste and add 50ml of water before adding the diced chicken
Let this simmer until the water is almost evaporated and the chicken is cooked through
Add the sauce and leave for 15 minutes to simmer
While this is simmering add the rice and water to a pan and cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
When the rice is ready serve while still warm with naan bread.
Rebecca is also down at The Grange!
Here’s a recipe I often follow when making a pasta bake. This is perfect to cook as a house or even for the house as a group tea! It also costs very little. May seem a very simple recipe but it goes down a treat!
1). Cut up some mushrooms and onions into thin strips and shallow fry them for five minutes.
2). Fill a pan with pasta and boil until thoroughly cooked. 3). Heat up a tin of tinned tomatoes/chopped tomatoes in a pan. 4). Drain the pasta of water and then add the mushrooms, onions and chopped tomatoes. 5). Alternatively, if you did not want to use chopped tomatoes, you could use a tin of pasta sauce and add it to the pasta. Then let it simmer on the hob for 4-5 minutes. 6). Once mixed together, transfer to a baking dish and top with grated cheese (optional but makes it very tasty!).
7). Bake in the oven at gas mark 5 for 15-20 mins until the cheese on top is golden and starting to brown.
8). Serve and Enjoy!
Could always add garlic bread to enjoy further!
Aneesa is your RSA at Limes Court!
Veggie stir fry
Preparation time: less than 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 to 30 mins
Serves 2
Ingredients
· 1 tbsp sunflower oil
· 2 spring onions, cut into 4cm/1½in lengths
· ½ garlic clove, crushed
· ½ carrot, cut into matchsticks
· ½ red pepper, cut into thick matchsticks
· Sweetcorn
· ½ courgette, cut into thick matchsticks
· Sugar-snap peas or mangetout, trimmed
· 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
· 1 soy sauce
Method
1. Heat a wok on a high heat and add the sunflower oil. Add the spring onions, garlic, ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute, then reduce the heat. Take care to not brown the vegetables.
2. Add the carrot, red pepper and baby sweetcorn and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the courgette and sugar snap peas and stir-fry for a further 3 minutes. Toss the ingredients from the centre to the side of the wok using a wooden spatula. Do not overcrowd the wok and keep the ingredients moving.
3. Add 1 tablespoon water, hoisin and soy sauce and cook over a high heat for a further 2 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked but not too soft. Serve with noodles or rice.
Recipe Tips
· Make sure all the food is prepared before you start cooking.
· Cut all of the vegetables to a similar size to ensure they cook evenly.
· The oil needs to be hot before you start cooking but reduced to a medium heat once you start cooking.
If you have any great recipes we want to hear from you, let us know your family favourites!