Student Kitchen: Top TipsS

For this blog post, I thought I would write something a bit different while I am finalizing some of my latest recipes (including my gluten free pizza in 30minutes recipe!!).

Here are my kitchen top tips from my student experience, do you have any others?

Basic store cupboard ingredients. Lots of other students and food bloggers have their own list of basic/essential store cupboard ingredients, but here are my top 10:

1. Gluten free bread flour – I use doves farm white bread flour and I have just managed to get hold some of their GF brown bread flour, can’t wait to try it out!
2. Gluten free self-raising flour – Perfect for cakes, pancakes and general gluten free baking with the baking powder adding a little extra rise to make up for the absent gluten.
3. Soya and/or chickpea flour. Both have amazing nutty, savoury flavours great to roll out dough or pastry in whilst also being high in protein so can replace gluten and eggs in most baked goods.
4. Salt and pepper
5. Herbs
6. Cider vinegar or white wine vinegar – vinegar is needed in most gluten free bread recipes to help the texture but I also use it in savoury sauces to bring out flavours.
7. Eggs
8. Yeast
9. Bicarbonate of soda
10. Caster sugar

Befriend the freezer – you never know when you are going to get offered free food or end up eating at someone’s house. Avoid fresh food going off, vegetables loosing nutrients and wasting your student finance by buying frozen vegetables which generally cheaper anyway but you can’t freeze most vegetables in a conventional freezer because of the freezing process. Other essentials like cheese and meat you can freeze yourself but I recommend that you chop it up first. This is just a fraction of the contents of my freezer for ideas…

Get some cook books. As a student, it is very easy to get into the stereo typical cycle of always eating pasta. Get a few simple cook books to look through while watching TV to give you some inspiration for you meals. One of my favorites is Courtyard Kitchen, it has great for dinners full of flavour on the cheap.

Meal plan before you go shopping. Whatever day of the week suits you for doing your food shop, take the time to plan your meals for the next week or for a few days around your plans. And trust me, you will spend less and have more money to spend on clothes, in which you may actually end up spending more but oh well you have new clothes.

Cook for 2. Always cook for 2. Whether you end up putting a portion in the freezer for another day or giving it to a house mate who has had a tough day, or lets be honest, eating it all. Its always worth making more than you need.

Herbs. Get them fresh and in pots, give them a little water when you get you cup of tea in the morning, brighten up the kitchen but don’t forget to move them out when there’s a party. Leeds uni has a lovely farmers market every Monday that sells herb posts but most supermarkets also sell them cheaply. Even grow them from seeds if you are feeling super keen. Herbs are great to chuck into meals at the begining or end to add an extra bit of flavour, you cant really go wrong with them. I recommend having the basic basil, rosemary and coriander but parsley and mint are also good ones to have in. Another plus is that they get rid of that well known student house smell.

Student kitchens often very small for the number of people, if like me you are running out of space in your cupboards or you can’t reach the things at the back, put a crate in each cupboard and use as a draw. I used these ones which I put all my clothes in to bring them up to uni. Forgive the mess, its been a busy week.If you are feeling a bit edgy, you could even buy wooden ones from Ikea!

Bakers gonna bake. Stock up on ingredients when they are on offer, particularly eggs, butter and chocolate. They last ages, even eggs can last weeks past their sell by date. This will mean you always have the ingredients in to bake a cake – no popping into the expensive local for top ups.

Coffee shop lovers. If you like your daily rants with friends or cant work in your room but student finance is running low, go to the same coffee shop every time. This may sound boring but as well as actually using those loyalty cards, you will get to know the employees and meet people that aren’t students! Plus, you might get some free extras. but shhh.

Finally, gluten free students. If you are not on prescription, like me, life can be very expensive so I usually make my own bread. It doesn’t take long as most GF recipes don’t need kneading. I always aim to do work during the proving time too, although often that ends up being TV time. Each batch of bread usually lasts me a week or if you want to eat it fresher, freeze half the loaf sliced. Gluten free bread recipes are becoming a lot better and all you need is some basic ingredients all included in my basic shopping list above. I have a few recipes of my own on my blog and I am working on a gluten free baguette recipe as well as the 30 minute pizza base recipe. If you want a basic bread as good, if not better than the stuff in shops, use the doves farm bread recipe on the packet of their bread flour. Some recipes are a bit hit and miss but that one does not need any unusual ingredients.

I would love to hear some of your top tips, I hope you find these useful.

Hattie x

Peppery Cheesy Pasta

A throw back to my summer in Italy eating pici cacio e pepe, this is a lovely quick one pot wonder recipe using basic store cupboard ingredients.

Ingredients for one portion:

• 100g of any pasta – I used Waitrose gluten free stelline pasta
• 10g of extra virgin olive oil – yes grams, it’s just less washing up 
• 20g of Parmesan or strong cheese finely grated
• 1/2 a teaspoon of ground pepper
• 10g of salted butter  and a sprinkling of chopped parsley (optional)

Method: 

• Boil the pasta for the time stated on the packet.
• A couple of minutes before the pasta will be cooked, pour the olive oil into the serving bowl and add about 40g of the pasta water. Stir in the cheese with a fork then add in the pasta once cooked and drained. Stir the mixture until the sauce is all combined then add the pepper to taste.
• To give a slightly flavour, add some butter. Once you are happy with the flavour, sprinkle the dish with parsley and eat.

This dish is fairly similar to carbonara but it is a much quicker alternative with very minimal washing up – a perfect student dish. Great after a long day at uni for a quick source of energy before going to events in the evening.

Also because it doesn’t have an egg in, it can also be reheated or frozen for another day.

Hattie xx

Perfect Puff

*I apologize for this photo angle but it was taken for A Level needs*

I love this puff pastry recipe, I used it so often while living at home and I will definitely be using it again soon so I thought I would share it with you. I developed it a bit through my A Level food coursework so now it is pretty fool proof. Just remember to give the pastry an egg or milk was before it goes in the oven and you will get the perfect finish every time.

Ingredients:

Puff pastry	100g glutenfree plain flour
	35  g corn flour
	1tsp xanthan gum
	25g cold butter cubed 1cm ish
	250ml cold water
	100g cold butter rolled out into sheets of 4 qual rectangular sheets then refrigerated
	1 egg + 40ml of water

Method:

• Sieve the dry ingredients into a medium bowl to mix them evenly then rub in the 25g  of cubed cold butter. Add water a little at a time until you form a soft dough. You can do these stages in a food processor if you are feeling lazy.
• On a floured surface toll out the dough into a rectangle about 0.5 cm thick. Place one slab of butter in the middle then fold the top and bottom of the dough over the butter making sure none of the butter is showing. Flour then roll out to 1cm thick. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Repeat with the other 3 slabs of butter making sure you flour the surface each time.
• For the last rest in the fridge, only leave it for 10-15 minutes before rolling it out and shaping it. Once shaped, brush with a watered down egg wash.

Tip: Use Gram flour to roll out the pastry. If you haven’t realized yet, I love the flavour and colour it gives pastry.  If you don’t have any, I would recommend buying some, it is so versatile and a great change to rice flour. It is available at most health food and ethical shops  but you can also get Doves Farm’s variety from some large supermarkets.

Serving suggestions:

Mini pain au chocolate – melt 200g of dark chocolate in the microwave then leave to cool for about 15 minutes. Cut the pastry into rectangles of about 12cm by 6cm. Spread 3tsp of the chocolate onto each rectangle the fold each side over into thirds. Brush with an egg wash then place in a 200C oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Sausage rolls – follow my blog post using Silly Yak pastry to make sausage rolls.

Cheese and bacon turnovers – Cut the pastry into 10cm squares. Turn the square to make it a diamond then place a slice of part cooked bacon a tablespoon of cheese in the center. Fold the middle points over the bacon and cheese into the center. Brush the pastry with an egg wash then bake until golden brown.

and  pie of course.

Hattie x

Gnocchi

Gnocchi are a great change to the usual gluten free carbohydrates and they are so quick and easy to cook, I don’t know why they are so underappreciated.

Gnocchi is another potato based food that can very easily be made gluten free but for some reason they add wheat flour. However, you can increasingly find pre made gluten free gnocchi very cheaply in health food shops and even in Tesco gluten free isle. But, if you fancy giving it a try to make gnocchi here are 3 recipes of mine that I developed in my food A Level.

Plain gnocchi	175g arrowroot flour
	500g potatoes pealed
	2 egg yolks
	2tsp salt
	1 litre of stock
Spinach gnocchi	175g arrowroot flour
	500g potatoes pealed
	2 egg yolks
	2tsp salt
	200g spinach
	1 litre of stock
Sweet potato gnocchi	175g arrowroot flour
	500g sweet potato peeled
	2 egg yolks
	2tsp salt
	1 litre of stock

Method:

• Boil the potatoes whole until soft, use a fork to check them because the time will depend on the size of the potatoes you use.
• Use a potato ricer to mash the potatoes into a bowl.
• While the potatoes are still hot, make a well in the center and into it add the salt, egg yolks and flour.
•  Use a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients into a rough dough then kneed lightly on a floured surface (I recommend rice flour or plain flour blend) until a smooth mixture forms.
• Quarter the dough and roll each into a centimeter diameter sausage then using a metal dough scraper or pallet knife, cut each into 1.5 cm pieces then place on a tray to dry slightly before cooking. Leave for at least 30 minutes to avoid sticking or if you aren’t going to eat them in one sitting, leave them for at least an hour before putting them in the fridge or freezer.
• optional use a gnocchi paddle to shape each piece before resting, following the instructions on the gnocchi paddle packet.

Just before serving, boil the gnocchi in stock for about 5 minutes or until they float. The sweet potato gnocchi tend to take a couple of minutes longer.

Serving suggestion:

Saute some onions (20g per person) and garlic (1/2 a clove per person) in a knob of butter then add tomato puree (30g per person). When the gnocchi is all floating on the surface of the stock, add in the tomato mixture and leave to boil until the liquid reaches a consistency where it will cover the back of a wooden spoon.

 Hattie x

Another Try With Laucke Flour

If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.

Okay, so I wasn’t completely put off by my first try with the Laucke Gluten free bread mix but I have to say I think I love it. It may only be my second try with the mix but it has definitely improved a lot. I used to love making Isabel’s gluten free dough balls and I loved the light effect the cheese gave to the texture so I decided to add some cheese to the bread mix to see what effect that had on the previously chewy texture. I also followed a review’s advice about adding olive oil, this would improve the flavour without overpowering the cheese.

So, here’s what I used:

• 1 x 500grams packet of Laucke Flour gluten free white bread mix (still available at Lakeland)
• 60grams of olive oil
• 120grams of warm water
• 45grams of red Leicester grated
• 45grams of strong cheddar grated

I basically followed the instructions on the packet, adding the flour mix, water and oil then whisking before stirring in the cheese. I put the mix into an oiled tray before covering and leaving to prove for 30minutes. I brushed the bread with more olive oil and sprinkled with rock salt before baking for about 30minutes at 190C.

I love this mix because it is so simple and you don’t need any unusual ingredients in like most other gluten free bread recipes. Adding these extra ingredients gave the bread a lovely light cheesy taste without being too strong. The texture still isn’t the best but it is really good for gluten free bread, particularly a quick bread like this. I definitely recommend this to anyone who is gluten free and looking for a quick homemade snack or an improvement on the usual sandwich loaf.

Hattie x