Two student pastas: tuna pasta and lentil bolognese

Pasta is the student classic for a reason. These two recipes come from a university student pantry recipe book: one is ready in 15 minutes from tins, the other is a meat-free bolognese that freezes well. Both complement the three sauces in Kitchen Skills.

Tuna pasta (serves 2, about 25 minutes)

• Ingredients: 160 g dried pasta, 35 g broccoli (small florets), 35 g tinned sweetcorn, 100 g cherry tomatoes (halved), 185 g tinned tuna (drained), a bunch of parsley (roughly chopped), the juice of a quarter of a lemon, salt and pepper.
• 1. Boil the pasta in salted water for 10 to 15 minutes (check the packet) until soft.
• 2. Add the broccoli, sweetcorn and tomatoes to the same pan for the last 3 minutes.
• 3. Drain, return to the pan, stir in the tuna and let it heat through. Take off the heat.
• 4. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice and season with pepper.
• Halal note: plain tinned tuna in water, brine or oil is a simple choice; check the label of flavoured tins for any non-halal ingredients.

Lentil bolognese (serves 2, about 30 minutes)

• Ingredients: dried lentils (the recipe uses 2 tbsp; you can use more), 180 g dried pasta, 1 tsp oil, half a tsp finely chopped garlic, half an onion, 1 celery stalk, half a green pepper, half a yellow pepper and half a carrot (all finely chopped), 40 g mushrooms (diced), 200 g chopped tomatoes (strained, juice kept separately), a pinch of chilli powder, fresh basil if you have it.
• 1. Boil the lentils for about 15 minutes until soft. At the same time, boil the pasta for 10 to 15 minutes.
• 2. Gently fry the garlic in the oil on low heat until golden.
• 3. Add the chopped vegetables (not the mushrooms) and cook on medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes until soft.
• 4. Add the mushrooms and cook on high for 2 minutes. Pour in the tomato juice and let it reduce by half.
• 5. Stir in the drained lentils, chilli and tomatoes and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Serve over the pasta with basil.

Swaps and shortcuts

• Tinned lentils: use half a drained tin of cooked lentils instead of boiling dried ones. They only need heating through in step 5.
• Halal beef mince bolognese: brown about 250 g halal beef mince first, breaking it up, before adding the vegetables. FSA advice is that minced meat must be cooked thoroughly with no pink left; FoodSafety.gov gives 71C (160F) for minced beef or lamb.
• Tuna pasta swaps: tinned salmon or a drained tin of chickpeas instead of tuna; frozen peas instead of broccoli; a spoon of yoghurt or cream cheese for a creamier version.
• Short of vegetables? Frozen mixed vegetables work in both dishes.

Batch, freeze and reheat

• Bolognese sauce freezes well. Double it, cool it and put it in the fridge within 1 to 2 hours of cooking, then freeze single portions as soon as possible (FSA).
• Your freezer should be around minus 18C. Label each tub with the name and date.
• Defrost in the fridge, not on the counter, and use within 24 hours of thawing (FSA).
• Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, not just warm, and only reheat once (FSA).
• Cook pasta fresh when you can: it takes 10 minutes and has a better texture than frozen pasta.