While thousands of students are enjoying going flatting the for the first time, finding their way around a kitchen can be problematic.
Rebecca Fox asked Otago Daily Times Fresh columnists for their advice for first-time cooks.
• ALISON LAMBERT
In Season columnist
What is your worst food memory from your first time flatting?
A friend trying to cook pasta in cold water and jammed into a small pot. Then mixing the overcooked mushy pasta with baked beans!
Advice on cooking for the first time?
Keep it simple, read through the recipe and try to use fresh, seasonal ingredients which will be more economical and tastier.
Favourite dish to cook when flatting?
Sausage pasta.
What kitchen gadget would they be best to invest in?
An electric frypan with a lid as they are good for pancakes, making stir-fry, casseroles etc and bulk cooking.
Sausage pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 lamb, pork or spicy beef sausages
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic
2-3 tomatoes, roughly cut
olive oil for cooking
handful fresh spinach, rocket or calvalo nero (optional)
salt and freshly ground pepper
freshly grated parmesan cheese
500g fresh or dried pasta, penne, orechiette etc
Method
Start by filling two-third of a large pot with heavily salted water and bring to a rolling boil.
Meanwhile, put a dash of oil in a large frypan and heat. Remove the meat from the sausages by squeezing it out so they form little meatballs. Add them to the fry pan and cook for a couple of minutes or until golden, add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes, add the garlic, and tomatoes and toss through with the sausage.
Allow to fry for another minute so until the tomato starts to colour and caramelises a little, add a quarter of a cup of water to loosen the tomatoes and to get all the tasty bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce until thick and glossy.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and give a brief stir to ensure it doesn't stick. If using fresh pasta, it will only take about 3-5 minutes (always check the packet for times), if using dried it will take considerably longer.
When your pasta is cooked drain away 90% of the cooking liquid.
Add your spinach or greens to the sausage mixture and toss well to combine, add the pasta and a little of the cooking water this will loosen the sauce so that it clings comfortably to the pasta - add more liquid if needed.
Season well with salt and fresh ground pepper and generously grate over plenty of parmesan cheese.
Serve immediately.
• ADRIAN WOODHOUSE
Otago Polytechnic Food Design Institute lecturer
What is your worst food memory from your first time flatting?
A solid diet of two-minute noodles when money was tight!
What is your advice to young people having to cook for themselves for the first time?
Make a weekly menu and plan to budget and shop around it. Maybe also organise a flat menu, as cooking for extra people is cheaper per person than cooking for one.
What was your favourite dish to cook when flatting and why?
I ate at the restaurant I worked in most nights - perks of training to be a chef.
What kitchen gadget would they be best to invest in?
A good knife as it will do most things, but a stick blender is great for making cheap soups and smoothies for one the run.
• RIC ORAM
Beer columnist
What is your worst food memory from your first time flatting?
I was lucky: I stayed at home during university and then boarded when I finally left.
But when the time came, I knew the basics because I had taken cookery classes at intermediate school (instead of woodwork) and had watched mum in the kitchen. So, I knew how to do a baked apple (from school) and how long to boil an egg and quite a lot of other basics.
What was your favourite dish to cook when flatting?
My experiment with Chinese fried rice was interesting - rice, diced onions and frozen peas. Put oil in fry pan, add rice... suddenly the rice popped and flew around the kitchen. Perhaps I should have boiled it first...
• JOAN BISHOP
Southern Kitchen columnist
What is your worst food memory from your first time flatting?
Our food money went into the kitty at the beginning of each week. We had no idea of budgeting, so by day five or six the cupboard was bare.
What is your advice to young people having to cook for themselves for the first time?
Choose simple, quick recipes which are fun to make and good for you. Remember cooking is for everyone. There are a number of cookbooks available for the novice cooks or first-time flatters.
Q What was your favourite dish to cook when flatting?
I cannot remember any of my early flatting recipes. But my recipe for hot spicy chicken in pita pockets has stood the test of time, and is quick and easy.
What kitchen gadget would they be best to invest in?
Buy a good quality knife and something to sharpen it with.
Hot spicy chicken in pita pockets
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are often on "special'' at the supermarket and are quite reasonably priced. There is no waste with this cut.
The cooking time must be brief as it is easy to overcook chicken breasts and the marinade, as well as keeping the delicate chicken meat moist, also adds flavour.
The cooking time is no more than 5 minutes. This is fast home cooking at its best. The chicken needs to marinate for 15 minutes, longer if possible.
During this time you can make a salad to serve as an accompaniment, prepare the sauce, split open and warm the pita breads and set the table.
Serves 2
Ingredients
300-350g boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp vinegar, preferably wine or cider vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp raw sugar
1/8 tsp chilli powder or cayenne pepper
1 large or 4 small pitta breads
a few crisp salad greens shredded
Yoghurt sauce
1/2 cup natural unsweetened yoghurt
squeeze lemon juice
2 Tbsp finely chopped red onion or chives
Method
Cut the chicken into 1cm wide strips. Combine the garlic, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and chilli or cayenne pepper in a bowl and add the chicken strips. Stir to coat well. Marinate for 15 minutes, longer if possible, covered in the refrigerator.
While the chicken is marinating, split and warm through the pita breads and make the yoghurt sauce.
Combine the yoghurt, lemon juice and red onion or chives and mix well. Set aside.
Heat a frypan to medium-high. Very lightly oil the base of the pan and add the chicken strips and the marinade. Keeping the heat high, stir fry for 4-5 minutes.
Spoon the chicken into the hot pitta pockets with the salad greens and yoghurt sauce.
• DEE COPLAND
Naturopath, Well and Good columnist
What is your worst food memory from your student days?
Tuna bake and chicken burgers on a weekly basis.
I think this is why I still have an aversion to tuna, pasta and white bread. I also had some flatmates who loved cheese and tomato sauce, so no matter what meal you made - even the likes of a curry - they would grate cheese over the top, microwave it then top it with tomato sauce.
What is your advice to young people having to cook for themselves for the first time?
Keep it simple, make plenty so you can have some for lunch the following day and have a healthy go-to meal, such as a stir-fry.
Seasonal veges are more economical, so shopping at the farmers market is a great idea.
Frozen veges are also great to keep on hand so you can do a combo of fresh and frozen veges to keep to a budget.
Ideally for the overall health of your immune system, waistline, brain function and energy levels, base meals around some protein, veges and complex carbohydrates.
Chicken vege stir-fry on brown rice, slow-cooked beef on kumara mash and vege quiche with salad are all really nutritious, affordable options.
What was your favourite dish to cook when flatting?
Thai green curry with chicken on rice probably. That was made with the green curry paste in a jar, coconut milk and rice. Back then, it was probably devoid of veges. I do things a little differently these days!
What kitchen gadget would they be best to invest in?
Definitely a slow-cooker. I think this is a must for every Dunedin household. You can buy cheaper cuts of meat when slow-cooking, add lots of veges, a jar of tomatoes, can of beer and a few dried herbs and you have yourself a delicious, melt-in-your-mouth meal to feed the flat.
