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Ciao friends!
We have a very special newsletter today. The one and only Caroline Chambers’ second cookbook, What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking: Make it Fast, came out yesterday, and she’s here today to answer some questions. She’s also shared six (!) recipes with us for Smoky Black Beans. Thank you, Caro!
If you’ve been on this platform long enough, there’s no way you don’t know Caroline. Her newsletter, What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, is the #1 food newsletter on Substack, and on top of new recipes every week, she now has a show that airs Friday evenings right here, plus supplemental newsletters sharing what she’s into, aptly named So Into That. Caro and I connected online during the pandemic and have been penpals ever since — she even asked me to pop over as a guest writer when she was on maternity leave a few years back. All that, and she has four young boys at home. I truly don’t know how she does it, but she sure does. She’s also bubbly, supportive and kind.
Read on for our conversation about her favorite spots in her town of Carmel, CA, her favorite kitchen tools, plus her recipe for Smoky Black Beans, which she cleverly worked into five different dishes: Crunchy Black Bean Tacos, Loaded Sweet Potatoes with Creamy Herby Sauce, Mediterranean Black Beans, Tamale Bowls, and Black Bean Flautas with Avo Slaw.
They’re all here for you. Oh, and don’t forget to pick yourself up a copy of her new book!
Congratulations, Caro!
THE INTERVIEW
with Caroline Chambers
Colu: You have four boys (!) and a thriving business. When you say you don’t feel like cooking, what does that actually look like on a Tuesday night at your house?
Caro: Four boys (!) is right. It’s utter chaos in the absolutely best way. Honestly, cooking on a Tuesday night looks like this! I just shot a cooking show for What To Cook where my kids were actually home, wandering in and out, bringing lizards into the kitchen, hacking away at vegetables. I wanted to film a cooking show that actually feels like real life! I’ve got kids underfoot, on the kitchen counter, running outside when I tell them it’s time to eat, refusing what I cooked, all of it. I cook a lot of really quick, really easy, still really delicious meals, like what you’ll find in Make It Fast. The Chicken Parm Meatballs with Broccoli Pasta is coming to mind right now – that’s a recipe the entire fam loves.
Colu: What are a few of your must have pantry ingredients that elevate a quick meal from good to great?
Caro: Coconut milk – coconut rice is a huge win with the whole fam. Gochujang adds so much flavor, and if you use a small amount, it really doesn’t make things too spicy. I am big on fancy olive oil, and I don’t cheap out here – I subscribe to Kosterina so that I never run out. Is wine a pantry ingredient? I have two wine club memberships – to Sophie James in Sonoma and to Joyce here in Carmel Valley. You’re a wine person, so I feel like you’ll allow this one. It’s important.
Colu: Re wine, I couldn’t agree more! What are the kitchen tools you can’t do without?
Caro: My fish spatula – it’s long and skinny and flexible and the perfect flipping tool. I love my huge Staub 9-quart round pots. I have several. My current favorite is the matte white. I got a Staub rice pot in Justine Doiron’s PR box for her book, and it truly cooks the perfect pot of rice.
Colu: You live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Can you share a few of your favorite spots in Carmel? They don’t need to be restaurants.
Caro: Oh, yes!!! Stationæry for breakfast or lunch – I get the farmer’s salad with salami. Say hi to my friends Alissa and Anthony who own it! Chez Noir’s bar is my favorite dinner in Carmel – it’s a set-menu Michelin-starred restaurant, but if you can snag a seat in the cozy bar (only 6 seats), you can order à la carte. Our friends Johnny and Monique own it (he’s the chef, she’s the front of house boss lady) and they rule. Go for a hike in Garland State Park. Get coffee and housemade cheese at the Carmel Valley Creamery.
Colu: What’s the best book you’ve read this summer? Or what’s the next one on your list?
Caro: The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion!!! My friend gave me the first volume (there are currently 8 out, and the author said the full series will be 24 or so books) to read up at our cabin over the 4th of July. I DEVOURED it. I scavenged for Wifi so that I could download the next 7 volumes immediately on my Kindle. It’s set in 19th-century London and stars a witty, smart 21-year-old woman who inherits a quirky old home in a quirky neighborhood. Trouble and hilarious mishaps follow her wherever she goes. It’s light and funny and such a dopamine hit. I have toggled between reading it on my Kindle, inheriting paperbacks from my friend Jess, and listening on Spotify — the narration is really good if you’re a book listener!
Colu: What’s your favorite way to wind down after a long day (in the summer or otherwise)?
Caro: We have a pretty amazing outdoor seating area with a fireplace and cozy couches. We have spent so much time out there this summer. It gets really cool in the evenings, so my husband and I will light a fire and read out there after the kids go down. Glass of wine. It’s such a nice unwind.
Colu: What’s the main thing you want readers to take away from this book?
Caro: Cooking delicious food doesn’t have to be fussy or hard. You can make really beautiful, special-feeling meals in 15 or 30 minutes.
Colu: I couldn’t agree more!
💫💫💫💫 If you like this post, can you kindly hit the ❤️ at the bottom? It sure does help spread the word! 💫💫💫
💫💫💫💫 If you like this post, can you kindly hit the ❤️ at the bottom? It sure does help spread the word! 💫💫💫
SMOKY BLACK BEANS
Serves 4
My pantry is never without multiple cans of black beans—they’re one of my very favorite panic purchases. Everyone has their own favorite panic purchase—you know, the item you buy every time you’re at the store because you think “do I have this at home . . .?” They’re a reliable yet humble vessel for impressive flavor—all it takes is a few shakes of spices and you have a delicious protein to build dinner around. I’m no short-order cook, but on smoky black bean nights, I don’t mind customizing plates. For the baby? Black beans straight up. For my pickiest eaters? Black bean flautas they can dunk into sour cream. For George and me? Most often some sort of bowl like these Mediterranean bowls, but I definitely dabble in crunchy tacos and loaded sweet potatoes. There’s no wrong way to down these beans!
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon chili powder
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans
Kosher salt
4 cilantro sprigs
1 lime
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and chili powder and cook, stirring, until fragrant, for 15 seconds.
Drain and rinse 1 can of black beans, then add them to the pan along with the (undrained) beans from the second can. Add 1½ teaspoons salt and the cilantro. Turn down the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans thicken and are no longer watery, about 10 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to lightly smash about half the beans against the side of the pan. Pluck out and discard the cilantro sprigs. Halve the lime and squeeze in the juice of 1 half. Stir, then taste and add more salt and/or lime juice as needed.
If you’re not using the beans right away, let them cool, then store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. When ready to use, warm them gently in a saucepan over medium-low heat or in the microwave. If they’re very thick, stir in some water to loosen them up.
Recipe reprinted with permission from What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking: Make it Fast by Caroline Chambers © 2026. Published by Union Square & Co., an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group. Photography by Erin Scott.
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Have a great rest of your week! Let me know if you make…the beans!
With love,
Colu x
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