Alison Roman has a knack for making home cooks feel like they can pull off something dazzling without trying too hard.
Her recipes for anchovy-rich pastas, big salads and unfussy desserts radiate ease, even if they’re built on sharp instincts and years of experience. “If something is taking a lot of effort,” Roman said, “it’s not working.”
A former New York Times and Bon Appétit recipe writer, Roman became a household name with her breakout cookbooks “Dining In” and “Nothing Fancy,” which helped define a new era of casually confident home cooking. That ethos runs through “Something from Nothing,” her third cookbook, which celebrates the art of turning pantry staples into dinner (Clarkson Potter, $37.99).
Roman, who’s also a newsletter writer, shop owner and new mom, spoke to the Star Tribune about why she keeps “playing the hits,” what she’s learned about effortlessness, and how it feels knowing her food has become part of so many people’s celebratory dinner tables. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What inspired you to focus a whole book around pantry staples?
Basically, I realized that’s what all my recipes were. I let my work dictate what the book is going to be. I try not to force anything. I just think about what I’ve been cooking and what do they all have in common? Sometimes I’m having people over all the time. And this book was like, well, everything I make involves lentils or beans, you know, like pantry staples. It felt nice to give myself that directive, because it was very much just how I have been cooking anyway.
You’re known for certain ingredients — anchovies, lemons, capers — and this book really leans into them. Was it freeing to just go all in?
When you work at a magazine, there’s a lot of pressure to be like, “Well, we’ve already used fennel in this recipe, and we have to make sure that we use chicken, pork and beef in this issue” and blah blah blah, because it’s more service journalism oriented. Cookbooks to me are very personal. Of course I think, “Are there too many anchovy recipes?” But am I gonna not include anchovies in something and make the recipe less delicious? If they deserve to be somewhere, I want them to be somewhere.
