Bread and Rutter is back. I’m excited.

This term, however, I’m shifting the focus a little bit. I’ll still be writing about food, but instead of reviewing places to eat, I’ll be writing about how to cook – because realistically, we students cannot survive on coffee and cake alone (alas, it’s not good for the finances, either).

Maybe you’re already an excellent cook, adept at whipping up meals at the drop of a hat. Maybe you prepare all of your meals at the beginning of the week and have them lined up neatly in the fridge in little Tupperware boxes. Maybe your friends always come round to yours to eat your dinner because they ‘forgot’ to do a Sainsbury's trip and now the buttery is closed.

On the other hand, maybe you’ve never tried to cook before. Your parents packed you off to uni with a student cookbook in your suitcase (a worthwhile investment) in the hope that, by Christmas, you’ll return home not only having learnt a lot about macroeconomics/rocks/seventeenth-century Spanish literature, but you'll also have acquired some pretty impressive cookery skills.

For me, cooking is more than simply a necessary chore; I find it relaxing and calming to stand at the stove stirring a pot of bubbling pasta sauce. I’ll admit that there are times when I just want to stick a ready meal in the microwave, but more often than not, I look forward to the process of cooking as much as I look forward to eating the meal I have just prepared. 

I’m not saying that this column will convert you into a real gourmet chef, nor am I going to claim to revolutionise the way we students cook – and eat – food (Jamie Oliver has already done that). But I do hope that in some shape or form, you will find that these recipes are simple, tasty and relatively nutritious, as well as cheap. I could write pages about how to make fresh pasta, or teach you how to make crème brûlée (come round to my house during the holidays and I'll cook for you) – but whilst those are fun life skills, they are not essential life skills. I'll try to bear gyp-room limitations in mind as much as possible, which means the majority of the recipes will either involve a hob or a microwave – and not an oven.

We’ll start off with this simple tortellini recipe. In all honesty, there’s nothing more useful than a packet of pre-filled pasta. Dinner in less than five minutes, for one or two people, depending on how hungry you are. 

The thing is though, sometimes I get a bit bored of cheese-filled pasta. (Maybe this is a problem you never face. Is it weird that I like vegetables?) And I’ll be truthful: if you invite someone round for dinner and chuck a pack of pasta in the pan, it’s alright, but it doesn’t involve much effort. This is fine when you just need a bite to eat, but a bit different when it's a friend you want to feed. Or a Skype call with your parents, where you want to prove to them that you can fend for yourself.

This is where this recipe comes in. One pack of pasta. Some kind of vegetable. A bit of garlic to jazz it up a bit. Add some pepper and little drizzle of olive oil (or some other kind of oily/buttery product. Not coconut oil, though). And there you have it – a meal to put a smile on anyone’s face.

Pimped-up pasta

Ingredients

1 packet of filled tortellini

1 vegetable of choice

1 clove of garlic, chopped (buy the fresh stuff, you’ll be using it a lot in this column)

A sprinkling of dried herbes de Provence

A bit of oil, and some pepper

Method

1. Heat a drizzle of oil in the pan. Add the garlic and let it sizzle – but not burn – for a minute or so. Add the chopped vegetables and herbs, if using, and stir regularly for about five minutes until softened (peppers may take a bit longer).

2. Cook the pasta in a pan of boiling water for about two minutes or so, until cooked and hot the whole way through.

3. Drain the pasta and mix with the vegetables. Serve with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkling of black pepper.

Variations

Sundried tomato pasta + red peppers

Mushroom pasta + mushrooms

Chicken and bacon pasta + mushrooms

Chorizo-filled pasta + red peppers

Pesto and goats cheese pasta + courgettes

P.S. A handful of spinach will go well with every variation and ups your iron intake for the day

At the end of the day we just want something that tastes good and fills a gap, and this pimped up tortellini should do just that