The Hive to launch their first cookbook for students
The book by Roehampton’s creative writing undergrad student, Brad Cohen, will feature organic and vegetarian recipes and is set to be publish in September.
As a student you must know how hard it is to lead a healthy lifestyle, full of nutritious food. You might be always saying that this resolution means time and money. But the people behind The Hive Cafe at the University of Roehampton have a solution for you. They are launching a cookbook filled with organic and vegetarian recipes in September.
The cookbook will include their classic, signature dishes like Mac & Cheese, the Enchilada Bake, as well as, several types of curries and the pasta recipe — Puttanesca.
They plan to launch each year a 50–60 pages book, the next one will cover brunch and soup recipes.
Brad Cohen, the author of the book, said none of their recipes are expensive to make, which means a genuine advantage for students.
“We have a huge emphasis to keep things as low cost as possible. Our aim is to get close to students by offering them this opportunity to eat healthy and make their university lives better.”
An average price of a meal from the cookbook is only about £4.
The Growhampton cookbook aims to show students that organic eating does not require a lot of money. “This is a misconception for a lot of people, they believe organic means expensive and this is simply not true. We want to demonstrate that,” said Cohen.
Veggie/Vegan Puttanesca with toasted pine nuts and spinach
One of Brad’s favourite date night dishes, this version of the Italian classic can be made veggie or vegan. Super simple to make but filled with a full-bodied and slightly ‘dirty’ flavour from the black olives and dark choclate which is full of fibre, iron and magnesium. This one is a great reminder that healthy food can be sexy!
Serves two: a great one to impress your date.
Ingredients:
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
2 red onions (diced)
100 grams of 70% cocoa solids (or above) dark chocolate
x1 310 gram jar of black olives
1 tbsp gherkins (diced)
1 tspn oregano
2–3 cups of penne pasta
3 tbsps packet of pine nuts
1 bag of fresh spinach
Slash of red wine (save the rest for your date or drink yourself while you cook to get in the mood)
Glug of olive oil
Salt and pepper to season
Equipment:
2 large saucepans
1 frying pan
1 colander
1 sharp veggie knife
1 garlic crusher
1 can opener
1 mixing spoon
Method:
1. Prep the veggies, boil the kettle and place one of the saucepans on a medium heat with the olive oil.
2. Sweat the garlic for a minute or two before adding the onions.
3. When the onions are softened, throw in the tinned tomatoes, gherkins, salt and pepper, oregano, dark chocolate and glug of red wine. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the boiled water to the second saucepan to boil until al denté.
5. One a low heat, toast the pine nuts in the frying pan for a few minutes until they’re nice and brown.
6. Add the spinach and black olives to the Puttanesca sauce and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
7. Drain the pasta, serve it up on your best china, pour onto the Puttanesca and sprinkle on a few pine nuts.
8. If you fancy making this dish a little more cheesy and little less vegan, you can use Parmesan cheese, but make sure it’s vegan.
