www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKnTVIbvcAM

We aren’t all lucky to have big kitchens to create incredible food in…but that should be no excuse. Some of the greatest food doesn’t need much time, equipment or space. This fresh, tantalising pasta dish is a prime example… thrown together in the smallest of spaces and yet wouldn’t look out of place in a top restaurant.

Ingredients:

Fistful of dried spaghetti (100g, 1 p piece diameter or 116 strands )
1 clove of garlic
1 small red chili
Couple of springs of fresh parsley
3 tbsp lemon juices
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tin of crab, drained
Salt and pepper

How to cook:

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil.
Dump the spaghetti into the pan and stir to make sure the strands don’t stick together, then allow to simmer for 8 minute
Dice the chili, grate the garlic and chop the parsley, adding all to a mug with the oil, lemon juice and plenty of salt and pepper.
Drain the pasta and return to the dry, but hot pan.
Stir through the crab meat and splash over the oil dressing.
Mix well and serve immediately.
Stash any leftovers as a pasta salad for the following day.

Serves 1

Liberty Living provides student accommodation, including summer accommodation, in 17 university cities across the UK such as Stoke-on-Trent, Preston, Newcastle and many more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJTNExYYaxA

Pies are awesome… they can be just about anything! Whether you’re at a football match scoffing one down in the freezing cold, or hanging with your mates over at yours, you can enjoy one with a bog-­standard or dead-sophisticated, sweet or savoury filling. So long as we avoid any of Sweeney Todd’s recipes then you can’t go wrong! This classic combination is brilliant… ham and mushroom with a traditional parsley sauce. What better way to feed a whole bundle of flat mates than with a big pot of pie.

Ingredients:

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 bay leaves
4 large field mushrooms
500g of cooked ham or gammon
Knob of butter (50g)
Plain flour (50g)
1 pint of milk
1 chicken stock cube
Handful of fresh parsley
1 packet of ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg

How to cook:

Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Peel and dice the onion and garlic and sweat off in a pan with the bay leaves and a shot of oil.
Cube the ham into bite-­sized pieces and slice the mushrooms, dumping them both into the cooked onions for 3-­4 minutes. Then leave to one side.
Melt the butter in a clean pan and then beat in the flour to form a paste.
Splash in the milk a little at a time, stirring continuously and allowing the mixture to come back to the boil each time before adding more milk.
Crumble the stock cube into the white sauce and simmer for 3­‐4 minutes to cook out any raw taste of the flour. The sauce should be thick, but smooth and velvety.
Pour the sauce into the mushroom and ham mix and combine.
Wash and chop the parsley then add to the sauce with a crack of black pepper. It is unlikely to need much salt because of the ham and stock cube.
Slop the mixture into an oven proof dish.
Unroll the pastry on a floured surface and cut out a piece just larger than the pie dish.
Crack the egg into a bowl and use to brush around the edges of pie dish, before draping the cut pastry over and pushing down to seal.
Brush the entire pie with egg wash and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden all over.

Serves 4 people.

Liberty Living provides student housing, including summer accommodation, in 17 university cities across the UK such as Cardiff, London, Southampton and many more.

…in all rooms from September 2012

Book your student accommodation at any Liberty Living residence from September 2012 you’ll have a 10Mb/s internet connection in your room at no extra cost!

For heavy users, with our fibre optic network, you can opt for even faster connection speeds* — ask the management team if you would like to receive more details.

All you have to do is stay where you are and rebook for 2012-13! You won’t pay anything until September 2012 as we will carry your deposit across to your new booking.†

Accommodation places are filling fast this year — we suggest you book now to avoid disappointment:

www.libertyliving.co.uk

*At additional cost.
†Please note: You will not be required to pay a deposit for your 2012-13 booking as your deposit for your 2011-12 tenancy will be carried over (subject to no damage charges being applied at the end of your 2011-12 tenancy).

Liberty Living provides student accommodation in 17 university cities across the UK, including Glasgow, Liverpool, Preston plus many more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=i80g8oNdo00

Everywhere you look you can find coupons and vouchers for meal-deals or money off to eat out at some of the popular franchises. However, once you’ve got there, paid for drinks and tipped the waiting staff it’s still an expensive meal. The challenge is: can you recreate some of this food even cheaper for yourself right in the kitchen of your student housing? Yes, thanks to the Sorted Chefs who have shared their version of the classic Nando’s dish, Piri-Piri chicken.

Give it a try. With minimal ingredients and easy to follow steps, you’ll be serving up your own mouth-watering meal, and just as hot as you like it.

Ingredients:

4 big cloves of garlic
Olive oil (160ml)
Red wine vinegar (60ml)
1 lemon, juiced
2 fresh chillies (more or less to taste)
1 tsp sea salt
Sprig of thyme
1 small chicken (to cut for spatchcock)
Handfull of mixed salad leaves
Chunky chips

How to cook:

Peel the garlic cloves and stick into a food blender with the oil, lemon juice, vinegar, thyme, chillies and salt.
Blend to a smooth marinade.
Cut either side of the backbone with a sharp pair of shears and then remove the diamond-shaped breast bone from inside the cavity.
Open the chicken up like a book and run the marinade all over, inside and out. Leave in the fridge overnight if you can.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Lay the spatchcock chicken on a baking tray and roast for about an hour until cooked right through and there are no signs of blood at the thickest parts of the bird. Check by cutting into a leg joint.
Serve with plenty of fresh salad and some chunky chips.

Serves 2-4 people.

Liberty Living provides student housing, including summer accommodation, in 17 university cities across the UK such as Leeds, Leicester, Sheffield and many more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=liIeFJyy4YY

People often assume that a crumble has to be a sweet thing. That is proven wrong in this sausage and mushroom crumble recipe video made exclusively for Liberty Living by the Sorted Chefs. Using a very similar idea we can create a dish that becomes just as much of a favourite. A comforting and warming dish that can be shared with flatmates or friends as a main course. Using sausages helps to keep it cheap, but that doesn’t mean you have to scrimp on the quality of the sausage. Or why not try this with vegetarian sausages for a novel and new veggie option.

Ingredients:

1 red onion
1 clove of garlic
Shot of olive oil
4 field mushrooms, peeled
1 tin of tomatoes
8 pork sausages, spicy ones are good
Plain flour (100g)
Cold butter, diced (50g)
Sprinkle of mixed dried herbs

How to cook:

Line up the sausages on a grill rack and place under a medium heated grill to cook for 5-6 minutes, turning occasionally.
Peel and slice the onion and garlic, then fry in a saucepan in a shot of oil for 3-4 minutes until softened and beginning to colour.
Brush the mushrooms of any dirt and roughly chop, leaving them chunky.
Add the mushrooms to the pan and fry for another 3-4 minutes.
Cut the cooked and golden sausages into bit-sized pieces and add to the onion and mushroom mix with the tin of tomatoes.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes so all the flavours combine before dumping into an oven-proof dish.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs and then stir in plenty of salt, pepper and dried herbs of your choosing (oregano or mixed Provencal are great).
Scatter over the mushroom and sausage base so that you can no longer see the tomato.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and crumbly on top but bubbling underneath.
Serve with some fresh greens.

Serves 4 people.

Liberty Living provides student housing in 17 university cities across the UK, including Bedford, Coventry, Medway, plus many more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts2CmN-MG9g

If you have a lot of people invited for dinner then fear not… go simple! Finger food is the answer and if you do lots of really simple stuff and get everybody to make and bring one dish then party food is no trouble at all. This selection of tapas food proves that if you let the food speak for itself then there’s nothing hard about it at all…

Who for: Large flat share (6-8 people)

Dishes:

• Chilli goats cheese stuffed mushrooms
• Chorizo braised in white wine
• Patatas bravas
• Lemon and cilantro sardines
• Tostada garlic rubbed, tomato and manchego
• Spanish rice

Ingredients:

A dozen button mushrooms
A small round of goats cheese (100g)
1 red chilli
4-5 sardines, gutted and cleaned
Bunch of fresh coriander
Large lemon, quartered
Piece of thick chorizo sausage (150g)
Glass of red wine, rioja is great
3 fresh plum tomatoes
Chunk of mangego cheese, or whatever you prefer (150g)
1 ciabatta loaves
3 cloves of garlic
Mug of rice (200g)
1 vegetable stock cube
Pinch of saffron (or turmeric)
Handful of black olives, pitted
1 red pepper
Bunch of fresh parsley
Bowl of new potatoes
1 small onion
Tin of chopped tomatoes or passata
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Good glug of olive oil
Salt and pepper

How to cook:

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Halve the new potatoes and bring to the boil in cold salted water, then simmer for 12-15 until just cooked.
Drain the potatoes and allow to steam dry for a few minutes.
Peel and dice the onion as fine as possible and fry in a saucepan with a dash of oil for 5 minutes.
Add two crushed cloves of garlic, the cayenne and paprika to the onions and fry for another minute.
Tip in the tomatoes, bubble for 5 minutes before blending to a smooth sauce (optional).
Dissolve the vegetable stock cube in a litre of water with the saffron.
Cook the rice for 8-10 minutes in the stock, then drain when done.
Chop up the pepper, olives and parsley and leave to one side to stir through the rice when cooked.
Score the sardines on both sides then lay in an ovenproof dish.
Season the fish with salt, pepper and a handful of ripped coriander before squeezing over the lemon juice and finishing with a splash of oil.
Pop the stems out from the mushrooms and push goats cheese into the gap.
Top each stuffed mushroom with a slice of red chilli, arrange in an ovenproof dish and drizzle with oil.
Slice the chorizo on the diagonal and toss them into an ovenproof dish with the glass of wine.
Put the mushrooms, sardines and chorizo into the oven to cook for 10 minutes.
Fry the cooked potatoes in a frying pan with a little oil for about 6-8 mins until golden all over.
Half the ciabatta lengthwise and cut into portions.
Drizzle the bread with olive oil then place into the oven to toast for 5 minutes.
Quarter the tomatoes and discard the middles.
Dice the rest of the tomato and the manchego cheese before mixing together with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Scrape a clove of garlic over the toasted bread and then top with the tomato and cheese mix before serving.
Mix the drained rice with the chopped pepper, olives and parsley and serve.
Tip the fried potato onto a plate or bowl and top with the smoky and spicy tomato sauce, garnish with fresh parsley and serve.
Remove the three dishes from the oven and serve as the final additions to your tapas feast!

Serves 6-8 people.

Liberty Living provides student accommodation in 17 university cities across the UK, including Aberdeen, Cardiff, Manchester plus many more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo0MA2a_CMk

Looking for easy recipes and a little fun in the kitchen?

Well then, it’s time to get SORTED. Whether you’re an armchair foodie or aspiring chef, the SORTED crew will have you and your mates slicing and dicing in no time. From baking the perfect jacket potato to preparing the ultimate date dish, the team at SORTED have all the answers in a series of easy-to-follow recipes and videos. So get your mates around for some foodie fun and enjoy the results.

Feast your eyes on exclusive videos and recipes from the SORTED crew right here on the Liberty Living blog.

Liberty Living provides student accommodation in 17 university cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle plus many more.

I started at my university in 2004, bright eyed and fresh faced thinking that as an eighteen year old I knew it all. Clearly I didn’t and I learned the hard way. However, I think I have learned a few things since and if I couldn’t help my self back then maybe I can help you all now?

Fresher’s Week

I threw myself in to that first week thinking that if I didn’t, I would be missing out on important experiences. I armed myself with a small wedge of money and joined every club and society at the fresher’s fair (or tried to – the law society wouldn’t have me. Apparently studying law was a prerequisite for joining the club) and somehow made it back to halls laden down with house plants, posters, a (free!) loaf of bread and numerous free pens.

I have now come to the conclusion that this type of childlike enthusiasm is absolutely normal. A speaker at a recent accommodation event described how students now expect from universities a “Harry Potter experience”. What this means for universities is perhaps for another time but I think that you have to go in to it accepting that you are responsible for your own Harry Potter experience. It will be what you make of it. Throw yourself in to everything, because there is no worse feeling than looking back and thinking ‘I wish I tried harder’.

With that same boundless energy I displayed during fresher’s week, I greeted each new person like they were my new best friend. Following the same scripted conversation that I’m sure you have all memorised by now (“what course are you on”… “where do you live”… “where are you from”…etc) we would eventually lose each other in the crowd, never to be seen again. Because they were not natural relationships, they were forced at the back of a lecture theatre where the desperation to make friends clings to the air. Friendships may not happen immediately but they will happen, just give them time. And when they do, they will be friendships for life.

And then the work begins…

It may sound big headed, but when I was in school I did pretty well without ever really trying. So to get my very first essay back graded as 57% came as a shock to me (seven years later and it’s burned in to my brain!) The whole learning experience was different to what I was used to and so were the lecturers’ expectations of you. At first it seemed like everyone was racing ahead and I felt like I didn’t deserve to be there, but it soon became clear that everyone struggled at first. Unless you’re a certified genius, it’s going to take a while to get used to the change in gear.

Unless you are very lucky, you will be greeted on your first day by quite a lengthy reading list. The temptation is to head straight out and buy up the entire list. There is no need to do this. Unfortunately I was more than half way through my course by the time I fully learned a) how to use the library properly and b) that it has absolutely everything you could ever possibly need. By all means, it’s useful to have copies of the core texts, but at least with library books there is the chance that someone before you may have made relevant and/or amusing notes in the margin.

And what will sustain you through these new found hobbies and long nights in the library? Man (and woman) cannot live on toast alone. And if your canteen is anything like mine was, the sandwich combinations are just baffling (onion bhaji and humous anyone?). There is just one thing for it: learning how to cook. I started my culinary adventure with a stir fry. The stir fry was my friend for a long time. This was swiftly followed by adding vegetables to pre-cooked noodles (for me, this was cooking) and was followed by a long fascination with fajitas. I’m not trying to confirm the stereotype here that students are unable to look after themselves. In fact, a lot of my friends are amazing cooks (and from them I’ve added Swedish meatballs and shepherd’s pie to my repertoire). But I know that for a vast number, the reality of having to take care of yourself is hard. Yet it is one of the most important lessons to learn and what it contributes to your mental and physical well being should not be underestimated.

So that was my first week or two in university: work, rest and play. It is by no means the definitive experience – these can vary hugely and I don’t think anyone has a “typical” university experience. And on that note, I would say that no one should try to; however, make the most of every moment.

Liberty Living provides student accommodation in 17 university cities across the UK, including Glasgow, Liverpool, Preston plus many more.