Sandwich course (From Living Northeast)

Sandwich course

1:48pm Tuesday 20th July 2010 in

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They may be about to start university, but what if they can barely boil an egg, or don’t know the price of a loaf of bread? As Freshers’ Week approaches, Ruth Campbell signs her son up for a cookery course to help teach him how to fend for himself.

I WORRY about my 18-year-old going off to university and fending for himself. All he ever cooks is fried bacon butties. And when I have tried to teach him how to make a proper meal from scratch, he doesn’t want to know. “I’ll just eat Pot Noodles if I’m stuck,” he says, nonchalantly.

He’s used to meals appearing on the table and, in between, helping himself to whatever he fancies from a fully-stocked fridge and kitchen cupboards, not to mention a large fruit bowl and biscuit tin.

“You’re going to have to shop and plan for meals. And you’ll have to budget, you won’t be able to afford to eat out,” I’ve tried to tell him on the rare moments when he doesn’t have his iPod plugged into his ears. But still he doesn’t listen.

Thank goodness for Gilly the Cook. Gilly, who has a son at university herself, understands just what I’m going through. Following the success of her popular children’s cookery birthday parties she has recently started running off-to-uni cookery classes for teenagers in your own home.

William, who plans to go to Newcastle in September to study history, was joined by Amy, 18, who wants to study biomedical sciences at Newcastle, Sahil, 18, who’s off to read chemistry at Nottingham, and Conor, 19, who will study economics at Newcastle.

Among other things, Gilly aims to teach them the basic cookery skills they’ll need to ensure they can produce quick and easy main courses, as well as trendy food and tasty puddings, all within a typical students’ grocery bill allowance of about £20 a week.

Amy can cook but she wants to learn how to make easy, nutritious meals on a tight budget. Conor occasionally rustles up some pasta but admits his parents, too, are a little concerned about how he’s going to cope on his own. Sahil will be in catered accommodation for the first year, but has to cook for himself at weekends.

Gilly, who has regularly appeared on the ITV’s School for Cooks with Rosemary Shrager and also runs courses at Swinton Park hotel in North Yorkshire, immediately ascertains that none of them is sure what a loaf of bread or a bag of pasta costs.

So she starts by giving them a quick lesson on intelligent shopping. Bulk up on things like carrots, potatoes, celery and pasta, which are relatively cheap, she advises. She shows them a flavoured noodle ready meal, which costs the same as five times the amount of plain noodles, which you can easily flavour yourself. And she demonstrates just how little you get from expensive ready meals with portions so small they won’t fill you up.

Other tips include shopping after 4pm at weekends, when a lot of supermarkets mark fruit and vegetables down, and to get together with friends on “buy one, get one free” offers. She also introduces them to cheap, reusable tin foil flan dishes for cooking, which save on the washing up in a shared kitchen.

Soon, they are all getting their hands dirty. Gilly has William and Amy making a quick lemon cake and Sahil and Conor producing bread. They do it all with the minimum of utensils. “You can use your hands for most things, you don’t need fancy gadgets,” explains Gilly.

“I know you won’t be baking many cakes or making bread while you’re at uni, but it’s good to know how easy it is. And it’s fun. If you can’t afford to go out one weekend, it’s just something else you can do instead.”

She talks them through the basic utensils they will need, and urges them to buy cheaply. “These all came from a supermarket for a couple of pounds. You’re going to burn things and lose things, other people will use them. At the end of the year you’ll just probably chuck them away, so don’t spend a fortune.”

After the bread, some of which they turn into a quick pizza base, they learn how to make a series of meals from a basic savoury mince recipe. Gilly advises buying the most expensive meat they can, as cheap cuts are full of water and tend to shrink in size.

In no time at all, they produce the students’ staple - spaghetti Bolognese - made with cheap, tinned whole plum tomatoes, rather than ready-chopped. Add some chilli and kidney beans, boil some rice and - da da - they’ve got chilli con carne.

Some more of the mince is put on top of a jacket potato, and the final portion tucked inside a tortilla wrap. The mince cost £4 and made four filling meals. “So that’s your meals up until Friday sorted,” says Gilly.

“You’ll be so busy meeting new people and joining clubs and societies during the first week, you probably won’t do much cooking. But once things settle down, that’s when you can get yourself organised.”

Gilly’s son, Freddie, came home in his first term looking ill. “It’s called freshers’ flu, a common thing with first year students who are drinking and partying and not eating properly. But it’s important to look after yourselves too.”

From Freddie’s experience of dashing in and out between lectures and a busy social life, Gilly knows they won’t always have much time to spend in the kitchen, so she also shows them a couple of fast, easy snacks.

William makes a quick, delicious Welsh rarebit, which he says he will definitely make again, especially when Gilly points out he could add a little of his leftover beer to it. Amy produces eggy bread and Conor rustles up a fried cheese and tomato sandwich while Sahil cooks an egg inside a slab of bread with a hole cut out of it. And it’s all done in a matter of minutes.

“You don’t want to be living off fried food but there’s nothing wrong with it now and again. It’s something quick which will fill you up,” says gilly.

In just under three hours, our teenagers have produced an incredible amount of food. But Gilly points out they still have time to make a spicy cauliflower bake and some quick, fresh soup from the sort of bits and pieces they’ll have sitting in their store cupboards at the end of the week.

Sahil and Conor make a tasty minestrone, using some of the sauce from their mince and a mixture of vegetables with macaroni pasta. “Just throw in whatever you have,” says Gilly.

William and Amy boil potato and carrot in stock and add some ginger and a tin of coconut milk. Then they blend it, using a hand blender. “You can get these for under £10 in the supermarkets,” says Gilly. “If you’re only going to get one gadget, get this.”

The finished soup, sprinkled with coriander, is delicious, and quite special, something that could easily be served up at a posh dinner party.

Before they go, Gilly shows them how to stab a chilli and dunk it in a bottle of olive oil to give it a kick. “That will spice up your cooking,” she says, giving them one each to take away. Along with a few fact sheets, she presents them with a jar of home-made hot spice mix “to sprinkle over anything”, and some basic utensils to use while they’re at university.

Later, after nabbing William’s fact sheets, because I want that recipe for spicy soup, I ask him what he thought of the course. “Yeah, it was good. I learnt stuff,” he said.

And coming from my 18-year-old son, that is praise indeed.

■ Gilly the Cook on 077899-08033 or email gillythecook@555.eclipse.co.uk The cost of the cookery lesson is £100 for a group of up to three students in your own home, £20 per additional student. Children’s birthday parties and adult cookery classes in your own home also available.

OFF TO UNI RECIPES

BIG SOUP: Any veg can be cut up and cooked, always start with hard veg like carrot or potato, then add the softer ones that need less time.

Use stock made with a powder and not too much salt. When the veg is cooking, throw in a good handful of tiny pasta, some pesto and bits of fried, day-old bread.

POSH SOUP: This needs a hand blender (it’s a good buy and can be used for soups, sauces, smoothies and milk shakes). Soften some onion and garlic in a pan, add carrots (cut up very small), some stock and herbs. When carrots are cooked, add a bit of curry powder and some tinned coconut milk. Blend and serve with flat breads.

WELSH RAREBIT: Melt a bit of butter in a pan and add any strong cheese (grated), mustard or chilli sauce and salt and pepper. When mixed well, add a splash of milk or beer. Sit a thick slice of bread in an oven-proof dish and pour the sauce over. Cook in the oven or under a grill until golden and crisp on top. Add ketchup!

EGG IN A HOLE: Cut a thick slice of bread and use a cutter or sharp knife to remove a piece from the centre. Heat oil in pan and fry the bread until golden. Turn over and crack an egg into the hole. Cook until the egg is to your taste and the bread is golden. Add any sauce or crisp bacon.

TOP TIPS

✔ Scrimp at the start of the week: try to leave some money over so that you can splash out a bit at weekends.

✔ Learn the prices of things you buy regularly, like cheese, bread, pasta and tinned tomatoes. Then you’ll know a bargain when you see one.

✔ Unwrapped fruit and veg is cheaper than pre-packed, and you tend to buy less.

✔ Shop a couple of times a week: if you plan too far ahead, you’ll end up missing some of your meals and have food left over, which will go to waste.

✔ Make sure leftovers are eaten within two days and are stored in a sealed container or wrapped in cling film.