This delicious creamy green pea soup with coconut takes just 15 minutes to make and is a show-stopper. This amazing recipe comes from A Modern Way To Cook, the incredible new cookbook by superstar Anna Jones.
Anna Jones is a London-based cook, food writer, and stylist. She worked for many years styling and writing books, TV shows, and food campaigns for Jamie Oliver, before moving on to work with some of the UK’s biggest chefs and food brands.
Anna’s first book, A Modern Way To Eat (read my post about it here) was my favorite book of last year. It is absolutely exquisite, and this latest installment in the series is just as magnificent containing her famous “mix-and-match” charts for staples, and delectable dishes with mind-blowing flavors.
A Modern Way To Cook: 150+ Vegetarian Recipes For Quick, Flavor-Packed Meals is packed with easy everyday food, as well as tips and tricks to help you be a smarter more efficient home cook.
Anna opens with the essential kitchen equipment that is used in the recipes, and notes about the ingredients that are used, and how to substitute them. And the recipes are full of nutrient-dense foods that will help you eat with the seasons and make you feel amazing.
The recipes are mostly broken up into how much labor and time they require. So, Anna starts with the easiest recipes. The 10 min breakfasts chapter contains quick easy recipes for açaí bowls; a strawberry, coconut, and cardamom smoothie; tahini-drizzled superfruit; 10-minute pancakes; and a peach and raspberry ripple breakfast. There’s also a fabulous morning smoothies chart and an overnight oats chart to help you create your own quick morning meals.
Anna says the recipes in the 15 minutes chapter “are for the days and nights when time is shortest and hunger is at its highest”. So, she serves up kale, tomato, and lemon magic one-pot spaghetti; gently spiced sweet potato and quinoa bowls; and this green pea and coconut soup that I’m sharing today. My favorite part of this chapter is her 6-step “At-Your-Desk Salads” chart. Copy that and take it to work!
The 20 minutes chapter contains a summer green goddess salad; kale, sumac, and crispy rice salad; and lemongrass, peanut, and herb noodle salad that were scrumptious; and her “Goodness Bowls” chart helps you make healthy abundance bowls with whatever you have in your house.
Some of my favorites in the 20-25 minutes chapter include the plantain, avocado, and black bean bowl; winter root vegetable soba noodles with pickled greens; black-eyed peas with chard and green herb smash; crispy cauliflower rice with sticky spiced cashews; and the charred broccolini with cucumber noodles and peanut sauce. (Scott loved that recipe!) If you’re a stir-fry lover, check out the “quick 20-minute stir-fries” chart that will help you take your efforts to the next level. The 25 minutes section has an awesome recipe for a bloody mary salad with black rice! And don’t miss the “10 favorite suppers from 10 favorite vegetables” chart.
Anna says, “A lot can happen in half an hour. This is still quick cooking, but with an opportunity to layer flavor with more subtlety,” and that she does in spectacular fashion with sweet roasted zucchini with crispy chickpeas; smoky corn chowder with maple-toasted coconut; and green bean and chile paneer. Potato lovers: the “10 simple baked potatoes” chart is for you!
The 40 minute feasts is where the gold is for me. The silver lake sweet potato bake; buddha bowls; smoky root vegetable tacos with green chile salsa; fragrant herb and star anise pho; mung bean dal; roasted vegetables, grapes, and lentils; beet and radicchio gratin; roasted coconut, lime, and tamarind curry; a modern moussaka; and crispy chickpea and harissa burgers are amazeballs. The “one-pan dinners” chart and “quick flavor boosts” chart have some great tips.
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, the quick desserts and sweet treats chapter has some serious winners. Try the saffron apricots; coconut and goji fudge bites; rhubarb, apple, and maple pan crumble; chocolate and earl grey pudding pots; banana, date, and candied pecan ice cream; coconut, rhubarb, and lime panna cotta; and salted almond butter chocolate bars. Or just use the “quick fruit desserts” chart to whip something up.
I love that Anna calls her staples chapter “investment cooking”. She makes these staples when she’s got some time to spare in order build quick easy meals that are bursting with flavor and nutrition. She shares her favorite go-to’s like malted chocolate buckwheat granola; ultimate pecan banana breakfast bread; chickpea tofu; home cooked beans; amazing grains; vegetable broth; tahini and other dips; crackers; coconut yogurt; and, of course, nut milks. I just want to live with her…
Whether you’ve got 15, 20, 30, or 40 minutes to get a nourishing meal on the table, Anna has you covered with practical meals that are fresh and full of flavor without a lot of fuss. That is the brilliance of Anna Jones.
Run, don’t walk to get your copy of this book. I am giving this to everybody I know for Christmas.
Learn more about Anna Jones.
