Recipe Tin Eats Dinner, by Nagi Maehashi

This review was originally posted in Feb 2023 but has been updated for Cookbook Club review purposes.

Every so often a cookbook comes along that you want to shout from the skies about. This is one of those books.

I’ve been following Nagi Maehashi through her website Recipe Tin Eats and Instagram (@recipe_tin) for several years – my “saved” Instagram is full of midweek meal ideas posted by her – and was thrilled when she announced she was writing a cookbook. She hasn’t just written it; she’s tested all the recipes (and retested them – the vanilla cake was tested 89 times), taken most of the photographs, and videoed every recipe. Yep, every recipe can be watched simply by scanning the QR code in the book. Seriously.

Lamb shanks with red wine sauce

The book was scheduled for release while we were in the UK towards the end of 2022, and I was so keen to get my hands on a copy that I preordered a digital copy so I could read it on my iPad and begin bookmarking recipes immediately. One of the first meals I cooked when we returned was the One-Pot Baked Greek Chicken and Lemon Rice. (The recipe is here and it’s a cracker.)

One Pot Baked Greek Chicken and Lemon Rice

So what else have I cooked? So much. I’ve made Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce, Vietnamese Baked Chicken, Chicken Shawarma, Garlic prawns, Asian glazed Salmon, Teriyaki Beef Bowls, Spicy Sichuan Pork Noodles, Butter Chicken, Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce, Chilli Garlic, Ginger Prawns, Cashew Chicken, Magic Baked Chicken Fried Rice, Chorizo Potato Stew-Soup, French Sausage and Bean Casserole, Vietnamese Shaking Beef, Pad See Ew, Gyoza, Vietnamese Caramel Pork Mince, House Special Glazed Meatloaf, Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta Bake …and more.  It would, perhaps, be easier to tell you what I haven’t cooked!

Chocolate cake

Vietnamese chicken salad

gyoza

Garlic prawns

And the best part is most dishes are faff free. In fact, out of everything I’ve cooked so far, there are only two recipes I wouldn’t make again – and was because they’re too much of a palaver for a Tuesday night and not because they didn’t taste good: the saucy baked pork meatballs and the beef biryani.

With so many recipes perfect for midweek meals, this is easily my most used recipe book. So well used that Adventure Spaniel bought Sarah a copy for Christmas 2023, and now she’s cooking weekly from it too. (yes, my dog has fabulous taste in cookbooks…). While I haven’t tried it yet, Sarah tells me that The Rainbow – a quinoa salad with ginger dressing – is her fave batch-cook-on-a-Sunday-afternoon-for-lunch-during-the-week lunch. I really must try it.

My faves so far? That’s a trick question, but the dishes I’ve made most often have been the Swedish Meatballs (homemade IKEA meatballs) – a  blissful midweek comfort fave during the cooler months – Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta Bake (ditto) and Greek Chicken and Lemon Rice (a miracle in one pot). And I have requests from Grant’s work for the chocolate cake with buttercream.

Why you need this book

You just do … ok? You want more reasons? Alright then …

• The recipes work
• The recipes taste great
• There are plenty of midweek hacks
• Most recipes are faff-free
• There are photos and videos of every recipe

Why you don’t need this book

Honestly I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t make space for this one!

Chinese Noodle Soup

The recipe I’m choosing to feature for you is Chinese Noodle Soup. Taking about 20 minutes from start to slurp, this is the noodle soup designed to satisfy noodle soup cravings and uses ingredients we always have in the pantry. I’ve already lost count of how often I’ve made it—although weirdly, I’ve never taken a photo—which is why you get the photo of the photo in the book.

Chinese Noodle Soup

(serves 2)

What you need

• 180g fresh thin egg noodles or 75g dried egg noodles or even 75g dried rice noodles. We made it once with 2 minute noodles prepared without the flavour sachet.
• 1 cup (160g) shredded poached chicken (or leftover roast chicken). (As an aside, there is a completely fool-proof way to poach chicken on her website that always delivers juicy, tender cooked-through chicken – you’ll never poach chicken another way again).
• 2 baby bok choy cut in half lengthwise (or other Asian greens)

For the broth…

• 3 cups (750ml) salt-reduced chicken stock
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed, but left whole
• 1.5cm piece of ginger cut into 3 slices – no need to peel
• 1 ½ tbsp light soy sauce (all-purpose soy is ok, but dark soy will upset the colour and balance of the broth)
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 1 ½ tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing)
• ½ tsp sesame oil

Garnishes (optional)

Chilli paste/sauce eg sriracha, sliced spring (green) onions (scallions), crispy fried shallots

What you do with it

Place the broth ingredients in a medium saucepan, cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to medium and let it simmer for 8-10 minutes to let the flavours develop.

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain but don’t rinse (even if the packet tells you to) and divide between two bowls.

Add the bok choy (or other veg) to the broth and cook for a minute.

Fish out the ginger and garlic and ladle the broth over the noodles and top with the chicken, bok choy and your garnish/es of choice (we always have a dollop of chilli sauce or sambal for spice).

Slurp!