If you’ve managed to get a date to trust your cooking, or a friend has paid a small fortune to get the train to visit you, then I have some ideas that are quick and easy, relatively cheap, and are slightly more interesting than beans on toast. Also, all have ingredients that can easily be substituted if you are relying on what your friend has as you forgot to go shopping.
If it is the date option there are a couple of rules to stick to:
1) No Oysters; you can’t pretend you had them lying around, making your ulterior motives very clear.
2) Avoid spaghetti; contrary to what The Lady and the Tramp would have us believe there is no sexy way to eat it.
3) Avoid cabbage; the smell of nursing homes or school canteens is not hot.
Instead, dazzle your date with a simple meal which (if prepared and presented properly) gives the illusion of a “master chef” at hand. My personal favourite is the scrumptious red wine chicken with mushrooms dish consisting of a few pieces of bacon, two skinless chicken breasts, 255g of any kind of mushrooms you can find or a mixture of types, one large glass of red wine, or any wine you happen to have around (you’ll need some tonight regardless of what you’re cooking), a large tablespoon of butter, one teaspoon of dried rosemary and two large cloves of peeled garlic. All you have to do to prepare is preheat the oven to 220°C, then put all ingredients into a small roasting tin and mix together. Then cover the whole tin in foil. Turn the hob on for one minute at a high temperature before putting the ingredients in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes. Serve with mashed potato (boil potatoes, strain and mash up with milk, butter, salt and pepper), carrots and peas. It’s that simple to forge culinary skills on a student budget.
However, if you have never actually paid attention to what the person you’re cooking for eats then a veggie option could be a good (safe) option. A standard pasta bake is a safe bet, but then I expect you can’t remember the last time you went more than a few days without pasta. A more sophisticated dish which is just as easy to make is stuffed peppers and couscous, plus you might earn extra brownie points as it’ll look like you’ve tried a little harder.
You’ll need peppers, a couscous mix, garlic bread, vegetables of your choice, dried herbs, cheese and vegetable stock. Simply halve some peppers through the stalk, scoop out the insides and place them on a lightly oiled baking tray. Put the ingredients in the oven (180°C throughout) for about 25 minutes. Whilst they’re in there, chop up and fry any vegetables you have; onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, a little chilli are all good, and always garlic. Follow directions given on the couscous packet to cook that in vegetable stock dissolved in hot water.
Mix the couscous and vegetables together with some salt, pepper and dried herbs, e.g. basil, and some cheese. Put this mixture into the peppers, cover in cheese and cook it all together for another 10-15 minutes. Serve with some salad and garlic bread.Finally, finish the night off with a brownies and ice cream dessert. Let’s face it, you can’t go wrong with chocolate (unless your guest is lactose intolerant, in which case stick to a fruit salad). This easy to follow recipe will leave you the talk of campus: 100g packet of dark chocolate, 175g unsalted butter, 175g sugar, four rounded, not too heaped, tablespoons of cocoa powder, three tablespoons of plain flour, half a teaspoon of baking powder, two eggs and a few drops of vanilla extract. Alternatively use half a teaspoon of very strong coffee instead (make a little paste) and a small handful of half glazed cherries (optional).
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a small baking tin (approx. 20cm diameter) with grease-proof paper or old butter wrappers.Slowly melt the butter and chocolate together, add the cherries and coffee/vanilla. Separately mix/sift the other dry ingredients. Add these to the butter and chocolate mixture stirring it all in well. Lastly beat the eggs in.Pour into the baking tin and put in the oven for about 20 minutes. If the brownies feel springy when you press the top lightly but cracks start appearing they are finally ready to be taken out. Leave to cool before removing and cutting into chunky sections. To serve sprinkle some icing sugar over them and serve with an ice cream of your choice, we recommend vanilla. It really is that simple to go from a kitchen disaster to a culinary triumph… Bon Appetit!