Roman - Dining In

acknowledgments

Thank you to my editor, Doris Cooper, who took me out for pizza and convinced me I should write a book. Aside from your sharp, thoughtful edits, I will be forever grateful for your cheerleading, real-talk guidance, and general hand-holding; your patience with me has been immeasurable. I heard you were the best, and now I know for certain you are.

To Aaron Wehner for believing in this project and loving the cover as much as I did, and to the rest of the team at Clarkson Potter, especially the brilliant Stephanie Huntwork, Jana Branson, and Kate Tyler: Thank you for your overwhelming support and generous flexibility. And to Amy Boorstein, Kim Tyner, and Danielle Daitch for all your help along the way.

To my agent, Nicole Tourtelot. Choosing to work with you was one of the best decisions Ive ever made. Thank you for your candor, your time, and for always responding to my manic late-night e-mails, texts, and phone calls. You truly deserve a medal.

To Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott, two of the kindest, hardest-working, most creative people I know. Thank you for your willingness to take on this project, do things in an insanely unconventional way, break literally every rule (are there rules?), and still like me afterward. This book is as much yours as it is mine, and I hope youre as proud of it as I am.

To Amy Wilson, this book would have been half as good without your props, your styling. and your calming energy. Thank you for all you gave to this project, and Im sorry about the raccoons.

To Elizabeth Spiridakis-Olson: When I knew I was going to do a book, I didnt know what it was going to be, but I knew I wanted to do it with you. Your eye for impeccable design, ridiculous fashion sense, and think-outside-the-box approach to everything in life made this book truly special.

To Anna Billingskog, Lauren Shaefer, and Julia Callon: Thank you for your insanely hard work, long hours, delightfully upbeat attitudes, and fantastic talent. The shoots would have been half as fun and twice as hectic without you all. Thanks for making me look good.

To Adam Rapoport, Carla Lalli-Music, Christine Muhlke, Alex Grossman, and the rest of my family at Bon Apptit magazine, past and present. Thank you for teaching me, editing me, pushing me, and drinking with me. I wouldnt have made this book if it werent for you all.

To Hunter Lewis for taking a chance and giving me a job. It was my lucky day, truly.

To Ron Mendoza and William Werner, the two guys who basically taught me everything I know about making dessert, working hard, and good music.

To all the amazing humans who helped test recipes, organize spreadsheets, separate receipts, grocery shop, and wash dishes to help me with the making of this book: Kendra Vaculin, Mariette Mayerson, Yewande Komolafe, Jena Derman, Emily Fleischaker, Mollie Chen, Shannon Mulcahy, and Ariel Brodey.

For the ceramicists that lent their gorgeous wares, especially Ariela (ANK Ceramics), Nina and Jennifer (MONDAYS Projects), Nate (Felt + Fat), and Caroline (TOOOLS).

To Katie Mayerson, Clayton Blaha, Eva Scofield, Michael Wooten, Mercedez Perez-Garcia, Julia Kramer, Lilli Sherman, and Eric Sullivan: I feel wildly blessed to have you all in my life. Thank you for the pep talks, emergency phone calls, group texts, reality checks, unconditional support, and abundant love. I admire you all and I would be a shell of a woman without you.

To my family in California (Mindy, Carleigh, Ethan, Grandma, Kimmy, Art, and Jesse), thank you for being my biggest fans. And to my family in New York (Jen, James, Julia, Ben, Yosef, Finny, and Theo), you are my favorite people to cook and eat with. Thank you for making New York my home.

To Mom and Dad, hi! I love you! Thank you for always trusting in me to make the right choices (even when I didnt), for teaching me how to be independent, speak my mind, and listen to my gut. And for always encouraging me to do what I loveyour support while I figure it all out has meant everything to me.

To BHB. Your strength, humor, kindness, resourcefulness, optimism, patience, and love allowed me to start, write, shoot, edit, and finish this book. Im so glad you had to bake those biscuits. ILYSM.

ALISON ROMAN is a contributor at Bon Apptit. Formerly the Senior Food Editor at Bon Apptit and BuzzFeed, her work appears regularly in the New York Times and has been featured in GQ, Cherry Bombe, and Lucky Peach. The author of Lemons, a Short Stack Edition, Alison has worked professionally in kitchens such as New Yorks Momofuku Milk Bar and San Franciscos Quince. A native of Los Angeles, she lives in Brooklyn.

When I was about seven or eight, I had a thing for supermarket shoplifting.

Not toys, books, or magazines from the back of those interior aisles, but vegetables. Id walk down the produce aisle, grabbing small fistfuls of whatever small treasures were left out in the open, vulnerable little pods of snap peas and green beans, sprouts and peanuts, waiting to be plucked from their bins and stuffed into my pockets. Wed check out and I was sure that the cashier knew, her eyes scanning the insides of my jacket for stowaways. The anxiety I suffered walking out of those grocery stores, wondering if Id get caught, was all worth it for those few blissful bites of raw, unwashed vegetables. Nobody ever called the police, but my mom did eventually figure out where all those stray bean sprouts were coming from.

All this is to say that I really, really love vegetables. And I have a stealing problem. Just kiddingI grew out of that. The greener and leafier the better, although spicy radishes will always be my number one (especially those tossed with butter, as seen on ).

When cooking vegetables, Im rarely inclined to mix and match. I find throwing everything thats in season together into one dish overwhelming, and not necessarily more delicious. Letting one or two vegetables speak for themselves is infinitely more interesting to me, a better opportunity to get to know them and all their quirks a little bit better. Raw, roastedor better yet, raw and roastedone vegetable two different ways can be as dynamic and fabulous as five vegetables. They are my favorite little shape-shifters, often the most important item on my table for any given meal.

Vinegar-Roasted Beets with Spring Onions and Yogurt

Serves 4

Remember back in the late 90s when everyone was serving roasted beets with arugula and goat cheese? No disrespect, but this dish is kind of like that, except better. Yogurt replaces the goat cheese with equal tanginess and better creaminess, so you wont miss it. When it comes to roasting beets, adding a splash of vinegar kind of lightly pickles them while they cook, which curbs their sweetness and seasons them from the inside out. I like white distilled vinegar for this, but the other noted types will do.

2 bunches tiny beets (about the size of a golf ball) or 1 bunch medium beets (about 1 pounds)

2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar (white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar also work here)