Pizza!

This is a great way of getting all your friends involved, and it's also fun decorating your own pizza! This recipe makes enough for four to five hungry people - just choose your own toppings.

Charlotte's: mushroom and pepperoni

For the dough:

• 500g plain white flour
• 7g sachet dried yeast
• pinch of salt
• 350ml warm water (boil a kettle then wait for it to cool - DO NOT use water from a hot tap)



Charlotte decorating her pizza.

• 60ml olive oil

1. Sift all the flour into a bowl and add a pinch of salt and the yeast.
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour, then slowly add in the warm water. Mix with a wooden spoon until it comes together and starts to look like a dough. If you have put too much water in even it out with more flour - it should be soft, not sticky.
3. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead firmly for about 10 minutes, until it becomes soft and spongy.
4. Lightly oil a clean bowl and put the dough in. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for about an hour.
5. Turn the dough out on the floured surface again, and knead. You should notice that it feels airier than the first time you kneaded the dough. 
6. Separate the dough into 4 or 5 balls, depending on how many are eating.

Nat and her masterpiece!

For the tomato sauce: You can use passata if you have it, but it's not generally the store-cupboard essential in a student kitchen!

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 3 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 cube vegetable stock
• pinch of salt and pepper
• some herbs (I used oregano and parsley)

Basically, throw all this into a food processor and whizz until it's smooth. If you don't have a food processor just crush the tomatoes with a fork and mix well.

Roll out your dough on the floured surface, spread over the tomato sauce, and top with a generous quantity of mozzarella. 

Now for the fun bit! Add whatever toppings you want! 

Nat's: bacon, yellow pepper, onion and cheddar.

Amelia made sausage pizza and stuffed cheese in the crust. Yum!

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
2. Place your pizza on a baking tray and cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness and size of your pizza.
3. Tuck in!

I said this made five, yet we could only cook 3 at a time in our oven, so Tom and I waited. By the time it was ready we were ravenous and I totally forgot to document our pizzas! If you really cared, we had chilli, onion, mushroom and veggie bolognese on our pizzas. Be as adventurous (or as safe!) as you like!

Tom's mushroom tagliatelli with home-made pesto.

As I am often told, being vegetarian is a pain for people when I go to theirs for dinner. Despite Tom moaning a little, he made this extraordinary pasta dish especially for me, for which I am uber-grateful. 

Courtesy of Tom, here it is!

For the home-made pesto (because shop bought stuff isn't veggie):

• handful of fresh basil leaves
• handful of pine nuts
• some veggie cheese (as much as you fancy), finely grated
• olive oil

1. This is so simple. Just chop the basil as finely as possible and put in a bowl. 
2. Chop the pine nuts to as close as a powder as possible. Add to the basil.
3. Throw in the cheese. 
4. Mix all together with a dash of olive oil. Start with a small amount of it then add more if needed. It should resemble a paste. And there you have it! Home-made pesto.

For the mushroom pasta:

• one batch home-made pesto
• 4/5 chestnut mushrooms, washed and sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• two wheels of tagliatelli
• olive oil

1. Pour some salted boiling water into a saucepan and add the pasta. 
2. About 5 minutes later, heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Throw in the mushrooms and sauté for a couple of minutes until soft. Add in the garlic.
3. When the pasta is cooked, drain and put back in the saucepan. Add in the garlic mushrooms and the home-made pesto and toss together until it's all coated. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and serve. 

Voila! A lovely vegetarian pasta dish that's tasty but not too time consuming. 

Frankfurter pasta bake.

Who doesn't love those cheap nasty sausages you get in tins? (Or the even more tasteless Quorn ones which I used?) Well pair those with the ever versatile pasta and cheese combo and you actually have a really lovely meal! Protein, energy and veg - could you ask for more?

Personally, the crispy pasta on the top is the best bit!

Ingredients:

• Enough pasta for one (about 1/2 cup American)
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 2 frankfurters, chopped
• 2 lumps frozen spinach, thawed
• 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• A few mushrooms
• 20g cheese (I used cheddar)
• 1 slice of stale bread, made into breadcrumbs (optional)
• A little olive oil
• Sprinkling of oregano and parsley

1. Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees celsius. 
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onions until soft. Add the garlic.
3. Meanwhile heat some salted water in a pan. When boiling, add the pasta.
4. Add the chopped sausages and mushrooms to the onion and sauté for a few minutes.
5. Add half the chopped tomatoes to the onion and sausage mix, along with the  spinach. Sprinkle over the herbs.
6. Check on the pasta. If it's done, drain and put back in the pan.
7. When the spinach is hot, add the frankfurter sauce to the pasta and mix well. Transfer to an oven proof dish and grate the cheese over the top. If using, add the breadcrumbs - I find this adds a nice alternative texture to the soft pasta and the sloppy sauce.
8. Put in the oven and wait until the cheese has melted (about 5 minutes). Take out and demolish. Nom nom.