Ina, Part I: Go-To Dinners

I am hosting Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten for the February/March round of Cook the Books. (Announcement post here.)

While I was reading (and leading up to my post about her memoir), I decided to check out a few of her cookbooks. While at least one of her recipes (shared with me by a relative) shows up on our holiday table every year, I didn’t really remember making anything else by The Barefoot Contessa. I checked out Go-To Dinners from the library and loved it.

About the book:

In Go-To Dinners (October 2022), Ina shares her strategies for making her most satisfying and uncomplicated dinners. Many, like Overnight Mac & Cheese, you can make ahead and throw in the oven right before dinner. Light dinners like Tuscan White Bean Soup can be prepped ahead and assembled at the last minute. Go-to family meals like Chicken in a Pot with Orzo and Hasselback Kielbasa will feed a crowd with very little effort. And who doesn’t want to eat Breakfast For Dinner? You’ll find recipes for Scrambled Eggs Cacio e Pepe and Roasted Vegetables with Jammy Eggs that are a snap to make and so satisfying. Ina’s “Two-Fers” guide you on how to turn leftovers from one dinner into something different and delicious the second night.

And sometimes the best dinner is one you don’t even have to cook! You’ll find Ina’s favorite boards to serve with store-bought ingredients, like an Antipasto Board and Breakfast-for-Dinner Board that are fun to assemble and so impressive to serve. Finally, because no meal can be considered dinner without dessert, there are plenty of prep-ahead and easy sweets like a Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie and Beatty’s Chocolate Cupcakes that everyone will rave about. (Blurb from Ina’s website)

What I thought…

I’m skipping “About the Author” here because everyone knows The Barefoot Contessa.

First of all, the photos are amazing, whether it’s a photo of the finished recipe or a beautiful table scape or roses seemingly thrown in a water cup. Just beautiful.

“I love you, come to dinner!”

These are the first words of the introduction made even more meaningful post-COVID. You can’t really ZOOM a dinner party (though some have tried.) This is another post-pandemic cookbook BUT we are talking Ina here.

The pandemic has had a huge impact on what I think of as dinner—what I look for in a ‘go-to’ recipe. When I planned a party before the pandemic, it was always a multicourse extravaganza. But then the pandemic happened and everything seemed like so much more work. I started making simpler dinners for Jeffrey and me. I often made a lighter, easier, all-in-one-dinner… (15)

The entire introduction is an essay on how the pandemic changed her. What made a party, what makes a meal, what can be served for “fine dining,” how to use leftovers, do I need to go to the store everyday? She began to re-evaluate a lot. I get it. What does constitutes “dinner”? Is it the food or the fellowship that matters?

Ina presents an essay at the beginning of every section. Prefacing “Go-To Cocktails” is her philosophy on entertaining someone new. Her “getting to know you” menu is a rack of lamb, orzo, roasted veggies and apple crostata (all recipes from previous cookbooks). She also meets them at the door with a cocktail. That is hospitality! (By the end of the essay she is rethinking her “getting to know you” cocktail and her menu. I won’t spoil the surprise, but the recipes are in this book.)

The cocktails are simple but elevated. She uses Earl Grey in her Bourbon Arnold Palmers. For non-alcoholic drinks she offers up a totally beautiful Pomegranate Spritzer. Her Hot Spiced Mulled Wine is simple; she doesn’t rely on mounds of exotic spices, just apple cider, honey, cinnamon, cloves and anise. She includes easy and simple appetizers like hummus and goat cheese toasts, but even her elevated appetizers seem doable. Smoked Salmon Quesadillas (but maybe without the salmon roe) sounds like one I could handle and would totally “wow” my guests. I will possibly pass on “EASY” Oysters Rockefeller though. I judge a lot of cookbooks on the quality of the hummus recipe (37). I’ll let you know.

Most cookbooks include a breakfast/brunch section. Ina continues rethinking dinner and go-to recipes with “Breakfast for Dinner.” While that idea is not new, the recipes here go beyond poached eggs on toast. I was most impressed by and must try those Scrambled Eggs Cacio e Pepe (to be served on or dipped up with toasted hearty bread) and that Breakfast-for-Dinner Board is going to make an appearance at the next family holiday gathering. Roasted Veggies with “Jammy” Eggs is totally making it to my dinner table, too. Sprinkled throughout this section are recipes to accompany these brinners: Garlic & Herb Butter, Fresh Strawberry and Rhubarb Preserves, and Vanilla Coffee Shakerato.

“Light Dinners” are just that with a lot of soups, salads and sandwiches. Again, these dishes might be easy and simple but Ina still manages to elevate them. Just check out some of the titles: Hot Dogs in Puff Pastry, Creamy Eggs with Lobster & Crab, Winter Greens with Stilton & Hazelnuts. I had to check out the hot dog recipe (95). I imagined it called for some sort of specialty smoked sausages. Nope. Just a good all-beef hot dog rolled in store-bought puff pasty with a bit of Dijon and topped with Maldon sea salt. According to Ina, these can even be prepped a few hours ahead and placed in the fridge until you’re ready to pop them in the oven. Love it. The final recipe in this section is Ploughman’s Lunch. I anticipated some bread with cheese and onions. Nope, again. Ina presents a whole board with Stilton, aged English cheddar, honey ham, pate, more jammy eggs, fresh fruits and veggies, dried apricots, and mustard. Simple but elevated.

In “Family Dinners,” she includes a lot of one-pot meals: Roast Chicken with Spring Vegetables; Chicken in a Pot with Orzo; Summer Skillet with Clams, Sausage & Corn; Oven-Roasted Southern “Shrimp Boil;” and Salmon Teriyaki & Broccolini. There’s also the base recipes for the star of the dinner table like Orange Marmalade-Glazed Ham, Mushroom Bolognese, Rosemary Roasted Pork Tenderloins, and Grilled Porterhouse Steak with Rosemary & Fennel. The essay that begins this section is all about prepping ahead and she specifically addresses that most of the recipes here can either be made ahead or most of the prep can certainly be done ahead “so you can be relaxed and happy when the doorbell rings” (125).

“Vegetables & Sides” obviously includes some delicious veggie dishes but she also throws in her Buttermilk Biscuit, Brown Butter Skillet Cornbread, and Parmesan Polenta recipes. I could make a meal on most of these alleged sides: Honey-Roasted Delicata Squash, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes & Almost Any Green Vegetable, Easy Sesame Noodles, etc.

I could also make a meal from anything in her “Desserts” section. My gawd! Surprisingly, she begins this section with a treatise on “Store-Bought is Fine!” It outlines her epiphany at a Cannes restaurant when she saw the restaurant’s dessert board and she realized she could totally recreate it at home…with store-bought fare (245)! These desserts sound amazing and hard to make. They’re not. First there was the bread pudding, made with pannetone!

Aside: I’ve always wanted to buy one of those 75%-off-after-the-holidays giant panettones at T.J. Maxx. I’ve just been scared. I mean, it will probably be stale. Next holiday season, I’m buying them all and making a dessert board with Panettone Bread Pudding (212), one with a candied fruit panettone and one with a chocolate one. Then I will serve them with Rum Raisin Ricotta Ice Cream (226) or Sweetened Whipped Cream (240). I wonder if T.J. still has some. It’s probably not a great idea in mid-February. Sorry. Back to the review.

Ina has got your back if you don’t have time for dessert or to make an elaborate board with store-bought fare (as mentioned above). Roast some pineapple and top it with Talenti Caribbean Coconut gelato (236). In beautiful single serve bowls, plop in a couple of scoops of vanilla and coffee ice cream; pour on some Bailey’s and top with toasted pecans (225). Done!

Don’t skip the hednotes to the recipes. They may tell you where she got her inspiration (maybe from a magazine or from a favorite restaurant). The final part of this cookbook includes a few resources for everything from tableware to home décor to kitchenware (from the high end Roman and William Guild to Crate & Barrel). The last piece of wisdom she imparts is “To peel or not to peel?” (248-249). You will always peel parsnips, celery root, traditional cucumbers, carrots and sweet potatoes. It’s optional to peel turnips, baby potatoes, eggplant, hothouse cucumbers, zucchini and bell peppers. (I can safely say that I have never even considered peeling a pepper. Ever.)

I wish I could copy and paste the photos from this book. Just spectacular.

I remember trying to create dinner parties and family holiday spreads after we were first married and living in our new home. The stress I created for myself. The recipes I tried to master (mostly from Martha Stewart) that usually did not come out correctly and sometimes not even edible. I wish I could do it all again with Ina and this cookbook as my guide.

So, what recipe did I choose to make first out of this book? It was those puff pastry hotdogs. The only change I made was to use only one sheet of puff pastry and I sprinkled on some Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute spice instead of just salt and pepper as Ina recommends. (Posting soon about those dogs.) The second recipe I tried was her Roast Chicken with Spring Veggies. I made that for Valentine’s Day dinner. It was super easy to prep. Perfect for a low key dinner. The Hubs loved it and it was so simple—butter, salt, pepper, herbs, lemons. Delicious.

I’m linking up with February’s Foodies Read.