Creative cooking skills

At the end of my last post I briefly mentioned that my house mates and I had started a ‘Come Dine with Me’-style cooking competition during Freshers’ Week. We came up with the idea before we broke up for summer and it was evident once we had all returned to Southampton that we were taking this competition pretty seriously; we had all researched recipes and a couple of us had even done a practice run!

It was my turn to cook first, which was good because it meant that once my night was over I was free to enjoy the rest of the meals. In the week beforehand I had finalised my menu choice, opting to go for a Spanish theme. This consisted of a selection of tapas for starters, seafood and chorizo paella for my main course, all finished off with churros and an accompanying chocolate sauce. I had never made any of those dishes before, but I really enjoy cooking, so I was confident I could pull most of it off. I began preparing for my meal several hours before dinner was due to be served and I was glad I did, because I had underestimated the amount of work required!

My tapas selection included a tortilla Española (a Spanish omelette), patatas bravas (a traditional Spanish potato dish) and chorizo on toast. Preparing three things at once turned into a juggling act and I felt they weren’t quite as good as I wanted them to be. However, I felt my next two courses went perfectly and I learned two new skills whilst making the churros; piping and deep frying!

Over the next few nights it was turn of my housemates Marcus, Andy and Ian to cook. Marcus, who is used to cooking for the house, made a salmon and brie starter, a fried rice main (the same dish he made us for Chinese New Year this year) and the most moreish banoffee pie I’ve ever tasted. Next up was Andy, who prepared an adventurous North African themed menu, with tabbouleh salad, a chicken tagine served with couscous and cinnamon honey oranges. Finally, it was the turn of Ian, who served us Parma ham breadsticks, a beef stew and some incredible chocolate brownies.

Marcus’ delicious banoffee pie 

After each night we rated the food out of ten and put our scores into sealed envelopes, which we would then open after the final evening of food. The standard of cooking was very impressive and there were only two points separating first from last - and I am pleased to announce that I came out on top!

A chocolate marble cake we baked as a house to get ourselves in the mood for our competition. 

My first meal I made as a university student was beans on toast made in a toastie-maker (Top tip: never do this – the mess is unbelievable!). Since then I have made a conceited effort to improve my cookery skills and now I thoroughly enjoy doing so. I highly recommend learning how to cook whilst at university, because not only is it impressive and great fun (especially with friends), you can finally make use of the SUSU Market on campus every Monday, which always looks so tempting, selling everything you could ever need!

James