Taking a bite out of college

It’s not always easy being on your own in college. All of a sudden you are caught up with personal responsibilities like cleaning up the whole house and not just your room, balancing relaxation time and homework without anyone to tell you just how to and making healthy, efficient meals for yourself.

But if you have no culinary skills, fear not.

Here are some simple recipes you can make when starting out. The great thing about these dishes is that they can easily impress anyone you’re cooking for, and they also provide leftovers to use for lunch or other dinners later in the week.

Roast Chicken
INGREDIENTS
1 roasting chicken
olive oil
salt
pepper
lemon wedges (opt.)
rosemary (opt.)
garlic cloves (opt.)

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Remove the chicken from its wrappings and remove the giblets from inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken off and pat it dry with paper towels. Remove any unwanted pieces of fat from the cavity and trim off any excess skin.

Place the chicken in a roasting pan, breast side up. Drizzle olive oil over the chicken, just enough to rub it into the outer skin. Use salt and pepper generously and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Remove after 45-60 minutes, or until the chicken is at 165 F at the joint.

Optional: After the salt and pepper, feel free to add other spices and flavors by sticking garlic cloves under the skin, or in the cavity. In addition, you can stick rosemary and lemon wedges into the cavity for a Mediterranean flair.

Pasta with fresh tomato sauce
INGREDIENTS
1 box or bag of any type pasta (spaghetti works well)
1 to 2 lbs fresh tomatoes
olive oil
3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
basil (opt.)
fresh Parmesan-Reggiano (opt.)

INSTRUCTIONS
Chop the tomatoes and get rid of as many seeds as possible. Once chopped, place them in a large, deep skillet with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Keep at medium heat and keep covered. Occasionally stir to break down the chunks. A few minutes in, add the garlic.

In the meantime, follow the directions on the bag or box of pasta for cooking. Most directions say 10 to 12 minutes for al dente pasta. For flavor, add salt. To avoid pasta sticking together, pour a few drops of olive oil into the water before adding the pasta. Make sure to drain when done.

When sauce is ready, remove from heat and serve with pasta. Garnish with fresh basil and Parmesan-Reggiano. Any leftover sauce can be refrigerated or frozen.

Ratatouille
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 bell peppers (try one of each color), chopped
2 eggplants, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 lbs tomatoes, chopped
thyme (to taste)
salt
pepper
basil leaves (to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

Pour the olive oil into a pot or large skillet and set it to medium heat. Add each ingredient one at a time, starting with the onions. Continue with the bell peppers and eggplant and carefully stir everything together so that each ingredient is covered with oil.

Be careful not to let the eggplant burn; it should have absorbed the remaining oil and will need to cook down to soften. Add the zucchini and garlic once the eggplant has softened, then the tomatoes. Let the tomatoes cook down so their juices mix with everything.

Sprinkle in the thyme, salt and pepper to taste.  Shred the basil and gently stir it into the mix before removing from heat; you can add more basil on top for garnish.