Whenever I think about fall cuisine, braised meat immediately comes to mind. The chill in the air, the turning leaves, the shorter days conjure up images of hunks of meat slow roasting in the oven for hours and filling the house with tantalizing aromas accompanied by wafts of spices and herbs.
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Wow! That’s what I said after taking the first bite of the roast chicken I prepared last night. It was truly that good. The recipe I used, “Slow-Roasted Oregano Chicken with Buttered Tomatoes” comes from Alison Roman’s 2019 cookbook Nothing Fancy, the cover of which features a picture of the dish. Like so many of her recipes, it foregoes fanfare for flavor, fancy for footloose, and frustration for fun.
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When I started to cook almost 50 years ago, I would occasionally bake desserts or savory pastries. Fruit tarts and quiches were my specialties, and I even remember making French baguettes. But for some reason, aside from making pizza, I stopped baking in the early 90s. It wasn’t until last Christmas and Easter when I started baking again and prepared a Neapolitan struffoli and an Italian wheat pie, pizza grana, both of which brought back fond childhood memories of my aunt, who excelled at making all types of pastries and desserts.
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One of my father’s favorite dishes pasta fagioli; whenever we dined at our neighborhood Italian restaurant, it was always his choice for a first course. He glowed with contentment as the waiter set the bowl of beans and pasta in a thick tomatoey broth in front of him and after a few spoonfuls, he’d inevitably proclaim it as “a meal in itself.”
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Cooking from Books 