That postponed 'review'
"There's a quiet confidence in recipes that have so few ingredients, take so little time and yet promise so much." Alison Roman
Hello, Again - these are the first words of this book - well the first words from the author - which are sort of relevant to this post because I suppose in a way I have reviewed this book already. I have mentioned it a few times, but today I am in tidy up mode and it's been sitting on my desk, waiting for its official 'review' for a while. When really it should be in my kitchen waiting for me to cook something from it.
I have already said how wonderful I found it to be - so wonderful I gave a copy each to my two fellow foodies - my daughter-in-law and my greeen thumbed friend. I hope they have also been inspired.
I mean in this day and age we should probably all be inspired by the title Something from Nothing shouldn't we? Well at least those who either have no time, not much interest or are just lazy. And we probably all have days like that anyway, even if otherwise we have lots of time on our hands to do whatever we feel like.
As I read Alison Roman's introduction I was immediately drawn in - particularly by these rather touching words in her second paragraph in which she talks about her recent marriage to 'a wonderful man':
"In his vows, he told me that his favourite nights at home were when we didn't have time to go grocery shopping and I made something out of what we had in the pantry, because it was in those thrown together moments that he got to see how my imagination worked. I cried very hard, of course - never had I considered that someone might interpret my affinity for practicality as creativity."
It's one of the cookbooks that not only give you recipes, but also stress the importance of shopping - an underlooked part of cooking I sometimes feel. If you have a well-stocked pantry and fridge then you can cook almost anything. What well-stocked means to you is probably quite different to what it means to me - or to Alison Roman. The frontispiece of the book is presumably meant to be an idea of her staples. And really - you do need at least some of those jars of flavour boosters to make your cooking just that little bit exciting and different. The basics - flour, sugar, olive oil, butter, rice, pasta, onions and potatoes ... are taken for granted here. These are some of the 'extra good things' that Ottolenghi built a whole book around.
So rather than a proper review I'm going to ramble through the book, checking out the recipes I marked with little yellow stickers, but also picking at least one recipe to highlight from each section with something about her mini essays as we go along.
First recipe - a plate of expensive anchovies and pickled peppers from a jar - an example of what she calls high-low pantry - something you have in your pantry, plus one splurge item - in this case the expensive anchovies. I think I wrote about this before - yes I did - click here - but it is indeed a supreme example of how something so simple can be so exotic, so, dare I say, posh? If you don't like anchovies - substitute expensive sardines or maybe an expensive sliced ham. Another example she gave was potato chips and caviar. As I flicked through this chapter - Snacks - I could see the Ottolenghi influence although is it really Ottolenghi or just a modern style of things on a plate, made to look great with an artful topping and a drizzle of oil? Presentation is key really isn't it?
Then we turn to Soups and stews - 'many relying on stock from a jar (one of the great gifts)'. I'm choosing two examples here Buttered tomato soup with lentils and fennel - Châtelaine which is the cover recipe, and Dilly bean stew with cabbage and frizzled onions. Soups and stews are such a forgiving things are they not, and even though she does tell you how to make Chicken broth, the long way, remember that she has already told you that stock in a jar is a wonderful thing.
Vegetables, unsurprisingly these days, is a longer section, and also with a few yellow stickers, plus a refreshing note:
"often we are not working with pristine produce, and our vegetables need a little help to truly sing. ... These recipes don't depend on perfection from the earth. Rather they make the most of what you have, working a little magic from your well-stocked pantry."
Refreshing because even my beloved Nigel as well as almost everyone else bangs on about how we should buy the very best that money can buy from farmer's markets, the farmers themselves or very expensive providores. Never the supermarket. Or, of course, grow your own - if you have green thumbs, and good soil to work with - and, most importantly - no rabbits.
So what did I bookmark? Long-cooked potatoes, garlic & lemon/Robin and Willow; Forever roasted squash with browned butter dates and Browned butter potato salad.
But there are so many more things I would love to try some time here. Possibly the best section of the book.
Beans and grains - 'platonic ideals of pantry ingredients' are next up and I haven't actually bookmarked anything here, which is not to say that there is not plenty on offer. It probably just represents a personal preference. Like everyone else it seems she does extol the virtues of cooking dried beans rather than usind the tinned version as I often do. Maybe I should succumb and give cooking dried beans from scratch a go.
If you are a bean fan, there is plenty here for you including a sort of cassoulet and a chilli, salads and soups - chickpeas to spelt.
The emphasis is on the beans, with just a couple of recipes for spelt one for corn and one for rice. Which is a little odd, because you would have thought that grains were truly a big thing these days.
And of course Pasta and noodles are also big, and so get a chapter to themselves, which again has no yellow stickers. Maybe this is because it's really difficult to come up with something new here, although there are excellent versions of various pasta dishes that you know and love - carbonara, bolognese, even an aubergine parmigiana. But I have chosen this Baked (but not stuffed) shells which includes a recipe for her Very good tomato sauce. I chose it I think because it reminded me of a Robert Carrier recipe from long, long ago, that I have been thinking of writing about for some time. So watch this space for that. In the meantime enjoy this - and I may too because I actually have some large pasta shells that need using up, A gift but like Alison Roman I'm too lazy to stuff. them so this could be the solution.
And finally, yes finally - there are no desserts in this book - we come to meats and fishes where there are a few yellow stickers. She ends her introduction to the section with praise of the freezer:
"I personally find unusual delight in digging something out of the too-small frozen drawers - pork chops nestled together, a bag of wild prawns (shrimp), a pound of chicken legs - and combining whatever I find with, say, a handful of tomatoes and abox of orzo, and ending up with a truly spectacular dinner."
Which is what I am hoping to do tonight, for I have retrieved two large forequarter lamb chops, from my also too small freezer drawers, which I am hoping to slowly roast with some fennel and maybe tomatoes - a kind of variation on Elizabeth David's Carbonnade Nïmoise. Maybe a little like this Overnight lamb and potatoes in white wine/Red - which I bookmarked in Alison Roman's book. The only non-chicken dish I bookmarked, which, again, probably shows my own preferences more than anything else.
So what were my chicken choices? Spicy vinegar chicken over tomatoes; Crushed olive chicken with turmeric/Cuisine and Braised chicken piccata
Plus tips on roasting, heavy based pans and panko breadcrumbs.
Buy it if you can. It's a wonderful book for everyone from beginners to the aged who just want to cook something amazing but easy and quick. Which is probably a summing up of what the most popular cooks are presenting to their audience these days. Unless you are into cakes and other kinds of baking. And she is also one of those cooks who is generous with her recipes - most of the recipes I chose are available for free on her own website
One book down - six to go in that pile on my desk. And I'd better go and put my lamb and stuff into the oven for dinner tonight.
YEARS GONE BY
September 25
2025 - Nothing
2024 - Nothing
2023 - A photograph
2021 - Missing
2020 - Missing
2019 - Nothing
2018 - Nothing
2017 - Palm trees
2016 - Dukkah - quick and easy
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