2020 - Great Food at Leeds

Baking the most of Christmas

Fruity mince pies, iced shortbread and festive favourites like leftover toasties and creamy stroganoff – Chef Lisa shows you how easy it is to make tasty recipes at home! Inspired by recipes used in our cafés and The Refectory at the University of Leeds.

Recipes

Recipes

Turkey and Ham Stroganoff

December 14, 2020/by Matt Hamnett

Recipes

Refectory Rudolph Shortbread

Bake these cute biscuits to give as gifts for family and friends!

Prep: 40 mins Cook: 10 minutes

Easy

Makes 6

Vegetarian

Freezable

Ingredients

150g plain flour
100g butter
50g caster sugar
Writing icing
6 glace cherries

Equipment
Reindeer face cookie cutter or any large round cutter.

Method

Step 1: Place flour, icing sugar and butter in a large bowl and rub ingredients together to a crumb consistency.

Step 2:Using your hands squeeze the mixture together into a ball of dough.

Step 3: Rest the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Step 5: Preheat the oven to 180 0C Fan/Gas 4 and lightly grease your baking tray with oil.

Step 6: Roll out the pastry to 2mm thick and using a Reindeer face cutter cut (or any large round cutter) cut out the shapes from the shortbread mix and gently place onto the greased baking tray.

Step 7: Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins until golden brown.

Step 8:Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool.

Step 9: Using the icing sugar pipe 2 roundels for eyes and 1 for the nose, then place a cherry on top of the nose icing. Then draw 2 antler shapes and a smiley mouth.

Serving suggestion: Dust each shortbread with icing sugar and serve with tea or coffee.

December 8, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

Recipes

Warming Winter Soup  

This recipe is a great way of using up any old veggies you may have for a healthy lunchtime snack.

Prep: 5 mins Cook: 40 minutes

Easy

Makes 6

Vegetarian

Freezable

Ingredients

1kg /1000g of seasonal root veg – for example: parsnip, carrot, potatoes
2 stock cubes (Vegetable or chicken)
3ltr /3000ml boiling water

Method

Step 1: Dice all the vegetables and put together into a large pan
Step 2: Add 2 stock cubes and the boiling water to the pan
Step 3: Boil for 15 minutes or until the veg has softened. Once the mixture has cooled check the taste and add more salt and pepper if required.

Either serve the soup rustic style or blend smoothly with a hand blender

Serving suggestions: Serve with chunky crusty bread

December 8, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

Recipes

Refectory Mince Pies

Melt-in-the-mouth pastry with sweet fruity mince. Perfect to serve at Christmas or to include in a hamper!

Prep: 60 mins Cook: 20 -25 minutes

Intermediate

Makes 6

Vegetarian

Freezable

Ingredients

Method

Step 1: Place flour, icing sugar and butter in a large bowl and rub ingredients together to a crumb consistency.
Step 2: Add the zest of satsuma and 1 egg yolk and bind together.

Step 3: Tip out onto a floured surface and fold until the pastry comes together, then wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 30 mins

Step 4: Preheat the oven to 180 0C/ gas 4 and lightly grease a muffin tin with oil.

Step 5: Roll out the pastry to 2mm thick and using a round cutter (about 10cm), cut out 6 bases and gently place them into the muffin tray.

Step 6: Prick each base of the pastry with a fork and add 50g of the mincemeat mixture into each.

Step 7: Re-roll out the pastry to cut out the pastry lids and press them onto each pie.

Step 8: Bake the mince pies for 20- 25 minutes until golden brown, then leave to cool before dusting with a little icing sugar.

Serving suggestions: Delicious served warm with pouring cream or a brandy butter

December 8, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

Recipes

Turkey and Ham Stroganoff

This creamy rich Stroganoff is a great way to use up any leftover meat and makes a great meal for all the family.

Prep: 10 mins Cook: 20 minutes

Intermediate

Makes 4

Ingredients

50gm butter
1 onion finely diced
400gm sliced mushrooms
2 cloves of crushed garlic
600ml double cream
400gm left-over turkey (strip the meat off the bone)
400gm left over gammon/ham (cut into strips)
Cornflour (if required)
Half of lemon juice
2 tsp of mustard

Method

Step 1: On a medium heat melt the butter in a large pan and add the onion and mushrooms

Step 2: Stirring occasionally, fry the onion and mushrooms until the onions start to turn golden brown.

Step 3: Add in the crushed garlic and stir

Optional: Add a splash of brandy after you fry the onions, mushrooms and garlic

Step 4: Cook for a few more minutes then add the double cream and mustard.

Step 5: Bring the mixture to the boil, then add the turkey and ham and then simmer for around 10 minutes

(If after 10 mins the sauce hasn’t reduced that much, add a little cornflower to thicken.)

Step 6: Once cooked add the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and serve straight away

Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommend that food is only reheated once, so follow this guidance when possible.

Serving suggestions: Serve with rice or pasta

December 8, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

Recipes

Ultimate Christmas Dinner Toastie

The best way to repurpose your Christmas leftovers? Make an ultimate Christmas dinner toastie of course!

Prep: 5 mins Cook: 10 minutes

Easy

Makes 2

Ingredients

100g leftover turkey (shredded off the bone)
50g stuffing
4 chucky slices of your chosen bread
40g cranberry sauce
50g leftover roast potatoes
50g brie cheese (or any cheese you prefer)
40g butter

Method

Step 1: Spread each slice of bread with butter on one side.

Step 2: On the non-buttered side of two slices, spread the cranberry sauce and layer evenly with the turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes and cheese.

Step 3: Place the other 2 slices on top of each (buttered side up) and toast in a pre-heated toastie machine until the bread is golden.

Alternatively, wrap the sandwiches in tin foil (to stop them from burning) and cook in a 180 OC, gas 4 oven for 20/25 mins until the contents are reheated thoroughly.

Serving suggestions: Re-heat your leftover gravy to use as a dip for your toastie!

December 8, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

What's New

Reducing food insecurity in our community

Here at Great Food at Leeds (GFAL), we understand how important it is to support staff, students, and our wider community with access to low-cost food. We want to help ensure that food insecurity is reduced in our community as part of our commitment towards the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger.

That is why in 2017 we partnered with Too Good To Go, an innovative app and social enterprise that aims to put an end to food waste in the hospitality industry and support food security.

We were one of the first Universities to launch our offer on the app which has gone from strength to strength and now includes some key players across Leeds, such as Caffe Nero, Philpots, Chop’d and Absurd Bird.

It's as easy as... 1 Place an order from a local store via the free app, 2 Make your way to the store at the specified collection time, 3 Enjoy your delicious food and reduce food waste! The Too Good To Go app is available for The Refectory as well as many of our GFaL cafes. It allows us to help reduce food waste on campus, by providing a platform to show surplus food which is available to students, staff, and the wider community at a third of the usual cost rather than it going to waste.

We are pleased that we have been able to continue offering this service throughout this year, with customers placing an order using the app and collect food from The Refectory between 6.30-6.40pm. The daily offer ranges from salads, sandwiches, jacket potatoes and daily hot specials.

“We are so pleased tocontinue working alongside Too Good To Go on this great initiative. At Leeds, sustainability is at the forefront of what we do, and food waste pays a huge part in this for us as a Catering service. This partnership is a step forward in reducing waste, whilst creating an innovative platform to offer staff and students a way to access quality, healthy food at a truly affordable price.” – Julie Tong, Head of Retail Catering at GFAL

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

We use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to guide our activity. Our work reducing single-use plastic is linked to the following SDGs:

Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals

Find out more about our impact on the SDGs.

December 4, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

What's New

Refectory Awarded Gold Green Tourism Award

Great Food at Leeds is proud to announce that The Refectory has been re-credited Gold by Green Tourism for sustainable business operations.

The Refectory team has done yet another excellent job at retaining its Gold award status and increasing the score from last year. The Refectory received high marks for initiatives around reducing single-use plastic, tackling food waste and sustainable fish swaps.

The Green Tourism Board assessor said: “ It is great to see such a strong commitment to single-use plastic and initiatives such as swapping plastic salad boxes to cardboard, sugar in paper and encouraging the use of reusable cups and containers to staff and students.”

The Green Tourism Board also commended The Refectory for its ‘fantastic 3 Star ‘Food Made Good’ Sustainable Restaurant Association award and for the team’s excellent use of local and seasonal produce’.

Beverley Kenny MBE, Deputy Director of Commercial Services, said “Receiving the Gold Green Tourism Award is a fantastic achievement. It reflects the commitment of the entire team and the hard work they do every day, ensuring the catering service supports the sustainable aims and objectives of the University. We look forward to using the feedback from the Green Tourism report to guide improvements in sustainability across The Refectory”.

October 16, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

What's New

Get more with Food Bundles!

Food Bundles are available to all students living in University of Leeds managed accommodation and allow you to pre-load credit for meals in advance using the Great Food at Leeds Club App.

Offering better value for money than paying with cash, our bundles come with extra free food and drink credit to spend across all Great Food at Leeds catering outlets. Use your credit as much, or as little, as you want with no daily limit restrictions.

The bigger the bundle the more free credit you’ll get!

Food Bundle 25 £500 gives you £625 – 25% extra free
Food Bundle 20 £350 gives you £420 – 20% extra free
Food Bundle 15 £200 gives you £230 – 15% extra free

Find out more about Food Bundles

September 18, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

What's New

Easter Shortbread Biscuits

Inspired by the GFaL Club Bunny, Chef Lisa shows you how easy it is to make tasty shortbread biscuits at home using simple ingredients that can be found in your cupboard.

Prep: 10 mins Cook: 8 – 10 minutes

Easy

Makes 6 biscuits

Freezable

Vegetarian

View video transcript, recipe and method as a Word or plain text file (opens link in a new tab).

Ingredients

56g/2oz butter
28g/1oz caster sugar, plus extra to finish
85g/3oz plain flour

Optional (to decorate):

Icing sugar
Lemon juice
Sprinkles
Chocolate buttons

Method

Weigh out all the ingredients and put together in a bowl.
Using the tips of your fingers incorporate all the ingredients together using the ‘rub in method’.
When the mixture is all rubbed in (it should resemble a crumble mix or sand) add your optional ingredient. This can be lemon, orange rind/ ground ginger/ chocolate drops/ cinnamon etc
Keep mixing together until it binds together like a pastry/ play dough texture.

Top tip: If it doesn’t feel like it will ever come together then add a tiny drop of oil.

Optional: Place the shortbread mix in the fridge for 1 hour to rest. This solidifies the fat and prevents it spreading in the baking process.

On a lightly floured work surface roll out the dough to your desired thickness. Cut into the shapes you want.

Top tip: If you want thick biscuits then prick with a fork, this helps the baking process by releasing the steam and prevents the biscuits from puffing up.

Bake at 180 degrees or gas mark 4. Cooking times will vary depending on thickness. After about 8-10 minutes check and once they start to change to a light golden colour they will be ready.

Place gently onto a cooling wire or a plate as this will speed up the cooling process. Be careful as your biscuits will be very fragile! You can leave on the baking tray to cool but remember that the biscuits will still keep on slightly cooking.

Once cool, you can decorate with your chosen ingredients.

Decoration top tips!

1. Use pre-made icing in easy pipe tubes/ melted chocolate.
2. Make perfect home made icing by adding small amount of lemon juice to icing sugar powder until it binds together with the consistency of thick glue. It should slowly fall off the spoon. If it is too runny then simply add more icing sugar and add more lemon juice if it is too thick.
3. Be more creative by adding sprinkles, chocolate drops, or sugar flowers.

April 9, 2020/by Great Food at Leeds

Baking the most of Christmas

Recipes

Refectory Rudolph Shortbread

Warming Winter Soup

Refectory Mince Pies

Turkey and Ham Stroganoff

Ultimate Christmas Dinner Toastie

Refectory Rudolph Shortbread

Warming Winter Soup

Refectory Mince Pies

Turkey and Ham Stroganoff

Ultimate Christmas Dinner Toastie

Reducing food insecurity in our community

Refectory Awarded Gold Green Tourism Award

Get more with Food Bundles!

Easter Shortbread Biscuits

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Archive for year: 2020

Recipes

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