Fresh ideas for students

Courgette and Feta fritters

Serves 3–4

INGREDIENTS

450g courgettes

salt and black pepper

1 large egg

110g feta cheese

3 spring onions (white and green)

4 tbsp plain white flour

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

a pinch of dried mint

a small pinch of smoked paprika

groundnut oil with a dash of olive oil, for shallow-frying

Method

Wash, dry then grate the courgettes coarsely onto a board. Tip them into a bowl with a few pinches of fine salt. Mix and leave to sweat for 15 minutes. Beat the egg with a fork. Crumble the feta cheese roughly. Bunch the spring onions together on a board, trim the roots then slice across thinly. Tip the courgettes into a colander to drain. Squeeze them with your hands to remove moisture, then put half into the centre of a tea towel. Pull it round them then twist and squeeze). Repeat with the rest. Tip the dried courgette into a large dry bowl. Mix in the flour, spring onion, dill, mint, paprika and feta cheese and season with salt and pepper. Add the egg gradually, stirring, until evenly distributed. Heat a medium frying pan and add enough oil to cover the base of the pan. Test the heat of the oil – it’s hot enough when it can brown a breadcrumb in 10 seconds. Carefully add the fritter mix a tablespoon at a time. Cook for 2–3 mins per side. Turn very gently. Set aside on kitchen paper. Sprinkle with salt.

Cassoulet

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

2-3 duck legs

Sea salt and pepper

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

300g butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 bouquet garni

1 x 100g belly pork

200g lardons/streaky bacon rashers

50g chorizo sausage

3 tbsp olive oil

1 x 400g can of butter beans, drained

1 x 400g can of haricot beans, drained

300ml cider

500ml chicken stock

75g fresh breadcrumbs

12 Toulouse sausages

a handful of parsley, chopped

Method

A DAY ahead: Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Put the duck legs on a baking tray, prick all over with a fork and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 30-40 minutes, until crisp. Remove. Cool, then cover and leave to chill in the fridge. Save the fat by tipping it into a bowl, cooling, covering and chilling.

On the day: Prep the veg and bouquet garni and set aside. Sit the belly pork on a board. Slice the skin away, then cut the meat into 4cm pieces. Cut the bacon into 2.5cm squares if not using ready-prepped lardons. Slice the chorizo.

Heat the olive oil and a tablespoon of the reserved duck fat in a large, wide casserole. Fry the belly pork for 2-3 minutes, turning with tongs. Transfer to a plate. Add the bacon and fry, turning, until crisp and golden. Transfer to the plate. Add the onions to the pan and cook, stirring, for 8-10 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic, carrot and butternut squash. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the chorizo and drained beans. Increase the heat. Add the cider. Boil for 2 minutes then add the chicken stock. Boil for another 2 minutes. Add the tomato, bacon, bouquet garni and black pepper. Reduce the heat. Simmer gently for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Spread the breadcrumbs on a tray to dry out as it heats up. Remove when they’re golden. Heat a little oil in a frying pan. Add the sausages and fry gently, turning, for a few minutes to brown them up.

Take the casserole off the hob. Tuck the sausages and pork belly into the mix to cover well. Push the duck legs in round the edges. Add a bit more liquid if it’s looking dry. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Scatter the dried breadcrumbs evenly over the lot. Put it in the oven and cook for an hour. Remove and leave to settle for 10 minutes before serving.

Raspberry Ripple cheesecake

Serves 12

INGREDIENTS

225g ginger biscuits

50g butter

150g raspberries

2 tsp caster sugar

900g soft cream cheese

225g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

200ml sour cream

125ml double cream

4 tbsp plain white flour

1 tbsp cornflour

4 eggs (at room temperature)

juice of 4 limes, plus grated zest of 2

juice of 1 lemon

255g white chocolate, melted

Method

Break the biscuits up a bit then pulse in a food processor until fine. Melt the butter in a pan. Remove from the heat, add the fine crumbs and stir well. Press the mix down over the base of a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Chill.

Tip the raspberries and sugar into a small pan. Heat very gently, stirring till the fruits fully release their juices. Tip the mix into a sieve over a bowl. Push the fruit through with the back of a wooden spoon, discarding the seeds left in the sieve. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas 3. Put the cream cheese in a bowl and stir to loosen it up with a wooden spoon. Stir in the sugar, vanilla extract, sour and double cream, then sift the flour and cornflour over the mix. Stir together using a metal spoon. Don’t beat it.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat well with a fork. Dribble them into the mix gradually, stirring rapidly with the wooden spoon until fully absorbed. Add the lime zest and lemon and lime juice.

Break the chocolate into bits, tip into a heatproof bowl, sit over a pan of barely simmering water (with the base clear) and leave until melted. Remove from the heat and stir till smooth. Cool for a minute before stirring into the egg mix. Get the tin from the fridge. Pour in half to two-thirds of the mix. Smooth to the edges of the tin using a spatula or back of a metal spoon. Drizzle the raspberry purée over the top in irregular lines or swirls. Spoon over the remaining mix and smooth it gently to the edges.

Bake in the oven for 35–40 minutes until firm-ish at the edges but only just set and still wobbly in the centre when the tin is shaken a bit. Turn off the oven, leaving the cake in there for an hour as it cools down. Remove from the cooled oven and place on a rack for 10 minutes to rest. Carefully run a thin blunt knife between cake and tin to loosen, then pop the cake back in the oven with the door open and leave for another hour. Take the cheesecake from the oven and leave to cool before removing the sides of the tin and chilling in the fridge for two hours.

Sam Stern’s Cookery Course for Students in the Kitchen, Quadrille, £18.99