Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over Hardcover – October 22, 2019

I don't usually like cookbooks, preferring to make things up as I go, but I pre-ordered this on a whim after reading about it in NYT Cooking. Completely forgot about it until it arrived, and I've been falling in love with it since. It's the first cookbook I've ever actually spent any real time with (I have a few collecting dust atop a kitchen cabinet, like ornaments more than anything). I had gotten a little bored with cooking lately, and ordering out more often than usual, but this book rekindled my joy for cooking and having people over. It also inspired me to purchase her previous cookbook, which is more my style as a single person in my 30s living in a 1-bedroom apt not all that suitable for having lots of people over.The recipes are easy and straightforward, with instructions that are as qualitative as they are quantitative. I like reading about how the food should look/feel/smell at a certain stage of the process, rather than just seeing "add X amount for X time." The writing style is fun and breezy, if a little whimsical. I especially like the tips about what can be prepared ahead of time, and which recipes are okay to serve cold or room temp if you're trying to do a lot at once.The recipes I've made so far (I'd guess about 10 or so) have been very, very cookable. "Nothing fancy" is right when it comes to the prep work, which is simple and straightforward. However, I will say that most recipes require a level of presentation finesse that I have yet to master. Nothing looks even close to as well presented as you'd hope based on the photographs, but when is that ever the case, I guess. Still, for a cookbook called "Nothing Fancy" that features dishes to prepare for friends, I'm left a little disappointed with my own ability to present the food to look as appealing as it tastes. Something to work on, I guess, which I intend to do given how great the recipes do taste. Most of these dishes can also be tinkered with if you just want to make them for 1 or 2, which I've been doing a lot of.There is just the right amount of standard ingredients required alongside a few well-deserved oddballs (to my sensibility, anyways). She's got a love affair with tinned fish and I've never seen dates, walnuts, and sumac in so many different dishes, but that's not a bad thing. I think my little pantry is slowly turning into an homage to this cookbook, and I'm perfectly happy with that.This cookbook is also doubling as a coffee table book for me, because the clean simple design and excellent photography have brought some serious Marie Kondo-style "joy" to my everyday. Seeing it and using it have become something to look forward to after work every day.

I’m 30 by age but 75 in my soul and this book appeals to both the 30 year old gay man and 75 year old woman named Muffy in me. I generally do not like young food writers and their “burn it all down!” mentality. I worship at the altar of 1980s ‘Gourmet’. I want fussy. I want fancy. But at the core I most love to cook because I love to gather people and feed them. This book does that. It is an exciting new wave, not a daunting and disrespectful one. The recipes are simple but they are revelatory. She champions the most underrated, cheap, readily available, and delicious things! We all should think to use anchovies more. They are such a perfect and neglected ingredient. Salads do not have to be an aggressive display of wealth—Iceberg lettuce and celery are cheap and have fabulous crunch! Effortless, delicious. The night I got the book I made the celery and blue cheese salad. I thought about making my own modifications but decided to follow the book by line. I was delighted. The flavors were big and bold but everything wove together and made sense. It’s the type of dish people will request you bring to another occasion. I think the world would be better if more people cooked and sat at a table (or on the floor if you really are that Bohemian) and this book should make anyone and everyone feel excited and able to do so. I love that the book is dedicated to Roman’s glamorous grandmother because that sets the perfect tone and expectation for the book. In ‘Nothing Fancy’, the old school has not been burned down, it has been thoughtfully remodeled. Use matching china and multiple glasses per place setting if you have them, but the most important thing is to invite people into your home and feed them. Anyone can do that.

These recipes are full of fresh ingredients, they’re easy to make, even when time consuming, and you’re accidentally forced into a beautiful presentation even though you might not be a meticulous cook (you definitely don’t need to be to execute these well). I love how her recipes are centered around fresh ingredients and there are lots of either/or options. I live in an area where it can be hard to find “specialty” produce so it’s super helpful to know that I can use romaine instead of gem lettuce and little things like that.There are also plenty of good tips for what can be made ahead as well as what you can expect if you make something too far in advance (“the lemon becomes bitter”).Highly recommend this book and signing up for her newsletter where she sends out modified or updated versions of her recipes along with fun meanderings and anecdotes.

Alison delivers every time. We cook from this book constantly and her recipes hit every time. I guess I really like her palate!