I’ve always been a foodie so I was really excited for chefs Samin Nosrat and Yotam Ottolenghi to lecture this spring A&L circuit. Because of quarantine, their visit was canceled, so I took it upon myself to binge-watch Samin's Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat on Netflix, and cook just about everything featured-from fresh pasta (try pairing it with Ottolenghi's cherry tomato sauce) to soy-braised short ribs. Quarantine has begun to shape and inspire my cooking habits. In the words of Samin,
“OK, I can do this because I’m doing nothing else. Time is making a lot of things feel possible in a way that didn’t feel possible before.”
Growing up, my parents made me try everything they put on my plate and because of this, I’ve learned to appreciate almost all kinds of food - except liver, never liver. I started cooking at a young age; I watched my mom and grandma make all kinds of dishes, and slowly started experimenting with food myself.
Now, I'm not sure how much you know about Asian “recipes”, but they basically don’t exist. My mom’s philosophy on cooking is very similar to Samin’s:
“Season food with the proper amount of salt at the proper moment; choose the optimal medium of fat to convey the flavor of your ingredients; balance and animate those ingredients with acid; apply the right type and quantity of heat for the proper amount of time—do all this and you will turn out vibrant and beautiful food, with or without a recipe.”
Because of the way my mom taught me, my cooking instincts developed, and (not to toot my own horn or anything) I’d say I’m a pretty good cook. However, because of the way I learned, I’m pretty useless at teaching people how to cook. I assume they know how much seasoning (or even what kinds of seasoning) goes into a recipe. This is also why I’m not a huge fan of baking and quite honestly, science. I never read instructions and I usually like to wing it and “trust our senses” as Samin likes to encourage.
Anyways, quarantine has me cooking many different things, and I was wondering whether or not anybody else has been cooking an obscene amount of food, desserts, and drinks (just yesterday I ordered a cocktail shaker on Amazon). SO I reached out to quite a few people and decided to compile a “cookbook” of their (and my) quarantine cooking highlights. Check them out and maybe try a few!
Must-Try Recipes
Author: Victoria P.
A totally easy recipe that totally will not take you forever
Author: Tilia C.
Quarantine has me missing one of my favorite coffee's in LA, so I took it upon myself to recreate it at home! Try it out!
"Swamp"
Author: Lyndsay C.
Try Lyndsay's Nana's recipe for a simple, tasty twist on chicken and rice!
Author: Kylie D.
"aka the only meal that gets me through four hours of comm lectures without stopping for snacks. This along with two cups of coffee keeps me full and caffeinated enough to create my ten pages of themed notes each week."
Author: Tilia C.
Author: Tilia C.
It's super sad being in LA and not being able to drink boba, so l wanted to try making it at home!
Author: Deeyana R.
they give you energy...and if that's not enough incentive to make them, they taste amazing and they're good for you!
Author: Cristina M.
"Apparently I need to get a mini-fridge in my room because my family ate them all..."
Author: Tilia C.
I created this because I miss Chipotle, and I love it. A quick and easy meal for the fam!
A few College Student Cooking Hacks & Some Funny Stories
Danae H.'s Avocado Toast Hack
Toast your bread
Put a TON of butter on the toast before (...doesn’t make it super healthy, but it sure tastes good)
Add the avocado, sprinkle more seasoning on top
Enjoy!
Savanna's alternative acai bowl
"I have these frozen açaí bowls from Costco. The problem is you have to wait about 3 hours for it to thaw and I do not have the patience for that. Tried heating it up in the microwave and it turned to nasty soup looking liquid. So I’ve just been cutting some fruit, dumping coconut and granola on top and calling it a meal 🤷🏼♀️"
Pizza: A Tragedy
Nicole Gates
true story: I was making a pizza from scratch. I was so proud of it, it looked beautiful. I grabbed the tinfoil and pulled it out of the oven, only for the tinfoil to split down the middle, scalding hot pizza landed face down on the floor and burned half my hand. Ate an entire bag of family size Doritos to cope.
Ingredients:
Tin-Foil
Pizza
Tears
Doritos
Directions:
Make an amazing pizza from scratch
Place on tin-foil and put in the oven
When finished, take the pizza out of the oven on tin foil
Tinfoil rips
Eat Family-size bag of Doritos to cope
Ice cream without the dishes
Author: Ellie S.
Ingredients:
Ice cream
Your hands
Directions:
Open freezer
Get ice cream in the brown tub
Take lid off
No spoon, no bowl, just hands, enjoy.