Joanne Lee Molinaro Cooks Her Way to Calm

Plus: Crispy kimchi fried rice waffles and a quick broccoli pasta to make for dinner this week.

The Dinner Plan is a two-part deal: You get recipes, cookbook recommendations, and a book giveaway in this newsletter. For my full conversation with this week’s guest, tune in to the podcast.

Joanne Lee Molinaro may be a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, but she doesn’t want anyone to feel bad about taking kitchen shortcuts. The former law partner knows exactly what it feels like to come home late and throw a meal together when you don’t have much energy.

That’s when store-bought marinara in the pantry can save you. “I mean, look, there is a place for takeout and there is a place for meal kits,” she says in this week’s episode of The Dinner Plan podcast. “You should not feel guilty for using store-bought help.”

But Joanne also explains that the act of cooking helps her find calm when things are rough.

“There were very, very few things in my life that could take me at least temporarily out of that sort of hamster wheel of anxiety, fear, and obsessive thinking. And later in my life, I discovered that cooking was one of them.”

So what are we cooking from Joanne’s new book, Korean Vegan Homemade?

Grab that leftover rice from last night’s batch. No, I’m not going to suggest another fried rice. Joanne turns cooked rice into a quick, crispy waffle (!), flavored with savory-bright kimchi, garnished with sesame seeds, and drizzled with a sweet-and-spicy sauce.

The book abounds with quick and flavorful noodle dishes, too, like the spicy broccoli pasta she first cooked for her brother and his wife. “I wish I took a picture of them with their forks eating out of the pan. They were like, this is literally the best,” she says. “And I love that it was so simple to put together.”

Scroll down for both recipes, but before you do, I’d be so glad if you’d hit follow on the podcast so you can hear my full conversation with Joanne whenever you do your podcast listening.

Win a copy of The Korean Vegan Homemade

There are two ways to enter this week’s cookbook giveaway.

1. Make sure you’re signed up as a paid subscriber to this newsletter by end of day Sunday, October 19, 2025. That’s all you need to do, though leaving a comment and hitting that ❤️ at the bottom of this post really helps us spread the word.

2. Free subscribers can enter the giveaway by sending in a “what’s in my fridge” voice memo for potential inclusion on the podcast. Just follow the instructions here by end of day Sunday, October 19, 2025. You can absolutely do this even if you’ve sent in one of these before.

Giveaway winner will be alerted by Substack DM and email—be sure to check your messages!

U.S. addresses only, 18+. Giveaway not sponsored or administered by Substack. Ends October 19, 2025. This newsletter includes affiliate links—sometimes I’ll receive a commission from your purchase that’ll help to support The Dinner Plan.

Joanne mentioned:

Joanne’s Vegan Bolognese with Walnuts
Soondooboo Chigae
Homemade vegan fish sauce
Kimchi fried rice
Sempio rice noodles
Easy Spicy Cold Cucumber Noodles (video here)
Fluffy Focaccia Rossa
Dooboo Jorim / Braised Tofu, excerpted on Epicurious from Joanne’s first book
Nisha Vora’s Restaurant-Style Dal Tadka and plant-based naan
Kim-Julie Hansen’s Creamy Vegan Lentil Pasta
Laila Ibrahim’s Fried Zucchini Sandwich With Lemon Ricotta (Serious Eats)
Nisha Vora’s Big Vegan Flavor (Bookshop here), especially the tofu ricotta heirloom tomato salad
Jon Kung’s Kung Food (Bookshop here), especially the dumplings
Sarah Ahn’s Umma (Bookshop here)
Creamy, Cozy Kale White Bean Soup

From the ad break:

• Made In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.

• Find House Foods BCD Soon Tofu Kit wherever you shop.

• Find Coop’s Fudge at Sprouts, Whole Foods, Central Market, HEB, or online at enjoycoops.com.

Maggie mentioned:

Joshua McFadden’s nut ragu from Six Seasons of Pasta (Bookshop here)
Helen You’s The Dumpling Galaxy Cookbook (Bookshop here)
Peter J. Kim talking perpetual stew on The Dinner Plan

---

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

These new Ready Bake Tofu Kits from Franklin Farms feature pre-cubed, water-packed tofu paired with a signature dry seasoning blend—just drain, mix, bake (or air fry), and eat. You can find easy-to-cook Franklin Farms Ready Bake Tofu in three fun flavors: Breakfast Sausage, Spicy BBQ, and Lemon Herb.

---

Photo: Joanne Lee Molinaro

Broccoli & Gochujang Pasta

Excerpted from The Korean Vegan: Homemade: Recipes and Stories from My Kitchen, Copyright © 2025 by Joanne Lee Molinaro. Published by Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Reproduced by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.

Serves 4

Every time my brother and his wife visit, I can count on the following request: gochujang pasta. I’ve made some pretty complicated “fancy” dishes for them, including my lasagna, brioche, and kkanpoongi, but they prefer this very simple, easy-to-make combination of Korean flavors with Italian carbs (whoddathunkit, right?). This very straightforward dish comes together so quickly—it’s perfect for a weeknight in with the family, but it could also find a spot on your dining table for a dinner party.

1 pound fusilli col buco or your favorite curly pasta (can substitute gluten-free pasta)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons vegan butter
4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons capers
2½ cups chopped broccoli
¼ cup gochujang
1½ tablespoons soup soy sauce
Grated vegan parmesan, for garnish (can substitute nut-free vegan parmesan)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain, reserving ½ cup of the pasta water.

2. In a large skillet or wok, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and the garlic. When the garlic begins to brown around the edges, about 2 minutes, add the capers, broccoli, gochujang, and soy sauce. Cook until the broccoli starts to turn tender, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Pour the reserved pasta water into the skillet and cook for about 4 minutes, allowing the broth to develop. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet along with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and stir vigorously so that the sauce comes together and coats the pasta. Garnish with grated vegan parmesan. This dish is best served immediately, but you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Photo: Joanne Lee Molinaro

Kimchi Fried Rice Waffles

Excerpted from The Korean Vegan: Homemade: Recipes and Stories from My Kitchen, Copyright © 2025 by Joanne Lee Molinaro. Published by Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Reproduced by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.

Makes 6 to 8 small waffles

I dunno about your grandmother, but if I left so much as a grain of rice on my plate, either Hahlmuhnee would visit the harangue of all harangues on my head for wasting food. To this day, I simply cannot even throw away a sliver of bell pepper that somehow missed my mouth while I was slurping up japchae without thinking of my grandmother saying, “You better eat that.” My Hahlmuhnee’s antiwaste campaign is not surprising, given how much of her life she spent without an abundance of food. Indeed, antiwaste is one of the foundational pillars of Korean cuisine—cabbages are salted to make them last as long as possible, and when they are finally too “funky” to eat raw, they are cooked into a stew. “Leftover” banchan with rice (bibimbap) is a treat for the New Year.

These kimchi fried rice waffles are born out of the same philosophy—waste nothing! One day, I made a quick kimchi fried rice to use up some bits and pieces I had around. My brand-new waffle iron started to glow from the corner of my kitchen counter, and the proverbial light bulb flickered to life!

For the spicy gochujang dressing:
2 teaspoons gochujang
1 tablespoon brown rice syrup or your favorite liquid sweetener
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper

For the waffle batter:
1½ tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for the waffle iron
1½ cups cabbage kimchi, plus more for serving
2 cups cooked white rice
1½ tablespoons gochujang
2 tablespoons potato starch
1 chopped scallion, green part only
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1. Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the gochujang, brown rice syrup, mustard, soy sauce, and pepper with 2 tablespoons of water. Set aside.

2. Make the batter: In a wok-style pan, heat the vegetable oil over high heat until shimmering, about 1 minute. Add the kimchi and cook until it starts to caramelize, about 3 minutes. Stir in the rice and gochujang until the rice is evenly distributed. Remove from the heat, then transfer the rice mixture to a large bowl and mix in the potato starch.

3. Coat both sides of a small waffle iron with a little oil before turning it on. Wait for the iron to get nice and hot before adding the batter. The amount of time it takes will depend on your waffle iron, but if you sprinkle a few drops of water onto the iron and the water sizzles instantly, it’s ready. Spoon approximately ⅓ cup of batter into the waffle iron and press down. Cook until the waffle is slightly brown and crispy on the outside, 4 to 6 minutes, then transfer the waffle to a plate to cool and repeat this process until you’ve used all your batter.

4. To serve, garnish the waffles with scallion greens and sesame seeds. Serve with the dressing and more kimchi! These waffles can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. To reheat, you can fry them in a pan or place them in an air fryer at 400°F for about 5 minutes.