Our Verdict: Cook As You Are

It’s not secret that we are big fans of Ruby Tandoh’s. We reviewed her first two cookbooks, “Flavour: Eat What You Love” and “Crumb” back-to-back in early 2017. Spoiler alert: We loved them both. More spoilers: We loved “Cook As You Are” too.

We loved Ruby’s first two cookbooks for the same reason we loved this one: it’s well written with delicious recipes requiring a range of skills– from novice to expert. She writes lyrically, so it seems as though she’s standing next to you in the kitchen, telling you what you need to do.

This cookbook is different from her previous efforts in two crucial respects: First, there are no photographs of the food, only illustrations; and Second, the book feels much more global in its outlook. Both make for a refreshing change from the majority of cookbooks we review here and also own.

Don’t get me wrong– I love looking at the photographs of the finished dishes, and sometimes, those photos can be very helpful as they give a guide to what I should be trying to accomplish. Ruby wrote in the introduction that she didn’t want to include photos in this cookbook because photos can be limiting and “Such photos can also end up feeling aspirational, drawing us towards the often-unattainable shiny and new.” I’d like to think with this comment she speaks not only of cookbook photos, but also the many beautiful photos that can fill our social media feeds, making us feel inadequate, whether it’s food or holidays or anything else. It’s worth keeping in mind.

The global outlook of this cookbook allowed me to cook from cuisines I hadn’t cooked before, which I very much enjoyed. These micro-doses of international fare allowed me to cook Nigerian one night, Filipino on another and Japanese on yet another. This global food view and the straightforward recipes that went with it were very refreshing. Ruby excelled at providing suitable substitutions for some of the more unusual ingredients, which meant I didn’t end up with any half-full bottles of some exotic condiment in the back of my refrigerator, never to be used again (hello, my old friend pomegranate molasses).

Ruby also has a wide array of vegetarian and vegan recipes, which we appreciated very much over here as we move away from Meat Free Mondays to Meat Free Every Other Day. (We are trying. We don’t always succeed, but we’re getting better.)

Another brilliant book by Ruby Tandoh. Highly recommended to novice cooks, expert chefs, and everyone in between.

Overall Grade (A- F):  A* (Maureen)
Best recipes:  Hard to pick one, so my top three are: Marbled Chocolate and Almond Cake, Tingalong Manok and Orange, Olive Oil and Black Pepper Cake
Grade for Photography (A-F): Nothing to grade! High marks for using illustrations, which was novel and still could be instructive when needed.
Any disasters? (Kirstin and Maureen) No. Not only did everything work, but they were, to a recipe, delicious.
Bookshelf or Charity Shop Donation? High-rotation bookshelf. I expect I’ll continue to cook from this in February (and March and April and May and June).
Would you give this to a friend?  (Maureen) Absolutely.

“Orange, Olive Oil and Black Pepper Cake” from “Cook As You Are”

Julia Child once said, “A party without a cake is just a meeting.” I’ve often wondered if the opposite would be true, too. Is a meeting with cake a party?

In any case, Tim has been asking me to make this cake since the beginning of the month. His favourite cake of all time is an orange cassata cake. It’s an Italian cake with light orange layers with cannoli filling in between the layers and a light sugar glaze on the top. It is a winner.

This cake is similar, except for the fact that it’s a very small loaf cake and has no cannoli filling. I was completely on board for the orange cake and the orange glaze. But despite my unwavering faith in Ruby’s recipes for cakes and similar, I wasn’t sure about the inclusion of extra-virgin olive oil, which can be very peppery, and black pepper. I wasn’t sure how it would taste or if it would make sense at all, but I went ahead and made it anyway.

Spoiler alert: It was great. Despite my reservations about the extra-virgin olive oil and the black pepper, neither flavour overwhelmed the cake. Instead, after baking, the two pepper flavours mellow out and only give an occasional kick. The orange-sugar glaze made for a beautifully sweet crunchy-sticky top.

It was the perfect pick me up for a grey afternoon in late January when a friend stopped by for a catch up and a cup of tea. So the question remains: since we had cake, were we having a party?

“Tinolang Manok” from “Cook As You Are”

As we limped toward the end of January– how is it that every January feels as though it lasts 873 days– the need for a soothing soup was obvious. We needed something to warm our bellies but also something that would make us feel good. This was the perfect soup for this.

Tinolang Manok is a Filipino soup fortified with ginger and greens. The subhead probably explains it better: “Soothing chicken, ginger and chayote soup.” Alas, none of our local stores had chayote (if I ever see it in a shop, I’ll know what to do with it now), but Ruby offered up pak choi as a suitable substitute, and we have no problem finding that locally, and indeed, make stir fries with it all the time.

One of the things I truly love about this cookbook is the ability to whizz around the world and try different cuisines. I’m fairly certain I’ve ever cooked a Filipino dish before, but we loved this. It was not unlike the other Asian soups we love, like pho from Vietnam or ramen from Japan.

The unusual thing about this recipe is rather than using stock, you use the rice washings from the basmati rice as the basis for the stock. Then you poach the chicken and many aromatics in it, resulting in a fresh, clean broth. The spinach and pak choi added at the end gave a bright splash of colour– just what both the soup and its hungry fans needed.

This was utterly delicious the next day for lunch too. Loved this, but we’re still counting the days until the end of January, the longest month of the year.

“Store Cupboard Brownies” from “Cook As You Are”

It’s exam time at universities up and down the land. Andrew, who is in final year of his aerospace engineering degree, is in the middle of taking his, so I thought what better way to help him through it by making some brownies.

As I’ve said before, I trust Ruby’s baking recipes implicitly, and this was no different. It does what it says on the label: I had all the ingredients to hand in my cupboard and it took no time at all to make them. I added some chocolate chips at the end– because there’s no such thing as too much chocolate– and also sprinkled sea salt over the top. (This was a tip I picked up at some point in my brownie-making journey, and I recommend it.)

I packed them up when they were just out of the oven, but set. When I took them down to the post office, the clerk noted that the box was warm, so they were definitely fresh. Also, shout out to Royal Mail for getting them up north the next day, so Andrew was able to enjoy them right away. (Though for the record, he did not share them with his roommates. I guess this means they were good.)

However, there is one major caveat with this recipe. Ruby says you need either a 15 by 22 centimetre rectangular tin or a 20 centimetre springform cake tin. This truly puzzled me. First, because I don’t have the first tin, and second, making brownies in a round tin just seemed wrong. I checked a few online resources to figure out what other comparable tins I could use, but that confused me even more. In the end, I went with my bog standard brownie tin, a 9-inch square tin. Looking at the quantity of the batter that I made, it seemed like it would work, and it did. I don’t know if this was a typo (their fault) or operator error (my fault), but the tin measurements really did trip me up.

Would I make them again? Absolutely. I’ll just use my brownie tin to bake them in. It definitely was a winner.

“Gnocchi with Chilli Crisp Oil, Capers and Parmesan” from “Cook As You Are”.

We’ve all had those nights where the thought alone of cooking dinner is enough to send you to a nearby fainting couch. (For the record, we once had a fainting couch, but we no longer do. It was a very nice piece of furniture.)

Anyway, even for people who love cooking– like me– there are nights when you think about the need for dinner and how you’re going to have to cook it makes you despair. This recipe is perfect for those nights. Low effort, quick cooking, delicious: it truly is the holy grail of weeknight dinners.

Also, it has only five ingredients and is done in under 10 minutes. Bliss. The five ingredients, for those of you keeping score at home, are gnocchi, butter, capers, parmesan and chilli crisp oil.

However, a caveat: the key ingredient is the chilli crisp oil. If you don’t have chilli crisp oil in your cupboard, I heartily recommend you get some. It’s an amazing condiment on stir fries or plain rice. It particularly appeals to people who love to turn up the heat on their cooking. I get mine from our small but perfectly formed section of Asian ingredients in our local Sainsbury’s, which I have written about before. (Alas, I used the last of our supply for this recipe and they are currently OUT OF STOCK– the horror– but I am hopeful they will get a fresh supply very soon.)

To sum up, then: It was delicious. It was quick. It was easy. We definitely will be having this again.

“Marbled Chocolate and Almond Cake” from “Cook As You Are”

It’s a virtual guarantee that Ruby Tandoh, a finalist in the Great British Bake Off in 2013, will provide excellent baking recipes in her cookbook. She did not disappoint.

This cake is exactly what it says on the tin: marbled chocolate and almond cake. She writes in the introduction about the frequent need for “something sweet” at the end of a meal. This fulfils that brief. I knocked it the batter pretty quickly while our lasagna baked in the oven, and then the cake took the lasagna’s place in the oven when it was done. It was the perfect finish to our meal and indeed was something sweet.

If you’re a nervous baker, Ruby’s instructions are clear and concise, and as this is a straightforward cake recipe without any icing needed or any other additional steps, this is a pretty easy cake to impress your table with. (I’m already thinking about how I’ll do the marbling different next time.)

The cake didn’t hang around long, even with only three of us in the house. Highly recommended.

“Yaji-Spiced Celeriac with Garlic Greens and Bulgur Wheat” from “Cook As You Are”

One of the things I love about this cookbook is that Ruby Tandoh seeks inspiration from around the world. With most cookbooks, authors restrict themselves to a particular region or country, and maybe that makes things more simple when it comes time to writing it. But Ruby has cast her net far and wide to find inspiration to present you an array of delicious options.

Enter this dish. Ruby writes, “Yaji, or suya spice, is a Hausa Nigerian spice blend used to make suya– grilled meat skewers almost blackened with a smoky, nutty, fiery dry rub.” Though here she uses the spice mix not on meat, but on chunks of celeriac.

I was excited to make this because we had a spare celeriac kicking around from our bi-weekly Oddbox box, and even more excited to try to cook something with Nigerian origins. Also, I’ve been cooking more vegetarian dishes this month, so it was very much a win/win/win.

When I first read the recipe title, I was worried that it would require a range of obscure spices that I didn’t have, but a quick glance at the ingredient list put my fears to rest. The spice mix called for spices that I already had– paprika, chilli powder, ground ginger, garlic powder, onion granules, ground nutmeg– along with peanuts and crumbled stock cubes.

While it did have a pretty big kick (which was down to my liberal use of chilli powder), it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle. But the thing we all enjoyed most of all was trying something different with the celeriac, which I usually just roast or make into a soup. The dish got three enthusiastic thumbs up from around the table, and I would definitely make this again.

One caveat, though, and this applies to many vegetarian dishes, not just this one: remember to set aside sufficient time for all the chopping you’re going to have to do. I always forget that part, and I’m always a bit grumpy when I’m still chopping things up 45 minutes after I started preparing dinner.

Another thing to love about this cookbook, is how heavily sourced it is. Usually, cookbook authors would like us to think that they’ve come up with these recipes entirely on their own, but the fact is, that’s probably not true. Ruby helpfully has a bibliography at the beginning of each chapter with a list of cookbooks from which she found her inspiration. While there are loads of recognisable names on there– Nigel Slater, Nigella Lawson, Rukmini Iyer, Samin Nosrat– there are many more that I don’t know that I now want to read, including Ntozake Shange, Ping Coombes, Lopè Ariyo.

(Ruby also gets bonus points for including “Heartburn” by Nora Ephron on the list. Though not a cookbook by any stretch of the imagination, it’s well worth reading, as is anything written by Nora Ephron.)

Every time I cook from this cookbook, I love it a little bit more.

“No Waste Whole Cauliflower and Macaroni Cheese” from “Cook As You Are”

Ah, January. We’ve reached peak Cheesy Comfort Food Season. One of the best seasons of all. The sky might be grey, the Christmas bills might be due and we might all be sick of taking lateral flow tests, but the sadness any of those things might evoke can easily be erased by a Cheesy Comfort Food dinner. Like this dish.

The thing that makes this recipe different from all the other cauliflower macaroni and cheese recipes I’ve made was the use of absolutely all of the the cauliflower. Not one bit was wasted (other than the very end of the stem, which looked dodgy, and one part of the leaves, which had discoloured). Although I’ve consistently cut up the stalk to go with the florets when I make cauliflower, I had not idea that you could also eat all of the leaves, including the ribs, with the right preparation.

Be aware, however, that all the prep means this macaroni and cheese takes longer to make than your standard macaroni and cheese, but it’s worth it. At a time when we’re trying to lessen our food waste and make a lighter impact on the world, it’s good to be able to use up the entire head of cauliflower, leaves and all.

I know I’ve tested several cauliflower macaroni and cheese recipes for this blog, so I took an enjoyable dive into the archives to revisit the other ones I’ve made. In 2012, I made this cauliflower macaroni and cheese from Gordon Ramsay, and we very much enjoyed it. In 2011, I nearly had a nervous breakdown making three courses from Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals, and one of those courses was a variation on this dish. I know that we liked it, but I also had a harsh flashback to the cleanup after making anything from that cookbook. Would not recommend (the cookbook, the recipe in particular, and the cleanup involved). Almost 10 years ago exactly, I made another macaroni cheese, although without cauliflower, which was good, but did not supplant our favourite version from the New York Times. It’s funny to note that all of these recipes were tested in the month of January. It truly is peak Cheesy Comfort Food Season.

Cookbook of the Month: Cook As You Are by Ruby Tandoh

Kirstin: We are starting the new year with a lovely book by one of our favourite cookbook authors, Ruby Tandoh. It’s a beautiful, smaller sized book made for easy use in the kitchen, so the chapter headings are things like “Wild Appetites” with the subheading “Food for every mood, craving and occasion”. And rather than using photography, there are gorgeous illustrations by Sinae Park. But I think the thing I like most in this book are the Further Reading sections at the front of each chapter for deep diving into more of the same cooking and looking for more inspiration. As Nigella sums it up on the cover of the book “Not simply a recipe book, but a warm invitation to relax into and enjoy the experience of cooking and eating”.

And I dare you not to sing the Nirvana song Come As You Are every time you pick it up.

Maureen: Ruby is such a great food writer, it’s wonderful to be back reading her writing again. This is a slightly different approach to a cookbook, with illustrations rather than photographs, and food headings that could be described as a bit nebulous. But I managed to find four things I wanted to cook while I was paging through it at my local Waterstone’s (and got a signed copy, natch), so I think that’s an excellent sign. It’s just the sort of thing that will perk things up for a month that tends to be pretty bleak.

Our Verdict: “Crumb”

Maureen: This was great, but the problem with baking books is you don’t always have time to make a loaf or bread or a cake. So I didn’t make as much as I would have liked.

Kirstin: That’s true.

Maureen: But the things I made worked and were good. I really wanted to try to make croissants once and for all, but I just never had a day to devote to it. But when I do try to do it– and I definitely will– I’ll follow Ruby’s method.

Kirstin: I probably would have cooked from this book more, but my problem is my oven. I think it hates me. I do have some techniques that I can use, but still, it’s difficult to bake with it. It’s frustrating because the book made me realise how annoying my oven is, so that’s a shame.

Maureen: Maybe that’s why you’ve never taken to baking, because your oven is so problematic.

Kirstin: When I did do it, I had a lot of fun baking from this book.

Maureen: She gave really good explanations for how to do certain baking techniques, which was very helpful.

Kirstin: It’s a great baking book. It’s got solid straightforward recipes with things that you want to make. If I had a friend who wanted a baking book, I would definitely recommend it.

Maureen: I agree.

Kirstin: I would totally trust her instructions, she was really good.

Maureen: All in all, recommended.

Overall Grade (A- F):  A (Maureen)  A (Kirstin)
Best recipes:  Ciabatta (I didn’t actually make this, but I did enjoy eating this) (Maureen) Cheesecake, because now I love cheesecake. (Kirstin)
Grade for Photography (A-F): Kirstin: B
Any disasters? (Kirstin and Maureen) No.
Bookshelf or Charity Shop Donation? Bookshelf, the one dedicated to baking.
Would you give this to a friend?  (Maureen) Yes, but if I had to choose between this one and “Flavour,” I would probably give the latter. (Kirstin) Yes, I’d give it to someone who wanted to learn about baking.