Cooking Fast and Slow

A collection of over 100 simple, satisfying, plant-packed recipes that are low on effort but big on flavor, from Natalia Rudin, the viral creator behind Nat's Nourishments.

Loved for her quick and delicious recipes whipped up after a long day as a personal chef, Natalia Rudin has created a show-stopping cookbook full of (mostly) plant-based recipes that are guaranteed to comfort, nourish, and delight.

With chapters organized by timeframe that take less than 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour; slower recipes to savor at the weekend or with friends; meal-prep ideas to elevate your packed lunches; breakfasts to be enjoyed slow or on the go; and treats to satisfy every sweet tooth, there is a recipe for every occasion. These recipes are short on ingredients but big on flavor and nutrition, with plenty of suggestions for additions and substitutions to suit what you eat and what you have available.

• Smashed Miso Butterbeans and Crispy Soy Mushrooms
• Basil, Zucchini, and Pistachio Mafaldine
• Blistered Tomatoes and Chickpeas over Creamy Polenta
• Romesco Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Bowl
• Fluffy Buckwheat Pancakes with Date Caramel
• Chai-Spiced Chocolate and Pecan Blondies

Filled with silky sauces, sweet treats, and morning delights, Cooking Fast and Slow takes simple ingredients and elevates them so that every meal feels special and tastes incredible.Natalia Rudin is a personal chef, certified health and nutrition coach, yoga teacher, and the creative behind Nat’s Nourishments. For the past five years, she has worked with clients and built up her platform for plant-based, quick, and flavor-packed meals. Well-traveled and a complete foodie, Rudin has created a wonderful online community of folks looking for simple, yet delicious meals. She has partnered with brands like Barilla and UberEats as well as performed at Taste of London.Introduction

I grew up in a foodie family. Most of my childhood was spent in London and almost all our meals were homemade from scratch, each lovingly cooked by my mother. Her food was strongly influenced by Austrian and Italian cuisine, both places where she spent her younger years traveling. Some of my favorite things to eat as a child were bolognese and a good Wiener schnitzel, and my mum’s were always the best. My father was a huge advocate for trying new things and not being afraid of the unknown. He would always be ordering the wildest items on the menu, like snails, frog legs, or ox tongue, things I was totally terrified of trying as a child! I am half Russian on my father’s side and my babushka perfectly fit the stereotype of being a feeder and showing her love through food. On our visits to Russia, she would ply me with blinis and homemade raspberry compote to my heart’s content (the recipe for which is on page 186). This was all the perfect concoction to spark my interest in the culinary world. At age seven, I made what my oldest brother, Tom, called “the best omelet he had ever tasted.” It was simple: eggs and a sprinkling of whatever cheese we had lurking in the fridge, but it came out perfectly. The kitchen was a mess, but I stood proudly among it, and there my love for cooking was born.

While I was young and still in school, I eased myself into cooking with simple savory recipes, which I often revert to now—things like bolognese sauce, penne pomodoro made from scratch, and tricolor salads. I’ll never forget when I discovered balsamic glaze; it made me feel like a Michelin-starred chef, making abstract drizzles across plates of Parma ham, tomatoes, mozzarella, and figs. I quickly became obsessed with baking and would often be found with greasy butterfingers and covered in flour on weekends. Admittedly, for a long time it was a lot of Betty Crocker cake mix and store-bought frosting, but eventually I took the plunge and started making things from scratch. Very brown bananas were always a prompt and banana muffins were quite often piled up on a plate, displayed in our kitchen, and offered to any soul who passed through the front door. It wasn’t until later, when I traveled around Southeast Asia, South and Central America, and India, that my horizons broadened in terms of cooking. I was introduced to herbs and spices I had never heard of and cooking methods that were completely foreign to me. I was in awe.

My childhood, although rich with travel and culture, was a little bit capricious. When I was seventeen, my parents divorced and things got a lot messier, including my state of mind. After a few years of binge-drinking, partying, and just general rebelling, I decided to travel solo around East Asia. I learned the value in nourishing my body, which in turn nourished my mind. Ingredients like lentils, beans, and chickpeas paired with a variety of colorful vegetables and spices became my new diet. (Not to say that my diet prior to that was terrible, just limited.) Indian cuisine had never really been a part of my life until I went there myself, and I quickly fell in love with the flavors of turmeric, cumin, and coriander. Learning about those ingredients inspired me to explore more of the culinary delights of places outside of Europe, such as the Middle East and Asia, using ingredients like gochujang, sumac, za’atar, and harissa, to name a few. The clear correlation between eating well and feeling well led me to realize what I wanted to do with my future. Cook. But not just for myself; I wanted to show people the importance of unprocessed foods and colorful ingredients, and the benefit they could have on your well-being. And so began my career as a personal chef.

With no professional training and very little experience, I knew finding my first client would be a challenge. Having practiced yoga and exercised almost every day, it became clear that these two aspects needed to be involved in my work. My unique selling point became that I could offer you a “retreat experience” at home. I found that people would often go on week-long retreats, leaving their kids, dogs, partners, and jobs at home, to eat well, sleep well, and exercise. Although these retreats were wonderful and would definitely have some sort of impact on their clients’ daily habits, people would always fall off the wagon eventually—because life just does get in the way. Whether it’s driving the kids to school, going to meetings, or walking the dog, our busy lives mean that healthy habits are often hard to keep up when you haven’t been able to ingrain them into your normal life. My approach was to work around your normal day and fit everything in with ease, showing you how you can organize your new schedule so it merges seamlessly with your old one.

In 2018, I pretty much pestered my first client over email into giving me a job. We worked together for five weeks, set some goals on day one, and every single target was hit. I felt so fulfilled and relieved; starting this had been a big leap of faith. It could have easily gone horribly wrong, but seeing the joy and contentment it brought my client cemented the notion that this was what I needed to be doing. From there things snowballed—word of mouth was an amazing thing for me—and alongside work I studied to obtain a diploma as a health and nutrition coach and completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training. In February 2019, I set up my Instagram account, atnatsnourishments, figuring that as I was making all this delicious healthy food, I may as well document it. This was absolutely terrifying at the time but totally worth it in the end.

For the last five years, I have worked with many different clients and been lucky enough to travel all over the world with them, getting to experience cuisines and ingredients intimately. The highs and lows were extraordinary. I remember the first time I secured a job in the Bahamas; I couldn’t believe my luck. The clients were a lovely couple who lived in the most gorgeous house, and I had my own little apartment (it was actually very big, but little compared to the main house). The first time I was alone in my room I squealed with joy and jumped on the bed like a child, taking it all in. On my days off I would casually wander on the beach, and during working hours I had access to the best of the best kitchenware and tropical ingredients—all while getting paid to be there! The area where I was working was very much a community and my name spread like wildfire. Over the course of my career, I worked with several different clients in the Bahamas, some of them becoming repeat clients I would go back to every year. I would go from cooking dinner parties for up to twenty people to an intimate dinner for one or two. I made some really, really good friends, got invited to the most incredible parties and luxurious boat days, and even got to tag along to a private island in the Exumas for a week. I was also lucky enough to work with an incredible woman in Toronto. I was immediately welcomed into the family, invited to a countryside cottage, which was in fact much more akin to a manor house, and shown all the nicest parts of town.

The highs were very high, but the lows were also extremely low. As 2020 arrived, bringing the pandemic along with it, my business came to a crushing halt. I lost all my jobs and income overnight and became a sitting duck in London. I tried and failed to book flights, trains, anything that would take me back to work. Each attempt was unsuccessful and resulted in me losing more money and gaining more anxiety. My friends were able to either work from home or spend time frolicking in their gardens or parks while still being paid by their employer, yet there I was panicking that I would never work again. I remember reading an article in Forbes magazine, claiming that as an entrepreneur, the first two years of business were the hardest and if you didn’t make it through, you were likely to never make it. This sent me into a spiral; I was sure this was it for me. I lost all my clients and my momentum was gone. Eventually, however, the negativity began to spur me on; after a few weeks of sulking and wishfully thinking that the pandemic would blow over and I would be back to work in no time, reality set in. Borders were closed and no one wanted me in their house. I needed to dig deep and be resourceful to try and support myself.

I had roughly 3,000 followers on Instagram at the time, so I put word out that I was providing a “meals on wheels” kind of service and—thankfully—a few people decided to take me on. I was preparing breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks for up to ten people a week, as well as delivering most of them myself, in gloves and a mask, of course. It ended up being the busiest, most intense time of my career. I was run ragged but I loved it. My partner (now fiancé), Cameron, was my saving grace. He made sure I was eating properly and would pick up the housework I just didn’t have the time or energy to do. Each night I would hit the pillow and be asleep within minutes. I set up a website and began selling granola, cookies, and other baked goods, which kept me incredibly busy. As the pandemic prolonged but rules loosened (slightly), I was hired to cater for six-person dinner parties. Restaurants were closed and takeout wasn’t quite as glamorous as what some people wanted. I would precook all the food at home, drive to people’s houses, set it all up nicely, and then leave. When the world opened back up again, I went back to private cheffing and only did dinner parties in between jobs, to keep things running slowly but steadily.