Anna Mckay shares a recipe perfect for celebrating Chinese New Year
Laura Reynolds reviews the latest arrival to the York cafe scene
Anna Mckay tempts us to break the new year healthy eating streak.
Just 4 days until Christmas..get in the mood with some festive nosh!
Cooking at university is not an easy thing to master. It’s been two and a half terms now and I’m still not comfortable standing in front of a stove. I have the ‘are my flatmates going to judge me for this undercooked pasta?’ fear. Yes, one might say I probably should have done a little bit more in the culinary department before I flew the nest. If we’re honest, though, my mother isn’t exactly a whiz in the kitchen either. To be blunt, I probably improved my diet when she stopped cooking me beans on toast every night. I’m not sure she ever got past the student phase.
The thing is, once it gets to the third term of the university experience perhaps it’s too late to change one’s attitude to food radically. I know that I eat well enough some nights, and then cereal the next, but I’m not the sort of person who’s going to migrate to braised lamb shank any time soon.
Cookery books are my lifeline. Whipping out my masterpiece of a chocolate cake, I wouldn’t dare admit that I followed the recipe as if my life depended upon it. Seriously, if it says 150g, I won’t be happy until the scales say EXACTLY what the mighty cookbook told me I had to do. I’m rather lucky in having someone who’ll cook for me on a regular basis (and no, that doesn’t mean someone paid from daddy’s money – someone who sort of likes me a bit), but my inability to cook anything that won’t make him feel queasy is actually a barrier to it being a nice gesture. Suddenly his sweetness turns into annoyance that I’m constantly throwing back yummy things he puts together. “I’ll make you toast?”
We all go out every now and then, but there’s no way I can afford to eat well without cooking on the meagre budget I do have. The student deals that Pizza Express et al do are a lifesaver for that nice, well-cooked, well-seasoned meal that you need every once in a while to convince yourself that not everything tastes as bad as vegetarian bolognese (just me?).
On the other hand, the joy of late night Efes is something beautiful that everyone should experience: my friend who refuses it on health grounds is missing out. And no, it’s not because she’s sober. She could be vomiting on the road outside and still turn her nose up at the idea of a late-night grease-fest. Actually, I could murder an 11-inch pizza right now. Anyone up for it?
In the end, we must have some sort of admittance that we won’t be culinary geniuses within two terms. Yes, there are people who cook delights every night. But do you think they were fumbling idiots in the kitchen before they left home? I doubt it. I blame my mother for all of this. Not only could she not cook anything half decent, but she never made me attempt it either. I’m just a weak, newly-born pup in the scary and intimidating world that is university cookery.
So, here we go. Something hugely easy... How about Bruschetta? Seriously, it takes no time and tastes amazing.
Basically, stick the Ciabatta in the oven (probably flavoured with some garlic butter, but you can cheat by buying the garlic version yourself)... then put all the chopped stuff on top. And eat it.
An amazing lunch that takes about ten minutes and makes you feel like a health wizard.
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