There are a lot of perks of going to school at Wesleyan. You have access to some top-notch professors, a beautiful campus, and an active student body. You have access to high-quality dining halls, coffee shops, and an on-campus grocery store. You also probably have access to a kitchen. Which, I might add, is made for cooking.
There are kitchens all over this campus–in dorms, program houses, HiRise and LoRise, wood frames, and apartments. There is also a meal plan that allows students to to buy ingredients at Weshop. Pretty sweet setup? I’d say so.
Personally, I don’t know what I’d do without a kitchen. I started to cook dinners at home for my family in middle school, so when I got to Wesleyan as a freshman, cooking allowed me to make college feel more like home. My friends and I would huddle in the very tiny Nics kitchen and whip up a home cooked dinner for ourselves. I continued that sophomore year, when I lived in Full House and then studied abroad in Italy, and then into my junior year in HiRise. It was there that I started a blog, The Dorm Room Dinner, which brings together cooking, college, and the food world. I also brought a little of that cooking outside of my dorm room, selling locally-sourced sandwiches with my roommate, Damiano Marchetti ’12 at the Wesleyan Farmers Market (to be continued this year). Cooking has been a central part of my time here at Wesleyan.
This column, Dorm Room Dinners, is to get you cooking in your kitchen at Wesleyan. The recipes are designed to be simple, straightforward, and satisfying. They’re something you could make after getting home from classes at the end of the day. After all, there’s nothing like finishing your day with a home cooked meal. So get some ingredients, get into your kitchen–whether you live in a triple in Clark or a wood frame on Fountain–and get cooking!
I’m starting off with a recipe for tomato sauce. It was inspired after a recent trip to a farmers market where I saw a sign for “Tomatoes with Issues.” The vendor had slightly bruised tomatoes they were selling at a discount. I bought a box and made this simple, flavorful sauce. It’s perfect for the end of the summer when tomatoes are still at their peak. Serve with a warm baguette and a salad, and you’ve got yourself one delicious home-cooked meal.
Ingredients
2-3 pounds tomatoes (approximately 5 medium tomatoes), with or without issues
6 tbs. olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 pound box of pasta
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh Parmesan cheese, for serving
1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
2. Cut tomatoes in half and place in a large mixing bowl. Combine with the olive oil, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and mix well. Transfer to a baking sheet.
3. Place the baking sheet in the oven and allow the tomatoes to roast for about 30 minutes until they are very soft and just beginning to brown, and remove.
4. At this point, if you have a blender or food processor, you can blend the tomatoes until smooth. Otherwise, place the tomatoes back in the large mixing bowl and using a fork, whisk, or your hands, crush the tomatoes until they form a loose sauce. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
5. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain.
6. In a large bowl, mix the pasta and the sauce. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.
Visit Will’s blog at www.dormroomdinner.com