“When the pandemic began in March 2020, my freelance work went away, suddenly and completely,” writes recipe creator Caroline Chambers, aka “Caro,” in the introduction to her latest book How to cook when You Don’t feel like cooking. For us all, it was a blessing, Caro, also a former caterer, chose to focus her efforts on the cook at home, and churning her out “straightforward recipes that lockdown-weary folks could cook with whatever they had in their pantries.”
Then she began sharing family-friendly recipes as well as meal plan ideas for family-friendly meals on Substack the fledgling newsletter service in the early days, offering alternatives to different ingredients, as well as recipes and shortcuts — and the loyal customers flocked to Substack with a vengeance. Her newsletter was called “What to Cook When You’re Not Feeling Like Cooking over four years and thousands of dishes later,, she’s transformed into in the words of one reader, “the patron saint of mothers who fly by the seat of their pants.”
Personally, I believe her to be that rare cookbook author with the ability to comprehend what people are looking for without being in the least valuable. The book is arranged by the time (if you’re running out of time, say 15 minutes, if have 30 minutes, etc.) It also has an index at the back, organized by mood. This is something I appreciated:
There’s also a solid vegetarian alternatives to dinner, like this Ratatouille Lasagna recipe that follows It is everything you would expect from the Caro classic: straightforward easy, simple, child-friendly and extremely difficult to resist.
Ratatouille Lasagna
From What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers
Serves 6
1 large (1 1/3to 2 pounds) globe eggplant
1 large (8-ounce) zucchini
One large (6-ounce) yellow squash
One small, yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup olive oil plus additional as needed
Salt from Kosher.
1 teaspoon of red pepper in flakes
2 teaspoons of dried Italian seasoning, plus additional depending on the amount needed
Two (28-ounce) cans chopped tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone cheese
1 cup of fresh basil leaves
1 (9-ounce) package of lasagna with no boiling noodles
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
The oven should be preheated to 375°F. Cut and peel the zucchini, eggplant and squash into pieces of 1/2-inch. Chop the onion into a dice and chop the garlic.
Heat your olive oil the Dutch oven or an oven-proof saucepan with tall sides on medium-high temperature. Add the zucchini, eggplant squash, onion as well as 1 1/2 teaspoons salt while stirring frequently until they’re getting tender about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Mix in the tomatoes. Add half of the Mascarpone and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil on high heat. Let it simmer on medium-low heat until it has cooled for about 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to low if it begins to boil vigorously. Then you thinly slice the basil and mix most of it into the dish (save some to garnish).
Switch off the flame. Test the flavor and add additional salt, or Italian seasoning if needed. Add the noodles to the pot, trying your desirable to add layers of sauce, similar to lasagna. Split the noodles in half to cover the edges if needed. But there is no scientific method that is perfect. Put the noodles into the bowl!
Be sure that the noodles’ top layer is covered with sauce. Dollop some mascarpone over the top of the noodles, and then sprinkle over the cheese.
Bake at least 30 minutes. Allow the lasagna to cool for at least 10 minutes prior to cutting and serving. Sprinkle with the reserved basil and then enjoy.
RIFF Make ratatouille pasta! You should only add the contents of one can, diced tomatoes and then cook the pasta for fifteen minutes. Add 1 pound cooked pasta. Crumble some goat cheese over the bowl of everyone’s.
SHORTCUT Reduce the simmer time to 30 minutes by with two 28-ounce jars tomato basil pasta sauce, instead of canned tomatoes. You can leave out any Italian flavoring as well as 1 1/2 teaspoons of of salt. Mix the sauce with the vegetables, then add the noodles, and bake.
BULK it up Sauté 1 pound sausage (casings taken out) in the first pot breaking it up into small pieces. Continue the recipe in the same manner by adding the veggies and oil into the pot together with it cooked sausage.
