Recipes While at UCLA

While living on my own at UCLA, I have had to cook for myself. This led on to my newfound love of cooking, baking, and trying new recipes. This may have also sparked my most recent interest of possibly becoming a food writer. Throughout my family, there isn't a representation of love through the action of verbally saying it. However, the emotion of love is found through eating and sharing food. This is something I want to do in my own personal life and be able to share it with others. I want to express my love for different cuisine in the world through travelling. These recipes aren't the greatest, but they come from my heart, as well as catering to the small budget I had while attending and living at UCLA.

Tomato and Spinach Pasta

I have added a really simple pasta dish that ANYONE can make. There are no measurements because it should be tailored to you. However, I will add how much of each ingredient I use! Please feel free to alter to your specific taste!

Enjoy!


Ingredients:

1 cup of any kind of pasta (I like bowties or shells because it can really scoop up the great sauce)

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 lemon

1 cup of diced tomatoes

1 handful of spinach

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of pepper

1 pinch of red pepper chili flakes

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil


Instructions:

  • Boil your pasta first, until al dente. Don’t forget to generously salt your water.

  • While the pasta is cooking, get a saucepan and heat up some olive oil on medium-high heat.

  • Once your olive oil if heated up, throw in your minced garlic and red pepper chili flakes and cook it until it gets a golden color.

  • Then throw in your tomato paste and let it cook in the oil/garlic goodness.

  • Don’t forget to stir up your pasta so it doesn’t get stuck at the bottom.

  • Next, throw in your diced tomatoes and cook for about 2 minutes of however long you like your tomatoes to be cooked.

  • Then throw in your spinach and let it wilt.

  • Once that is done, throw in your cooked pasta and add about 1/4 cup of pasta water.

  • Let all of that combine and simmer for a bit and add in your lemon juice to brighten it up.

And now you should be done and ready to eat! This is a really simple recipe that is most likely already in your pantry. Like I said before, feel free to change it up to your liking.

French Macarons

Macarons can be very intimidating. However, it really isn't once you get the technique down. This recipe is very simple and doesn't require that many ingredients. The process of making macarons is very soothing for me, and I hope it is for you as well.


Ingredients:

2 eggs at room temperature

¼ cup of white refined sugar

¼ tsp. of cream of tartar powder (can use same amount of white vinegar as substitute)

A few drops of food coloring of your choice

A few drops of vanilla extract (or your choice of flavor)

1 cup of extra-find almond flour

1 cup of confectioners’ sugar

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, crack two eggs and separate the egg whites from egg yolks. We will only be using the egg whites in this recipe.

2. Use the egg whites of two eggs and whisk them until they turn white and have soft peaks.

3. Then add in the refined sugar, cream of tartar powder, and both flavorings and coloring of your choice while whisking the egg whites. They are done once the egg whites have stiff peaks and you can flip the bowl without any of the mixture falling out.

4. Now in a second bowl, sift both the almond flour and confectioners’ sugar to get any clumps out. After that, add it to the egg white mixture.

5. When mixing the dry ingredient into the egg whites, make sure you are folding and not mixing. To fold, use a spatula and scrape from the bottom of the mixture and bring it to the top while incorporating the dry and wet ingredients. You don’t want to overmix. You will know it is done when you can drizzle the mixture onto itself in a figure 8.

6. Now get a piping bag (or a large Ziplock bag works as well) and put all of the finished mixture into the bag.

7. Have a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

8. Now pipe the mixture onto the cookie sheet about 1 inch wide and 1 inch apart from each other. After piping it all, make sure to tap the whole cookie sheet on a hard surface to get rid of any air bubbles from the cookies which will result in it cracking.

9. Wait about an hour or so before baking so it can form a skin on the outside. It will be ready once you can touch the cookie’s surface and it is smooth and there I no batter on your finger.

10. Now heat the oven at around 290 degrees to 310 degrees—depends on your oven.

11. Place cookies in oven and bake for about 11-13 minutes.

12. Once they are done and slightly golden on the outside, take them out and off of the baking sheet to cool and stop the baking process. There should be “feet” at the bottom of the cookies once they are done successfully.

13. After the cookies have cooled, get any filling you want—I like to use strawberry jam or buttercream—and pipe it onto one cookie’s flat side and get another cookie to close the end of it.


And that is how you make French Macaron cookies. Yes, it seems intimidating, but it is all about practice and the results are worth it! Enjoy!