Sweet Potato and Tangy Coriander Chickpea Salad

I came across this recipe in my housemate's Women's Health magazine, and I loved it! I had most of the ingredients in already,and things like the spring onion can easily be swapped for red onion. Experimenting with different roast veg is something I'll be doing in the future with this recipe, and perhaps adding rice to make this a full meal rather than a side dish/salad.

Ingredients:

-Sweet potatoes, 1 large per person. 

-4 spring onions per person

-1/2 tin of chickpeas, drained

-sprig of celery, finely chopped

-juice and zest of 1/2 lemon (fresh is better)

-2 tbsps balsamic vinegar

-1stp oil

-1/4 grated nutmeg (or 1/2 tsp ground)

-1/2 tsp chilli powder

-salt & black pepper

-handful of chopped coriander

Directions: 

Roast the veg for 25 mins on 200C, tossed in spices & oil. In the meantime, mix chickpeas with all of the other ingredients apart from  spring onions—char them with the potatoes 5 mins before they’re done. The end. That’s it. Really, so easy! This would be delicious served with a piece of white fish or bulked out with lettuce leaves and roasted peppers, experiment!

Creamy Thai Satay Soup

Inspired by Half Baked Harvest

Often in the shadow of their starchy distant relative the potato, sweet potatoes are just as cheap, versatile and delicious as the mighty jacketed staple food. I use them in cooking all the time because I love the flavour that erupts from them, especially when roasted. They're also incredibly healthy. As I've bought a bag this week I'll be posting updates on what I decide to make with them, here is the first creation:

Ingredients:

- 2 large sweet potatoes. I get mine from Lidl so they are huge and vary in size every time. On average two big ones cost me 79p.

-knob of butter/glug of oil

-3 tbsp Thai red curry paste

-1 1/2 tbsp peanut butter

-Can of coconut milk (can be bought cheaply in foreign shops, look for non-branded options)

-1 onion

-1 tsp minced garlic

-Nutmeg & paprika – use according to taste/about 1/2 tsp each

-1 vegetable stock cube dissolved in 500ml hot water

-handful of chopped coriander (worth buying a plant if you have space on a windowsill, they’re normally a pound or less)

Directions: 

Oven to 200C, chop and roast the sweet potatoes in oil/butter for about 25 mins, sprinkled with the spices. While waiting, finely chop the onion and fry in a saucepan on low, adding in the garlic and curry paste when the onions have softened. Add the roasted sweet potatoes to the pan and cover with the stock and can of coconut milk, bring to the boil then simmer as you plug in the liquidiser/blender, or chop the coriander. Add all ingredients (don’t forget the peanut butter) except fresh coriander to the blender until smooth. If you don’t have a blender this soup is still delicious with chunks, but if you want a smooth consistency you could roast the potato whole, mash the insides and then add it to the onion mix. Top with a spoonful of natural yoghurt and sprinkle with coriander.

 Warning: This is DELICIOUS, you will probably struggle to restrain yourself from drinking the entire thing from the saucepan. It tastes like a soup version of satay dipping sauce. And it’s healthy!

Healthy on a budget: 5 cost-friendly pasta recipes.

Although sometimes pasta gets viewed as an 'unhealthy' option due to its high carb content, it's actually a great choice two or three times a week as part of a balanced diet. Brown dried pasta is widely available these days and will only cost you around £1 per bag - about 5 meals worth.

Roast Veg Fusilli.

Here are some interchangeable recipes for you to use with your packet. Cook pasta according to instructions (normally for wholewheat it’s about 17 minutes on a constant boil) and mix with the following toppings, delicious hot or cold:

1. Pesto.
The simplest, and possibly one of the most delicious. A jar will cost you around £1 and last for about 4 servings, it’s a flavour enhancer so try it out on a toasted sandwich with mozzarella, basil and tomato. With the pasta, simply mix about a tablespoon through the meal. Ideas: add toasted pine nuts/grated mozzarella/make your own pesto!

2.Roasted veg.
Chop vegetables such as red onion, red pepper & cherry tomatoes and roast sprinkled with a little olive oil and salt for 25mins in a 200° oven. Stir into pasta along with the cooked juices. Extras: aubergine, courgette and mushroom also work well. Think Mediterranean.

3.Butternut squash, bacon & feta.
This works best with spaghetti. Dice your squash, drizzle with oil and roast for 30 mins in a 200° oven. Grill and cut bacon into small pieces, mix everything into pasta bowl and crumble feta over the top.

4.Garlic-herb pasta.
SO simple and so sophisticated! For one: in a saucepan, melt 1 tbsp butter, add 1 clove chopped garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes until it has begun to soften. Add cooked pasta to the pot and sprinkle in a pinch of basil, salt & black pepper. Transfer to a bowl, add fresh chopped parsley or basil and top with grated Parmesan or cheese of choice. 

Garlic-herb tagliatelle with steamed kale.

5. Sausage & tomato.
Sausages are really cheap, and you can easily up the quality of this dish by spending a little more money on the meat. If you treat yourself, you’ll notice the difference. Cut uncooked sausages into meatballs and fry in oil with chopped onion, when browned and almost done add half a tin of chopped tomatoes per person. Add basil, salt, tabasco, a drop of balsamic vinegar and a spoonful of sugar. Reduce and pour over pasta shape of choice. Extra: place in oven-safe dish and top with mozzarella, grill until melted and cheesy.

Have any fail-safe pasta staples of your own? Please share them in the comments below!

Student Bonding: the way to anyone's heart is through their stomach.

Moving into a flat full of strangers can be daunting, especially in the first few days of settling in. Speed past this awkward phase by getting to know each other through the wonderful medium of food.

When I started studying at Manchester last year, I suggested to my flat that for the first week we take it in turns to cook for each other. Each of us picked a day and got quite excited about what we were going to make. I was lucky enough to live with quite a few international students which meant that I got to try lots of things I'd never even heard of, including Chinese baked eggs and frogs' legs. I wasn't too sure about the frogs' legs but I believe that you never know until you try!

I have loved cooking since I can remember, so I wasn't too nervous about this idea, but serving up food for a reasonably large number of people wasn't something I had really done before. I can imagine this being daunting for those who are not used to cooking regularly, but it doesn't need to be. If you stick with something simple you can't really go wrong. It's not Masterchef. It's not even Come Dine With Me—the main thing about this meal time is to spark some interesting conversation with your new flatmates, and if the food tastes great then it's a bonus. (And they'll probably like you even more.)

At this point you probably don't know everyone's tastes and preferences, so it's best to go with something simple and easy. Be sure to ask about people's dietary requirements such as vegetarian, gluten-free or vegan diets. Here's an idea to get you started:

Tortilla stack.

This is what I made in my first week, adapted from something I found on a Sainsbury's recipe card. It's cheap, delicious and suitable for vegetarians. I love this recipe because it's highly adaptable and by no means needs to be followed to the letter.

Ingredients:

Pack of 8 soft tortilla wraps (white or wholemeal)

Tin of mixed beans (kidney, borlotti, cannellini etc)

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Tin of sweetcorn

100ml vegetable stock

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic (or 1tsp jarred minced garlic)

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

Black pepper

100g cheese (any, but mozzarella or grated cheddar works well)

Optional: approx 6 cherry tomatoes for decoration

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, add the oil to a saucepan and fry the onions for approximately 5 minutes, until soft. Stir through the spices and garlic and cook for a further minute. Pour in the stock, beans and tinned tomatoes, and let simmer for around 10 minutes until the stock has reduced. Add the sweetcorn and prepare a round cake tin with a tortilla wrap. Spoon ¼ of the bean mixture onto the wrap, and grate around 20g of the cheese on top. Repeat 3 times using up all of the ingredients, and finish with a layer of cheese. If using, dot with cherry tomatoes in pattern of your choice. Bake for 25 minutes.

To serve, slice into wedges and plate up with fresh salad. This should make enough for around 5 people, but the recipe can easily be doubled for more.

Tips/suggestions:

• use any beans/pulses you have in, e.g chickpeas, black beans, even baked beans;
• mix it up by trying different spices - it's a good idea to club together when buying spices as you'll have more of a range and it's a great way to flavour food for less;
• a layer of spinach and ricotta between each section of beans is a good way to balance the stack, making it look prettier and offsetting the spice if you have used too much.

This is a reasonably easy recipe that should be accessible to all, but if you're struggling don't be afraid to ask another flatmate/whoever you may be cooking for for help! They'll probably be pleased with the chance to get involved, and if it all goes wrong you can laugh about it later. This is one part of uni where you're not getting graded. Enjoy!

See this recipe in print in The Mancunion, Issue 1.

The perfect rocky road bars

Firstly, welcome to post number 1 of EllieFood! I tried to design a pretty header and customize everything but my technological expertise failed me. If anyone is good with this kind of stuff I'd really appreciate any help, but for now we have to make to with this simple design - if I faffed around for any longer trying to make it look all fancy I don't think there'd be a new post til I've finished uni.

Here's the pic I tried to use just to prove my efforts:

Anyway - the bars.

As probably one of the easiest sweet treats to make, rocky road bars are my fail-safe party showstopper. The basic recipe is to grab everything unhealthy, smash it all to bits, cover it with gooey melted chocolate and refrigerate.

However, if you're going to make something so easy that it doesn't even really count as baking, you might as well make it perfect.

I made this batch to serve at a 40th wedding anniversary, and I think it's my best one yet.

This time I used:

200g Galaxy

100g Bourneville

100g Dairy Milk whole nut

70g butter

2 Ts golden syrup

150g chopped marshmallows (I used scissors but small ones work too)

Pack of hobnobs

Almost a box of maltesers

100g chopped wonka's millionaire shortbread (had it in, use choc chips/other chopped choc or omit)

75g mixed dried fruit

Construction:

Melt chocolate, butter and syrup in a saucepan on low til runny and smooth. Separately, crush the biscuits - I do this by whacking the full packet on the sides of a large bowl til it bursts, then jabbing at the crumbs with a rolling pin - add all the other  dry ingredients, mix, cover with the cooled chocolate. Press into a greased and lined rectangular tin. I think this made about 24 large ones, which Mum then halved again because my portion sizes are greedy.If you want to make it look a bit more special you can dust with icing sugar, but I don't bother, I think there's already enough sugar in these mini heart attacks.

This recipe is just a combination of everything I had in, so be creative - add different nuts, fruit, cereal maybe? Granola would probably work. Most of all, ENJOY RESPONSIBLY.

Let me know if you have a recipe that rivals this one.