Cookbook Dive: What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking
I’ve always thought of myself as someone who likes to cook and who has a lot of cookbooks. So today I did a quick count and somewhat disappointingly, I have less than 120 cookbooks. Not nearly enough! Next, I started categorizing my cookbooks in my head. Favorites that I use repeatedly. Classics that say you are a serious baker or cook. Those that look pretty while just sitting there and make me smile when I see their covers. The ones I could peruse for hours on a rainy day. Some have special meaning or a story behind how I came to own them. There are many that give me inspiration. Then I wondered how many recipes I’ve made from any one cookbook and which ones (gasp) that I’ve never cooked from.
All of this leads me to my latest cookbook acquisition, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking by Caroline (Caro) Chambers.
What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers has been a fun addition to my cookbook library. A real gem.
It’s been a long time since I’ve made so many things from one cookbook. More than a cookbook for people who don’t feel like cooking, I feel like this is a book for people who enjoy cooking but need new ideas! Just because I like to cook doesn’t mean the question of what to make for dinner ever goes away. It’s a great book to open when you don’t know what to make. Take me for instance, I always have chicken and salmon on hand, but I get tired of the same recipes and welcome a new way to serve that sorry-looking piece of salmon or chicken.
Overall, the recipes are very approachable and delightful in their brightness, freshness and deliciousness. Most of the recipes are meals in themselves, meaning they include several food groups, no need to add side dishes. Plus, the ingredient lists are manageable with simple, flexible instructions and shortcuts built in.
Let’s get to what I made from Caro Chambers book.
Short Ribs with Polenta (page 225)
Saucy tender chunks of beef in a marinara sauce sitting on top of slightly sweet polenta is deeply satisfying.
The first thing I made was Short Ribs (okay beef chuck) with Polenta. This is a good choice for a rainy day or any day you’re just hanging around the house. It takes a long time (like 5 hours) to cook in the oven on 250 degrees. Right away I had to adapt the recipe. My beach town apparently only carries short ribs in the summer. So, I took Caro’s suggestion and bought a beef chuck roast, about 1.5 pounds, cut it into chunks and halved the rest of the ingredient list. It slowly roasts in a mixture of Rao’s marinara sauce (I had a jar left from a Costo run), red wine vinegar and red wine. Serve the tender chunks of meat in its sauce over a polenta made from frozen white corn. Okay I gave my polenta a drizzle of honey and served this with a simple green salad.
Salmon Crunch Bowls (page 210)
The recipe for Salmon Crunch Bowls may be my number one or two favorite of the book yet I got a sad photo of it. Trust me, the panko-covered salmon puts a whole new spin on that tired piece of salmon in your freezer.
The headnote says that Salmon Crunch Bowls is “the darling” of her What to Cook Substack newsletter with almost triple the number of comments and likes of any other recipe. I’ve made this multiple times including for my son and daughter on separate occasions when they visited.
This dish has a high effort-to-reward ratio, and you can use whatever crunchy vegetables you have on hand. She calls for cucumbers, carrots, cabbage and cilantro. I’ve made this with different mixtures of spiralized carrots, shredded brussels sprouts, bok choy, purple cabbage, radishes and cilantro; topped with peanuts or cashews. You can use whatever rice you want. The salmon is topped with a mixure of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, maple syrup, panko breadcrumbs and sesame seeds. Serve it with a sriracha-lime mayo. So good. The beauty is you can prep the salmon and leave in fridge until ready to bake. Same goes for the veggies – chop them in advance and set out for everyone to make their own bowls. I think this would be a perfect casual dinner menu during the summertime sitting on a patio with a crisp glass of vino.
Creamy Creamless Tomato Soup with Cheesy Salty Honey Toast (Page 212)
What’s better than a grilled cheese? Toasty sourdough with melty cheese, drizzled honey and flaky sea salt. Dipped into creamy tomato soup of course.
While this classic combo is often too heavy, with too much dairy, this recipe for Creamy Creamless Tomato Soup may change your mind. A sweet potato and cashews are what thicken it up and make it creamy. So creamy. It’s best to use a high-speed blender over an immersion blender to get the right consistency. But I’ll admit that my favorite part was the cheesy salty honey toast. Henceforth for my new “grilled cheese.”
Pizza Ensalata (page 245)
This Pizza Ensalata was dang good. I’ve made it twice. Moral of the story, always have frozen pizza dough on hand and then be creative in how you top it.
Pizza and a salad. What more does a girl want? (Okay, maybe wine.) The Pizza Ensalata recipe inspired me to use my new 12” cast iron skillet to make a pan pizza. Her recipe calls for a 1 lb. ball of frozen pizza dough. Now we’re talking. Easy peasy. She calls for three cheeses and arugula on top. That’s all the inspiration I needed. I used frozen pizza dough from Astoria’s Blue Scorcher Bakery. I rolled my still partially frozen dough in 2 Tbs olive oil in the skillet, covered in plastic and let it sit out almost 2 hours. Then using your fingertips, dimple the dough like you’re making focaccia until it fills the bottom of the skillet. I spread on the remnants of a jar of fig jam, covered it in mozzarella, a sliced pear, and baked per her instructions (bottom of the oven on 500 degrees for 17-20 minutes). When it came out, I topped with torn prosciutto, arugula, a little goat cheese and flaky salt. This method is now on repeat at my house.
One-Skillet Chicken & Pesto Rice with Asparagus (Page 196)
Rice cooked in pesto with asparagus, chicken thighs tucked in and topped with feta looking colorful in my pretty blue Le Creuset skillet.
Okay I decided to make Chicken with Pesto Rice and Asparagus largely because I had asparagus, a store-bought jar of pesto and a partially used container of feta cheese in the fridge. I was also bored with my chicken options. Plus, it was an excuse to use One Skillet, specifically my Le Creuset 12” skillet again. Chicken thighs are seasoned with garlic and shallot and brightened up with lemon and everything comes together including the rice in one pan! In the famous words of Ina Garten, “How easy is that?”
Tater Tot Egg Bake (Page 176)
Who doesn’t want to eat tater tots for breakfast? Try the Tater Tot Egg Bake this weekend!
Lastly, don’t judge me, but I made the Tater Tot Egg Bake and it was good. The end. Ingredients: yellow onion, red bell pepper, olive oil, frozen tater tots, salt, eggs, milk, hot sauce (I skipped this), and smoked paprika. Yes, it tastes like tater tots. Eggs with tater tots. You know you want it. But if you must, you can make it with Yukon Gold potatoes for a healthier version. Feel free to swap in other veggies.
Other fun stuff and honorable mentions
I also like that this very approachable book is divided into how long the recipes take, and Caroline’s notes for riffs, swaps, shortcuts, and other tips. Looking back, I realized that I opted to make items that fall into largely the 45-minute or 1-hour section, with a couple longer but they were pretty much hands off. But there are many 15 and 30 minute options.
There is also a section at the back of the book on picking a protein to center your dinner around and a guide to what to cook based on your mood. Some of my honorable mentions, or really the ones on my still-to-try list, include: Enchilada Rice Skillet, Giant Ham & Cheese Croissant (made with puff pastry sheets), Cheesy Rice & Beans, Melty Mexican Cauliflower, Sheet Pan Chicken Poblano Fajitas.
I can’t wait to try some of these fun ideas:
The Sushi Party (Page 206)
Okay, the salmon is actually baked. Rice can be cooked in a rice cooker or instant pot. And the rest is chopping and setting everything out including nori sheets for people to roll their own sushi or make their own bowls.
“3 Things You Can Do With …” Ideas:
Ramen Noodles – Spicy Ramen & Snap Pea Stir-fry, Veggie Peanut Noods, and Coconut Curry Ramen & veggie Noodle Soup.
A Pack of King’s Hawaiian Rolls – Chicken Parm Sliders; Ham, Brie & Fig Toasties (an upgrade from the recipe many of us have made over the years); Crunch Sheet Pan Sliders – literally a sheet of ground beef cooked and laid into the slab of rolls and topped with potato chips. Does life get any better?
One-Skillet Chicken & Rice situations — Chicken & Gingery Rice with Coconut Curry Sauce, Chicken Burrito Bowls, and the (aforementioned) One-Skillet Chicken & Pesto Rice with Asparagus.
What’s for Dessert
There are only four desserts in the book, and they all look easy and tempting. I’m specifically eyeing the Peanut Butter Pots de Crème and the Salted Brown Butter Toffee Skillet Cookie. Okay and maybe the Caramelized Peach Snickerdoodle Cobbler, and why not try the quick and easy 8” square Lemon Cake with Crème Fraiche Frosting. Let’s face it. You may not feel like cooking, but don’t we all feel like dessert?
You need the book
In conclusion, whether you feel like cooking, or just eating – and cooking is your means to getting there — you should probably get your hands on this book. Buy it from your local bookstore or if you buy it from me on my kitchenistics bookshop I do receive a teeny tiny commission, but hey you’re not supporting the big guy. Or check it out from your library which is what I did first.
If there’s a recipe that sounded specifically up your alley, drop me a comment or send me a note and I’ll try to get it over to you. In the meantime, I hope you feel like cooking!