Natalia Rudin’s Quick and Cozy Cooking

Plus: The cookbook author’s freezer essentials

“There’s nothing that a cup of broth can’t sort out,” Natalia Rudin tells me. While she doesn’t cook chicken frequently—her partner doesn’t eat it—she always looks forward to simmering the bones. “It’s a bit of a ritual for me,” she says. “I really, really love it.”

In busy times, she says she pulls a bit of that broth, along with dumplings, peas, corn, and edamame from the freezer, then whisks an egg into the steaming-hot bowl in a nod to egg drop soup. “I’m obsessed with that at the moment,” she says.

Natalia, whose new book, Cooking Fast and Slow (Bookshop here), is mostly plant-based, also shares her method for making a really good vegetable-based broth on this week’s podcast episode, but mentions that tweaking it into your own preferred formula can be a valuable process.

“It can come out different every time and you will really notice every single time you do it differently. You’ll know like, okay, so the carrot made it really, really sweet. And then the leek did this, and you can learn from it and learn what you prefer. That’s a really lovely way to cook,” she says.

When working as a private chef, Natalia would look ahead at the weather and her client’s schedule to figure out what to make, but when cooking at home, she says she just tries to always stock her fridge with her “top five”—cabbage, broccoli, carrots, cucumber, and peppers. She stocks her cupboards with beans, lentils, pasta, and rice. That way, she says, “I’m never that far away from a meal.”

Natalia’s a self-proclaimed “bean girl”—her popular Instagram account is one big swirl of cannellini beans flavored with tomato and pesto or with harissa, butter beans with herby salsa, and chickpeas with tom kha flavors, and she walks me through five different directions that one big pot of beans could go. But beans are just one way that she likes to layer protein into plant-based dinners.

Stocking the pantry well can also change the feeling of a meal. “Penne is your, like, long-term friend who’s always been there for years,” she says, but when you open up a bag of a pasta shape you don’t see every day, like malfada corta or spirali, “it makes it feel a bit fancy. You can shave over some Parmesan. If you’ve got some basil lying around, you can sprinkle that on top as well. And it’s a super simple meal that requires maybe five or six ingredients. But if you have the fancy pasta shape, you’re like, wow, I’m in a restaurant, you know?”

Natalia’s lovely book opens with the quickest possible dinners, like the two recipes you’ll find below.

Her spicy sweet corn chowder extends the flavors of summer into soup season by opting for frozen corn. “There’s loads of ginger in there, loads of garlic. So it’s really warming, and then you finish it with lime juice and then there’s the tanginess and it’s just so delicious. And it’s bright yellow,” she notes. “I think there’s something about the color of your food. If it’s really bright and vibrant, that’s going to affect your mood as well. So that’s a real favorite of mine.”

When you really need something cozy, it’s time to grab some gnocchi at the market, then follow Natalia’s recipe, which pairs the savory flavors of panfried mushrooms and miso. It’s not that you’d recognize the miso in there, she says, but “it adds that layer of so much depth and flavor.”

Scroll down for all the details—but first, I’d be so thrilled if you’d hit follow on the podcast so you can listen to this episode while you’re doing the dishes tonight.

Win a copy of Cooking Fast and Slow

Thanks to my friends at Ten Speed Press (yep, they published my two books as well), I have one copy of Cooking Fast and Slow for one of you lucky readers!

There are two ways to enter:

1. Make sure you’re signed up as a paid subscriber to this newsletter by end of day Sunday, October 5, 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 5, 2025.

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 5, 2025. This newsletter includes affiliate links—sometimes I’ll receive a commission from your purchase that’ll help to support The Dinner Plan.

Natalia mentioned:

Speedy Sundried Tomato Pasta
Creamy Beans with Zucchini (IG)
Soph’s Plant Kitchen / IG
Justine Snacks / IG
Sabrina Ghayour’s Persiana (Bookshop here)
Travis Lett’s Gjelina: Cooking from Venice, California (Bookshop here)
Spinach Soup with Poached Egg (IG)

From the ad break:

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

• Find Organic Soyrizo wherever you shop.

Maggie mentioned:

Natalia’s Mushroom Shawarma Flatbreads—I used Beituti marinade for this.
The Double Shift on deep casual hosting
Claudia Fleming’s Maple-Baked Apples

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Photo: Issy Croker

Miso Mushroom Gnocchi

Reprinted with permission from Cooking Fast and Slow by Natalia Rudin, copyright © 2025. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

Serves 2

Although I absolutely adore a good sweet treat, I am a savory girl at heart, and this meal always satisfies all my savory dreams. The deep umami from the miso paired with the rich and meaty mushrooms and soft pillows of gnocchi is just a match made in heaven. You can use any variety of mushroom you like or have readily available, but the oyster is, in my opinion, the best.

TIP: Use GF gnocchi to make this gluten free.

9 oz / 250g oyster mushrooms (or mushrooms of choice)
Olive oil
1 shallot, diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
1 x 16-oz / 454g package of gnocchi
1 tsp white miso paste
Knob of butter (or vegan alternative)
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast or freshly grated parmesan
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt and black pepper
1 Tbsp chopped chives, to serve

1. Put a full kettle on to boil and roughly tear up the mushrooms. Throw them into a large dry frying pan with a sprinkle of salt. Let them cook down until all their water has evaporated and they start to sear around the edges before adding a splash of olive oil.

2. Once the mushrooms are looking crisp and charred, remove them from the pan and set aside. Add another glug of olive oil to the pan and add the shallot. Sauté for 5 minutes, then add the garlic to the pan.

3. Put the gnocchi into a separate saucepan, cover with the boiling water so that there is plenty of room above for them to rise to the surface, and put over high heat.

4. In a small bowl, mix the miso paste with a few large spoonfuls of the gnocchi water until smooth and pour this into the pan with the shallots and garlic. Mix well and add the mushrooms and a knob of butter.

5. When the gnocchi begin to float to the surface, use a slotted spoon to transfer them over into the mushroom pan and mix well. You might want to add a ladle or two of the cooking water to loosen it up. Stir in your nutritional yeast (or parmesan) and a squeeze of the lemon to taste.

6. Serve in bowls and finish with a healthy crack of black pepper and the fresh chives.

Photo: Issy Croker

Spicy Corn Chowder

Reprinted with permission from Cooking Fast and Slow by Natalia Rudin, copyright © 2025. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

Serves 2–3

This little spicy number is a great way to get your sinuses cleared! It’s sweet and creamy but with a spicy kick—perfect on a cold day. I always have a big bag of corn skulking in the back of my freezer so that I can whip this up at any time.

1⅔ cups / 400ml vegetable stock
Scant 4 cups / 500g frozen corn kernels
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil
½ white onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2-inch / 5cm piece of ginger, roughly chopped
1 red chile, diced, plus extra to serve (optional)
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp / 200ml coconut cream, divided

To serve:
Fresh cilantro
Lime wedges

1. Bring the stock to a boil in a large saucepan, add the corn, and simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Remove a couple of large spoonfuls of corn, dry off, and fry in a hot pan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil until charred.

3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until just starting to color, then add the garlic, ginger, and chile. Fry for 1 minute more and then add it to the pan of corn and stock.

4. Pour in almost all the coconut cream, reserving some to serve, and use an immersion blender to blitz until roughly smooth.

5. Ladle into bowls and swirl in the remaining coconut cream. Top with the charred corn, fresh cilantro, lime wedges for squeezing over, and more chile, if desired.