Life in a shared flat is said to bring joys and pains. Actually, they can be mostly joys if you manage to form a good relationship with your flatmates!
If you are thinking of moving into a shared apartment , read the article on surprising your future flatmates!

A great way to make friends is sharing and there is nothing better than preparing and enjoying a meal together. If you are on your first experience away from home, you are probably not very experienced in the kitchen. Don't worry, there are plenty of quick and inexpensive recipes for an easy-to-cook but very tasty dinner.

In this article, we will provide you with some winning ideas for preparing healthy dishes that everyone can agree on and that can be created in different variations, so even for vegetarians, vegans, lactose-intolerant or gluten-intolerant people and so on.

If one dish is not enough, you can opt to cook two or three, reducing the portions for each. It will be a perfect opportunity to spend time with your housemates, trying different dishes and discovering each other's tastes.

Once you have chosen your dish, we invite you to check the complete recipe with dosages and preparation steps in a recipe book or cookery site, here we only give ideas from which to start for your perfect dinner.

Quick pasta recipes

Pasta is a dish that almost everyone agrees on. It is easy to prepare and gives the possibility to indulge in endless recipes. In addition, gluten-free pasta or pasta made from pulses is now increasingly popular, making life easier for coeliacs as well.

Here are some ideas for cooking short pasta:

• With a sauce of sautéed vegetables, for example courgettes and peppers;
• With taggiasca olives and pecorino cheese;
• With artichoke hearts;
• With sausage and tomato;
• Trofie with pesto alla Genovese, a typical Italian dish. You can also put yourself to the test and make your own basil pesto at home;
• With diced ham, peas and cream (obviously the one specially made for savoury dishes, different from the one for desserts);
• Pasta alla gricia, typical Roman style, with guanciale, pecorino and pepper
• With tuna and tomato sauce;
• With ricotta and walnuts;
• Whole-wheat pasta with diced pumpkin and cheese, to which you can also add sweet bacon, speck or sausage.

Among the types of short pasta you can use: penne or pennette rigate, rigatoni, trofie, caserecce, maccheroni, fusilli, farfalle, conchiglie. There are so many types, we suggest you go to the supermarket and evaluate according to what they offer.

Long pasta dinner ideas:

• Spaghetti carbonara, with guanciale, pecorino, pepper and an egg yolk cream. We advise you to follow the recipe well because making it is an art, but trying it with friends is even more fun;
• Spaghetti or linguine with clams, for simplicity's sake you can take frozen clams instead of fresh ones;
• Spaghetti with tomato and basil, a classic that never goes out of fashion
• Bucatini all'amatriciana, also a typical Roman dish;
• Pappardelle with vegetables, with or without tomato sauce;
• Pasta al ragù, a meat sauce.

Short pasta is more suitable for some recipes and long pasta for others, but in general it depends on taste. Do your own tests!

Simple meat or fish dishes

These recipes are especially for omnivores, for a second course or for preparing a single dish for dinner. Obviously, they can be varied by substituting foods of vegetable origin for those of animal origin, in any case for vegetarians there are more ideas and tips in the next section.

Quick and tasty meat dishes:

• Chicken with lemon, with a possible Indian-style variation if curry and various spices are added;
• Chicken with lemon and rocket;
• Veal strips with lime-flavoured peppers;
• Rolls made with slices of chicken or veal and stuffed with string cheese;
• Meatballs, white or red, baked in the oven or in tomato sauce;
• Hamburgers and fries, it's true that you can buy them, but making them at home by taking minced meat allows you to flavour them as you like and create your own sandwiches or special dishes;
• Baked chicken thighs accompanied by potatoes and chestnuts;
• Oven-baked skewers of meat and vegetables.

These meat dishes can be accompanied by any side dish of pan-fried vegetables or a fresh salad. If you opt for chicken curry, we recommend adding simple white rice as an accompaniment - the result is super!

Simple fish-based main courses:

• Oven-baked fish, e.g., sea bream or sea bass cooked in a foil packet;
• Swordfish fillets with olives and cherry tomatoes, cooked in a frying pan;
• Salmon steak, which can be baked, pan-fried or grilled;
• Shrimps with salad or courgettes, this for example for a tasty starter;
• Baked shrimp skewers.

Meat and fish are usually a little more expensive, so to try some of these dishes, you may consider preparing a small sample as an appetiser and concentrate on another main course.

Quick and original recipes for vegetarians

If your housemates include a vegetarian, or maybe it's just you, don't despair because there are quick and easy recipes even without meat or fish.

Let's now take a look at some great ideas for appetisers, sharing plates or even main courses that are perfect for vegetarians:

• Chickpea hummus to be eaten with raw vegetables or bread croutons. You can also make the croutons at home by simply placing slices of bread seasoned with a little oil and salt in the oven;
• Savoury pie with vegetable pastry (found in the supermarket) and mixed vegetable and cheese filling;
• Stuffed peppers or courgettes baked in the oven, the filling can be made with part of the vegetables themselves, breadcrumbs and a little cheese for flavouring, of course they can be made with meat filling if you wish;
• Grilled courgette rolls with ricotta filling, the courgettes are sliced, grilled and then rolled into rolls;
• Vegetable and legume burgers, can be baked in the oven or fried in a pan;
• Omelette with onions or vegetables;
• Tofu and tomato sauce ragù, can be used to season pasta or for tasty canapés;
• Cold aubergine parmigiana, a summery and simpler variant of the traditional parmigiana. It is made with slices of grilled aubergine alternated with layers of cherry tomatoes and mozzarella;
• Chickpea meatballs, also perfect for dipping in some sauce;
• Pizzette di melanzane, slices of aubergine cut thickly and baked with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese on top, pizza-style;
• Risotto with mushrooms, pumpkin or radicchio;
• Cous Cous of sautéed vegetables;
• Cannelloni with spinach; you can also take dry, ready-made cannelloni to be filled with a spinach and ricotta mixture and then baked in the oven.

In short, there are so many possibilities with meat and fish, as well as for vegetarians and with all the ad hoc variants for coeliacs or lactose intolerant people. All you have to do is study the right recipes and for the rest it's good to be together.

But that's not all!

Dessert is a must

What's dinner without dessert!

A great solution is always to finish off with a nice ice cream, but if you want to try your hand at making dinner from start to finish, there are some easy recipes even when it comes to dessert.

Here are some tasty ideas to end your roommate dinner on a sweet note:

• Coconut and chocolate balls, made with coconut flour, cocoa powder and coconut rapè, no baking required;
• Yoghurt cake, requires a few extra steps and a few hours' rest in the fridge, but the process is very simple and any flavour of yoghurt can be used;
• Tiramisu, one of the most famous desserts made with ladyfingers, coffee, mascarpone and cocoa;
• Apple pie or apple crumble which can also be made with rice flour;
• Chocolate brownies;
• Snow biscuits, with almond flour, butter, sugar and eggs;
• Cookies, the famous chocolate chip biscuits, just a simple dough and then inform.

Each of these recipes is great even if it's your first time in the kitchen, all it takes is a little effort and the right ingredients. Ready to put yourself to the test?