Food for Thought: Alison Roman

Chickpea Coconut Stew

Spiced Chickpea Stew With Coconut and Turmeric, from Alison Roman. Photo: Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott for The New York Times. Prop Stylist: Kalen Kaminski.

When Alison Roman launched her biweekly cooking column in the New York Times a year ago, she described herself as an unfussy cook: “To me, unfussy doesn’t mean boring — it means approachable and accessible. It means getting dinner on the table with ingredients that are simultaneously inexpensive and interesting, treating them in a mix of new and familiar ways and doing it in less time than it takes to start a new series on Netflix.” That describes our approach on Burnt My Fingers as well, which may be she is the one recipe author of the many reliable sources on NYT that we seek out by name.

Check out this Caesar-like salad that is made with raw egg yolks and croutons soaked in chicken fat and anchovies. A Quick Ragu that also depends on anchovies. Quick crispy pork chops that partly inspired this recipe but hers is probably better, if you have radishes. And this Spiced Chickpea Coconut Stew which was what got our attention in the first place.

We also like the side trips she takes in columns like the one accompanying her braised chicken recipe, where Roman talks about why she doesn’t have an Instant Pot and how to turn the recipe into pozole. New York Times reader comments, to both the columns and recipes, are another bonus. Not just the “made this, loved it” kind you see in most food blogs but a delightful combination of useful and cranky. Check it out.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
This entry was posted in Eating, Food for Thought and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Food for Thought: Alison Roman

  1. Louise Roback says:

    Yes! Big Alison Roman fan here. Her fennel pork chop recipe make purchasing her cookbook worth the price of admission!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.