Alison Roman - Nothing Fancy

Copyright 2019 by Alison Roman

Photographs copyright 2019 by Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019001089 .

ISBN9780451497017

Ebook ISBN9780451497024

Cover design by Elizabeth Spiridakis Olson

Cover photographs by Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott

v5.4

prh

contents

DIPS, SPREADS, AND STUFF ON CRACKERS

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

CRUNCHY THINGS, SALTY THINGS

leafy salads

crunchy salads

kind-of salads

vegetables

grains, etc.

meat

fish

pasta, etc.

This is not a book about entertaining.

Roasting a nice chicken for people is such a good way to say, I love you. I recently found this note to myself scrawled on the back of an electrical bill I had probably forgotten to pay, written one night after a dinner party. There was likely a lot of wine that night (the best ideas always come from a lot of wine), which explains my poor penmanship and well-intentioned (but fragmented) deep chicken thought.

Not exactly poetry, but I realized after reading it that it was the first time I articulated exactly what I wanted this book to be about it and what I want you to get out of it: Using your time and resources to feed people you care about is the ultimate expression of love. And love is about expressing joy, not producing anxiety, so the other thing I want you to get out of it is: You can do this.

I have always been allergic to the word entertaining, which to me implies theres a show, something performative at best and inauthentic at worst. But having people over? Well, thats just making dinner, but you know, with more people. Unfussy food, unfussy vibes and the permission to be imperfect, no occasion necessary (other than to eat, of course).

For anyone looking for tips on how to fold linen napkins or create floral arrangements, I am not your girl. I dont have any clever hosting tips, and I will not teach you the secrets to mood lighting. (I told you, this is not an entertaining book, but also: candles!) But I will give you low-stress and high-impact recipes and ideas designed to make your life easier when cooking for others. Colorful platters of vegetables doused in crispy crunchy bits, casually roasted meat scattered with herbs, one-bowl just-sweet-enough desserts.

This book is organized by how I like to put together most meals, broken up by what I think are the five most important parts: snacks, salads, sides, mains, and sweet things. Not to say all categories must be represented to have a complete experience, but using that framework is a good place to start.

Most of the recipes serve 4 to 6 people and are designed to be doubled easily. If youre cooking for fewer than four, well then consider the bounty a gift to your future self in the form of leftovers. There are carefully considered do-aheads (my favorite phrase) and ideas for what goes with what, although I will say most things in this book would be so happy served next to one another (I find the concept of menus to be both inspiring and creatively stifling, so consider this my compromise). Its a book with a true choose-your-own-adventure spirit, encouraging you to make as many or as few of the dishes as you wish.

This is not about living an aspirational life; its about living an attainable one. You know, the one that comes with not really having enough time to braise a whole pot of short ribs before people arrive (but you try anyway), accidentally burnt cakes (just cut those parts off), and not enough chairs to seat everyone at once (sit on the floor?). Its the life we live, its messy as hell, its nothing fancyIm sure you wouldnt want it any other way.

three helpful things

ask for help

Asking for help is not a weakness, its a strength.
me to myself every time I cook for others

If youre a control freak like me, delegating does not come easily. But come to think of your guests as contributors and collaborators and youll notice everyone loosen up, things happen more quickly, and the whole vibe gets significantly more fun. Asking guests to participate by picking the stems from herbs, mixing a yogurt sauce, or slicing vegetables is a small but significant way to ease the load.

pick your battles

One of the most common questions I get is How do I make sure everything is hot when I serve dinner? My answer is always: You dont. Trying to make sure everything is piping-hot is a fools errand, and one I refuse to participate in. Unless youre living an exclusively soup-and-stew lifestyle, there is no reason every dish on your table needs to be hot. If you are serving a pasta that should be, then guess what, youre getting a side of blanched and room-temp broccoli. If that stewed pork with kimchi needs to be piping-hot, then everything else has been made hours ago and stored in the fridge, probably. Pick your battles. Serving different foods that all need to be hot at the same time should not be one of them.

never apologize

Having people over means never having to say youre sorry. Not for your mismatched plates or the fact that you dont own any real wineglasses or the fact that dinner is actually being served closer to 9:30 than the hoped-for 7:30 (just make sure there are snacks). Embrace the quirky imperfections that make dinner at your house special and different. Its not a restaurantyou shouldnt feel pressure to make it feel like one.

before you begin

shopping

I love grocery shopping the way some people love, say, clothes shopping, and not just because I am particular about the shape of my parsley leaves and the brands of my coconut milk, but because thats when I find unexpected inspiration. How will I know whats out there if Im not constantly perusing brightly lit aisles, pleasingly organized shelves, chaotic piles of vegetables, and expertly arranged cases of meat? Allowing yourself time to aimlessly wander markets is a necessary experience for creativity in the kitchenif youre only ever shopping for what you know, how will you ever discover the things you dont?

I shop pretty much everywhere. I love a farmers market as much as the next gal, and in my fantasy life, Im there daily, thoughtfully caressing each tomato until I find the one. But that is not my reality. (I do love New York Citys farmers markets, but getting through a subway turnstile and riding a crowded train with produce for fourteen people is not a chill experience.)

Luckily, most cities and towns have every type of grocery experience you could ever ask forsmall neighborhood stores, impressively well-stocked bodegas, specialty spice shops, well-curated fish markets, giant chains, and very small butchersand I do them all. I shop in Chinatown because they have the best, cheapest produce and I shop in Brighton Beach because they have an insane selection of sour cream and affordable caviar. I shop at farmers markets because I adore lovingly grown specialty and hyper-seasonal produce (and its important to support the hard work of small farms), and I cruise giant big-name chains because sometimes thats the only place to find Nilla Wafers.