RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH SNACKS
Alison Roman takes the fuss out of entertaining in Nothing Fancy
In just two years, food writer Alison Roman has established herself as the creator of recipes so stylish, so bright and so achievable that they take on lives of their own.
Dishes like #thestew and #thecookies became social media phenomena. Since publishing her hit debut book Dining In (Clarkson Potter) in 2017, she’s amassed a like-minded audience that values beautiful food made with minimal fuss. Roman’s followup, Nothing Fancy (Clarkson Potter, 2019), is a continuation of this theme with even more of an emphasis on cooking for others.
The recipes are designed for mixing and matching. “I want this to serve as an inspirational roadmap,” Roman says. “It’s not like a manual.”
It’s also not a guide to entertaining. In case there was any confusion, Roman says so definitively — right at the outset — in big, bold type: “This is not a book about entertaining.”
Nothing Fancy delivers on the promise of its title.
Instead of an aspirational act that requires you to have your stuff together, it’s proof positive that feeding the people you care about needs no occasion, rules or stressful preamble: It can be as enjoyable for the cook as it is for everybody else.
“I feel a little bit old-fashioned in the way that I feel like the best things actually happen when you’re cooking and eating and feeding people,” Roman says, adding that the decision to focus on cooking for others was a natural one, since it’s how she prefers to spend her time.
“Rather than going out to a restaurant, it’s more fun for me to cook at home.”
Holder of unequivocal food opinions — including “don’t call it a crudité” and “do not confuse snacks with hors d’oeuvres or canapés” — Roman’s style is punchy and direct.
Straightforward, often short, ingredient lists are as much of a trademark as her favourite ingredients: anchovies, cheese, citrus and garlic.
In line with her use of bold flavours, the visual aspect of her food — shot by Toronto-based photographers Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott — is just as striking.
Roman cooked and styled all the dishes depicted in the book, which she considers key to communicating their attainability.
As welcome any day of the week as they would be on a special occasion, her snack recipes are ideal for New Year’s Eve.
“You want to be noshing all night. For me, it’s not interesting to sit down to a full meal on New Year’s Eve because imagine the consequences the next day,” Roman says. “Also, feeling like you can pad it out with store-bought things like cheese and charcuterie … is a really nice way to balance it out and make it feel very full and resplendent, but without making it feel like you’re overwhelming yourself on a holiday.”
Recipe reprinted from Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over (Clarkson Potter)