My Conditional Love of Anchovies
Q1 - Nothing Fancy Alison Roman
Welcome back to the Tuesday Night Dinner Club, a book club for cookbooks. This quarter (Q1), we are tackling Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman. Join me for all the cooking adventures!
Recipes I cooked from: Just Cooked Cabbage with, Butter, Anchovy, and Lemon AND Citrus Chicken Rested in Herbs.
Just Cooked Cabbage with, Butter, Anchovy, and Lemon
I cook cabbage regularly, let that be known. If you don’t that is okay. Cabbage is a misunderstood vegetable, like its friend the brussel sprout. If you have had it in the past and not liked it, the cooking method could be to blame not the cabbage. I don’t take any offense to stewed cabbage but I am not busting out a big ole pot if I am trying to get people to jump on the cabbage train.
The absolute BEST way to prepare cabbage is to CHAR that b***h! We want those leaves so crusty and caramelized that they are almost burnt along the edges. Toss a wedge on the grill, cut up and roast some in a real hot oven, sauté until you are pretty much scraping them off the bottom of the pan. Yuuuuuummmmm!
I prefer cabbage to have just a little crunch to it. It doesn’t have to be cooked until it is floppy but I also have zero qualms about eating very soft cabbage, just make sure it has some char and I am good to go!
Trying this recipe of Roman’s was not for my benefit, I knew instantly that I would be up for what she was throwing down here. I did this for you. Are you grateful? I guess I will patiently wait and see.
Before we dive into this recipe I need to get something off my chest regarding anchovies.
Uuuggggghhhhhh. Okay, so I have been screaming from the rooftops about how much I LOVE anchovies, and then I started to really cook with them, and this love turned into something between like and tolerate. I was puzzled. Did my taste buds change (that happens), or did I not actually like them and was just trying to be cool (maybe, but that's a hard one to fake) after some deep soul-searching, I FINALLY understood what the deal is with anchovies.
I like anchovies in the moment. I like a fresh caesar dressing made with anchovies; I love to eat a whole one out of the can just for fun. I made a lasagna and added them to the sauce, and it gave it this rich umami undertone that was very cool (Recipe: a very good lasagna from Nothing Fancy). I used them in this cabbage dish and thought it was a great addition. BUT here’s the kicker. Once said lasagna leftovers were put in the fridge and re-heated the next few days, the flavor of the anchovies must have multiplied! Suddenly, what was once a nice subtle touch was overpowering and was relentlessly punching me in the face. This same thing happened with some homemade caesar dressing I made this past summer. It was stunning, amazing, gorgeous the day of, and the next day, on my chicken caesar salad wrap that I made for a post-paddle boarding sesh I almost didn't want to eat it because all I could taste was that pesky little salty fish!
Thus, my internal battle of whether I liked anchovies or not ensued. I have done zero scientific research on the anchovy overnight flavor booster superpower; this was purely me putting together the pieces of my past anchovy escapades.
The verdict is: I kind of, sometimes like them. And I will always put less than a recipe calls for because I don’t want to push it. Roman says 2-4 I put in one and a tiny drizzle of the oil they bathe in. If Roman says to use 1, I just might omit them all together! (Pretty sure she has never said just one.)
Anchovies were the first drama of this recipe and the second was the cabbage. I accidentally bought the wrong cabbage! In the recipe, Roman specifically says do not use napa cabbage and I went out and bought napa cabbage. I stared into space for a solid two minutes deciding how to proceed. Should I just say F-it and use it anyway, definitely on par with how I operate sometimes. And something I am constantly encouraging people to do- adapt, pivot and just make it work (thank you Tim Gunn). Staring, staring, contemplating. I give it a google and it turns out that napa cabbage is more delicate than a savoy or white cabbage so it is best when used in raw applications. OKAY FINE. I understand that. I bought the correct cabbage and carried on.
Lesson: Buy an acceptable cabbage.
The recipe is fast and simple and really really good! I have never dressed my cabbage with butter before. Usually, just keep it to a simple olive oil and a good dose of acid. My head of cabbage was MASSIVE so I cut it into sixths instead of quarters, use your best judgment. I think the biggest challenge is getting yourself to make a recipe that includes cabbage and anchovies! Two outliers that come together with butter to make a truly addicting side dish.
If you want to rally people to board the cabbage train THIS is the recipe to do it with. You could sub the anchovies for some crispy bacon sprinkled on top. Don’t let me tell you how to live, or do I know what’s up.
Please note: I used Meyer lemons in both recipes cause they were on sale. They look like oranges in the pics, use regular lemons nbd.
Citrus Chicken Rested in Herbs
Aka Roast Chicken! It was delicious and pretty easy. You do have to juice some citrus, I must have selected the juiciest of citrus because it took only 4 total to get to the 1/2 c mark (I did have some fresh bottled OJ lying around so I cheated a tad). I would recommend NOT using the lemon and lime juice in the cute little yellow and green bottles. If you really can't be bothered to juice then buy FRESH citrus juice with no additives, it makes a difference.
Chicken is a staple in my meal repertoire. Roman calls for a whole chicken to be cut in half…I thought to myself do I care to cut a raw chicken in half and the answer was a resounding NO. I don’t wanna. The way I approach cooking these days is more batch style. I am pro leftover and I prefer not to go through a bunch of work every damn day. I don't have the energy or the time. I opted to alter this recipe to fit my needs. I bought the recommended 4# of chicken in the form of skin on bone in thighs. You could do breasts, legs, wings, whatever suits you. I will acknowledge that the half chicken is beyond cute (the photo is in the book) but practicality got the better of me this time.
The one ingredient that you may have to seek out beyond your local grocer is the yuzu kosho. which is a fermented Japanese hot sauce made with yuzu citrus and chili peppers. It is BEYOND tasty! Spicy, citrusy, umami, tad funky cause of the ferment. Go out of your way to snag a bottle of this. I got mine here (Affiliate link: Yuzu Kosho) OR head to a specialty store.
If you are concerned about what you might do with the extra yuzu kosho, never fear! It's a condiment so you can put it on anything that you want a little spicer. Roman also has a recipe for a cold soba noodle dish that I was pretty addicted to last summer and you can make that. Recipe here!
Making the marinade was a measure-and-dump situation, this one is also the sauce at the end BUT you must save at least half of the marinade to dress the chicken with after it is cooked.
PSA: Anytime you marinade meat in a liquid you MUST throw out the liquid after the meat is done marinating. It is not safe to use this again as a sauce for the cooked meat.
The chicken thighs cooked up real nice in a HOT HOT oven. Something good to note when swapping the whole chicken for the parts is I still went with bone-in skin on because I wanted that delicious layer of skin to protect the thigh, give it more flavor, and get EXTRA crispy. It is really hard to overcook a chicken thigh. Even if you pull it out of the oven and the internal temp is a little above 165 it's not going to affect the chicken texture too much. The skin crisped up like a dream, take a peak in my oven ;)
I presented the chicken, as recommended by Roman, on a bed of citrus and herbs. Don’t forget to drown the chicken in the remaining untainted marinade. Speaking of herbs…can you tell the difference between cilantro and parsley? If you can’t tell by looking, you can always just taste.
To make it a meal I served it up with some brown rice and a side of the cabbage recipe above because I had it on deck. Not the perfect pairing but when you have 4# of freshly cooked cabbage you load up! In the future, I might roast a veg in the oven while the chicken is cooking, maybe carrots and onions. Toss everything onto the bed of rice and enjoy a very delicious simple but seems fancy dinner.
This chicken is a showstopper and a flavor bombshell! It is the perfect recipe to whip up of you are going to have people over. You can make the chicken earlier in the day and then just reheat it before you serve OR just put it in the oven an hour before you want to eat it.
Next week, I am begrudgingly making a cake (pie crust was the other option, and I said not today, satan). I will also be sharing with you a very important lifestyle choice that we should all be privy to.
Thank you for spending your time at work, on the toilet, in line to get some cabbage, or taking a scrolling break to indulge in some cooking adventures with me. I look forward to hearing about yours!
Cheers,
the Culinary Maven, Nicole S.
Ps. Parsley is on the left, and cilantro is on the right.
There are many ways to get your hands on the Nothing Fancy Cookbook by Alison Roman. Support my culinary adventures by purchasing the book through this affiliate link.