Best known as the Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten is a little different to other chefs – and that’s why so many people love her. The home cook is adored for her warm, witty persona and ability to somehow know exactly what we want to eat (and drink). The TV personality and cookbook author is basically the host of dreams. Here are just a few of our favourite tips and cooking hacks she’s shared over the years.
There should always be that one dish in your repertoire that never fails to satisfy, whether it’s just to please yourself or to pull out of the bag for last-minute dinner guests. For Ina, it's her Parmesan chicken. The herb-breaded chicken recipe, served with a crisp salad zinged up with lemon and a few shavings of Parmesan, is a true winner and takes half an hour from fridge to plate.
On days when you can barely muster the energy or enthusiasm to make a cup of tea, cooking can feel like an enormous effort. But these are the days we need some edible comfort the most, so having an easy, soothing, reassuring meal you can cook with your eyes half-open and your mind elsewhere is important, according to Ina. Hers is avocado toast, preferably topped with a soft-boiled egg (if you can manage it).
One of Ina’s top tips for people looking to improve their cooking and hosting skills is to start small and simple. “Pick five recipes that are really simple – like roast chicken, macaroni and cheese, grilled fish,” she told Bon Appétit. Once you can make those things perfectly, switching things up and creating twists on the dishes is easy. For example, adding lobster to mac ’n’ cheese, trying different fish, experimenting with alternative herbs and spices and cooking up more complex fillings for your pies.
If there’s one ingredient that Ina seems to favour, it must be this gloriously rich and nutty Swiss cows' milk cheese. Gruyère is perhaps the queen of cheeses when it comes to melting beautifully into food and adds a reliable richness to all kinds of savoury recipes. Ina often uses it to imbue dishes like cauliflower gratin, mustard and Gruyère batons and overnight mac 'n' cheese with extra depth.
Life’s too short to stand over a pan stirring stock into rice for half an hour. Or at least, it feels like that sometimes. For those evenings, try Ina’s genius hack: throw the rice in a Dutch oven or casserole dish, pour over the stock and simply pop in the oven. Then it just needs stirring with a little more stock, wine and cheese for a mere couple of minutes – and it comes out as gorgeously creamy as if you’d been at it for hours.
The crispiest bacon isn’t sizzled in a frying pan or browned under the grill. And it definitely isn’t zapped in the microwave. No – according to Ina, the best way to cook bacon is to roast it in the oven, laying rashers on greaseproof paper and baking for 15-20 minutes until it has that crinkly crispness. Life-changing. Take it to the next level by first smothering it in a nutty, syrupy mix for Ina’s caramelised bacon.
Ina has learned more than a few tricks during her four decades (and counting) in the food business, like her brilliant tip for cutting hard veg that has a pesky tendency to launch itself off the chopping board and hide around the kitchen. Ina’s brilliantly simple solution is to lay a clean tea towel or some kitchen paper on your chopping board, so even corn won’t fly everywhere when you’re slicing it from the cob. And, instead of digging straight into a cauliflower with a knife, cut the core out first and then pull apart the florets with your hands.
Anyone who’s ever watched Ina’s show Barefoot Contessa will know she loves to host people – always with the best food, of course. And there’s nothing worse than being stuck in the kitchen for hours while your guests have to entertain themselves. As Ina suggests in her tips on successful menu planning, anything that can be assembled in advance will help make your cooking stress-free. This decidedly (yet deliciously) retro chicken Marbella, for example.
Just the word “soufflé” can be enough to send even professional chefs fleeing from the kitchen in terror, aprons trailing behind them. But, says Ina, it needn’t be so intimidating. In fact, the only thing to fear is fear itself – and letting the soufflé know you’re scared. Follow her blue cheese soufflé recipe to the letter and see for yourself. Just don’t open the oven until it’s done…
Jazz up a Sunday roast dinner or special meal with Ina’s delicious potato-fennel gratin – a delicious change from the usual mashed or roast potatoes. The soft aniseed of the fennel cuts beautifully through the richness of the creamy sauce, with onion and Gruyère cheese. Assemble in the morning – or even the day before – and bake just before serving to save last-minute prep.
Who else agrees that the side dishes are often the best part of any meal? If not, Ina’s vast array of classics with a twist will probably change your mind. Take her green beans with hazelnuts, for example, this simple roasted broccolini with Cheddar cheese or sweetcorn given a zingy makeover with chipotle and Parmesan. You’ll never want to settle for plain steamed carrots or boiled potatoes ever again.
Speaking of spuds, when you do make mashed potatoes, think beyond butter and even beyond sour cream. Ina’s ravishing repertoire of creamed potatoes includes dishes laced with Parmesan, garlic, buttermilk or even truffle butter. Or spice up sweet potato mash with chipotle and maple. We would happily devour any of these by the bowlful.
We get the feeling little, if anything, goes to waste in Ina’s kitchen. She’s a strong advocate of making use of the stuff lurking at the back of your fridge or store cupboard, as well as transforming leftovers into delicious new meals. One of her favourite ways to avoid food waste is with a comforting, puffed-up frittata. You can pretty much throw anything in, from boiled potatoes and leftover bacon (if such a thing exists) to a few spoonfuls of ratatouille.
Leftovers don’t have to be an afterthought, though. Sometimes it pays to plan two meals at once and cook a meal than can easily be transformed into something else the following day. As Ina puts it in an Instagram post, “a nice two-fer” can be game-changing. The Barefoot Contessa likes to batch-cook with leftovers in mind, such as a tomato and aubergine soup that can be used to make a baked pasta dish.
Stuffing a turkey or chicken can dry it out, according to Ina. So make up a stuffing that isn’t designed to be cooked inside the bird. Like this herb and apple bread pudding, which has all the flavours of traditional stuffing. The mouthwatering ingredients include pancetta, onion, apple, rosemary and Gruyère. The challenge is not to gobble up the lot with a spoon.
Burnt bits are a common complaint when tackling a one-dish roast that has the meat, veg and potatoes all in the same roasting tin. And our Barefoot Contessa believes the main culprit is using a too-small pan. “The pan should be just big enough to hold the chicken and vegetables snugly, or it’s true, the vegetables will burn,” she says. Her other tip? Invest in a meat thermometer – oven temperatures aren’t always accurate.
People tend to either love or hate chicken skin. Regardless of your preference, Ina is a strong advocate for keeping the skin on when cooking chicken, whether it’s a whole roast, legs or breast. “I find it makes the meat much more tender and moist,” she says. “Even if you’re going to remove the skin after cooking, I would recommend you roast the chicken skin-on and then remove the skin.”
There really is no need to lumber yourself with copious amounts of washing up. Ina is a huge advocate of the one-dish dinner, which means fewer dishes (of course), simpler prep and marvellously mingling flavours. Making your life a little simpler (and cutting down on the dishes) doesn’t mean compromising on taste, either. Try this lobster pot pie, packed with sweet and salty deliciousness, this lamb tagine and this chicken stew topped with soft, crumbly biscuits.
Ina says she uses a Dutch oven, like those made by Le Creuset, “more than anything else”, putting the heavy-bottomed casserole pots to work when simmering up soups or stews and when braising meat. Its chameleon-like ability to transfer from stovetop to oven makes it a go-to for this meltingly tender pot roast, while actress Jennifer Garner (who has appeared on Ina’s show) says this beef bourguignon is her favourite.
It doesn’t need to be warm and sunny outside for alfresco dining. Ina’s tips for entertaining outdoors when it’s a little chilly include using outdoor heaters or a fire pit to bring much-needed warmth, providing piles of cushions and blankets and also cosying up the look of the dining table (or coffee table, if there’s just two of you) with candles and bunches of blooms. As for the food, keep it simple with pizza, salad and some prepare-ahead nibbles. Gorgeous.
Especially when it comes to sweet treats. Sometimes we’re faced with tough decisions in the kitchen, such as: chocolate icing or vanilla? Ina’s solution? Have both. Her incredible black and white cookies are deliciously uncompromising and look so striking, too, with half dark chocolate and half snow-white vanilla frosting. She describes them as like “decadent, snack-sized cakes” and we’d have to agree.
Ina has some pretty delicious imbibing tips, too, and loves a good cocktail. She suggests stirring and shaking things up by serving classics with a twist, such as this sidecar recipe with dried cherries (soaked in cognac). Or try this new take on a Collins, with limoncello. Alcohol-free drinks should always be fabulous, too, like Ina’s simple and refreshing herbal iced tea.
Ina’s frozen key lime pie is a zingy, creamy delight. But even this kitchen goddess admits to having got it out of the freezer and tried to free it from the glass dish only to find the crust has stuck to the bottom. Her solution is to not pack the crust in too tightly and to let it stand for around 15-20 minutes between taking it from the freezer and serving, helping to loosen it a little (and avoid a minor pie disaster).
Bring a new level of flavour to shrimp or prawn cocktail by roasting the shellfish before tossing in the sauce. You’ll never go back. It’s not just for this retro appetiser, though. Ina recommends baking or roasting shrimp for all manner of recipes, such as this shrimp scampi, swimming in herb, lemon and garlic–laced butter, and this simple garlic and herb roasted shrimp.
Preparing a separate meal for someone who is vegan or vegetarian can feel like singling them out – not to mention giving the host lots of extra work and prep. Ina prefers to make lots of lovely vegetable side dishes and perhaps a more substantial grain or rice recipe that can all be piled onto the table so everyone can dig in, whether or not there’s a meat course.
Washing mushrooms under the tap means they absorb extra water, diluting the flavour and risking a soggy or watery recipe. But wiping each one with a brush or peeling the outer layers feels like a faff. Ina has the answer, of course. She says the best way to get the dirt from mushrooms is to gently but swiftly wipe each one with a clean, damp (soap-free) cloth.
In the spirit of advanced prep, having simple meals on hand and generally making life easier, your freezer can really be your best friend. Ina recommends making sure food has cooled to room temperature before popping it in the freezer, and leaving space in the container to allow for the fact liquids expand as they freeze. Labelling is key, too, because you really will forget what’s in that tub and when you put it there.
Sometimes the answer seems so simple you wonder why you never thought of it before. But therein lies Ina’s genius. Take this bread tip, for example. If you’ve ever frozen an intact loaf, you might wonder how you can stop it going so soggy. If you’ve frozen bread in slices, you might wonder how you can stop it getting so icy. Et voila! Freeze it in chunks, says Ina – and take out perfectly portioned pieces to warm up in the oven.
Need a super-quick pud? Whether it’s a hosting emergency or just a craving for something sweet, a crumble is one of the simplest ways to throw together a speedy dessert. As Ina says, they’re much easier and quicker to make than pies – and just as delicious. Use whatever fresh or frozen fruit you have, make up the crumble topping and throw in the oven. Ina’s mini peach and blueberry crumbles are a tasty place to start.
A huge part of Ina’s charm is her carefree approach to food. Because, although she’s serious about cooking up delicious dishes, she definitely isn’t a stickler for following recipes to the letter (unless it’s something that requires precision, like pastry). Want to make her tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons but don’t have cream? Leave it out! Don’t have broccoli but craving this broccoli pasta recipe? Use broccolini – or any crunchy, dark-green veg, for that matter – instead.