Recently with my son moving away from home I was well arming him with some classic cookery recipes for him to cook for himself. With students out and about all hours and also on a tight budget, alot of his cookery lessons where based on nutritious, fast and easy recipes to cook on a budget.

One recipe which Ed loves and is finding easy to cook, as he put it in the oven and leaves it to cook while he gets himself a shower and returns to a tasty dish of baked courgette and tuna risotto.

You will need: 2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil, 200g arborio rice, chicken stock (homemade or cubes), 400g chopped tomatoes, 1 onion finelt chopped, 1 chopped chilli (to add a kick if you like this or obmit this out), 2 x 185g tinned tuna ( you can use fresh which has been steamed or griddled), 3 finely sliced courgettes and basil leaves and grated parmesan to serve but optional. (Ed has also been know to add peas to this recipe too for another option)

Heat your oven to 200 C/ fan 180 C/ gas 6 and heat a large flameproof casserole dish with a lid over a medium heat. Add the olive oil, onion and chilli (if you want a kick) with some sea salt and stir for around 5 minutes until the onions are soft, then add your rice and stir again for another minute. Make up 375ml stock and add to your rice with the chopped tomatoes and bring this to shimmering point. Stir in the tuna and courgettes and season with fresh black pepper. Cover with the lid and bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until the rice is cooked. To serve scatter basil leaves and sprinkle parmesan over the finished dish and serve with crusty bread.

Don’t forget this will serve 4 so if your appetite is big as is Ed’s plate up half and place in the refridgerator for tomorow or freeze for another day.

Whats your favourite quick recipe? Have you taught certain recipes to your children who are now students cooking away from home, then let us know how they are getting on and what recipes they like!

See my previous blog It may be compact but its easy to use and cheap to run for a great gadget for students to cook with away from home, and Starting from scratch essentials for the kitchen blog or search for my easy recipes like this easy recipe for a italian supper.

Sophia Loren once said that ‘Everything you see, I owe to Spaghetti!’. Italians view their food as central to their life full of colour & variety, much like Italys variety of land terraine. The key to their cusine is the importance they put on quality basic ingredients to bring out flavour.

Take tomatoes they bring flavour to a variety of Italian dishes and Italian tomato varieties are exported all over the world aswell as being a important basic ingredient to Italian cookery and the Mediterranean diet. Olive oil used in dressings, for shallow frying or drizzled on pasta or bread is another staple for Italian cookery along with its health claims packed full with antioxidants and monounsaturated fats for reducing cholesterol.

I remember some facts picked up while visiting Italy and while chatting being told about Parma Ham which is cured for a minimum of 13 months and the longer the cure the sweeter and milder the flavour for example. They have a passion for food and life in general.

Why not make some homemade Focaccia to get in the Italian mood?

Your going to need: a 500g white bread mix, 3 tblsp olive oil, 5 sprigs of fresh rosemary and 4 finely sliced gloves of garlic.

Start by chopping the leaves of 4 of the rosemary  sprigs (saving one sprig for decoration later) and emptying the bread mix into a bowl before stirring in the garlic and chopped rosemary. Then mix according to the bread packet mix directions and knead the dough for 5 minutes. Flatten your dough in to 2 oblongs each of about 1cm thickness and put these onto a lightly oiled baking sheet (oiled with olive oil). Don’t forget the great silicone baking sheets available now, if you haven’t tried them yet then what are you waiting for, they are great, easy to use, store and clean. Cover this loosely with a clean cloth and leave in a warm place for the dough to prove for at least 30  minutes when the dough should of doubled in size. Preheat your oven 220 c/ 425 f/ gas 7 and make dimples in your focaccia dough with your fingers before brushing with 2 tblsp olive oil and decorating with the remaining sprig of rosemary leaves and sprinkle with sea salt then bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven abd brush with the remaining olive oil before serving warm.

Note you can freeze this superb bread by double wrapping in greaseproof paper and foil before freezing until needed.

Find other italian ideas (and yes Italian is one of my favourite cuisines), in my previous blog italian-style baked red pepper or try this recipe in my blog traditional soda bread recipe or you could try my peppered beef & mushroom tagliatelle recipe in my previous blog easy recipe for a italian supper.