Cooking together is part of flatshare life. Here are simple recipes that work, cost little and feed the whole flat. For each recipe, choose how many people you are cooking for: the amounts adjust.
Minestrone
50 minutes · vegan
The vegetable soup that fills the whole flat and uses up leftover vegetables.
Ingredients
Serves 4
1onion
2 garlic cloves
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1courgette
2 potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1tin chopped tomatoes (400 g)
1 l vegetable stock
1tin white beans (400 g)
100 g small pasta, e.g. ditalini or elbow pasta
100 g frozen peas
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
Salt, pepper
To serve
Bread as you like
Method
Finely chop the onion and garlic. Dice the carrots, celery, courgette and potatoes.
Heat the oil in a large pot and soften the onion and garlic. Add the carrots, celery and potatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, stock and herbs, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the courgette, rinsed beans and pasta and simmer for another 10 minutes until the pasta is soft. Add the peas for the last 3 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and serve with bread.
Tip Almost any vegetable works, including leek, cabbage or pumpkin. If you don’t eat vegan, grate some Parmesan over it. The soup tastes even better the next day.
Everything on one tray, the oven does the rest. With a creamy sesame paste sauce.
Ingredients
Serves 4
800 g potatoes or sweet potatoes
2 peppers
2 red onions
1courgette
1tin chickpeas (400 g)
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
Pepper
Tahini sauce
4 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
1lemon, juiced
1 garlic clove
6 tbsp water
1pinch of salt
To serve
Parsley or coriander as you like
Method
Preheat the oven to 220 °C (conventional) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cut the potatoes into 2 cm cubes, the peppers into strips, the onions into wedges and the courgette into slices. Rinse the chickpeas and drain them well.
Mix everything with the oil, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper and spread it on the tray.
Roast in the middle of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, turning once halfway through.
For the sauce, stir the tahini, lemon juice, crushed garlic, water and salt until smooth; if it is too thick, add a little more water. Pour over the vegetables and sprinkle with the herbs.
Tip For 8 to 10 people use two trays and swap them halfway through. Flatbread or couscous go well with it.
Takes a little time but always works. Ideal when the whole flat is at the table.
Ingredients
Serves 4
250 g lasagne sheets, no pre-cooking needed
1onion
2 garlic cloves
1courgette
1aubergine
1pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each)
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
Salt, pepper
White sauce
50 g butter
50 g flour
700 ml milk
1pinch of nutmeg
150 g grated cheese, e.g. mozzarella or Gruyère
Method
Finely chop the onion and garlic. Dice the courgette, aubergine and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large pan, soften the onion and garlic, add the vegetables and fry for 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes and herbs, simmer for 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper.
For the white sauce, melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook briefly. Gradually whisk in the milk and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and nutmeg.
Preheat the oven to 200 °C (conventional). In a baking dish, layer vegetable sauce, lasagne sheets and white sauce, finish with white sauce and sprinkle with the cheese.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes until golden. Let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting.
Tip Easy to prepare the day before and bake just before eating. For 8 to 10 people use two dishes. Vegan with plant milk, margarine and no cheese.
Eggs in a spiced tomato sauce, straight from the pan. With fresh bread.
Ingredients
Serves 4
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
2 red peppers
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp chilli powder
2 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each)
1 tsp sugar
Salt, pepper
8 eggs
100 g feta
To serve
Parsley and bread as you like
Method
Finely chop the onions and garlic and cut the peppers into strips.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and soften the onions and peppers for 8 minutes. Add the garlic and spices and cook for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes and sugar and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens a little. Season with salt and pepper.
With a spoon, make a hollow in the sauce for each egg and crack the eggs into them. Cover and cook over a low heat for 6 to 8 minutes until the whites are set and the yolks still soft.
Crumble the feta over the top, sprinkle with parsley and serve straight from the pan with bread.
Tip For more people, use two pans or pour the sauce into a baking dish and cook the eggs in the oven at 200 °C for about 10 minutes. Also great for brunch.
Potatoes, macaroni, cheese and cream: a filling Swiss classic.
Ingredients
Serves 4
500 g waxy potatoes
400 g macaroni or elbow pasta
2 onions
1 tbsp butter
200 ml cream
100 ml milk
200 g grated cheese, e.g. Gruyère or mountain cheese
Salt, pepper, nutmeg
Apple sauce
1 kg apples
100 ml water
2 tbsp sugar
1pinch of cinnamon
Method
For the apple sauce, peel and core the apples and cut them into pieces. Cook them covered with the water, sugar and cinnamon for about 10 minutes until soft, then mash with a fork. It can be served warm.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2 cm cubes. Boil them in plenty of salted water for 5 minutes, then add the macaroni and cook together until soft. Drain.
Meanwhile, slice the onions into thin rings and fry them in the butter over a medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes until golden.
Bring the cream and milk to the boil in the empty pot and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the potatoes, macaroni and cheese and stir until the cheese has melted.
Serve with the onions on top and the apple sauce on the side.
Tip If you like, fry 150 g diced bacon with the onions. Apple sauce is also available ready-made in a jar.
One big pot that costs little and is enough for everyone. It tastes even better the next day.
Ingredients
Serves 4
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
2 peppers, red or yellow
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp chilli powder
2 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g each)
150 g red lentils
300 ml vegetable stock
2 tins kidney beans (400 g each)
1tin sweetcorn
Salt, pepper
300 g rice
To serve
Coriander, lime wedges and soy yoghurt as you like
Method
Finely chop the onions and garlic and dice the peppers.
Heat the oil in a large pot and soften the onions and garlic. Add the peppers and spices and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, lentils and stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring now and then.
Rinse the beans and sweetcorn, add them and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the packet. Serve the chili with the rice and the toppings.
Tip For chili con carne, fry 400 g mince with the onions and leave out the lentils. Better to add the heat at the table: not everyone in the flat likes it equally spicy.
Mild, creamy and ideal for the leftover vegetables in the flat’s fridge.
Ingredients
Serves 4
1onion
2 garlic cloves
1piece of ginger, about 2 cm
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp curry powder
500 g sweet potatoes
1head of broccoli
1pepper
1tin chickpeas (400 g)
1tin coconut milk (400 ml)
200 ml vegetable stock
150 g leaf spinach
1lime
1 tbsp soy sauce
300 g rice
Coriander as you like
Method
Finely chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 2 cm cubes, cut the broccoli into florets and the pepper into strips.
Heat the oil in a large pot and soften the onion, garlic and ginger. Fry the curry powder for 1 minute.
Add the sweet potatoes, pour in the coconut milk and stock and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the broccoli, pepper and rinsed chickpeas and simmer for another 8 minutes until everything is tender. Stir in the spinach until it wilts.
Season with lime juice, soy sauce and salt. Meanwhile cook the rice and serve everything together.
Tip Almost any vegetable works: cauliflower, courgettes, carrots or pumpkin. For more protein add tofu; if you like meat, strips of chicken.
The dessert for the whole table: warm apples under a crunchy topping.
Ingredients
Serves 4
800 g apples
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Crumble topping
100 g flour
75 g sugar
50 g rolled oats
75 g cold butter
To serve
Custard or vanilla ice cream as you like
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 °C (conventional) and grease a baking dish.
Quarter and core the apples and cut them into pieces. Mix with the lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon and spread them in the dish.
For the topping, mix the flour, sugar and oats. Add the cold butter in pieces and rub it in with your fingertips to coarse crumbs.
Scatter the crumbs over the apples and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden.
Serve warm, with custard or ice cream.
Tip Instead of apples, use pears, plums or frozen berries. Vegan with margarine instead of butter. For 8 to 10 people take a baking tray or two dishes.
