As everyone who is flatting or has ever flatted will know sometimes you just reach a point where all you have in the fridge is an onion and a withering lettuce and you gotta hustle. You also probably have 3 tubs of ice cream because #priorities but that’s beside the point.
Basically unless you had really amazing progressive parents who encouraged ‘exploration in the kitchen’ or slave driver ones that made you cook every meal then you like the rest of us have come into the adult world with a rather bleak set of skills.
But now I’m 6 months in to this flatting shin dig and I’ve learnt a few things along the way about making it work in the kitchen so I thought I’d pass it along in a new segment I’d like to call
L- Plates. (geddit, cause learning to cook……on plates…..ok.)
I won’t lie when I lived in the halls I thought that flatting food was the promised land. Be gone watered down curries and soggy EVERYTHING, hello fresh foods and an actual full range of fruits and vegetables. But it’s all fun and games until you realise that it’s $5 for an avocado at best so ain’t no body getting that Instagram any time soon.
The aim with this series is to give you a go to for when it’s time to cook dinner and you’ve got no idea where to start. The format is intended for you to see all the ingredients, get prepared and then follow along while you cook.
OK LET’S DO IT
I’m starting with dessert first. Because if there’s anything that’s going boost morale at the end of a hard week day then it’s a bloody good SELF SAUCING PUD.
SERVES 6
PREPARATION TIME 20 MINUTES (give or take 10 mins for prematurely eating mixture or getting distracted by Snapchat Stories)
COOKING TIME 14 MINUTES (give or take)
You know it’s gotta be good when the words ‘gooey molten centre’ are in any dessert. These babies are amazing because you make them on a Sunday when you are feeling particularly Martha Stewart esque. Pump some tunes and pretend you’re on Great British Bake Off and then when you get pummelled by a particularly crap assignment chuck them in the oven and you will be rewarded for your forward thinking. The great thing about this recipe is that you don’t need any fancy equipment either!
INGREDIENTS
150g butter, plus extra for greasing the ramekins
150g dark chocolate (the darker the better) coarsely chopped (be prepared choc is approx. 1000% harder to chop than you think)
3 eggs (can’t be cage eggs or your dessert will be poisoned with the bitter tears of injustice #realtalk)
150g caster sugar
3 tablespoons plain flour
cocoa to dust
vanilla ice cream or whipped cream to serve
‘fresh raspberries’ (the recipe says to use these but I think we all know ain’t no body got time for that)
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Put a baking tray in the oven and preheat to 200°C (putting the fondants on a preheated tray will kick-start cooking from bottom). Grease 6 small ramekins with butter (don’t have any? Kmart trip WHAT UP, u won’t regret) and refrigerate while you prepare the cakes.
Melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler by putting a larger, heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do this if you want to feel like Reynold on Masterchef). Or melt them in the microwave on a low temperature, stirring every 30 seconds (do this because it’s clearly easier). Set aside to cool for a few minutes
Lightly whisk the eggs for about 1 minute, then sift in the sugar and flour. Add the melted butter and chocolate and mix to combine. PRO TIP: crack the eggs first.
Fill the ramekins on ¾ full and put them in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes (if you could do this to yourself too I would recommend)
Put the ramekins on the heated baking tray and bake for 14 minutes (this time will depend on your oven, so experiment a bit) until the cakes are slightly pulling away from the edges of the ramekins and the centre still have a slight wobble (slight wobble being a euphemism for every time I forget to go to uni because I’m watching a whole season of Gossip Girl in a day)
Remove and cool for a few minutes before turning out (go slowly with this bit it’s the only tricky part), dusting with the cocoas and serving immediately with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (OR BOTH christ, it might have been a shit day)
final step: invite ur m8’s round for a BYO dressing gown mid week self saucing bonanza
Smile smugly at your creation.
Enjoy!!!
Recipe adapted from Cuisine: How To Cook – 100 Delicious Ideas for Beginners
liv-actually.com 