Raspberry Cheesecake

I've been rather neglecting this blog of late - from now on I will try to post a recipe each week. To make up for the rather long absence, here is a yummy dessert. You might not think it's terribly studenty, but there will always be times when you want to bake something impressive, and there's nothing difficult about this recipe, but you do need to make it the day before you want to eat it. It's been (slightly) adapted from the May/June 2007 Edition of the Waitrose seasons magazine (I expect you can find the original recipe on their website). Here goes....

You will need:

• 75g butter (or possibly a bit more as the base was a bit crumbly)


• 200g digestive biscuits (finely crushed - place in a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin)


• 450g curd cheese


• 142ml pot double cream


• 75g icing sugar (plus extra to dust)


• 25g cornflour


• 3 eggs (beaten)


• 200g frozen (or fresh) raspberries (depending on the season), plus extra for decoration

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 170C (Gas Mark 3), grease and line a 15cm square or 18cm round loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment


• Melt the butter and stir in the crushed biscuits, then press the mixture into the bottom of the tin to get an even base. Leave to chill in the fridge whilst you make the filling


• Place the curd cheese and cream in a large bowl, mix in the sugar and cornflour with an electric whisk, then add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stir in the raspberries and pour the mixture over the biscuit base.


• Place on a baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes until just set in the centre but firm around the edges. Turn the oven off but leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, then move to the fridge to cool completely (NB. My cheesecake was nothing like cool after 2 hours, so we took it out of the oven and left it on the side to cool more before putting in the frdige).


• The next day....remove the cheesecake from the tim, and top with a few extra raspberries (defrosted if using frozen) then dust with icing sugar and serve.

A yummy recipe, it should serve about 10-12 people, but obviously it depends on how hungry you all are!

Foodie BlogRoll

The more observant amongst you may have noticed the appearance of the Foodie BlogRoll on my sidebar. This is basically a list of links to various food blogs, so you can have a good browse around. The Foodie BlogRoll has been set up by The Leftover Queen, so thank you to her. If you want to join then click on the link to the right!

Sausage and Bean Bake

This is what I made for tea last night, it was a new recipe and I was pleased with how it turned out. It takes a while, but it's not all hands and time, it tastes yummy and I found it very filling. There's also plenty of change to be flexible about the amount of different ingredients that you use, just adjust to taste.

You need: (for 1 person)

• 1/2 an onion


• 2 sausages


• 1/2 a small tin of butterbeans


• 1/4 of a 400g can chopped tomatoes


• 200ml Chicken stock


• Frozen veg


• 50g self-rasing flour


• 20g butter/margarine


• Teaspoon of dried herbs (I used oregano)


• Splash of milk

Here's what you do...

• Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (180C)


• Soften the onions in a little bit of oil (for about 3 minutes) before adding the sausages and frying until the sausages are cooked and the onions are soft.


• Pour in the tomato and stock, then bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes (put the lid on if it's getting too dry)


• Stir the drained butterbeans and enough frozen veg to keep you happy, then put into your ovenproof dish


• Put the flour into a bowl and mix in the butter using your fingertips until you have fine breadcrums, then stir in the herbs and add enough milk until it comes together.


• Put dollops of the mixuture on top of the tomato sauce, then put in the over and cook for 25 minutes


• Enjoy

Hope you like it. You could use bacon instead of sausage, and if you want to make it vegetarian, then maybe put some more beans in.

Tuna Fish Cakes

Right, here goes with another cheap and easy recipe. I just had it for tea, hence the fact that I have decided to post it.

Tuna Fishcakes

These are quite quick to make and there is nothing difficult about them....

You need (for one person)

• Half a large tin of tuna (you could add the other half to a tomato pasta sauce, or anything else really)


• A spring onion or two (or quarter of a normal onion, although this isn't as good)


• One medium potato


• Some parsley (fresh or dried)


• A squeeze of lemon juice


• Salt and pepper as desired

What you do.....

• Cook the potato (you could peel and boil it, but I cook it whole in the microwave for a few minutes), then put the flesh into a bowl and mash it up


• Stir in the drained tuna, chopped spring onion, parsely (about a teaspoon, maybe a bit more if it's fresh) and lemon, then mix until it all comes together and season to taste (if it won't all stay together, you might want to add a bit more potato, or a little bit of egg)


• Divide the mixture into two and shape with your hands into two balls, then flatten them slightly. If you are doing this a bit before you want to eat, put the fish cakes into the fridge to firm up a bit.


• When you are ready to cook, heat some oil in a pan and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side (depending how thick the cakes are)

That's it! Serve with salad or vegetables. I like to have mine with peas and potato wedges (although as there is already potato in the fishcakes, this is slight overkill on the carbohydrate front, but never mind - I like it!)

Party Time!

It was my birthday recently (yes, I had a Winnie the Pooh table cloth and, no, I'm not 5), a fairly simple affair but I had a good day and everyone was nice to me. :-). For tea, it was just my mum, sister, brother and me (Dad was at work) so I made the pictured party tea (or 'buffet' if you're feeling slightly posher), anyway it was simple to make and (we thought) rather tasty, so I thought I'd share some of my ideas.

• Houmous with carrot sticks (this has become a small obsession of mine, but obviously you can have any dip. We had Lemon and Coriander Houmous and very nice it was too, you can dip other things depending on how healthy you want to feel - it is a party after all)
• Cocktail sausages (need I say more? These are essential in my opinion, we cheated and got ready cooked ones!)
• Quiche (again this was a cheat from the shops, but it was very good)
• Mini jacket potatoes (so cute! And I needed to think of some more filling items as most of my family had been at work/school so only had sandwiches for lunch. There are a million and one fillings you can use for jacket potatoes, but I mixed a bit of creme fraiche with some chives (mine were dried) and a tiny bit of lemon juice, which made a nice change).
• French bread pizza (I cut rounds from french bread, spread reasonably generously with tomato puree, and then put cheese and ham on the top before putting under the grill. The cheese wasn't very coloured because the bread started to burn, but they tasted really good).
• Pesto pasta (very simple - cook some pasta and then stir in red pesto to taste, serve warm or cold)
• We also had bread and butter, kettle chips and pom bear (another essential part food) and then some grapes and party rings before we had cake later in the evening.

Well, I hope that was interesting and gave you some ideas. Nothing is that spectacular, but sometimes it just takes a simple idea to help you ring the changes. I assembled all of this in 45 minutes, so it was very quick and easy (I wasn't working all the time). Also it sounds like a lot of food, but it was about right (and you can quickly make extra of most things if you need to)

Tomato Sauce with Pasta

I know, pasta is not exactly an unknown student food, but that doesn't mean it can't be tasty. I have made this tomato sauce many times, it is really cheap as well as being yummy and healthy. Yesterday, I tried making homemade pasta for the first time and had it with this sauce, I fed it to my mum, my brother and my sister and it was so successful it has been requested again. I was worried about making pasta, but it was really easy (and I made it completely by hand, no pasta machine involved), quite therapeutic to make and a nice way to spend an hour or so. Obviously, I won't be using it all the time, but I would encourage everyone to try it! Here's the recipe...

Pasta (to serve four)

300g plain flour

3 eggs

Put the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle, crack the eggs into the well and beat using a fork. Gradually incorporate the flour into the eggs. When it is all beginning to stick, use your hand to bring it together (adding a bit more flour or water if needed). Place onto a floured surface and knead until lovely and smooth (5 minutes+, it's up to you really). Wrap in cling film and leave to rest for an hour or so....

.....when it has rested, flour a large surface (probably a clean table) and roll the dough out nice and thin (not too thin though), keep turning the pasta and adding more flour if necessary to stop it sticking. When it's rolled out, cut it into the required shapes (I made tagliatelle for this recipe). Put the strips onto a plate, and cover with clingfilm until ready to use.

When ready to use, add to a pan of boiling slightly salted water. Return to the boil and then cook for about a couple of minutes (time will vary depending how thick your pasta is, taste it to be sure!), before draining and stirring in the sauce.

Tomato Sauce (serves four)

One onion (chopped, as fine as you like)

Two tins of chopped tomatoes

About a tablespoon of tomato puree

Teaspoon of sugar

Dried basil (or fresh if you've got it)

8 rashers of streaky bacon (completely optional, obviously)

Fry the onion in a little oil until softened (this will take about ten minutes), then add the tomatoes, tomatoe puree, sugar and basil to the pan. Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer until the water has evaporated and you are left with a thick sauce (this will take about 20 minutes or so, be careful not to let it dry out). Meanwhile, fry the bacon until crispy and place onto kitchen towel to absorb the excess fat. When the sauce is finished, chop up the bacon and stir in. Add the sauce to the pasta and stir through, before serving.

Serve with grated cheese

Even with ready made pasta, this sauce is really good and being made from storecupboard ingredients, a good tea is never more than 30 minutes away! (The sauce is versatile, add fresh basil, garlic, chilli, whatever you fancy)

Why not try Falafels?

I first tried falafels when I went to a friend's house at the beginning of the month. They were delicious and I decided to try and make them - something I finally managed yesterday. They are very quick and easy to make, filling and cheap - definite student food! The recipe is adapted from the BBC Good Food Website.

For two servings you will need:

• Small can of chickpeas (about 35p in Tesco)


• Half an onion


• Some parsley (or any other herbs you have lying around)


• Egg

This is what you do:

• Fry the onion until softened (probably for about 5 minutes or so)


• Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then put into a bowl and mash (I used a potato masher to begin with and finished the job with a fork)


• Stir in the chopped parsley (easiest to do this with scissors), onion and a bit of egg to bind it


• Form into balls with your hand, flatten slightly and then fry until nicely brown on both sides

You can eat these warm or cold. I had them in a warmed tortilla with a little lettuce. I also added some roasted red pepper houmous and I think they would be really nice with roasted red pepper. You could also add some cumin or coriander, but I didn't have any.

I have also found that raw carrot dipped into the red pepper houmous is really yummy (and this is from someone who really doesn't like raw carrots) - try it and feel lovely and healthy.

Welcome to the World of Student Cookery

So, here begins my attempt to dispell the myth that students can't/won't cook. I have to admit that I am not exactly a typcial student and I do know people who live on ready meals, but there is still hope for the health of the student population (not to mention their budgets). On this blog I will be sharing some of the recipes that I have enjoyed eating, and most of them are really cheap because I'm a very stingy person. Come back soon for more recipes and things!