Off The Shelf - 'Sweet Enough' by Alison Roman

Bought at: My copy was gifted to me by HardieGrant*. 

Recipes Made: Old-Fashioned Strawberry Cake p.91, Plummy Pudding p.146, Salted Pistachio Shortbread p.173 and Cheesy Salty Savoury Scones p.258.

Old Fashioned Strawberry Cake

I made the Old-Fashioned Strawberry Cake and substituted the buttermilk for plain yoghurt mixed with some milk (I did not have any buttermilk, but needed to use the yoghurt up). I don’t know if it was my substitution, but the cake was dense. I usually find swapping yoghurt and buttermilk easy in baking, and won’t notice any difference. I know lots of people have made this cake, but it definitely wasn’t a favourite for me. I later made this cake with strawberries, and enjoyed it infinitely more.

Plummy Pudding

I don’t make puddings often, but since plum season was coming to an end, I decided to try the Plummy Pudding. In the recipe notes Alison says it’s “near impossible to mess up this pudding”, but maybe I did? I found it rubbery and very eggy, maybe I cooked it too long? A lot of the oven temperatures in this book tend towards the high side, and since our oven runs hot I usually feel the stipulated temperatures will be too much. In this case, maybe turning the oven temperature down meant cooking it longer which possibly wasn’t right. Either way, this one wasn’t for me. Whether the recipe just wasn’t my thing, or just puddings generally aren’t my thing, maybe we’ll never know. 

Salted Pistachio Shortbread

The first recipe I made out of ‘Sweet Enough’ was the Salted Pistachio Shortbread. Mostly because I am a pistachio obsessive, and I also had all the ingredients needed when the book arrived. Out of all the recipes I’ve tried in this book, I did like this one. I could have done without the sprinkling of salt over the top of the shortbread as it just took it too a slightly too salty place for me, but otherwise it was nice. The shortbread dough itself was quite different to others I am used to, it was very wet and definitely could only be pressed into a tin as this recipe does. It could not be rolled out and cut into shapes like the shortbread I normally make. This made it a crumbly shortbread to eat, but very satisfying all the same. 

Cheesy Salty Savoury Scones (before baking)

After trying some of the above sweet recipes and not being blown away, I decided the magic of this book for me may lie in the handful of savoury recipes dotted throughout ‘Sweet Enough’. After watching Alison’s Home Movies episode on scones, I decided to make the Cheesy Salty Savoury Scones. I must caveat this with I think American scones and British scones are almost two different things. In the episode everything Alison said she disliked about scones, were basically all the things that make a traditional British scone, a scone. These scones are very heavy on fat (double cream, sour cream, butter and a lot of cheese). I’m not at all saying this is a bad thing in and of itself as fat is essential to baking and cooking generally. In this case however, it did make the scones very rich. To the point they really didn’t need any butter or other spread on them. It just would have been too much. 

The fat heavy mix also meant these scones don’t rise as much as you would expect a traditional scone to, and they were definitely less flakey as well. I liked the very cheesy flavour of these, but that’s all I could taste. I used spring onions in the mix and they were lost, along with the dill, to the cheese. Considering the richness of the whole thing, I also thought the scones could have been a but smaller in size (maybe also as I’m accustomed to British style scones). These were nice, but I felt I could use some of the aspects of this recipe to make my own more traditional version that suited my tastes more (which I have done in a way here). 

Cheesy Salty Savoury Scones

Favourite Things About the Book: Ok, by this point it may not have escaped your notice that I don’t love this book. I know, I’m a bit sad about it too, but also not 100% surprised. I’ve always loved Alison’s recipes, but more specifically her savoury recipes. There are many from ‘Nothing Fancy’ in particular that we make regularly in our family, and I frequent those shared in her newsletter (a newsletter) and her YouTube channel Home Movies often. So this isn’t a ‘Alison Roman’s recipes just isn’t for me’ thing - most certainly not! This is more of a ‘I don’t love Alison’s baking recipes as much as her other recipes’ thing. It’s not that they aren’t good. They just aren’t for me. I am a self confessed sweet tooth, so something that is ‘sweet enough’ may not actually be sweet enough for me. I also don’t love adding salt to my baked goods (shock horror!) so some of these recipes were too salty for me. 

However, as always, I love Alison’s writing. I really enjoy her trademark humorous tone, and very realistic approach to things. I really enjoyed reading what Alison had to say about baking in this book, even if the recipes themselves don’t take my fancy as much. The introduction was great and definitely worth a read (anyone else often skip those first few pages?!).The pages on what Alison loves and hates about baking (pp.52-3) was my favourite part of the whole book, as it’s so relatable. Alison isn’t trying to make out like baking is always easy and that it’s for everyone (though I think Sweet Enough will appeal to those less inclined to check out more traditional baking/dessert books), and is honest about the process. I think many will relate to that.

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Raspberry Ricotta Cake p.118, Tomato Tart pp.76-7 and Caramelised Onion and Anchovy Tart p.71. 

* This gift came with no obligation to talk about the book, and my opinions are my own. And honestly, I love Alison Roman so I would have bought this book myself anyway!

Cookbooks Worth Waiting for in 2023 Part 1 - A Recap

It’s time for a recap! Maybe the best part of my Cookbooks Worth Waiting For series, is when the wait is over. In this case the wait is mostly over as one title I still don’t have, but I will add my thoughts on it when I do.

Otherwise below are my thoughts on the cookbooks on my Cookbooks Worth Waiting for List for the first half of 2023. As always there are some great books being released this year, so another list will be on its way soon.

Did you add any of these cookbooks to your shelves so far this year? What did you think of them? Or were there other books you have added to your collection you liked more? Let me know in the comments below.

And just a quick note, all books bar one have been purchased by me and the links are just for your reference - I suggest searching around to find the best price or try to support a local/independent bookshop! Links to books on Booktopia removed 15/07/2024.

1. Dark Rye and Honey Cake by Regula Ysewijn - If you love Regula’s other books, there is no way you could be disappointed with this one. The research and food history is very interestingly explained, in a way I feel only Regula could! Regula seems to have a knack for all elements in terms of bringing together a cookbook - her writing is excellent, her photography is amazing, and along with her husband’s illustrations she’s got a real winning trifecta right there. Of course the recipes are great, though I don’t see myself making many of these (mostly due to the fact I do not own any kind of waffle iron). However I do not think that detracts from this book in anyway. Many cookbooks bring more than the recipes, and it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be on my shelf. I have learnt a lot from this book already, and if you love food history also, I think you will love it too.

2. A Table Full of Love by Skye McAlpine - This book presents really well - the design, the photography, the colour scheme. It’s a smaller sized book than Skye’s previous two, and a small part of me wishes it was the same size as the others as there’s something about seeing an authors works all together on the shelf and looking all neat, and having some kind of continuous link via their size (but maybe this is just me?). I have been enjoying the writing in this book, and to me, it stands out more in this book than in Skye’s previous works. I can’t say I am thrilled with the recipe selection however. There isn’t much in this book that immediately draws me in recipe wise, and makes me think I need to cook that ASAP. In terms of recipes this book doesn’t feel intrinsically different than Skye’s previous book, ‘A Table for Friends’, and although the idea of the book is eloquently written about, I struggle to see what this book brings to the table that hasn’t already been done by Skye previously. I suggest having a flick through this one before purchasing, to make sure the recipes and the whole thing take your fancy - though like I said, it looks beautiful and the photography is stunning. What takes your fancy recipe wise will be purely personal preference and is certainly no slight on Skye’s brilliant ability to produce stunning cookbooks. 

3. Sweet Enough by Alison Roman* - I mentioned in my previous version of this list how I was a little disappointed that Alison’s next book was all about baking. I love baking (obviously!), but really associate Alison with her general cooking and savoury dishes. I like this book, it’s very Alison (especially the writing, gosh I LOVE her writing), but I don’t think I’m quite the target audience for it. Alison shares recipes in ‘Sweet Enough’ that suit people not as keen on baking, sweet things (hence the title) and maybe wouldn’t consider themselves dessert people. I am very much keen on baking, like sweet things and am a dessert person, so the offerings in this book don’t draw me in like I usually am with Alison’s recipes. I tried the Salted Pistachio Shortbread (p.173) which I liked but I found mildly too salty (on p.14 Alison says if you think any of the recipes are too salty then she takes that as a compliment, so compliments to the chef I guess!), the Plummy Pudding (p.146) and the Old-Fashioned Strawberry Cake (p.91). I am (maybe oddly considering the the title/point of this book) looking forward to trying the recipes in the savoury subsection in the Pies, Tarts, Galettes chapter as I have a feeling this is where the Alison Roman magic may lie for me in this book. This is definitely the book for you if you aren’t super keen on baking, and find many baked goods and desserts too sweet or too much effort. Alison is catering to a crowd who are probably not usually spoken to in cookbooks focused on baking, and that is a good thing - as everyone deserves to be a ‘dessert person’ in their own way.

4. Love is A Pink Cake by Claire Ptak - To say I am enjoying this book is an understatement. It is everything I expect and want from Claire Ptak, great recipes, interesting flavour combinations and new ways to cook things or new ways to use flavours I hadn’t considered. If ‘Sweet Enough’ by Alison Roman is for those not traditionally keen on baking or desserts, ‘Love is A Pink Cake’ is for those who are, and who want to explore the baking world that Claire has created with her bakery Violet and her previous books even more. Everything I have made from this I have thoroughly enjoyed - except when I swapped crema di pistacchio for peanut butter in the recipe for Blondie Peanut Butter Cookies on page 29, it did not work and that was because I made my own changes! I have made the Sticky Toffee Date Pudding (p.77) twice (it’s even fantastic on its own, no sauce, no ice cream, nothing!) and the Eve’s Pear Pudding on page 81 got a traditionally not pudding loving family very keen to eat the leftovers and make it again as soon as possible! 

5. The Flavour Thesaurus More Flavours by Niki Segnit - While this book has technically been released, getting a copy seems to mean waiting a while and paying anywhere from $40-60AUD. I saw a copy on Amazon (AU) for $29.99 with a release date of early August and locked in my preorder, so I will add my thoughts here after that! Unfortunately that price has gone up now on Amazon, however it is currently at $39.99 which is still less than other retailers currently.

   14/08/2023 - I finally have my copy of ‘The Flavour Thesaurus More Flavours’, and it was certainly worth the wait! It is so well researched as is everything Niki does, and I am really enjoying the various flavours/ingredients which have been included this time around. There are things like quince, passionfruit, pistachio, date, lychee and so many more that really complements Niki first book ‘The Flavour Thesaurus’. I really appreciate how Niki explains the plant led focus of the book, without the book being exclusively vegan or vegetarian (many of the flavours omitted from her first book happened to be plant based so the flavours chosen for this book naturally had that in common). As Niki says “The book would neither be quite vegan nor even vegetarian but loosely, forgivingly, non-dogmatically plant-led or flexitarian..” without getting into the well known arguments about eating less meat and more plants. I think the focus on plant based ingredients for this second volume makes sense as a compliment to the first (many meat/animal products were already covered there like egg, cheeses and various types of meats), but also as so many ingredients/flavours we use in cooking and baking come from a plant based source (think lentil, raisin, garlic, mint etc). If you have ‘The Flavour Thesaurus’, you also need ‘The Flavour Thesaurus More Flavours’.

6. Heartbake by Charlotte Ree - This book surprised me in the best way. I am not, unlike Charlotte, a lover of love, so I wasn’t sure if the memoir part would be for me. I ended up listening to the audiobook of the memoir section and I was hooked early on. To hear Charlotte speak so thoughtfully and eloquently about her life and how food has nourished her in more ways than one, felt like a privilege. It’s amazing to follow someone on Instagram for a while and think ‘wow their life looks great’, and then to hear that SO much was going on behind those little squares on that app. It really shows we don’t know what’s is going on behind closed doors and that Instagram is really a highlight reel most of the time. I think Charlotte’s story also highlights the healing power of food, and the deep connection food has with our memories and emotions. And maybe also the fact that being true to oneself and not hiding the hard bits of our lives all the time can be massively freeing and, maybe in a small way, be helpful to others. The recipes in this book are also really good. David Lovett’s Focaccia (pp.245-8) is AMAZING, and I am constantly thinking about when I can make it again! I think the only downside to this book is despite the amazing cover, the fact that it is covered in fabric makes me worried to use it in the kitchen as it might get dirty/ruined! I am one of those few people who like my cookbooks to remain in as pristine condition as possible despite being used, so fabric covered cookbooks always bring me a level of stress I know is probably ridiculous (I have already considered using a sticky lint roller over this beautiful cover as it is getting little bits of fluff and dust on it, please tell me I’m not the only one!). Let’s just say if a paperback edition was ever released I’d probably buy it solely for kitchen use to allow the original to remain her in glorious yellow pristine condition (hopefully minus the dust etc, where is that lint roller….).

* this book was gifted to me by Hardie Grant. There was no obligation to talk about the book, and my opinions are my own. And honestly, I love Alison Roman so I would have bought this book myself anyway!

Cookbooks Worth Waiting for in 2023 - Part One

It’s a new year, so that means more cookbooks worth waiting for! 

These are the upcoming releases in the first half of 2023 that I am most looking forward to. They are all by authors I have already got books from on my shelves and that previous experience has made me all the more excited that these cookbook authors are bringing out new titles. 

When I originally started writing this list in early January, I could only come up with four titles that I was most looking forward to. Then thankfully prior to when I was planning on posting this, I was reminded of a couple of others and now the list is a rather hefty six! Hopefully amongst the list you will find at least one book to add to your wish list too. 

I’ll be back with a recap of this list once all the books have been released and I’ve had time to have a good look through. Plus another cookbooks worth waiting for list will be on it’s way for the second half of 2023. And just a disclaimer, opinions expressed in my cookbooks worth waiting for series are my own and all books have been purchased by me (links below are just for your reference/further research - links to books on Booktopia removed 15/07/2024). 

Let me know in the comments if any of these cookbooks are on your wish list for 2023, and if not which ones are?

1. Dark Rye and Honey Cake: Festival Baking from the Heart of the Low Countries by Regula Ysewijn (February 2023) - I bought one of Regula’s previous books, ‘Oats in the North Wheat in The South’, about a year ago and I found it so interesting in terms of food history, that I have since also bought ‘Pride and Pudding’ and have preordered ‘Dark Rye and Honey Cake’. Books like these that focus so heavily on the history of food in a particular area, sit at a neat intersection between two of my favourite topics, food and history. They are probably not completely unique in terms of bringing a historical focus to a cookbook, but the fact that it is done so well, with amazing photography (also by the author) and well written too makes Regula’s first two cookbooks really stand out, and gives me no hesitation in feeling like her next will be just as good. Whereas Ruglua’s first two cookbooks are about British food and food history, ‘Dark Rye and Honey Cake’ is about the food of the Low Countries - which consists of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg . I am particularly interested in this as I can’t think of any cookbook that focuses on the food of this area, and it’s definitely not an area I know very much about (I had to Google what countries the ‘Low Countries’ consists of so that probably says it all regarding my lack of knowledge about this region!). 

2. A Table Full of Love by Skye McAlpine (February 2023) - Similar to Regula’s previous books, I really like Skye’s first two cookbooks. We use ‘A Table for Friends’ regularly (see here for a Off The Shelf post about it), so I am imagining this next book will bring more family favourite recipes to our table. The combination of Skye’s recipes and food styling and photography is always such a joy, I am really looking forward to this new book. 

3. Sweet Enough by Alison Roman (April 2023) - Ok, I have to be honest here. While I am in some way looking forward to this book, I am not looking forward to it as much as I would like. When Alison first announced she had a new book in the works, my mind went straight to all the amazing dinners we’ve had from her recipes (see here for my Off the Shelf post on Nothing Fancy) and the cool savoury recipes she has shared in her newsletter that I have made again and again (A little eggplant Parm I’m looking at you!). I don’t associate Alison’s cooking with much baking or sweet stuff, so I was a little disappointed her next book would solely focus on that. I’m sure based on the quality of her recipes generally, and knack for great flavour combinations, that this book will be good. I just think I need more time (I guess I have until April…) to get over the fact this isn’t the book I thought it would be, and open my mind to the (most likely great) possibility that I will enjoy this book just as much as the two previous ones from Alison.

4. Love is A Pink Cake by Claire Ptak (April 2023) - Claire’s book ‘The Violet Bakery Cookbook’ has been a firm favourite of mine for years, and is one I always recommend when anyone is looking for a book about baking that’s a bit more interesting (check out my Off The Shelf post about it here). I recall seeing on Instagram what feels like ages ago (maybe during 2020?), that Claire was working on a new book, and apparently this one has taken a while to work on, 5 years according to Claire, so it’s really exciting to see a release date for it. I love the title, which is taken from an illustration by Andy Warhol of the same name, and cover image, which is a close up of a pink flower with a yellow centre. It’s a little different from many cookbook covers, which makes me even more intrigued to discover what is inside the book. I am obviously keen to see what recipes this book contains, not only due to the cover, but as I have really enjoyed cooking from Claire’s recipes over the years, and everything she posts on her Instagram for her London bakery Violet looks dreamy. Finally visiting Violet Bakery is quite high on my ‘one day if I ever go to London again’ to do list, so a new book from Claire should do the trick for now.

5. The Flavour Thesaurus More Flavours by Niki Segnit (May 2023) - I discovered Niki’s first book ‘The Flavour Thesaurus’ at a workshop years ago, and I bought it straight away. The premise is that you can look up a flavour and see what other flavours complement it, using Niki’s categorisation of flavours via her flavour wheel. It has remained a great cookbook shelf investment since, especially for someone like me who works as a recipe developer too. A new version of the flavour thesaurus concept isn’t something I thought I needed, but based on how useful Niki’s books are (her book ‘Lateral Cooking’ is also great if you love developing or fiddling around with recipes), I don’t doubt it will be beyond useful in my kitchen. 

6. Heartbake by Charlotte Ree (May 2023) - also a special mention to this part memoir part cookbook by Charlotte Ree, which feels like it will be a deeply personal voyage of life’s tough bits through food. I’ve followed along with Charlotte’s journey of creating this book via Instagram, and I have so appreciated her honesty in sharing how these things come about and how emotional the whole process can be (especially so with a memoir). I am imagining this book to be somewhat in a similar vein to those cookbook/memoirs by Ella Risbridger, but also something quite different from those as well. Sharing a look at a final copy of the book on Instagram, Charlotte showed how the first section of the book is the memoir and the second is the recipes, and with the bright yellow cover I think seeing a copy will make anyone want to pick it up and see what it’s about. Reviews of the early copies of the memoir section distributed by Charlotte have been immensely positive and make me even more keen to see more. 

Baked Pasta with Wood Smoked Scamorza and Eggplant

Behold, a savoury recipe! 🤣

I can’t remember the last time I posted a non-sweet recipe on my blog. Despite my love for sweet treats and baked goods, I do throughly enjoy savoury flavours too. For some reason I just don’t post many of those recipes here. I think because many aren’t my own creations but cooking from one of my many cookbooks (some of these I share in my Off The Shelf series). 

For this recipe however, I have borrowed things I have learnt from other recipes and created this baked pasta dish. The inspiration was the fact that I had both eggplant and wood smoked scamorza cheese in the fridge. And while the combination of those two things would normally have been reaching for Alison Roman’s recipe for a ‘Little Eggplant Parm’, which I do highly recommend, I felt like something a little different this time. 

Both the method of cooking eggplant and the tomato sauce for this recipe are highly influenced by Alison’s Eggplant Parm recipe. Baking eggplant is so much easier than frying and I will be forever grateful to Alison for showing me how. 

The scamorza cheese I used for this dish is wood smoked, and along with the red wine vinegar in the tomato sauce, the flavour is a real hero in the dish. I don’t think all scamorza’s are wood smoked, but if you can find one that is (or a wood smoked buffalo mozzarella) it will be well worth it. You can use more regular mozzarella cheese instead, however the flavour won’t be the same. I would add more Parmesan (or similar) to the top of the baked pasta for flavour, or even add some anchovies and/or baby capers to the tomato sauce while it is cooking - For anchovies, add your desired amount to the onions and garlic when the onion is beginning to soften, stir and allow the anchovies to melt away. For capers, add your desired amount when you add the basil to the sauce. 

Baked Pasta with Wood Smoked Scamorza and Eggplant 

Ingredients: 

2 medium eggplants

olive oil

salt 

pepper

x2 400g cans whole tomatoes such as San Marzano

1 brown onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/2 bunch basil leaves thinly sliced 

2 tbsp tomato paste/concentrate

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

250-290g medium sized pasta such as penne, fusilli or I used casarecce (I used approx. 1/2 a 500g packet of pasta, but use a minimum of 250g)

1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese 

140g wood smoked scamorza cheese, cut into small chunks

2 tbsp finely grated pecorino/parmesan/grana padano

Method: 

Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. 

Line a large baking tray or sheet pan. 

Cut the eggplant into 1-1.5cm slices so you end up with fat round discs of eggplant. Place the eggplant discs in a single layer on your prepared tray, drizzle with some olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

Bake for about 30-40 mins, turning the eggplant pieces over after 20 minutes to both sides cook evenly. 

The eggplant will be done when it is a deep golden brown and softened. Once cooked set aside. 

To make the tomato sauce, add about 1-2 tbsp olive oil to a large round pan (a bonus if it is oven safe too) over medium heat. 

Add the onions and cook for about five minutes, stirring now and then. Add the garlic and continue to cook with the onions until the onions have softened and are starting to turn a little golden (5-10 minutes). 

Add the two cans of tomatoes, and squish the whole tomatoes into chunks. Pour a little water (a couple of tablespoons max.) into each tomato can, and swirl around to catch any tomato left. Add this to the pan, and stir. 

Allow the tomato mixture to cook over low to medium heat until it starts to gently bubble and thicken a little. Add the tomato paste and basil and stir to combine. 

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, all the while keeping the tomato sauce gently cooking, stirring now and then. 

Reduce the oven temp to 180 degrees Celsius (or turn on and heat to 180 if you turned it off after the eggplant). 

Cook the pasta in the boiling water according to packet instructions. 

While the pasta is boiling, add the red wine vinegar to the tomato sauce and stir to combine.

Cut the eggplant up into quarters (or half for smaller pieces), and add to the sauce. 

Stir to combine and turn the heat off. 

Once the pasta is ready, drain and add to the tomato sauce and stir so the pasta is evenly coated in the sauce. 

If your pan is oven proof, you can scatter the cheeses over and place into the oven. Otherwise transfer the contents of the pan to an oven proof dish, then scatter over all the cheeses. 

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cheeses have melted and are golden brown. 

Serves 6.

Off The Shelf - 'Nothing Fancy' by Alison Roman

Bought at: it was gifted to me for Christmas in 2019.

Recipes Made: Perfect Herby Salad p.86, Roasted Pumpkin with Yoghurt and Spiced Buttered Pistachio p.148, Spicy Pork Meatballs in Brothy Tomatoes and Toasted Fennel p.187-8, Slow-Roasted Oregano Chicken with Buttered Tomatoes p.189, One Pot Chicken with Dates and Caramelised Lemon p.194-5 and Buttered Salmon with Red Onion and Dill p.247

The Perfect Herby Salad, sounds simple - it’s a leafy salad with herbs and an olive oil and lemon juice dressing. But somehow this combination of simple ingredients becomes one of the best salads I’ve ever tasted. It goes well with so many things, but I particularly like it with something hearty like lasagna as the freshness of the salad compliments it so well. 

The Roasted Pumpkin with Yoghurt and Spiced Buttered Pistachios is the only recipe in this book we haven’t made more than once. It was nice, and I wouldn’t not make it ever again, but it wasn’t something that was a serious stand out like the rest of the recipes from ‘Nothing Fancy’ that I have tried.

The Spicy Pork Meatballs in Brothy Tomatoes have become a bit of a family favourite. We love pork and anything that uses lots of tomatoes, so this dish is a winner. Its a really warming dish, perfect for a cooler Winter evening. The Brothy tomatoes end up being like full flavoured brothy tomato soup, perfect for dipping bread into. The whole dish also tastes even better the next day as the flavours develop so leftovers are always delicious. 

Speaking of family favourites and lots of tomatoes, the Slow-Roasted Oregano Chicken with Buttered Tomatoes, probably is the family favourite dish since I got this book. Slow roasting a chicken, again seems like such a simple thing, but it is a complete revelation. While you of course have to get the dinner prep started a little earlier than you might otherwise, you end up with the most perfectly cooked, tender, falling off the bone chicken you’ve probably ever made or eaten. And with gorgeous super tasty slow roasted tomatoes to go with it. You can add anchovies to the tomatoes - which is like a running joke in the book as Alison uses them so often and suggests you could use them as an addition so often - but for once (and yes I’m a little shocked too - as I love anchovies and Alison Roman’s cooking advice is always spot on), I don’t think you actually need them. Red wine vinegar is added to the cooked tomatoes before serving, and honestly flavour wise I find that more than enough as it’s so tasty in its own right. Despite the numerous times we’ve made this dish, I couldn’t find a half decent photo of it (except the one on the cover of the book!), only this one of it having just gone in the oven. Apologies for the general lack of images of the food in this Off the Shelf post, but you’ll just have to take my word for it this time. 

I love dates and lemon, so the One Pot Chicken with Dates and Caramelised Onion was always going to be a winner. The ingredient list is simple, and not very long, and I did have my reservations about how tasty the final dish could really be with so few ingredients. I was wrong to have reservations, as Alison is queen of flavour and despite the numerous times she’d already proved that to me in this book, I doubted her. Well, never again will that happen. However, I will make this One Pot Chicken again as for me, it was one of those dishes that really hit the spot so to speak, and made me look forward to the next day when I could eat some leftovers. Alison has featured this recipe on her YouTube series ‘Home Movies’, so you can check it out even if you don’t have ‘Nothing Fancy’ (yet). 

The Buttered Salmon with Red Onion and Dill, was a recipe I saw Alison make on her YouTube series ‘Home Movies’ and it looked so good, I was surprised it hadn’t stood out to me already from the book. Sometimes you’ve got to see someone make a recipe to realise you need it in your life, and this was one of those times. Alison uses capers in this dish, which I love, and really related to her adding even more to the dish than her original recipe states when she made it on ‘Home Movies’. From memory we had the Prefect Herby Salad as a side to this Salmon and it was really was perfect. 

Favourite Things About the Book: Alison. Honestly, Alison is my favourite part of this book (and everything she does). She is relatable, funny, honest and her food is always flavourful yet fairly simple. She is someone who has that kind of personality you just can’t help but think you’d get on well if you ever met, because there is a relatability to Alison and the way she cooks. Her recipes aren’t chef-y, they are practical, intuitive and fun. Plus, I love someone who unapologetically uses anchovies, herbs, capers, vinegars and lemon to make a dish sing. I couldn’t live without those things in my life, I get the feeling Alison couldn’t either. 

I highly recommend this book, but also definitely recommend Alison’s newsletter called ‘A Newsletter’ and checking out her YouTube series ‘Home Movies’. You can really get a sense of Alison’s way of cooking and use of ingredients from these, plus she shares fantastic recipes, some of which have also become family favourites for me. 

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Crispy Halloumi with Honey and Pistachio p.49, Seeded Breadsticks with Parmesan p.66-7, Overnight Focaccia, Tonight p.70-1, A Better Garlic Bread/Caramelised Garlic on Toast with Anchovies, Tomatoes Dressed in Toasted Fennel and Anchovy p.112 and Tiny Creamy Pasta with Black Pepper and Pecorino p.176.