Darina Allen: Starter recipes and must-have ingredients for college students on a budget

With a few basics, you could make a myriad of dishes in a very short time

If your parents cook, badger them into giving you a couple of lessons before you leave for college

This week a column for students heading off to college with a limited budget and even more limited batterie de cuisine or ‘kitchen kit’. 

First a list of basic essentials if you’re to rustle up anything at all in your kitchen. Hopefully you’ll have an oven but I’m not taking this for granted, but I am assuming that you’ll have some sort of hob or a couple of gas jets. I’m also assuming that you’ll have basic cutlery and crockery.

So here we go…

A frying pan and egg slice, a wok, a 22.5cm saucepan and/or a casserole with lid, a nest of three Pyrex or stainless steel bowls, a coil whisk a couple of wooden spoons, one with a round and the other straight ended, a few 20.5 or 23cm pasta bowls that can also be used for breakfast cereal, soup, stew, risotto or pudding.

I’m not a fan of the Instant pot. But many people are, so I’ll leave that up to you but be very wary of the Teflon lined versions which are causing considerable anxiety in some areas.

Check it out yourself. With the few basics I’ve listed above, you could make a myriad of dishes in a very short time. If your parents cook, badger them into giving you a couple of lessons before you leave for college and down a few of your favourite family recipes. A few basics like tomato fondue — a gem, easy peasy to make, an all-rounder as a sauce, a topping for pizza or flatbread, a basis for all kinds of additions like mince, a fillet of fresh fish, a few mussels, a chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs.

Any leftovers will keep in the fridge for several days or can be popped into the freezer at the top of your fridge. Collect some recyclable containers and tubs to take with you. Plain boiled or pilaf rice can be an accompaniment to something else but also a base for lots of tasty bits and bobs.

A few little cubes of chorizo deliver so much bang for your buck in flavour terms, always worth having in your fridge to jazz up dishes from scrambled egg to a 30-second French omelette, a frittata or even a dish of pasta. Look out for Gubbeen chorizo, made by Fingal Ferguson in West Cork. Another brilliant standby is a piece of nice fat streaky bacon which can be used in a similar way and also cut into skinny lardons to crisp up and sprinkle over a salad with a generous sprinkling of grated cheese.

Try to always have a few fresh eggs, a brilliant and inexpensive source of protein and it’s so easy to whip up a myriad of satisfying dishes, I could write a whole book on egg dishes alone. Make friends with a local butcher and ask to buy scraps of inexpensive meat. 

A slow cooker would be another brilliant bit of kitchen kit, perhaps your grandparents might like to gift one to you before you leave for college. Then you could have a stew bubbling and ready to eat when you arrive back to your digs in the evening. I don’t care how tired you are, try not to ever buy any ultra processed food and avoid anything that is labelled low-fat, light or healthy: it usually means it isn’t.

Make it a priority to look after your tummy, there’s tons of research now to highlight the importance of a healthy gut biome which hugely affects both our physical and mental health. In other words, our energy level and ability to concentrate and achieve.

Tomato fondue

recipe by:Darina Allen

Tomato fondue is one of our great convertibles. It has a number of uses. We serve it as a vegetable or a sauce for pasta, filling for omelettes, topping for pizza…

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 110g onions, sliced

• 1 clove of garlic, crushed

• 900g very ripe tomatoes in summer, or 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes in winter, but peel before using

• salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar to taste

• 1 tbsp of any of the following; freshly chopped mint, thyme, parsley, lemon balm, marjoram or torn basil

Method

1. Heat the oil in a stainless steel sauté pan or casserole. Add the onions and garlic and toss until coated. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat until soft but not coloured -— about 10 minutes.

2. It is vital for the success of this dish that the onions are completely soft before the tomatoes are added. Slice the peeled fresh tomatoes or chopped tinned tomatoes and add with all the juice to the onions. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar (tinned tomatoes need lots of sugar because of their high acidity).

3. Add a generous sprinkling of herbs. Cover and cook for just 10-20 minutes more, or until the tomato softens, uncover and reduce a little. Cook fresh tomatoes for a shorter time to preserve the lively fresh flavour.

4. Tinned tomatoes need to be cooked for longer depending on whether you plan to use the fondue as a vegetable, sauce or filling.

Tomato fondue variations

Tomato Fondue with Chilli

Add 1-2 chopped fresh chillies to the onions when sweating.

Penne with Tomato Fondue

Toss 450g of cooked penne or spaghetti with Tomato and Chilli Fondue.

Tomato and Chorizo Fondue

Add ½-1 sliced or diced chorizo to the tomato fondue five minutes before the end of cooking, great with pasta.

Tomato, Bean and Rosemary Stew

Add 1 x 400g can of haricot beans or black-eyed beans and 1 tablespoon of chopped rosemary to the above.

Tomato Fondue with Aubergines

Cut 450g Slim Jim aubergines into 7mm slices, sprinkle with salt and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes. Dab dry with kitchen paper.

Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a pan on a high heat, toss the aubergines in batches and cook until golden on both sides, transfer to a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of chopped marjoram. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Add to the tomato fondue, taste and correct the seasoning.

Tomato Fondue with Courgettes

Cut 450g courgettes into 1cm dice.

Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a pan on a high heat, toss the courgettes in batches and cook until golden, transfer to a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of chopped marjoram. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Add to the tomato fondue, taste and correct the seasoning.

Pilaf rice

recipe by:Darina Allen

Pilaf is versatile — serve it as a staple or add whatever tasty bits you have to hand but don’t be tempted to use it as a dustbin…!

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Side

Ingredients

• 15g butter

• 1 tbsp finely chopped onion or shallot

• 200g long-grain rice (preferably Basmati)

• 475ml homemade chicken stock

• salt and freshly ground pepper

• 1 tbsp freshly chopped herbs e.g. parsley, thyme, chives: optional

Method

1. Melt the butter in a casserole, add the finely chopped onion and sweat for 4-5 minutes. Add the rice and toss for a minute or two, just long enough for the grains to change colour. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, add the chicken stock, cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a minimum and then simmer on top of the stove or in the oven 160°C/gas mark 3 for 10 minutes approx. By then the rice should be just cooked and all the water absorbed. Just before serving stir in fresh herbs if using.

2. Note: Basmati rice cooks quite quickly; other types of rice may take up to 15 minutes.

3. Other good things to add to pilaf: Fresh spices, cubes of cooked chorizo, ham or bacon, freshly cooked chicken, sautéed mushrooms, tomato fondue, Parmesan and basil leaves, red and yellow pepper.

Lamb or beef stew with bacon & herbs

recipe by:Darina Allen

Chicken can be substituted for lamb or beef if desired; use brown meat preferably (legs/thighs).

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 1 hours 10 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 20 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 175g green streaky bacon

• 900g should of lamb chops not less than 2.5cm in thickness, or stewing beef from the shin

• seasoned white flour, preferably unbleached

• a little butter or oil for sautéing

• 225g onions

• 175g carrot, peeled and thickly sliced

• 375ml approx. lamb or beef stock or water

• 4-6 ‘old’ potatoes (optional)

• sprig of thyme

• freshly chopped parsley

Method

1. Cut the rind off the bacon and cut into approx. 1cm cubes. Cut the meat into large cubes and roll in flour well-seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and sauté the bacon until crisp, remove and put in a casserole.

2. Add the meat to the pan and sauté until golden then add to the bacon in the casserole. Heat control is crucial here, the pan mustn’t burn yet it must be hot enough to sauté the meat. If it is cool the meat will stew rather than sauté and as a result the meat may be tough.

3. Then quickly sauté the onions and carrots, adding a little butter if necessary, and put them into the casserole.

4. Degrease the sauté pan and deglaze with the stock, bring to the boil and pour over the meat. Cover the top of the stew with peeled potatoes (if using) and season well.

5. Add a sprig of thyme and bring to simmering point on top of the stove, cover the pot and then put into the oven for 45-60 minutes, 180°C/gas mark 4.

6. Cooking time depends on how long the meat was sautéed for.

7. When the casserole is just cooked, strain off the cooking liquid, degrease (skim off surface fat with a spoon) and return degreased liquid to the casserole and bring to the boil.

8. Add back in the meat, carrots, onions and potatoes, bring back to the boil.

9. The stew is very good served at this point. Serve bubbling hot sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Stew variations

Stew with Haricot Beans

Add 225g of precooked haricot beans to the stew about two-thirds of the way through cooking, omit the potatoes.

Stew with Haricot Beans and Tomatoes

Add 225g of precooked haricot beans to the stew about two-thirds of the way through cooking, omit the potatoes. Make x 1 recipe of Tomato Fondue and fold half of it into the stew just before serving, taste and correct the seasoning if necessary. You will have quite a different but equally delicious stew.

Stew with Spices

Add 1 teaspoon each of freshly roasted cumin and coriander seeds in with the carrots and onions and proceed as in the master recipe.

Seasonal Journal

Dates for your diary…

The award-winning Food On The Edge is scheduled to take place at ATU (Atlantic Technical University) in Galway City on the 21st and 22nd October 2024.

The aim of the symposium is to challenge our perspective on food and our connection to it. Approximately 50 chefs will speak over the two-day symposium.

All guest speakers are chosen for their innovation, passion and influence on today’s food culture. Each speaker, with their own unique perspective, talks for 15 minutes on the cultural, social, environmental and educational aspects of food.

The emphasis for the talk is on their vision for the future of food and how we can make things better on both a local and a global level.

foodontheedge.ie

Where can I get a few hens?

Farmers’ Markets around the country can be a good source of poultry. Go along to Skibbereen or Bandon Farmers’ Market on a Saturday – Ger O’Leary has an interesting variety of fowl for laying, showing or table birds.

For more information, call Ger on [phone] Facebook: olearypoultrymacroom