Winter 2025

Cooking Up a Storm: A Review of MOB One Cookbook

Sourced MyLondon: Ben Lebus founded MOB in 2016.

Who is MOB?

MOB, formerly known as Mob Kitchen, is a popular food platform that shares accessible and budget-friendly recipes. Their Instagram account, @mob, features a wide array of recipes, cooking tips and engaging food content.

Founded by Ben Lebus in 2016, MOB aims to inspire a love of cooking by providing simple, delicious and affordable recipes. Over the years, they have expanded their reach through cookbooks, a website, and a strong presence on social media platforms. Their content often included step-by-step recipe videos, behind-the-scenes glimpses and collaborations with carious chefs and food enthusiasts.

‘MOB One’ Cookbook

31st October 2024 | Ebury Press | Hardback | £26.00 | 9781529902297

The ‘MOB One‘ cookbook is a vibrant culinary companion from MOB, the influential collective of chefs and creators who have captured the hearts (and taste buds) of over 2.7 million followers online.

Known for their accessible approach to cooking, MOB’s latest release is a game-changer, promising a world of delicious meals with minimal hassle. Staying true to their mission of inspiring everyone to love cooking, MOB One simplifies the process with recipes that rely on just one pot, pan or tray. The result? Dishes that are easy to prepare, affordable and undeniably delicious – perfect for home cooks of all skill levels.

MOB One thrives on the philosophy that great food doesn’t have to be complicated. The cookbook’s 100+ recipes are organised into intuitive categories like Easy Ones, Speedy Ones, Fancy Ones and Slow Ones, ensuring there’s something for everyone mood and occasion. From a creamy Vodka Orzotto to a hearty ‘Triple ‘Ch’ Traybake’ with chicken, chickpeas and chorizo, each recipe emphasises bold flavours without the fuss. There’s even a veggie spaghetti that somehow channels the taste of buffalo wings and show-stopping Coffee-Roasted Pork Belly for special occasions. With added QR bonus content covering essential cooking skills and online collections, MOB One goes beyond the page to truly transform your time in the kitchen.

In Conversation with MOB…

Hey MOB team! We’re HUGE fans of ‘MOB One’. Tell us, what inspired the concept for this cookbook?

We’re constantly looking at what issues our audience face when cooking, and I can’t tell you how often people talk about washing up! We wanted to create a cookbook that really spoke to that pain point and we knew that cooking everything in one pan was something that our audience would love. 

The chapters—Easy Ones, Speedy Ones, Fancy Ones, and Slow Ones—are an excellent way to help readers find recipes to suit their needs. Can you share more about how you decided on these categories?

We wanted the dishes to suit a whole range of needs, from quick and easy midweek meals, to longer weekend slow cooks and dishes that whilst being cooked in one pan, would still be really impressive meals that people could serve up to their friends and family. 

What was the process of selection and testing recipes for ‘MOB One’? Were there any surprising favourites or unexpected hits during the development?

We wanted a real range of recipes that hit within the recipe categories, we worked with some incredible recipe developers on the book that created all the stunning recipes in the book. It’s almost impossible for me to pick a favourite in there! 

With over 100 new recipes to choose from…come on…you MUST have a favourite!

Well you always know a good recipe when it comes out of the test kitchen and it’s eaten by people in the office in a blink of an eye and I remember when the Nduja and pickled pepper pasta came out, it was gone almost instantly, and everyone was really raving about it. I’ve cooked it at home since then and it’s really incredible- I highly recommend if you’re looking for a new favourite midweek meal. 

MOB has built an incredible community with over 2.7 million followers. How has the feedback from your audience influenced the recipes and format of ‘MOB One’ and your previous cookbooks?

Listening to feedback is always our first port of call when we’re working out what theme to run with next, it’s the same for anything we do here- we always want to create something that our audience are looking for, and then add our own twist to a theme. We’re constantly getting feedback from our audience on what they want to see next… we’ve actually already started on the next book and it’s something our audience have been asking for ALOT this year. 

We’re curious, what does a normal day in the life look like for a MOB team member?

No day looks the same for a food team member here! We use audience feedback and data from what people are cooking on our site to dictate the kind of recipes we make as a team, it’s usually our healthy midweek meals that people love the most! Then the team devote their days to developing recipes, testing them and tweaking them to make sure they’re perfect and then shooting recipes for our feed. 

Name three things in the kitchen you can’t live without!

  • Spoonula – which is basically a half spatula and half spoon and it’s the best tool to use when cooking and then to get all the sauce out of a pan!
  • A good knife, it doesn’t need to be expensive, it just needs to be sharp!
  • A pan that you can cook on top of the stove and move into the oven- We’ve got a great round one and it’s so handy for one pan cooking! 

‘Nduja and Pickled Pepper Pasta Recipe

Extracted from MOB One (Ebury Press, £26) Photography by David Loftus

A super-spicy one-pot pasta loaded with ’nduja, chorizo, cherry tomatoes and heaps of guindilla chillies – it’s tingly, it’s oozy and it’s oh-so-satisfying. A short, spirally pasta, such as radiatori or mafalda corta, works well for this.

Serves: 4 people

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Equipment: Use a large pan with a lid.

Ingredients:

  • 150g chorizo
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 300g cherry tomatoes
  • 6 pickled guindilla chilli peppers
  • A few sprigs of oregano
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 350g short pasta
  • 700ml hot chicken stock
  • 4 tbsp ’nduja paste
  • 250g mascarpone
  • 60g Parmesan
  • Maldon Sea Salt flakes
  • Black pepper

Method:

  1. Start with the prep. Chop the chorizo into 0.5cm rounds, then finely chop the garlic. Halve the cherry tomatoes and finely slice the chillies. Strip the leaves from the oregano sprigs.
  1. Heat the olive oil in the pan over a medium heat, add the garlic and chorizo and fry for 3–5 minutes until fragrant and the chorizo has released its red oil.
  2. Add the tomatoes and most of the chillies and oregano(reserving some of both for garnish), the pasta, stock and ’nduja paste to the pan. Season generously, cover with the lid and bubble away, stirring occasionally, for 10–12 minutes until
    the pasta is al dente.
  3. Remove the lid, add the mascarpone and toss vigorously to make sure most of the liquid is absorbed. Grate in most of the Parmesan and toss again until you have a nice glossy sauce.
  4. Sprinkle with the reserved chillies and oregano, then grate over the remaining Parmesan and to serve.

Where to Buy ‘MOB One’?

You can find where to purchase the NEW cookbook here and start being creative with food and flavours in the comfort of your kitchen.

Make sure you have your Maldon Salt ready for these recipes! If you are running out, please feel free to browse on our Where to Buy Page to find your nearest store in which stocks our beloved Maldon Salt.

Lastly, we LOVE seeing your creations – please tag us on Instagram using the #maldonsalt so we can share your own take on MOB’s recipes!

0/5 (0 Reviews)
Brunch food spread on table

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