Welcome to our first official (cook)book club! I am the sort of person who (1) has no time for book clubs but daydreams about belonging to one, and (2) asks for cookbooks at every gifting opportunity. My cookbook shelf officially reached max capacity this past Christmas, yet I continue to purchase and pour over the latest releases by my favorite cooks (Alison Roman, Julia Turshen, Jenny Rosenstrach to name a few).
This is also the moment I admit that although I adore reading the recipes and stories behind the food, I rarely actually use the cookbooks for, well . . . cooking. So I thought, together, we could tackle a few birds with one stone. I will share my love of cookbooks and actually use them to make dinner. And, even though we are not together, please know I am enjoying a virtual glass of wine (the best part of a book club!) with all of you 🙂
I decided to start with What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers. For those who are not familiar, Caroline is my patron saint of cooking. She makes cooking approachable and adaptable; every one of her recipes has substitutions and advice on how to make the meal something that fits your needs. Thanks to Caroline, I have learned new cooking techniques and ways to substitute ingredients, almost without thinking about it. I no longer turn up my nose if a recipe calls for lamb or panic if the grocery store is out of brussel sprouts – I know how to make it work!
Tonight’s dinner recipe is a simple ramen dish, which Caroline has titled Veggie Peanut Noods. It has become a something of a staple in our house, and I have even found myself making it when cooking on vacations. Caroline often talks about giving you the biggest bang for your buck, and this one certainly fits the bill. It falls under her ‘15-ish Minutes’ chapter (faster than takeout!), has minimal ingredients, and dirties only a few dishes. It is also gluten free (if you use tamari instead of soy sauce!) and infinitely adaptable.
I used Lotus Foods rice ramen noodles from Costco, though any ramen packet will do – just make sure you discard any flavor packets that may be included. After boiling for a few minutes, I added frozen broccoli florets because it is a weeknight and chopping broccoli tonight just wasn’t appealing. I also skipped the edamame Caroline suggests, but after draining threw in some shredded rotisserie chicken for protein.
I topped it off with pre-shredded carrots, chopped cashews (I was out of peanuts!), and some green onion from my garden. I also added some chili crisp on top – if you have not jumped on the chili crisp bandwagon yet, please trust me and climb aboard.
You guys, when I plated this I felt like a superstar. It looked gourmet, and the flavor was the perfect amount of peanut-y, spicy goodness.
For exact ingredients/amounts make sure to pick up a copy of What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking (Bookshop.org, Amazon)!
Here is a scaled down version of the recipe for a single serving:
Below is a link to the recipe on Caroline’s Substack.
