Mustardy Green Beans with Anchovyed Walnuts by Alison Roman

I’ll admit I was skeptical about anchovyed walnuts. I wasn’t in the mood for fishy nuts as I started my dinner prep. To be honest, anchovyed anything never sounds appealing to me. And yet, I thoroughly enjoy eating anchovyed foods 9 out of 10 times they’re on my plate. So, it was past experience that pushed me to follow through with Alison’s instructions, not my appetite. 

And like most of my prior experience, these anchovyed walnuts were delicious. In a pot filled with a ¼ cup of olive oil, toast a cup of coarsely chopped walnuts until fragrant and golden. Remove from heat, and swirl in anchovies and grated garlic until the anchovies have melted and disappeared. Set them aside for later, and also snack on them while you make the rest of dinner. They’re just as nice on their own, and they’re not too fishy. 

We eat oven-roasted green beans, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, about every 1-2 weeks here, so preparing the beans was a simple repetition for me. Alison has you throw in some thinly sliced lemon pieces, another standard addition in my kitchen. While everything gets lightly charred in the oven, prepare a simple dressing made of whole grain mustard, white wine vinegar and olive oil. When the beans are done, they get tossed in this tangy vinaigrette. 

The last step is to plate the saucy lemon and beans and sprinkle with whatever walnuts are left, post-snacking. The whole dish is bursting with my kind of flavor palette (I LOVE anything that boasts salt and vinegar). And the toasty walnuts are a nice textural contrast to the beans and charred lemon. While I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to make beans like this all the time, I do think I’ll start to go this route more often when I’m up to the extra steps. The reward is certainly worth it.

63 recipes cooked, 162 to go.

Slow-Roasted Oregano Chicken with Buttered Tomatoes by Alison Roman

There are a lot of reasons why this dish is featured on the cover of Alison’s second book, nothing fancy. It’s crazy delicious. It’s easy to make: virtually no cooking skill required beyond assembly and sticking it in the oven. Finally, it seems like a blatant oxymoron. How can a dish that fancy, for lack of a better term, be not fancy? Makes you want to open the book to find out, doesn’t it? (I see what you did there, Alison & her book publishers.) 

Important note, by cooking this recipe right off the bat, I was clued into what I think Alison means by the book title, nothing fancy. The food in it sure looks fancy, and definitely tastes fancy. But that doesn’t mean that only advanced cooks can make this food. The skill levels required, and the amount of steps in each recipe, are far less than what you might think. Example A, see Slow-Roasted Oregano Chicken on Page 189-190. 

The recipe calls for a whole chicken, 3.5-4 lbs. I bought a whole chicken only a handful of times in the past, as I found it intimidating to both cook and carve a whole bird. (And the bones, bones always spooked me out.) I usually shop at Trader Joes, so that’s where I went to buy this chicken. 

Note on whole chickens at Trader Joes, to give you a lay of the land if you need one. In my recently frequent experience in this section of the store, I’ve learned there are three types of chickens to choose from. There’s the standard chicken: non-organic, large birds in the 5-8 lb. range and a less expensive option. There’s the heirloom chicken: smaller birds in the 2-3.5 lb. range, in a non-organic but all the disclaimers like vegetarian-fed and antibiotic-free, etc., and just as expensive per pound as organic. Then there’s a standard organic chicken but their smallest bird is no less than 5.5 lbs. 

I first made this recipe for Jordan and I, so a 3.5 lb. heirloom chicken seemed best for feeding 2 and having leftovers the next day. I was right. 

The dish was so killer that I had to make it for a larger audience. My in-laws came over a few days later and I reprised it. There were 5 of us total, so I opted for a larger, organic bird of 5.5 lbs, and there were no leftovers to be found. If you’re going to serve this to guests, don’t expect leftovers, both due to the amount of chicken and sheer irresistibility.

Step 1 of the recipe tells you to cover the chicken in salt and pepper. Alison says this can be done right before cooking, but tells you in parentheses that if you have time to do it earlier in the day, do! Consider it a “casual brine.” If there’s one thing I know about cooking meat, it’s that meat always tastes better if it’s had a salt bath first. I’m all in for that casual brine. 

When you’re about 3 hours from meal time, it’s time to assemble your dish. When it comes to the chicken itself, the ingredients are simple and few (not fancy). Fennel seeds, salt, pepper, olive oil, and of course, fresh oregano. I followed her quantities to a tee, and proportionately scaled them up with the 5.5 lb bird. 

The seasoned chicken is nestled in a nest of halved garlic heads and vine-ripened tomatoes, and more fresh oregano. Very little chopping involved, and you don’t even have to remove the paper around the garlic. Throw in some butter and pop her into the oven at a low temperature for 2.5-3 hrs. 

Note about fresh oregano. My Trader Joes doesn’t carry it, so I had to go to Whole Foods to buy it. This isn’t one of those times where you can swap in the dried version and alter the quantity accordingly. It’s gotta be the fresh version. 

At this point, the recipe only tells you when to take the dish out of the oven. My dear friend who gifted me nothing fancy, and whose favorite dish is also this dish, told me to drizzle olive oil over the bird every 30 minutes during the cooking process. Why not keep the chicken as moist and shiny as possible? A wonderful recommendation to follow, if you ask me. But hey, if you need this to be a totally hands-off roast, I get it! Skip the extra olive oil, and I’m sure the chicken will turn out great anyway. In Alison, we trust. 

We’re almost at the point where the dish is ready to be served. Once you remove her from the oven (look for that golden brown skin and jammy tomatoes), you get to spoon some red wine vinegar over the tomatoes and let it sink in for 10 minutes. Then, she’s ready to be carved and served.

Alison wisely recommends serving it with fresh bread. I happen to be on a sourdough baking kick, so I was eager to oblige with homemade bread. But I know that fresh bread from a grocery store, preferably one with a nice soft middle, and crispy crust, will do just fine. Fun tip, the garlic will have been confit-ted, aka turned into a spreadable, caramel-colored clove that I highly recommend spreading over your bread like butter. 

Like I said, this dish is a true winner. One I will return to again and again for hosting and casual weeknight dinners alike. It’s the whole package. Tangy, jammy tomatoes, perfectly moist chicken meat with a golden crispy crust with chopped fennel that gives it a slightly crunchy bite, and spreadable, golden garlic over fresh bread. Serve it with a simple green salad, and you will be thanking yourself, and dear Alison, for days to come. 

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I made this recipe another time for a family that is very near to my heart. The Hammitt/Self family lives out a grace-centered, actively service-oriented type of love for one another that is contagious. This chicken was the backdrop to a meaningful evening with them. Rachel graciously offered to take these photos for my blog — I was just about to launch it then, though I’m just posting these now. Thank you, Rachel. I love you!

56 recipes cooked, 169 to go.

Photography credit goes to my brilliant friend, Rachel Hammitt @ Hammitt Design: https://hammittdesign.com/

Lemony White Beans and Escarole with Anchovy and Parmesan by Alison Roman

To the three of you who read this blog somewhat consistently — I know that you know that I’m obsessed with beans, and saying so again will sound awfully redundant to you…. But what else can I express other than admiration for this versatile source of protein? And here, another way to make them that isn’t tomato-oriented or meant to fill a tortilla. An entirely new way to treat your beans! 

We’re talking oodles of garlic, anchovies, capers, and red pepper flakes, each infusing a small pool of olive oil. Cannelini beans marinating in the umami-rich liquid, losing all sense of having been in a can. Big pieces of torn swiss chard (or escarole) — some wilted, some fresh. Parmesan shavings, parsley and fresh mint scattered over the top. We’re talking lunch, dinner, a midday snack, or a midnight snack. Main dish or side dish — your call. 

I’ve made this twice in the past week. (When I enjoy something, I want it again right away.) Once it was served just by itself for dinner. The second time as a side with Alison’s Grilled Lamb Shoulder. Both were excellent. 

Here are some ways that you, too, could make this dish over and over without getting tired of it:

1. You could forgo the greens and just make the beans. 

2. You could swap the chard or escarole for kale. 

3. You could ditch the greens, double the parmesan, melting it over the beans under the broiler, and serve it with crackers like a dip. 

4. You could spread the beans over sourdough toast. 

Once again, Alison has presented us with yet another inventive way to make beans the center of everyone’s attention. She has my attention, at least. 

54 recipes cooked, 171 to go.

Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Maple and Sour Cream by Alison Roman

I first heard about this recipe from my friend Margaret well over a year ago. She had borrowed nothing fancy from the library and was immediately drawn to this recipe. We share a deep love for sweet potatoes in all forms. So it’s no surprise that this was the inaugural recipe, the gateway to my journey of cooking through Alison Roman’s cookbooks. 

The entire recipe concept is basically found in the name. A baked sweet potato, smashed and fried in oil and butter until the skin is dark and crispy, then smothered in fresh herbs, sweet maple syrup, and tangy sour cream & lemon juice, with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. It has all of the textural and flavor variance you could want in one dish: sweet, salty, sour, creamy, soft, crispy, crunchy. 

This recipe doesn’t need any selling, so I’ll just provide a few anecdotes about the ingredients used. 

Alison lets you know that small sweet potatoes are best, and she is quite right. Not only do they bake and cool faster, they also fit more easily into one pan for the crisping process and make for a better serving portion. Look for potatoes that are maybe just a tad larger than your palm. I also recommend baking all of the sweet potatoes at once, and storing any extras you know will become leftovers in the refrigerator before crisping in the pan and adding the fixings. That way you can cook them in the butter and oil just before eating, preserving the integrity of the crunchy skin. (Shoutout to Kearci, my nothing fancy benefactor and best friend, for that tip!)

Sour cream alternatives: If you’re like me and can’t have cow’s dairy (sad face), don’t be dismayed - you have options! I subbed the sour cream with Goat’s milk yogurt, which can be found at Trader Joes. Though the yogurt’s consistency is much thinner, it still achieved the creamy sour balance point to the maple syrup that Alison is going for. If cow’s milk doesn’t bother you, but you don’t have sour cream, then plain Greek yogurt will be a fine substitute. 

The recipe does call for some toasted buckwheat groats to be sprinkled over the finished potatoes, adding an extra crunch. I’ve never had these before, and didn’t plan well enough ahead to buy them. If you make this with the groats, please tell me all about it! I want to know if they add anything beyond texture.

Finally, a short PSA about flaky sea salt. Until a few short months ago, I was misinformed, and frankly downright naive about the difference between coarse Kosher salt and flaky sea salt. That is to say that I thought they were the same thing. I was gravely mistaken. Unlike coarse Kosher salt, flaky sea salt comes in actual flake (not grain) form, and maintains its structure even after being added to a dish. It provides tiny, delightful, salty bursts that punctuate bites and often linger in the mouth. They are visually lovely too and can make anything you cook appear fancier. It’s a small thing that I take great delight in. (This is the kind I use.) 

4 recipes cooked, 221 recipes to go.