Exam Intelligence

If you’re lucky enough to be able to sit outside for supper in the evening, then take advantage of it!  The weather certainly won’t last.

For an easy summer evening repast, try the following (for 4 people, but obviously can be divided up for smaller numbers):

You will need:

• 1 ready roasted chicken from your local supermarket
• 1 pack cherry tomatoes
• 1 round lettuce (or 2 icebergs)
• 1/3 cucumber
• 1 bunch spring onions
• 1 red pepper
• 1 loaf french bread (baguette)
• 1 bottle balsamic vinegar
• 1 bottle extra virgin olive oil
• Coleman’s English Mustard powder, or mustard (powder is better)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Clove of garlic or jar of Easy Garlic (Very Lazy Garlic from The English Provender Company, for example)
• Granulated sugar or caster sugar
• 1 cook’s knife
• 1 salad bowl
• Small jam jar or jug or a glass (for making salad dressing)
• Chopping board
• Serving utensils
• Plate, knife, fork

Now follow the instructions below:

1. Deskin the chicken and tear the meat off the carcass.  Make sure to get as much of the meat as possible off.
2. Wash tomatoes and slice them in half.  You may only need 2/3 of the pack, depending on how much you like the tomatoes and how hungry you and your guests are.
3. Split the leaves off the lettuce, wash and dry (if you have a salad spinner, great, otherwise, toss them in a decent size colander).
4. Wash and slice cucumber about 2-3mm thick (or bigger if that’s what you want!).  Now cut the slices in half down the middle.
5. Wash spring onions and slice.
6. Wash and de-seed the pepper.  Cut into strips about 5mm wide, and then cut these into thirds.
7. Set the baguette aside.
8. Make salad dressing as follows: 
   • In a glass, put 1 teaspoon of English mustard, or English mustard powder.
   •  Add black pepper, about 1/3 teaspoon. 
   • Add several pinches of salt (watch your Na intake though!). 
   • Add 1 crushed clove of garlic, or 1/2 teaspoon lazy garlic.
   • Add about 30ml (2 tablespoons) of balsamic vinegar.
   • Add about 90ml (4 tablespoons) Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
   • Add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
   • Mix vigorously.
9. Mix all ingredients except dressing in salad bowl (use your hands, it’s easier, honestly).
10. Serve salad with bread (to be torn into hunks) and dressing on the side.

For an optional extra, you can make a simple potato salad, by taking some small potatoes, cutting them in half, boiling them, then running cold water over them, put them in a bowl, dollop several spoonfuls of mayonnaise on top, add some black pepper +/- chives, mix it up and put on the table.

Drink ice cold white wine, or, if revising after eating, some elderflower cordial (if feeling particularly “English Country Garden”) or apple juice.

Enjoy!

Here is a simple, easy cook meal, ready in 10 minutes, and not very expensive either!

• Pasta for however many people - your choice of shape (fusilli, papardelle, taglietelle, whatever).
• 185g or 160g tin of tuna per 2 people
• 100-200g white cup mushrooms per 2 people
• 100g rocket leaves
• 1 lemon for up to 2 tins of tuna
• 1 clove garlic for up to 2 tins of tuna
• Olive oil
• Blackpepper
• Salt

To cook:

1. Put the pasta on to boil.
2. Zest and juice the lemon (Microplane Graters are great for zesting, they’re my favourite cooking gadget!)
3. Put 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan, medium heat.
4. Mince/chop garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add sliced/chopped/ripped/whole mushrooms (your choice, but remember that the larger the pieces, the longer they take to cook!)
6. Fry for further 1-2 minutes.
7. Add tuna, rocket, zest and juice of lemon.
8. Fry for further 1-2 minutes.
9. Season to taste.
10. Serve, with chilled white wine (unless revising after your meal, obviously!)

Here is a recipe for stuffed peppers, from our resident Ex-Girlfriend, Sassy.  This recipe takes slightly longer than the others on here, but we are assured it is worth it.  We’ll be giving it a go soon.  In total, the cooking time is about 1 hour, but preparation time is only a few minutes.  We think it’s ideal, because there are two distinct phases to the cooking, meaning you can break after 30 minuts of studying to begin the second phase.

You will need:

• Some mixed peppers (green, red, yellow; number depends on how many you’re going to eat/feed)
• Chopped garlic (1 clove per 2 peppers)
• Chopped onions (1 medium sized onion per 2 peppers)
• Sliced mushrooms (we reckon about 50g per pepper)
• Chick peas or lentils (about 25-50g per pepper)
• Sliced courgette (1 per 2 peppers)
• 2 tablespoons of tomato puree or 50ml passata per pepper
• 1heaped teaspoon of mixed herbs per 2 peppers OR fresh a few sprigs each of basil/oregano/thyme all chopped finely
• Salt, pepper and chili (or chilli) powder to taste (leave out the chili if you don’t like spice!)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Cheese of your choice to grate over the top, but goats’ cheese is best.
• New potatoes, enough for the number of people you’re going to feed.
• Optional side salad.

What you need to do:

1. Chop the top off each of the peppers, and de-seed the insides.
2. Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil, over a medium heat, until starting to brown, but only just.
3. Add the courgettes and wait for them to start to soften (2-3 minutes).
4. Add mushrooms, chick peas/lentils and tomato puree/passata.
5. Add the mixed herbs.
6. Put oven on to warm to 180°C.
7. Cook over low heat for 25-30 minutes.
8. Fill peppers with mixture.
9. Place in oven for 30-40 minutes.
10. Put potatoes on to boil.
11. Serve with some butter over the new potatoes!

Enjoy!

This is very rich, and probably quite unhealthy, but it does taste good!

You will need the following:

• Frying pan
• Saucepan
• Knife
• Chopping board
• Measuring jug
• 1 mixing bowl (smaller = better) (any old bowl will do, really)
• Teaspoons and tablespoons
• 2 medium onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 teaspoons each of dried thyme and parsley (or a small bunch of each fresh, which you will need to chop finely)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts (about 300-400g of chicken)
• 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
• 5-10 peppercorns, or a good teaspoon of ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon of chicken stock granules (Knorr preferred)
• 1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard or Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar (more will be more acidic, obviously, so we leave it to you).
• 100-200g mascarpone (depending on how rich you want it to be!)
• Rice or salad to serve with chicken.

What you need to do:

1. Chop the onion and garlic quite fine (crush the garlic if you want)
2. In the mixing bowl, use a spoon to crush the wholegrain mustard, or if you are using Dijon mustard, just put it into the bowl.
3. Crush the peppercorns or add the pepper to the bowl.
4. Add 1 teaspoon of each of thyme and parsley to the bowl.
5. Add the onion and garlic to the bowl.
6. Mix with the olive oil.
7. Pour into a frying pan and fry over medium heat until the onions are soft (may take 5 minutes)
8. Make 100ml chicken stock in the measuring jug.
9. Cut the chicken breast up into 1cm-2cm chunks whilst onions are softening.
10. Add the chicken and fry over medium-high to high heat until beginning to brown.
11. Add tomato paste.
12. Add vinegar.
13. Add remaining thyme and parsley.
14. Add chicken stock to pan.
15. Leave for 15-20 minutes.
16. Taste, and if necessary, add more salt (1 or 2 pinches at a time) and pepper (ditto) until happy with the flavour.
17. Now add the mascarpone, stir 5-10 times, and serve with rice or salad.

Guten Appetit!

(Did you enjoy the Quick Pasta Sauce? Here’s the follow-on recipe! - Ed.)

You’ll need:

• Pasta leftovers.
• A couple of sausages cooked and chopped up or a tin of tuna, or you could even add some bacon which has been grilled and cut up into pieces.
• If you are a veggie, then you can chop up a courgette or an aubergine and use that.
• Some cream - double or single will be fine
• Bread crumbs. I keep the bits of the crusty bread that are becoming a bit dry and put them in the food processor to make bread crumbs and this will keep in an airtight bag for ages in the store cupboard. If you aren’t sad enough to want to do this then you can either hand crumble some bread or use a food processor to make instant breadcrumbs.
• Half a handful of grated Parmesan or a full handful of cheddar cheese.
• Fresh or dried herbs. I suggest parsley and basil as it will parody what you have in the pasta sauce already.
• Olive oil

Principle/ Method

1. In a bowl, combine the finely chopped herbs, breadcrumbs and the cheese.
   
2. Add a tablespoonful of the olive oil. Mix it all together.
3. In a shallowish oven proof dish, hand mix the cold pasta, cooked sausages and or cooked bacon, veg or fish. Add some of the cream to loosen it all up a bit and spread it evenly around the dish. You’ll need to select a dish that’s appropriate for the amount of pasta you have left over obviously!
4. Spread the crumb mixture over the pasta layer.
5. Cook in a 160- 180°C preheated oven until the breadcrumb layer is turning golden brown. (takes about 20 mins depending on your oven and the freshness of the breadcrumbs!) The fresher they are, the more moisture it will have and the longer it will take to brown!
6. Serve with a nice green salad.

Buon appetito!