The Big Announcement!

I have news.  BIG!!!! NEWS!!!!!

Do you know who Ina Garten is?  Ina Garten is a beloved cookbook author and television host, commonly referred to as the Barefoot Contessa (which was the name of the specialty food store she owned).  

Ina taught me everything I know about cooking.  I watched every episode of her show, read her books cover to cover, and have modeled my kitchen and culinary approach after her.  Her imprint on my life is profound.

You may have remembered this post a couple of months ago about my favorite trusted recipe sources and the accompanying photograph of Ina's cookbooks.  Then you may have remembered this Table Talk post where I mentioned how the photograph inspired the idea of one day cooking all of her recipes.  Well, it looks like "one day" has become "today."

The Ina In A Year project is happening!

Beginning on September 24, 2018, I am going to cook all 953 of Ina's recipes in one year.  No substitutions.  No shortcuts.  No staffing it out.  I am going to share the process in great detail, both here on the blog and on social media, and I am going to provide opportunities for you to follow along and get involved.  

So many fun details to share!  

First, I will be cooking some of the meals at home for my family, and some of the meals at Hurley House.  One of the Hurley House meals will become a weekly staff lunch.  The second meal prepared at Hurley House will be served at a weekly ticketed lunch event called the Ina Lunch.  Which means, YOU can purchase a ticket and come eat the food!  I will also put one item each week into the Hurley House bakery case to sell.  

Second, we are going to be sharing lots of behind the scenes videos.  Make sure you are plugged in on Instagram (@hurleyhouse) and for sure make certain you subscribe to The Lovely.  The Lovely will be the place where you will get early access to tickets to the Ina Lunch, and where you will make sure not to miss a single detail or development.

Third, I need you!  Please share this project with everyone you know.  I want to build a community of people who are engaged and want to watch this adventure unfold.  I think the entire journey is going to be quite fun, and I want you to bring your friends and family along for the ride.  

Lastly, if you would like to get involved financially, there is room at the table for you!  Sponsorships begin at $100, and the swag is pretty amazing.  For example, if you sponsor one day ($100), you will get a shirt, one ticket to an Ina Lunch, and one ticket to each of our four quarterly VIP appreciation parties.  If you sponsor one month ($2000), you get lots of perks, including an in-home dinner party for 8 people!  To quote Ina, "How easy is that?"

I am so excited to get this project rolling, and I am counting down the days until September 24.  I know you must have questions...please ask!  

Ina Update: Five Weeks Until Launch!

Last week I made the announcement.  This week the real fun begins as I start to share the journey.  The cooking won't start for five weeks, but we have a lot of ground to cover between now and then!  So many things to share and show....  

Do you receive The Lovely?  I know I sound like a broken record here, but for real, if you do not receive my weekly email, please sign up.  There are going to be components of this project that will only be available through the email, and I really don't want you to miss anything!  Go ahead and subscribe yourself, plus your best friend, your mom, your sister, and your coworker.  They will thank you later.

This past week I began to clean out my kitchen at home.  Half of the cooking for this project is going to happen at Hurley House, and half of it will be in my home kitchen.  WHICH, as it turns out, is exactly where Hurley House began.  

If you don't know the story, I began Hurley House in my home, and ran the entire operation from our kitchen for three years.  It still kind of makes my stomach turn every time I think about it because our kitchen is so small...I'm not sure how we did it.    

That being said, I want to share something very vulnerable.  The truth is, I wish I had a different kitchen.  Every day I want it to be bigger, better, prettier.  It is small, outdated, and kind of ugly.  There.  I said it.  And the fact that I am about to invite you in to see it on a regular basis makes me squirm.  I know my kitchen doesn't name me, but it doesn't stop me from struggling with the fact that I want something different than what I have.  So when you see me smiling in front of my chipped cabinet doors and gold granite countertops, know that I'm working hard to be grateful for what I have.

Anyways, this past week, in light of the coming wave of cooking, I decided to go ahead and purge some items.  For such a small kitchen, we really do have quite a lot of storage space, and over the past five years I have accumulated too much.  I am trying my best to only keep tools and gadgets that are absolutely necessary because I dislike stockpiling items that never get used.  One weekend in, and I'm already feeling better.  Purging is good for the soul.

I also replaced the curtains over our kitchen sink.  I know it sounds silly, but it made the biggest difference.  One of my core issues with our kitchen is how the color palette is full of warm tones.  I am a cool tone person, and I like everything to be light and airy.  While I can't do a full kitchen remodel, I can change the curtains.  So I did!  And I discovered that the simple act of lightening up the window dressing helped tremendously.  

Lastly, I have the first of five little prequel video episodes to share with you!  Before the project was a done deal, before I even knew if it would pan out and become a reality, I decided to record some videos on how I was feeling in the moment, what I was contemplating, and where we were in the process of planning.

The first of these videos is below.  I hope you can tell how heavy I felt emotionally when I recorded this.  The struggle is all over my face.  So much angst happening below the surface.  The fun and excitement you see in me today came after weeks of wrestling with the idea, trying to decide if I could navigate this project well, and whether or not I could make it work.  The rawness of this video is not manufactured.  Real time.  Real feelings.

Thank you for reading and watching!  I am so excited to have you on this journey with me!!

Look for another update next Monday!

Ina In A Year Q&A

Ever since I made the announcement about the Ina In A Year project, I have observed one of two responses from people.  Either they get a really big smile on their face and can't wait to follow along, or they get a deer-in-the-headlights look as they scramble to try and figure out what I am talking about.

It has come to my attention that perhaps a brief explanation of a few items might help us all get on the same page about why this project is such a big deal to me.  If you have been wondering things like, "Who is Ina?" or "Why do you need sponsors?" this is the video for you!

I recorded this video yesterday, with my phone, with the sounds of Hurley House in the background, and then edited and uploaded it quickly.  Please view this with the knowledge that professional videography is not my game.  The video is designed to provide answers to a few foundational questions related to the project.  

If you have other questions, I want to hear them.  Hit me up in the comments section below!

Ina Update: Four Weeks Until Launch!

Four weeks sounds simultaneously like an eternity away and not near enough time for what needs to happen between now and when I start cooking nine hundred recipes.  A lot of my feelings are complicated by the fact that my husband leaves for another trip to Africa this weekend, and it is a long two weeks while he is gone.  Then he returns.  Then we will have one week.  Then we will launch.  

Deep breaths.  

This week I have executed a few Ina-related tasks, but mostly the past few days have been about getting our kids back in school and our family back in the groove.  The adjustment is always exhausting and jarring.  It's one thing to think you know how things will look once everyone returns to school, but it is never simple to walk through a "typical" week with four children and their new schedules.

In case you missed it, I recorded an Ina Project Q&A video last week that explains who Ina is and why this project is such a big deal.  You can find the video in this blog post.

One important thing you need to know is that next week (NEXT WEEK!) I will be releasing the first round of tickets for the Ina Lunches.  These lunch events are going to be epic...eight weekly tickets to a three-course lunch that I will cook and host at Hurley House.  You will get to eat amazing food AND get a behind-the-scenes look at the project.  Tickets are $30 each, and they will only be released via email. (You do receive The Lovely, right?)

Lastly, below is another prequel video episode, recorded back in July, before the project was a reality.  This video is all about how I was feeling as I was contemplating whether or not the Ina project was something I could manage.  

I watch this video now and want to tell myself that it's all going to be okay.  But that's the thing about struggle.  In hindsight, we can clearly see the path.  But in the moment, the way can seem lost and the next step uncertain.  

Ina Update: Three Weeks Until Launch!

This is not a drill!  Things are getting real over here!  It's all happening, and it's happening fast.  Let's put on our listening ears and pay full attention because I have some super important pieces of information to throw your way.  Here we go...

Number One.
Do you want to come eat a menu from the Ina In A Year project?

Of course you do!  

You need to make sure you subscribe to The Lovely, and then watch your inbox on Sunday.  This coming Sunday, September 9, 2018, I will be releasing the first round of tickets for the Ina Lunch via email.  These tickets are going to sell out super fast, and they can only be purchased online.  

The Ina Lunch is a weekly three-course lunch that I will prepare and host at Hurley House.  There are only eight seats available to each lunch, and the food I cook will be a menu from the Ina Project.  Do not miss your chance to attend one of these!  They are going to be fun and delicious.

Number Two.
Super exciting news...the Ina shirts arrived!!  They are everything I hoped they would be.  You can buy them in store at Hurley House or order them online.  

Number Three.
I still need sponsors.  Please consider jumping on board financially.  The swag alone is worth the investment, and my community of supporters is going to enjoy all sorts of perks and behind-the-scenes access over the next year.  

Number Four.  
Another prequel video is included below.  At the time this was filmed, I still did not know if we were going to officially say yes to the project, but I had figured out a way to potentially make it work within the confines of our family.  I love watching this emotional saga unfold, and I am so grateful I recorded some of my feelings in the moment.  

There you go!  So many big things.  In summary...subscribe to The Lovely, buy a shirt, become a sponsor, and watch the new video!

Ina Update: Two Weeks Until Launch!

Hey guys.  It's me.  Fourteen days left until I cook all of Ina Garten's recipes in a year.  NBD.

As you can imagine, things have escalated quickly over here.  For me, the project has officially started because my staff and I have a system of work flows for each week of the project, and that work flow begins two weeks out.  Which means we are in motion now.

Did you ever watch West Wing?  I always remember them talking about "Advance."  ("Where's Donna?"  "Oh, she's in Philly on Advance.")  Advance was the group of staffers that would go and make sure certain things were in place before a big presidential appearance or campaign event.  

We sort of have our own version of Advance here at the Ina In A Year Headquarters.  Our team wears different hats on different days, but the jobs include Ingredient Czar, Morning Fairy, Prep Schedule Princess, Party Planner, Art Manager, Equipment Manager, Grocery Genie, Big Project Manager, and VIP Liason.  Clearly, we are having all the fun.

But for real, the work has ramped up, and I am ready.  

The first round of Ina Lunch tickets are officially on sale, and they are going like hot cakes.  We have already sold out one date, and the others are quickly headed in that direction.  Ina Lunch tickets are available online only, and reservations are required.  Do not delay!

Last, but not least, the final chapter of the Ina In A Year Prequel Videos is below.  This video was recorded the week we made the final decision about executing the project, and I think the joy on my face says it all.  

Thank you for watching, for reading, and for being part of this adventure!

Ina Update: One Week Until Launch!

As I sit here, writing the last post before the project launches next week, I have a confession to make. I’m nervous. The nerves arrived on Friday afternoon. I couldn’t really catch my breath. My heart began pounding, my hands started shaking. It came over me like a cloud, and I couldn’t shake myself free.

It is Monday morning, and after a weekend with my family, a good night’s sleep, and all the healthy coping strategies in my toolbox…I am still nervous.

The nerves are not from a lack of preparation or planning. Goodness knows I have spent the better part of two months obsessing over every detail, looking at all the angles I could think of that needed examining, and setting up strategies to make this whole thing work.

The nerves are not from a lack of support or excitement. My community has showed up in exquisite form, ready to follow and participate.

The nerves are not from a lack of self-confidence. I believe in myself and my ability to execute hard things.

No, the nerves come from the unknown. The things that are out of my control. The unexpected twists and turns this whole endeavor could take at a moment’s notice. The way other people respond (or don’t respond) to what I’m about to create. A lack of control makes me nervous.

Part confessional, part vulnerability, this post is to let you know that while I am having the time of my life, and I love what’s about to begin, I do not have it all together. I choose to believe what is true, to work my plan, and to lean heavily on those who are in this with me. But that choice doesn’t always make the butterflies and shaky hands disappear.

Last night, we were at dinner with some families from our small group, and one of the husbands asked, “So, for this Ina In A Year project, are there literally three hundred and sixty-five recipes?”

I replied, “No. There are nine-hundred and fifty-three.”

He looked puzzled. “Then, how are you doing this?”

I replied, “By cooking approximately twenty recipes a week.”

He paused, taking it in. Then he said, “And I assume there is someone out there who has done this before and has documented the best way to execute something like this? Someone has written a training manual for this project, right?”

I replied, “No.”

The table fell silent for a minute, all eyes on me, and I felt my stomach drop again. When you let the scope and magnitude sink it, it can be a bit stunning.

So, what do I do when stunned, nervous, unable to predict things outside my control? I decide to be brave. Do the next thing next. Work through the nerves. Trust the system. And in this instance, I choose to have fun.

If you are reading this post, then you are with me, and I am thankful. Underneath the nerves, I really am excited, chomping at the bit to get started, and curious to see what unfolds over the next year.

One week left, guys. It’s going to be great!

Ina Update: Launch Day!!!!

Today is the day! September 24, 2018. I start cooking all of Ina’s recipes today, and I am excited!

Today seems like a good time to share with you some of my goals for this project. So here they are, raw and vulnerable. Some of them are practical and easy to measure, some of them not-so-much, yet equally important to me.

GOAL #1.
Let’s start with the most obvious goal out there…I want to successfully execute the project. In the span of 365 days, I want to cook all the recipes.

GOAL #2.
Over the course of the next year, I want to expand my reach. I want more people to know about Hurley House and what we do. I also want more people to join my community of followers here on the blog. I don’t have specific numbers in mind (maybe I need to give that some thought), but I know I want to find more people who enjoy engaging with what I offer here in my business and in my little corner of the internet.

GOAL #3.
At the end of this, one year from now, I would like for all of my clothes to still fit. To be perfectly candid, all of the food sort of freaks me out. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy delicious food, and I obviously enjoy cooking. But I work hard to live a healthy lifestyle, and it does not include eating Ina’s food five times a week. My game plan is to increase my activity level a bit, and to remember that a taste of something will suffice. I do not have to finish the entire Creme Brulee. I can take one bite and move on. Hopefully.

GOAL #4.
I want to have fun. I tend to be a serious person. I was a serious child. “Fun” was something I really didn’t have or understand how to have. As I have grown older, I have learned how to take myself less seriously, loosen up, and have fun. The main reason I ever wanted to even think about executing the Ina In A Year project is because it truly sounded like fun to me. And so I want to not lose sight of this goal. Over the next year, I want to have fun with this project and to remember that I get to do this really cool thing.

GOAL #5.
My number one measure of success in life is to bring everything I have, to pour it out, and to leave nothing behind. I want the same in this endeavor. I want to explore every option, capture every moment, drink in the experience, and fully engage every part of my being in this project.

So let’s do this! I am so thankful to have you along for the ride!

Ina In A Year: Week 1

Welcome to the first official Ina In A Year weekly update! It has taken me a little while to get my feet underneath me, to learn the rhythm of assimilating all of this cooking into my weekly routine, and to finally figure out what I want to write and share.

The good news? I have a lot to write and share. In fact, I can already see the potential for ongoing content that will come as a result of this project, long after the year is finished. My goal for these weekly update posts is to share with you a summary of how the week went, to list the recipes I cooked (including the cookbook in which they can be found), and to highlight anything notable that I learned along the way.

Choose your own adventure, and read as much or as little as you like. Let’s dive in!

WHAT HAPPENED

Week One brought fatigue and two relatively major failures. Even though I own a bakery, it has been a long time since I have spent my days cooking. Suffice it to say, this week was a tough reentry to the grueling physicality that standing and cooking all day can require. This may sound silly, but there are certain muscles that you use when you cook, and mine were found quite atrophied. I powered through, knowing from past experience, that my body would adjust and reinvent itself in order to meet the challenge. But it was not without a lot of Advil and early bedtimes.

This week also reminded me how important it is to be realistic when mapping out a prep schedule. It can be easy to oversimplify kitchen tasks when glancing at a recipe. I quickly remembered that there are essentially three steps to most recipes. There is the preparing of the ingredients (chopping onion, chopping garlic, cubing bread), the execution of the steps (sweating the onion, adding the garlic, combining it with the bread), and then the finishing of the dish before you serve it (baking the finished casserole). To underestimate the time involved in each step is to find yourself flustered and frustrated, not to mention out of time. This was me on Tuesday as I was preparing the menu for the Ina Lunch the next day. I had not allowed enough time for the prescribed tasks, and the experience was a hasty reminder to be more realistic with how much time I need for each step. Once I adjusted my expectations over the remainder of the week, I found my groove and was able to settle in and enjoy the process.

Then, there was the ice cream that never froze coupled with the burnt honey-less Honey Vanilla Pound Cake. It was a saga that brought a community of supporters and problem-solvers out of the social media woodwork to offer solutions. At the end of the day, I am convinced the error had to do with my treatment of the ice cream maker, and I do intend to give it another shot. As for the pound cake, not only was it burnt, but I also forgot to include the honey in the batter. I was reminded how vitally important it is to set a timer for everything, particularly when juggling multiple recipes as once, and to pay attention when baking. These details are easy to overlook when distracted, and I was frustrated at myself for the error, mostly because I really wanted to taste a honey-infused slice of perfectly baked pound cake. No worries, though. I cut off the burnt edges of the pound cake and repurposed it as a make-shift dessert, and no one suffered. It was trying, but a valuable experience.

On the whole, the week was wonderful. I was thoroughly excited to finally get my hands dirty and do some actual cooking. Nothing disappointed. Everything I made surpassed my expectations. And I loved beginning to connect and share the process with those of you who follow me on Instagram. Scroll through below for a list of all the recipes!

WHAT I COOKED

Homemade Chicken Stock, Make It Ahead
Vanilla Extract, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Herb Roasted Fish, Make It Ahead
Sauteed Asparagus and Snap Peas, Parties
Scalloped Tomatoes, How Easy Is That

Honey Vanilla Pound Cake, Back to Basics

Butternut Squash and Ricotta Bruschetta, Cooking for Jeffrey
Herbed Pork Tenderloin, Make It Ahead
Apple Chutney, Make It Ahead
Leek and Artichoke Bread Pudding, Make It Ahead
Braised Red Cabbage with Pancetta, Make It Ahead
Caramel Chocolate Nut Ice Cream, Parties

Smoked Salmon and Egg Salad Tartines, At Home

Roasted Salmon Tacos, Cooking for Jeffrey
Caramelized Butternut Squash, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Salted Caramel Nuts, Make It Ahead

Blueberry Streusel Muffins, Back to Basics

Homemade Granola Bars, Back to Basics
Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits, Make It Ahead

WHAT I LEARNED

HOMEMADE CHICKEN STOCK.
Ina is known for always suggesting (though never insisting) the use of homemade chicken stock. I have make homemade chicken stock before, but it is never my go to. Why bother? Who has the time? I hear you. And yet, this experience, which was the first recipe I made on the first day of the project, set a tone and has become a echoing theme in my experience so far. The trouble of doing something wonderful is oftentimes the point. The huge pot of chicken, herbs, vegetables, spices began to simmer, and the aroma was intoxicating. I stood over the pot and breathed in. I do not believe that food can make a person whole or happy. But I do believe the beauty found in the sensory experience involved in preparing and eating delicious food can be a pleasurable experience that warms the heart and builds connections. A pot of chicken stock is a beautiful example of this truth. Comforting. Earthy. Substantial. I felt in touch with something foundational or even primal within myself while it bubbled away. Though never mandatory as an ingredient, the act itself of making the stock becomes the desired outcome, even more so than the five quarts of liquid gold that it yields. I challenge you to find an enormous pot, buy the ingredients, and see how you feel embarking on an afternoon of creating something so basic, yet so beautiful.

BRAISED RED CABBAGE.
When I planned this menu, the Braised Red Cabbage was a reluctant addition that honestly, if I had not been executing this project, I would have skipped. The photo was beautiful, but I felt very lukewarm about the whole prospect of braising cabbage. I also was doubtful after the groceries arrived, that one batch made from one head of purple cabbage would be enough for our eight lunch guests. Had it not been for the disaster of the ice cream and the pound cake and the general malaise of fatigue I was working through, I probably would have decided to double this recipe…and then found myself with enough cabbage to feed a small army for the entire winter. I have never been more happy to be so mistaken about a recipe. This side dish was not only the distinguished hit of this menu, but it also made enough to feed twelve or fourteen people as a side dish. I found satisfaction in watching the cabbage simmer away, only becoming more flavorful and tender, as I tended to other matters. The color is spectacular, a vibrant jewel-toned mix of cranberry and deep purple. It adds a pop of visual appeal to the plate, and an unexpected brightness to the menu.

CARAMELIZED BUTTERNUT SQUASH.
I included this as part of the staff lunch menu, which centered around the Roasted Salmon Tacos. I would not normally pair butternut squash with salmon tacos, but one of the funny things about this project is sometimes you need to “burn” a recipe, so you stick it wherever you can. This was the case. Most of Ina’s recipes for roasted vegetables (and there are quite a few of this variety) revolve around chopping the vegetable, tossing it with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then roasting until browned. This one, however, is different. It uses butter, not olive oil, and there is a touch of brown sugar added along with the salt and pepper. The finished dish is not to be missed. The butter adds a noticeable richness that differs from the usual mouth feel of olive oil. And the brown sugar is there only to wake up the natural sweetness of the squash, not turn it into candy. This is what Ina does best. She knows how to add an element to a recipe that will enhance the main ingredient without drawing attention to the element itself. The natural sweetness of the squash is enhanced by the addition of the brown sugar, balanced by the Kosher salt, and the finished dish is savory, satisfying, and not at all candied or cloying. It is perfection.

There is so much more to say, more notes to share, but I am going to end here. I would love for this to be a starting point for more questions and conversations. If you have a question about any of these recipes, please ask!! I am happy to tell you my thoughts based on my experience!

Let me know what you would like to know….

Ina In A Year: Week 2

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Two, due to some calendar complications, I was slated to cook thirty recipes. If you’re thinking thirty recipes sounds like a lot for one week, you would be correct. I could have chosen to change it, deleted a few menus, pushed some recipes into another week, but I am really trying to avoid messing with the schedule this early in the process. I powered forward.

Timm went out of town at the beginning of the week, and I decided that would be a good time to cook a “kid food” menu with my younger children. As you would expect, even Ina’s food intended for children is exceptional. I have never in all my life tasted something as homey and comforting and perfectly suited for both adults and children as her Homemade Applesauce. On Sunday night, I warmed some up in a bowl, and ate it for dinner in my bed. I let the experience bring nourishment to me physically and rest to my weary spirit. It hit the spot.

At the end of the week, we hosted a dinner party for our small group. I loved cooking for our friends and having them in our home, around our table. In hospitality, the food is never the point, but it didn’t hurt that the food was outstanding. I followed Ina’s suggestion in the introduction to Blini with Smoked Salmon and fried up the little buckwheat pancakes while people arrived. They came into the kitchen to say hello, and I put a friend to work topping them with smoked salmon, creme freche, and a sprinkling of chives. I usually try not to prepare an appetizer that requires last minute attention, but this worked. Because everything else was made ahead, waiting in the oven, I was able to enjoy a glass of Prosecco, flip the pancakes, and talk with friends by the stove while we all nibbled away. This was a favorite moment for me from this week, and I cannot wait to repeat the experience in future dinner parties.

Thirty recipes in one week almost did me in. The grueling process and resulting emotional nose-dive prompted me to post a video on Instagram of me in my pajamas at 7:30 in the evening, bleary eyed, tired, confessing to the world how hard of a time I was having being kind to myself. I wanted to feel more in control. I wanted to be ahead, not behind. I wanted to someone to tell me I wasn’t a fool for signing up for this crazy endeavor. I loved hearing from some of you in response to that moment of vulnerability. The comments and support from those who are watching and reading was a source of motivation. Thank you for igniting the needed spark to keep me going when the going was not easy.

Somehow I managed to check each recipe off the list this week, but it was a challenge. My team made the process as easy as possible, all while making me laugh and reminding me how wonderful it is to share good food with people you love. Scroll through below for a list of all the recipes!

WHAT I COOKED

Parmesan Chicken Sticks, Family Style
Broccoli and Bow Ties, Family Style
Homemade Applesauce, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Fruit Juice Shapes, Family Style

Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Warm Goat Cheese in Phyllo, Back to Basics
Lemon Chicken Breasts, How Easy Is That
Broccoli with Garlic, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Tuscan Roasted Potatoes and Lemon, Cooking for JeffreyFresh Apple Spice Cake, Make It Ahead

Company Pot Roast, Back to Basics
Make Ahead Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Make It Ahead
Arugula with Parmesan, Family Style
Frozen Berries with Hot White Chocolate, At Home

Rigatoni with Sausage and Fennel, Cooking for Jeffrey
Endive, Pear, and Roquefort Salad, Barefoot In Paris
Chocolate Truffles, Barefoot In Paris

Lentil Vegetable Soup, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Parmesan Croutons, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Blini with Smoked Salmon, Barefoot In Paris
Warm Fig and Arugula Salad, Make It Ahead
Herb Marinated Loin of Pork, Back to Basics
Roasted Pear and Apple Sauce, How Easy Is That
Roasted Brussels Sprouts, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Parmesan Fennel Gratin, Make It Ahead
Decadent (Gluten Free) Chocolate Cake, Make It Ahead
Apple Dried Cherry Turnovers, Back to Basics

The Perfect Cup of Coffee, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Roasted Asparagus with Scrambled Eggs, Parties
Make Ahead Salt and Pepper Biscuits, Make It Ahead

WHAT I LEARNED

COMPANY POT ROAST. This is the best pot roast recipe I know, and I have cooked this for years. That being said, you need to know one very important detail. The cooking time on the recipe does not yield a tender roast. It yields a sliceable, sharp-knife-required, chewy pot roast. If this is how you prefer your roast, then make it as written. I, however, prefer pot roast to be a fork-tender, falling apart, no-knife-required situation. I always add two hours to the cook time to get the texture I prefer. Other than this one detail, this recipe is perfect. My favorite way to prepare this roast is always a day in advance. The flavors meld into something even more mouthwatering than when it is fresh from the oven, and there is something wonderfully comforting about walking in the door, opening the fridge, grabbing a pot, and knowing dinner will be ready once it reheats gently on the stove.

RIGATONI WITH SAUSAGE AND FENNEL. There have been a few moments along the way that have stood out as miraculous and memorable. This pasta meal held one of those moments for me. Everything about Rigatoni with Sausage and Fennel is right and perfect. To quote my husband Timm, “I don’t ever want to eat pasta that isn’t this pasta.” To read the recipe, you would never guess it would be a stand out. I fixed this for staff lunch on a Friday, and we all agreed it was one of the best things we had ever eaten. If you make one thing from this project, this pasta recipe might be the one.

LEMON CHICKEN BREASTS. In the trove of chicken recipes that Ina has in her collection, it can be easy to glaze over this one and think, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. Chicken, olive oil, lemon. Same song, fourteenth verse.” Hold the phone. This formula works for a reason, and never has it been so obvious than with this seemingly basic version of baked chicken breasts. This was part of our Ina Lunch menu, and our guests were wowed. Behind the scenes, Treslyn was quietly nibbling on the leftovers, looked at me, and said, “I’m sort of having a moment right now with this chicken.” It’s true. Something happens in this recipe that transforms a few basic ingredients into something spectacular. In fact, I have tried this recipe on a variety of different cuts of chicken, even recycling the leftover sauce into yet another round of baked chicken, only to have the results fail me never. This would be an excellent recipe for a novice cook to try. And it would also make an incredibly thoughtful gift to take a family with a new baby or a new neighbor. This recipe is the essence of elevating the everyday into something worth savoring.

WARM GOAT CHEESE IN PHYLLO. If there were such thing as a truly difficult Ina recipe, this might be it. Not because of anything inherently challenging about the execution, but because working with phyllo dough is never easy. Phyllo is paper thin, dries out in a second, and requires a little (fine, a lot) of fussing over to get it to behave. If you know me, you know I tend not to be a fusser. But phyllo made me fuss. I did everything I know to do to ensure success. I had all of my supplies out (melted butter, pastry brush, damp towel, breadcrumbs, sheet tray, sliced goat cheese, pastry board), and my phyllo was fully defrosted. All signs pointed to success. As I began to work with the dough, carefully cutting and wrapping disks of goat cheese in layers of phyllo, the first couple turned out wonderfully. Then, things started to deteriorate (quite literally, as the phyllo dries out), and I became flustered. I hurried the process along, basically just sort of sloppily wrapping goat cheese in sheets the best I could, and I worried that half of my lunch guests would end up with perfect little packages of baked goat cheese, and the other half would have sad piles of messy dough bits and melted cheese. I was wrong. The one redeeming quality of phyllo dough is that no matter how it looks when it goes into the oven, it always looks beautiful when it comes out. It bakes up golden brown and flaky, and it adds an elegant (if not rustic, in my case) touch to the finished dish. No one was the wiser as to which bundles were perfectly executed and which were victims of a flustered finish. Maybe I don’t hate phyllo after all.

As usual, there are so many more things to share, but I will end for now. I would love to hear any questions you may have!

Ina In A Year: Week 3

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Three, I found my stride in the kitchen. After a thirty-recipe, husband-out-of-town, dinner-party-hosting Week Two, this week felt like a cake walk. My body was feeling less sore, my emotions less erratic, my pacing more predictable. This week I really started having fun!

This week also happened to be our daughter Norah’s birthday week, which meant a large family dinner on Wednesday. We served Ina’s Lasagna with Turkey Sausage, Garlic Ciabatta Bread, and Perfect Potato Pancakes which (oh my gosh!) were one of the best things I have ever tasted.

On Tuesday, after beating the Coffee Meringue Buttercream for almost an hour, I assembled the beautiful four-layer Devil’s Food cake from the cover of Cooking for Jeffrey. It was a rainy day, and the store was packed with lunch goers. I decided to slice the cake, hand out free samples, and ask for everyone’s feedback. It was a fantastic impromptu moment! Everyone tasted, commented, tasted again, and engaged in a session of constructive criticism and preferences. I personally didn’t love the cake. Others thought it was fabulous. To see a room full of people unite over cake is a memory worth cherishing.

I am officially done passing judgement on any of Ina’s recipes before I try them. I have been stunned numerous times already by the way simple ingredients, combined in the right proportions, using winning techniques, yield off-the-charts flavor every time. You cannot jude a Barefoot Contessa recipe by the list of ingredients. I have flipped past so many recipes over the years thinking, “I bet that’s not very special” only to realize in the past three weeks how wrong I have been. If nothing else, this project will guide me through a year of preparing and cooking the best food I have ever tasted.

One question I get asked a lot is “Is there anything you haven’t liked so far?” The answer is yes. I can count on one had the recipes that haven’t quite done much for me, and that I probably would not prepare again. These, however, are the rare exception, and probably have more to do with me than the recipe. In the almost 1,000 recipes she has published, I expect not to care for a few here or there. May we all have such high performance percentages were we to offer something creative to the world.

This week, the Decadent (Gluten Free) Chocolate Cake did not do it for me. I used 70% bittersweet chocolate, which may have proved to be too dark for my liking. I could be talked into trying the recipe again with a lower percentage dark chocolate. But the texture was off as well. It was crumbly and dry. I have had delicious flourless cakes in the past, and they tend to be moist and almost fudge-like. This one did not turn out that way for me. In fact, one of my daughters looked at the cake and said, “Aren’t you going to do anything to it to make it look better?” Taste is subjective, results can vary from time to time, and there are bound to be recipes that aren’t my cup of tea. But most of them are proving to be exactly my cup of tea (with seconds, thank you very much), and the more I cook and enjoy this food, the more I am convinced of how talented Ina is, and how grateful I am for her contribution to the culinary world.

WHAT I COOKED

French Bistro Steaks with Provencal Butter, Back to Basics
Baked Potatoes with Yogurt and Sour Cream, Back to Basics
Roasted Parsnips and Carrots, Back to Basics

Devil’s Food Cake with Coffee Meringue Buttercream, Cooking for Jeffrey

Parmesan Roasted Asparagus, Family Style
Truffled Filet of Beef Sandwiches, Back to Basics
Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad, Back to Basics
Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, Parties
Honey Vanilla Fromage Blanc, Back to Basics

Perfect Potato Pancakes, Cooking for Jeffrey
Lasagna with Turkey Sausage, Family Style
Garlic Ciabatta Bread, Back to Basics

Warm Duck Salad, At Home
Chive Risotto Cakes, Back to Basics

Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage, Foolproof
Chocolate Pudding Cream Tart, How Easy Is That

Campari Orange Spritzer, Back to Basics
Pappa al Pomodoro, Back to Basics
White Pizzas with Arugula, Back to Basics
Affogato Sundaes, Back to Basics
Raspberry Baked French Toast, Make It Ahead

WHAT I LEARNED

ROASTED TOMATO CAPRESE SALAD. File this under the top ten things I have ever made. The oven-dried tomatoes are to die for. I want everyone I know to taste this! I forced Molly, my tomato-hating coworker, to eat one of the tomatoes, and she loved it. I’m telling you, this dish is incredible. I started with terrible grocery store Roma tomatoes. They were hard, underripe, cheap, and out of season. But this recipe transformed them into little orbs of delight with just a few simple ingredients and time in the oven. To. Die. For.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND APPLE SOUP. Healthy food alert! This soup happens to be vegetarian, dairy free, and gluten free. Who knew? The flavor is a perfect combination of sweet and salty, with a bit of heat. Something about it keeps you coming back for just one more bite. I used a food mill to process the soup, which I am learning yields the best texture in situations like this. Sure, you can use an immersion blender (like I have for years) or process it in a blender, but the food mill gives you the perfect chunky-smooth results. I got smart and used pre-cut butternut squash, which in this situation is a smart choice. In other situations (like roasted Butternut Squash), it can be a gamble because some of the cubes cook at different rates. But in a soup, don’t bother cutting your own squash. I highly recommend this soup.

PERFECT POTATO PANCAKES. These are, in fact, perfect. I had never tasted or prepared potato pancakes before making Ina’s, and let me just emphasize that these are worth it. I literally went to bed with a stomach ache because I ate so many. I could not stop. To quote my daughter, they are “like a really elegant Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion potato chip.” Truthfully, while I was prepping the ingredients, I was already gearing up to give them a thumbs down in my review, simply because of the huge pile of dishes required to pull them off as written. The pot to boil the potatoes. The food processor. The food mill. Two large bowls. It’s a lot of dishes. But alas, these are worth every dish. I made the batter, but it in quart containers, washed all the dishes, and then set up my frying station. As I started to scoop them out, I could tell I was going to love them. They are craggy, golden, and crisp on the outside. Yet, perfectly soft and pillowy on the inside. Topped with sour cream and chives…well, you can see why I could not restrain myself. Sadly, a couple of weeks later, I attempted these again, only to discover that you cannot make them early in the day and fry them later. They get watery and utterly fail. I would want you to know that these are worth it, require a ton of dishes, must be made right before you fry them, and again, totally worth it.

LASAGNA WITH TURKEY SAUSAGE. When will I learn? When Ina says to use turkey sausage, you use turkey sausage. I have been making this lasagna for almost ten years, and even crafted the Hurley House lasagna based on this recipe. And yet, from day one, I have assumed that in no way would turkey sausage be the right choice. Come on, Ina. Everyone knows pork sausage is better. Silly, silly me. You know what tastes amazing in this lasagna? Turkey sausage. I can’t even explain why it works, but it works. I would bet my life on this lasagna. It is the best lasagna you can ever make, and it will wow you every time. I always make this ahead and bake it later for dinner. The leftovers are genius. And the secret ingredient is the goat cheese. Don’t skip it. You’ll never know it’s there, but it totally makes the dish have a distinct flavor that keeps you coming back for more.

ORECCHIETTE WITH BROCCOLI RABE AND SAUSAGE. Oh-wreck-ee-eht-teh. Say it with gusto, and you’ll get it right. Speaking of getting it right, this was satisfying and perfect. Warm. Hearty. Easy. I would double the amount of sausage next time, just because I rather liked the sausage and wanted a few more pieces in my bowl. It will easily feed eight to ten adults, and this would be an ideal meal to take a family. In my mind, I can picture delivering it still warm in the pot, with a chunk of good parmesan, a loaf of crusty bread, and a bottle of red wine. What a gift.

AFFOGATO SUNDAES. Do yourself a favor and figure out a way to get this on your to do list ASAP. You’re going to need to whip up a batch of homemade whipped cream, but that’s a good thing because you’ve been wanting to figure out how to do that anyways. Plus, it takes less than three minutes, so no excuses. Then, brew up some espresso (either use a stove top percolator, or buy the instant powder and add boiling water). Have Haggan Daaz Vanilla Ice Cream and a bottle of Kahlua nearby. When the cream is whipped and the espresso is hot, scoop your ice cream into a bowl (or a coffee mug!), top it with the liqueur, the espresso, and a dollop of whipped cream. Throw a few chocolate covered espresso beans on for good measure and sink into the best dessert you’re going to experience for a while. The hot, the cold, the sweet, the bitter, the firm ice cream, the soft whipped cream…it has it all. I wanted to only take one bite (because I was really full from dinner), but I finished the entire thing. I completely agree with Ina’s note in the intro. This would make an incredibly easy yet elegant dessert for a dinner party. I want this on my birthday. I want to serve this to all my girlfriends. I want you to make this so we can talk about how good it is.

Before I sign off, I want to share a kernel of a thought that is emerging, challenging and surprising me as I cook this food and share it with others. Eating the food from these menus continues to bring a kind of restorative emotional experience. At first I thought it was just me, but then other people began verbalizing the same idea. “I was feeling really down before lunch, but something about this meal made me feel better.” “I was having a bad day, and this helped.”

This food is nourishing on a level that goes beyond nutrition. The flavors, the effort, the love…you can taste all of these elements in each dish, and part of that love is transferred to the person eating it. Food isn’t a substitute for emotional health, but when executed with excellence, it sure does foster a sense of care and love among those you share it with. Our staff lunches have become a connection point because we all get to taste this incredible food together and marvel at how stunning it feels to be cared for in a tangible extravagent, yet earthy and stisfying way.

The question I am asking lately is, “Is it possible to receive love and care through a tangible object, such as food, without that object becoming a false god?” I am staring to think the answer is yes, and I want to explore this theme further in the coming weeks. All I know is that every time I sit down with someone to share one of these meals, something happens on a level deeper than the sensory experience of tasting the food. I can’t wait to explore this more as we go forward.

Thank you for reading! What are your thoughts on this topic?

Ina In A Year: Week 4

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Four, I felt fairly proud of myself. I was doing it. I was working the plan, cooking almost every day, producing delicious food, and serving it to people I loved. I was full of life and feeling invigorated by the process.

Week Four also happened to be the week where I lost my ability to do it all. Somewhere between staying on track with the Ina Project, running Hurley House, posting on social media, caring for our family, and writing weekly blog posts, something had to give. I decided to push pause on writing the weekly blog updates in real time.

I knew that my schedule would only continue to ramp up with the holidays on the horizon, so I continued cooking the recipes as planned and taking notes, with the intention of catching up on the writing at the end of December or early January.

So here I sit, on December 26, keeping this promise to myself, diving into a bit of an ocean of material to share with you. The notes I took and the photos help bring to my memory the details of each week, and I have missed sharing these posts. I look forward to catching up and continuing the story!

As an added feature, where possible I have linked the recipes below to trusted sources where they are available online in their original form. Happy cooking!

WHAT I COOKED

Straw and Hay with Gorgonzola, Foolproof

Thyme-Roasted Marcona Almonds, Foolproof
Accidental Turkey, Foolproof
Mushroom and Leek Bread Pudding, Foolproof
Sweet Potato Puree, Foolproof
Peas and Pancetta, Foolproof
Maple Pecan Pie, Foolproof

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Barefoot in Paris
Sauteed Shredded Brussels Sprouts, Cooking for Jeffrey
Spaghetti Squash with Garlic and Parmesan, Cooking for Jeffrey
Skillet Brownies, Make It Ahead

Eli’s Asian Salmon, At Home
Roasted Baby Bok Choy, Make It Ahead
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Back to Basics

Crab Cakes with Remoulade Sauce, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Crunchy Iceberg Salad with Creamy Blue Cheese, Make It Ahead
Steakhouse Steaks, How Easy Is That?
Baked Polenta with Mushrooms and Blue Cheese, Make It Ahead
Coconut Cake, At Home

Scrambled Eggs with Goat Cheese, Family Style
Cheddar Dill Scones, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

WHAT I LEARNED

STRAW AND HAY WITH GORGONZOLA. It is assumed if you decide to make this dish, that you enjoy Gorgonzola cheese. If that is the case, as it is for me, then this pasta dish is going to please your blue-cheese-loving heart. Wide tagliatelle noodles are covered in a gorgonzola cream sauce, laced with crunchy ribbons of crisp prosciutto, tossed with fresh green peas, and freshened up with a chiffonade of basil. It is, in my opinion, the perfect upscale pasta dish. There are a lot of flavors and elements happening in this dish, and while it is easy to prepare, the finished product is not simple. It requires nothing served with it on the side, due to the richness and complexity of flavors, and an argument could be made that even serving dessert would be too much. The recipe says it serves three to four servings, and I would say it easily serves four as written. I doubled this to feed my family, and it would have amply served eight adults. I found the most difficult part of this recipe to be abstaining from eating all of the crunchy ham bits before you add them back into the finished dish. Self-control required.

ACCIDENTAL TURKEY. If you cook only one of Ina’s turkeys, cook this one. It is my favorite. I served this at an Ina Lunch, and it was not until the turkey was in the oven that I started to do the math and had a bit of panic. The recipe calls for 45 minutes in the oven at 450 degrees followed by 60 minutes at 325 degrees, which yields a total cook time under two hours for a fourteen pound bird. When I roast a five-pound chicken it requires an hour and fifteen minutes, so how in the world would this bird be cooked in less than two hours? I came up with an emergency plan to feed my lunch guests something different, assuming the turkey would not be done in time, but when I took its internal temperature at the prescribed time, it was perfectly cooked. I don’t know how it worked, but it worked. In less than two hours, I had a beautiful, crisp-skinned, succulent turkey, ready for carving. This bird was also dry-brined, which as we all know, is my method of choice to ensure a well-seasoned bird.

COCONUT CAKE. I love this cake. It is one of the first Ina desserts I ever cooked, and it never fails. If you are a novice in the cake baking department, start here. Follow the recipe perfectly, and you will discover why homemade cake is a thing of beauty. The cake is light, moist, full of vanilla and almond. It smells like heaven, and it tastes equally wonderful. However, let’s have a little chat about cream cheese frosting. We all love the way it tastes, with it’s sweet tangy creaminess crowning certain cakes, primarily coconut or carrot. But it is not the easiest thing in the world to work with. Room temperature cream cheese (which is required) is runnier than room temperature butter. But if you add too much powdered sugar to help firm up the finished product, you lose the wonderfully sophisticated tang and subtleness that defines cream cheese frosting. As written, this recipe will yield a perfect tasting cream cheese frosting, but know that it will not yield a stiff frosting which is required to make cakes look picture perfect. The easy answer is to do your best and cover the whole thing in shredded coconut so no one even notices. But if you are looking to build a beautiful layer cake using cream cheese frosting, you are going to have to find a different recipe. Or maybe I need to write one.

CHICKEN WITH FORTY CLOVES OF GARLIC. The first line of this recipe in which I am told to butcher a chicken into eight pieces killed me. I hate butchering chicken. I want my butcher to butcher my chicken. It is tedious and messy and not at all how I want to spend my time in the kitchen. I did not do a very good job of hiding my frustration whilst I battled the fowl with my knife and bare hands. Once that part was done, this recipe is quite nice. Having made this several times in the past, I knew what to expect, and I knew that like most braised meat dishes, this only improves with time. It is the perfect candidate for a make-ahead dinner. The chicken is buttery and soft, swimming is a fragrant sauce which is almost sweet from all the garlic that has been transformed with time and heat. As I was preparing this, I found myself inspired to one day create a version of this recipe that uses only dark meat and captures the essence of this meal without the bother of butchering a bird or the ill-suited white meat. Stay tuned.

SKILLET BROWNIES. Funny story. We ordered individual cast iron skillets in which to bake the Skillet Brownies (as noted in the recipe) which I intended to serve at a staff dinner in my home. The skillets arrived that morning, but instead of being the right size, they were extra tiny, and proved not at all what we needed for the job. Without the correct size pan, I soldiered forward and decided to triple this recipe, intended for four people, and to bake the entire batter in my 10-inch cast iron skillet. It was the hit of the evening. I scooped out an entire quart of Haggan Daaz Vanilla Ice Cream on top of the warm crackly brownie, still gooey in the center, and I took it to the table with a jar full of spoons. We gathered around and dove in. Moans ensued, and in an embarrassingly short amount of time, there was not a crumb left. We all agreed this was one of the finer moments of the Ina project, and a dessert we could not wait to replicate. This brownie recipe really is the gold standard, no matter what size pan you choose to use.

STEAKHOUSE STEAKS WITH CHIVE ROQUEFORT SAUCE. Goodness gracious, these are perfection. Notes for next time include learning that ten ounces of meat is way too much per person, making these steaks large enough to share. But the outer crust, speckled with coarsely cracked black pepper, paired with the meltingly soft medium rare inside is a combination I can fully support. I took care in making sure every steak was exactly the same weight. In fact, I combined several trimmed off pieces of meat together, tying them into a scrap steak of sorts, and it worked fine. It is also worth noting that good ventilation is required for this recipe. The smoking hot skillet and the ample covering of peppercorns makes for a very smoke-filled cough-inducing environment for the few minutes that it is searing on the stove. Be warned, you will probably need to open a window.

CRUNCHY ICEBERG SALAD WITH CREAMY BLUE CHEESE. It doesn’t always happen that the finished product ends up looking like the photo in the book, but this was indeed the case with this salad. I loved everything about it. The presentation is particularly creative, though not at all difficult. Instead of using a standard wedge of Iceberg lettuce, you slice the head into thick slabs and lay them flat on the plate. Then the toppings and dressing are piled on top, tumbling over the top of the lettuce and making a very pretty yet practical salad course. As an added touch, I chilled my salad plates in the freezer before serving. I like this trick for keeping the iceberg as cold as possible for as long as possible.

CHEDDAR DILL SCONES. I am a sucker for hot bread products, and homemade scones, fresh from the oven hit the spot every time. Scones are similar to biscuits, and the only way to get good at making them, is to have a recipe you can trust and to go for it. Flour your hands and dive in. If you’ve never made scones before, you have to try. This rendition with cubes of cheddar and lots of fresh dill, was a savory delight. I used sharp cheddar and found the flavor to be necessary to cut through all of the flour and butter. The egg wash on top yields golden crusty results, and the flecks of sea salt give texture and added seasoning. I highly recommend these scones.

As always, I have not included every thought I had on every recipe I cooked. To do so would be a bit too much to expect anyone to read or care about. But if you have questions about any of these recipes, please ask! I have made them all and would love to give you my opinion based on my experience!

Ina In A Year: Week 5

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Five, Ina released her eleventh cookbook, Cook Like A Pro. We celebrated by hosting our first VIP party for our sponsors on the book-release date. In my head, this was going to be easy. I would choose party food from the project and then make it, which would both serve food to our guests and cross recipes off the list. What I failed to consider was the increased work that comes with making increased quantities of each recipe.

You’d think I’d never hosted a party before, or, you know, owned a food-based business. I found myself short on time, but I worked smart by prepping things in large batches, getting as much done ahead of time as possible, and then making sure I had lots of helping hands for all of the last minutes items like decorating the room and setting up the different stations.

The party was a blast. We pre-poured the cocktails into glasses (rented, of course) and served them on a shelf placed directly in front of our walk-in cooler door. Guests could help themselves, and no one had to play bartender. We also played Ina Bingo, which was a riot. Words like “Jeffrey” “good olive oil,” and “Paris” were on each bingo board. The winners of each round received one of my favorite tools or ingredients. To end the evening, we did a drawing and gave away a copy of the new cookbook. I loved getting to celebrate our Ina In A Year VIPs with a fun and delicious party.

WHAT I COOKED

Scallops Provencal, Barefoot In Paris
Green Salad Vinaigrette, Barefoot In Paris

Caramelized Bacon, Foolproof
Lamb Sausage in Puff Pastry, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Roasted Figs and Prosciutto, How Easy Is That?
Bruschetta with Peppers and Gorgonzola, Back to Basics
Chocolate Chunk Blondie Bars, Foolproof
Pomegranate Cosmopolitans, Back to Basics
Fresh Whiskey Sours, At Home

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast, How Easy Is That?
Roasted Butternut Squash, How Easy Is That?
Spinach Pie, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Pumpkin Mousse Parfait, At Home

Buffalo Chicken Wings, Family Style
Sliders, How Easy Is That?
Blue Cheese Coleslaw, At Home
Chipotle and Rosemary Roasted Nuts, How Easy Is That?
Truffled Popcorn, How Easy Is That?
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing, At Home

Four Hour Lamb with French Flageolets, Foolproof
Frech Flageolets Beans, FoolproofPan Roasted Root Vegetables, Back to Basics

Filet of Beef au Poivre, Barefoot in Paris
Matchstick Potatoes, Barefoot in Paris
Roasted Pears with Blue Cheese, Back to Basics
Plum Cake “Tatin,” Barefoot in Paris

WHAT I LEARNED

SCALLOPS PROVENCAL. This whole recipe was a learning experience. I have tasted scallops once or twice off of Timm’s plate in a restaurant, but I had never cooked them at home. I did a lot of research about scallops, but at the end of it all, I just bought the sea scallops from the fish counter at my local Central Market. I suppose scallops are the kind of thing you want to eat when you are on the coast, and I assume the ones available to me are not as fresh as ones caught in a coastal town (like, for example, the Hamptons). But I did the best I could. I bought two pounds (doubling the recipe) for our family of six. The recipe said if you are using sea scallops (as opposed to bay scallops) you should cut them in half horizontally. This seemed strange to me, so I googled the recipe and found a video clip from Ina’s show on Food Network where she cooks this very dish. On the video, her scallops looked as large as mine, and she said nothing about cutting them in half horizontally. Wanting to try it both ways, I cut one pound in half, and I left the other pound as is. I definitely preferred the ones that were not cut in half. I wish I had preheated my pan longer before adding in the butter so that my sear would have been more crusty. Were these delicious? They were. My family enjoyed them thouroughly. But I am not sure that scallops are my thing. I enjoy seafood, and I don’t have an issue with texture, but these are hard for me to fully enjoy. Scallops have a very distinct fishy flavor, and they are quite rich. I ate two and had to stop. My kids asked for seconds, so that feels like a win. These literally came together in under ten minutes, and the sauce is insanely good. These made for a quick dinner, and I served it over plain white rice per the recipe’s suggestion.

CARAMELIZED BACON. This is, without a doubt, one of the top ten recipes from Ina’s repertoire. I made and served it for the VIP party, and it was the first to disappear. I made this around lunch time, and then left it out at room temperature until the party. Don’t be afraid of the mess it makes on the sheet trays. It can’t be helped, and the foil lining helps tremendously. I forgot to place a rack inside the pan, but it still worked beautifully.

ROASTED FIGS WITH PROSCIUTTO. Again, one of my favorites, with the added bonus of having two ingredients, requiring no cooking, yet yielding delicious results. I can’t stress enough how easy and delicious these are, and I can’t think of a better party food or first course.

POMEGRANATE COSMOPOLOTAINS. Be warned! These pack quite a punch. I may have discovered this the hard way, but that is another story for another time. I made these in large batches early in the day, stored them in quart containers, chilled them in the fridge, and then poured them into mini martini glasses right before the party. At the end of the party, we had extra cocktails left over, so I sent them home with friends (in quart containers). We called it a Party To Go.

FRESH WHISKEY SOURS. If you make one cocktail of Ina’s, make this one. It will set the bar for what fresh sour mix is supposed to taste like. It will ruin you from ever enjoying the bottled stuff ever again, but that is not a bad thing. This drink is kind of like grown up lemonade. It’s a whiskey drink for people who think they don’t like whiskey. I love serving these in the summer, but there really isn’t a wrong time to serve them. They are tart, tangy, sweet, and a lovely amber color. I love the garnish of the red cherry.

BUFFALO CHICKEN WINGS. I treasure the moments from this project where my assumptions have been proven wrong. Preparing these Buffalo Chicken Wings was one of those moments. I had planned a “Game Day” menu which included these wings, plus sliders, coleslaw, popcorn, nuts, and a dessert. I knew that everything would be delicious, but I sincerely expected the wings to be not quite on point. Buffalo Chicken Wings don’t strike me as the kind fo food Ina is known for getting right. I was wrong. I loved these more than I expected to. When I eat Buffalo wings (which is rare), I usually don’t enjoy the process. They are typically way over-sauced, leaving my lips burning and my tongue numb. These are seasoned, roasted to a crisp, then slathered in a buttery hot sauce and broiled until the sauce thickens and the butter browns. I used my knowledge of chicken and amply salted the wings beforehand, because chicken requires a lot of salt to taste like anything at all. The finished product was something I would make again. As an added note of convenience, the recipe called for whole wings that you then butcher yourself. Next time I would purchase the ones that are already separated, because nobody wants to butcher chicken wings. Nobody.

BLUE CHEESE COLESLAW. I am doing my best not to bash many elements of this project because the last thing we need is more negativity. But I need to take a moment and point out one of my main frustrations that continues to come up again and again in the context of these recipes. I have found that while I can implicitly trust Ina’s recipes to produce perfect results, I cannot trust Ina’s suggested number of servings. Let’s take a look at this recipe for Blue Cheese Coleslaw as an example. The recipe states it will serve 6 to 8 people. This recipe yielded four quarts (which is 16 cups) of coleslaw, and it required me to use a giant stainless steel bowl from the Hurley House kitchen in order to mix it all together. In what universe does sixteen cups feed 6 to 8 people? In my universe, when I serve coleslaw, people take maybe half a cup. Maybe. Coleslaw is like beans in this regard. The serving size is small, particularly when there are lots of other items on the menu. No one takes two cups of coleslaw. This recipe easily serves 24 to 30 people, and you are going to need a bowl the size of a bathtub in which to mix it. Apart from those caveats, this recipe was delicious.

CHIPOTLE AND ROSEMARY ROASTED NUTS. If you are a Hurley House customer, then this recipe sounds familiar. Yes, these are the very same nuts we sell on our shelves. I first discovered these years ago, and began making them for my family and friends. The rave reviews never ceased. These are so popular at HH we have trouble keeping them in stock. At Christmas time, there is a waiting list. I was reminded, as I made a charming little single batch of these nuts in my home kitchen, why these are amazing. The flavors of smokey chipotle, sweet maple syrup, herby rosemary, and bright orange juice are perfection. I also would wish for everyone to make a batch of these so that you can fully appreciate (as I did this past week) how much work is required to produce these nuts on a mass scale at Hurley House. They are not difficult, so don’t be scared off from making them, but they are a bit high maintenance and they make a mess. Good things often require the most from us in the kitchen, and that is a lesson worth remembering.

PAN ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES. One of the interesting discoveries from cooking a lot of different vegetable dishes has been the category of flavors that vegetables can be divided into. There is the sweet category (butternut squash, sweet potatoes, corn), the green category (green beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts), and there is the root vegetable category (carrots, parsnips, turnip, celery root). Pan Roasted Root Vegetables highlights the very distinct flavor of the root vegetable. Like my experience with scallops, I don’t dislike this, but it’s not my favorite. This dish reminds me of what I think kids who don’t like vegetables imagine vegetables to taste like. It is overwhelmingly full of the common taste denominator found in root vegetables. Usually, when a root vegetable is included in a dish, it sings the root vegetable note and adds an interesting essence to the finished dish. In this case, however, you will find a choir of only root vegetables, and if you don’t like that note, this is not the dish for you. Treslyn, who works at Hurley House and has a deep abiding love for root vegetables, and who also routinely sautés celery as a side dish (who even does that?), could not get enough of this dish. She gobbled it up, and asked for more. This side dish was beautiful on the plate, simple to prepare, but perhaps not my favorite flavor profile.

So many more things to say, but alas, I will end here. Questions? Comments? Thoughts?

Ina In A Year: Week 6

WHAT HAPPENED

I never get sick. But in Week Six, I got the flu. It hit me on a Thursday morning, and by lunch time I was in bed, as miserable as I can remember being in a long time. Not only was the process of being feverish and achey awful , the recovery period the week after was almost as difficult. I had no stamina, and I felt weak and not able to do as much as I normally could. No one talks about the flu recovery process, and I was not prepared.

Thankfully, since I was well in the first half of the week, I was able to cook the Ina Lunch that Wednesday. The recipes slated for the rest of the week had to be redistributed. While I had allowed open time in the schedule for unexpected events, such as getting the flu and being in bed for five days, I did not enjoy having to use this option so early in the project. Alas, what else could I do? It was a brief week of cooking, and a longer time of recovery.

WHAT I COOKED

Crostini with Tuna Tapanade, How Easy Is That?
Crudite Platter, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Perfect Roast Turkey, Parties!
Spinach Gratin, Parties!
Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Apples, Parties!
Popovers, Parties!
Brownie Tart, Barefoot in ParisCreme Anglaise, Barefoot in Paris

WHAT I LEARNED

CRUDITE PLATTER. Crudite (pronounced crew-duh-tay) is a fancy word for raw vegetables. Most of the time we reduce the idea of crudite down to baby carrots and broccoli florets served with a terrible ranch-style dip. Not Ina! Ina’s Crudite Platter called for strikingly beautiful and unusual raw vegetables, such as fennel, rainbow carrots, and radicchio, served with a vinaigrette on the side. It was, in fact, artful and perfect. I can only imagine how beautiful this dish could be if made in the summer when the produce is at its peak. Given that I made this is November, it perhaps did not achieve its full potential, but it was gorgeous nonetheless. At the end of the day, what I really wanted was a bowl of Ina’s Basil Green Goddess Dressing instead of the vinaigrette, but we did as she instructed, and it was elegant.

SPINACH GRATIN. This dish is worth trying, if you like spinach. The one thing I find surprising, and quite out of character, is the lack of seasoning guidelines included in this recipe. With both ample cream and ample spinach, both of which require copious amounts of salt to actually taste like much of anything, it surprised me that the recipes reads, “Season to taste.” Most home cooks do not know how to do this well, particularly in a setting where you can’t really taste as you go because the mixture contains raw eggs. I have learned how to season things well by following Ina’s very specific instructions found in most of her recipes. I love that she normally tells me exactly how much salt and pepper to add, because she is always right and it makes a huge difference in the finished dish. This is one recipe that lacks that instruction, and I can’t figure out why. That being said, this one is a winner. It is crucial to make sure you squeeze squeeze squeeze all the water out of the spinach. This is in fact, the secret to this dish. Squeeze out that water, make sure you add plenty of salt, and you will reap the rewards.

SMASHED SWEET POTATOES WITH APPLES. Imagine sweet potatoes, cooked with caramelized apples, doused in brown butter. I dare you not to drool. This was next level good. It really takes a special kind of talent to write a sweet potato recipe that is indeed sweet, but to balance the end result in such a way that you don’t feel like you’re eating candy. The apples add depth. The butter adds richness. And I could easily see this as a welcome addition to any holiday table.

BROWNIE TART. I thought this was just going to be brownie batter baked in a tart pan as a way to sort of elevate the humble brownie into a fancier, but basically the same, version of the classic we all know and love. It was that, but more. The finished product exuded elegance. The brownie tart would be enough on its own, but coupled with the chocolate sauce and the creme anglaise, it was perfection. This is a great recipe to become familiar with a tart pan, as there isn’t a crust involved. Tart pans are my favorite because they make everything look beautiful with the tiny curves of the edges and the wide open space of the pan. Baking brownies in a tart pan is the essence of what Ina offers. Take something basic, and make it beautiful.

Ina In A Year: Week 7

WHAT HAPPENED

Week Seven could be categorized as the week of unusual ingredients. Cod, truffles, turnips, mussels, and lamb. There was a lot going on. Interesting and unusual, but a lot.

One of my favorite memories from the week involved the Roast Turkey with Truffle Butter. The turkey itself was fine, but the pan drippings from that recipe were over the top incredible, thanks to the truffle butter that all of the golden brown onions were browning in by the time the bird came out of the oven.

Everyone in the kitchen suggested I should make gravy out of the pan drippings. I paused, quietly working up the courage to admit a hard truth. “Hey guys, I’ve never made gravy.” Cue the shock and awe and immediate stopping of everything else in order to coach me through how to make gravy from pan drippings.

I’ve made sauces, and I’ve made sausage gravy to go with biscuits, but I’ve never made gravy from pan drippings. The idea of making last minute gravy from the mess left at the bottom of the roasting pan has always seemed like a bad idea. Until this week. The gravy those drippings produced, thanks to the perfect coaching from Kailey and Naomi, was epic. Full of savory umami notes that made the turkey taste even better than it did without it, I was convinced that pan drippings do in fact make delicious gravy.

WHAT I COOKED

Parker’s Fish and Chips, Family Style
Roast Turkey with Truffle Butter, How Easy Is That?
Mashed Yellow Turnips with Crispy Shallots, Family Style
Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms, How Easy Is That?
Zucchini with Parmesan, Family Style
Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart, Family Style

French Mussel Bisque, How Easy Is That?

Herb Roasted Lamb, Family Style
Spinach with Feta and Pine Nuts, Foolproof
Black and White Angel Food Cake, At Home

Amelia’s Jambalaya, Foolproof

WHAT I LEARNED

PARKER’S FISH AND CHIPS. Parker Hodges was a chef at the original Barefoot Contessa store. There are several recipes named after Parker (Beef Stew, Split Pea Soup, Short Ribs). This was the first time I had fried cod in my home kitchen. We have fried fish outside in a propane fish fryer, and we frequently pick up fried cod from a local hole in the wall called Zeke’s Fish and Chips. We love hot fish, battered, deep fried, and served with lots of Timm’s special perfect tartar sauce on the side. Timm, by the way, has perfected his own concoction, and we are all ruined in the tartar sauce department. I never am excited about the idea of frying at home, and will avoid it if possible. This recipe helped show me that it’s really not that big of a deal. I have found that using a cast iron pot helps tremendously because the temperature does not fluctuate as much thanks to the heavy iron. This fish was “amazingly delicious,” according to Timm. I agreed.

SAUSAGE STUFFED MUSHROOMS. Top ten side dish of all time. Or maybe it would be better as a first course. But however you decide to serve it, you will not be disappointed. The stuffing alone is worth cooking, even if you decide not to stuff it in mushrooms. It’s incredible. These were so full of flavor and texture, and not at all like those soggy sad cocktail party hors d’oeveurs you might find at an event. These are on my radar for future gatherings.

PUMPKIN BANANA MOUSSE TART. Sometimes, there is a reason two flavors are not often seen together. Such is the case (in my opinion) with pumpkin and banana. Of course, because it’s Ina, there was also orange added to the mix, and the result reminded me of really bad baby food. I could not get it out of my mouth fast enough. I was thankful that the kind souls attending the Ina Lunch on the day I served this were friends so that we could all have an honest moment about the tart and talk about how we wish never to repeat this recipe.

FRENCH MUSSEL BISQUE. The video I made of this soup is archived on my Instagram page. It was so fun and so educational to work with live mussels. They are not difficult, but they do require a tiny bit of knowing what to expect and how to handle them. I also learned that a bisque is a soup that features seafood. This bisque in particular has been one of the best things I have made to date. I absolutely recommend giving this a shot.

JAMBALAYA. If you need a meal to feed a giant crowd, this is your one. Make sure you have an enormous pot, and make sure you give this the full time to cook so that your rice is soft and tender, not hard and crisp. I did not grow up eating jambalaya, so I don’t have a strong sense of what this is “supposed” to taste like. Purists might find something objectionable about In’s version, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would serve it at a game day or large family gathering.

Ina In A Year: Week 8

WHAT HAPPENED

Week Eight was a great week. I love that I can scroll over the list of recipes I cooked and be reminded of so many sense memories. This food was all delicious. In fact, with the exception of the Rum Raisin Truffles, I don’t think there is a single thing on this list that I wouldn’t make again. And the Rum Raisin Truffles weren’t bad, they were just way too much fuss and work for what the finished product produced. I choose to leave candy making to the professionals. The steak, the surprisingly amazing vegetable lasagna, the roulades (sweet and savory!), and the salmon, made Week Eight one for the books.

WHAT I COOKED

Ribeye Steaks with Cornmeal-Fried Onion Rings, At Home
Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes, Cooking for Jeffrey
Provencal Tomatoes, Family Style
Roast Turkey Roulade, Back to Basics
Celery Root and Apple Puree, Back to Basics
Maple Roasted Butternut Squash, Back to Basics
Pumpkin Roulade with Ginger Buttercream, Back to Basics

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna, Make It Ahead
Balsamic Onions and Blue Cheese, Parties!
Rum Raisin Truffles, Foolproof

Salmon and Melting Cherry Tomatoes, Foolproof
Spinach and Ricotta Noodle Pudding, Make It Ahead
Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette, Back to Basics

WHAT I LEARNED

CORNMEAL CRUSTED ONION RINGS. For the second week in a row, I fried something in my home kitchen. Again, all credit goes to the heft and weight of my cast iron pot. These onion rings are everything. Worth the mess of hot oil and dredging station, but really, the process is not as bad as it sounds in my head. My method for disposing of oil also makes frying a bit more palatable. I leave the oil in the pan and let it cool overnight so that the oil is completely room temperature. Then I pour it through a funnel back into the bottle that it came in. On trash day, I toss it in the trash. As I’m typing this I am realizing that maybe there are rules against this, and somewhere in the back of my mind a bell is ringing that we are not supposed to throw oil in the trash but now I can’t be sure. If I am telling you to do something that is illegal or objectionable, please do not comply. And please tell me what the rule is. I like to follow rules. But I also need to know what else I am supposed to do with all of this oil when I fry. Thank you.

CHIPOTLE SMASHED SWEET POTATOES. These were, hands down, the best sweet potato recipe I’ve cooked so far. I made myself ill with the “one more bite” routine. There is something different and appealing about the way the smoky chipotle chili powder offsets the natural sugar of the sweet potatoes. If I were not already so behind on cooking with hundreds of recipes left to plow through, I would be making these three times a week at home. They are that good.

ROAST TURKEY ROULADE. In the moment, I declared this “the only turkey I ever want to eat again ever.” The process was kind of different (butterflying a turkey breast, covering it with stuffing, rolling it up, tying it, roasting it, then slicing it) but it was so juicy and full of all the flavors I want at Thanksgiving. In fact, true story, I used a cornbread-enhanced version of this stuffing recipe at my Thanksgiving table this year. Best stuffing I’ve ever made. Once this project is over, I will be sharing that recipe. Help me remember to do that? Cool.

PUMPKIN ROULADE WITH GINGER BUTTERCREAM. Speaking of roulades that won this week, this pumpkin dessert also was amazing and fun to assemble. The video is saved on my Instagram account. I’ve made one other roulade in my life, and I expected this to be more challenging, but it went really smoothly. I felt like I was channelling my inner Great British Baking Show contestant as I rolled my sponge into a tight perfect spiral. I think Paul Hollywood would have definitely given me a handshake on this one.

ROASTED VEGETABLE LASAGNA. I am compiling a list of “Most Surprisingly Amazing Recipes” which is a nice way to say, “These are the recipes I thought would not be that great but in fact turned out to be amazing.” I think my husband felt the same way. But his response said it all. “This is really incredible.” Simple words, but delivered with such earnest and sheer delight that something which usually centers on meat could deliver such a delicious eating experience.

Ina In A Year: Week 9

WHAT HAPPENED

Week Nine was Thanksgiving week, my favorite week of the entire year because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of all the holidays. Even though I had a trove of options to pick from, most of what I chose to serve at our family’s table were not Ina recipes.

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where specific taste memories are vital to the nostalgic quality of the meal. I couldn’t punt on tradition, and so I stuck with some of my favorites from holidays past. I did, however, choose Ina’s Make Ahead Turkey and Make Ahead Gravy because they are essentially exactly how I roast and serve a turkey.

I say this every year, but no one wants or needs to carve a turkey in front of people, and certainly not at the last minute. Carving a turkey is a mess. It takes time and some finesse, and you are going to get juice everywhere. Save the carving routine for a quiet corner where hungry guests aren’t breathing down your neck asking when it will be ready.

I carved my turkey, covered it, and kept it warm for almost an hour before people arrive. This gave me a chance to finish up everything else and to change into a clean shirt before the meal. I followed the same idea with the gravy by making it early in the week. Eliminating as many last minute variables as possible is working smarter in my book. Make the gravy ahead and ask a willing volunteer to heat gently and stir. Less stress. Less mess.

WHAT I COOKED

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Goat Cheese Tart, Barefoot in Paris
Cranberry Harvest Muffins, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Make Ahead Turkey, Make it Ahead
Make Ahead Gravy, Make It Ahead
Perfect Pie Crust, Foolproof
Ultimate Pumpkin Pie, Foolproof

Roasted Potato and Leek Soup, Back to Basics
Crispy Shallots, Back to Basics
Kir, Barefoot in Paris
Potato Pancakes with Caviar, Barefoot Contessa Parties!
Salad with Warm Goat Cheese, Barefoot Contessa Parties!
Rack of Lamb, Barefoot Contessa Parties!
Orzo with Roasted Vegetables, Barefoot Contessa Parties!
Apple Crostata, Barefoot Contessa Parties!

French Apple Tart, Back to Basics

WHAT I LEARNED

ROASTED TOMATO BASIL SOUP. Roasting humble grocery store tomatoes once again proves to be a wonder-working formula for extricating non-existent flavor and transferring into the finished dish. I hate to sound obvious, but my favorite thing aoubt this soup is that it tastes like tomatoes. I appreciate the absence of cream or other dairy. It doesn’t taste like watery pasta sauce in a soup bowl. It tastes like tomatoes. I also really dig the texture, thanks to my new favorite low-tech kitchen appliance, the food mill. You have to get one of these. It produces results that are smooth, but not in a baby food kind of way. Chunky, yet no chewing required. The soup has body, but still requires a spoon, if that makes any sense. I love mine, and am regretful I waited twenty years to finally listen to Ina and start using a food mill.

CRANBERRY HARVEST MUFFINS. In my book, I require two things from a muffin. I want it to come together in one bowl, because muffins are meant to be eaten in the morning, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time on the process of mixing the batter. Second, I want them to have something that distinguishes them from cake. A lot of muffins are basically cake with fruit (or not). These Cranberry Harvest muffins meet both of my standards. One bowl assembly and lots of texture and add-ins. Check and check. The tart pop of fresh cranberries is spectacular, the heft of dried figs, and the crunch of chopped nuts is perfectly balanced. They baked up golden brown with a tender, moist crumb. I am adding this to my list of items to potentially add to the Hurley House breakfast line up. Stay tuned.

ROASTED POTATO LEEK SOUP. This soup wins. The roasting of the potatoes and leeks before you create the soup really adds a depth of flavor and richness that is typically absent in potato soup. There is a stovetop step where you deglaze the sheet tray you used to roast the vegetables, and I was nervous this wasn’t going to work on my electric range, but it did! The finishing splash of wine, the parmesan, the wilted arugula, and the crispy shallots were perfection. My ideal potato soup.

APPLE CROSTATA. AND FRENCH APPLE TART. Here’s a funny story. I made both of these desserts on the same day and served them together. It was Sunday night, and I was supposed to have made the tart earlier in the week, but I didn’t. I wanted to stay on track for the week, so I decided to turn it into a compare and contrast exercise and make them both at the same time. Because I was looking at both recipes at the same time, I noticed the following. In the intro of the Apple Crostata recipe, it says, “This is my absolute, all-time favorite dessert.” In the intro of the French Apple Tart recipe, it says, “This just might be my all-time favorite dessert.” Oh, Ina. So many favorites. Any who, they were both delicious and equally meriting of being crowned a favorite. The Apple Crostata is more like an open-faced apple pie. It needs to be served warm with a scoop of ice cream. The French Apple Tart is elegant and perfect. Timm described it as a “thin crust apple pizza.” I loved them both, but would probably make the tart again just because of my undying affinity for all things French.

Ina In A Year: Week 10

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Ten we hosted our first Ina Dinner. It was a lot like the Ina Lunch, only twice as many people, and more elegant. I loved it. A dinner party for sixteen people, with amazing food, table settings, and lots of lingering conversations is my dream scenario.

The menu included Prime Rib, which is also called Standing Rib Roast. It is a substantial, pricy, do-not-mess-this-up cut of meat. I was more nervous cooking this dish than I have been in a long time. I had nightmares about messing it up, over cooking it, and not having enough to go around. In the end, it was a success, and there is a reason this dish is saved for special occasions. The taste and texture are exquisitely full of flavor. It was the hit of the evening. I may never be able to afford making one of these again in my life, so I consider it a crowning accomplishment that it turned out exactly as I would have like it to. Thank you, Ina!

WHAT I COOKED

Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup, At Home
Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches, At Home
Pecan Squares, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Spicy Hermit Bars, Cooking for Jeffrey
Maple Roasted Carrot Salad, Cooking for Jeffrey
Cornish Hens with Cornbread Stuffing, At Home
Asparagus with Hollandaise, Barefoot In ParisPear and Parsnip Gratin, Make It Ahead
Sticky Toffee Date Cake with Bourbon Glaze, Foolproof

Prosciutto Roasted Bass with Autumn Vegetables, Back to Basics
Tomato Rice Pilaf, Barefoot in Paris

French Onion Soup, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Warm Vacherin, Cooking for Jeffrey

Baked Virginia Ham, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits, Back to Basics
Balsamic Roasted Beet Salad, Foolproof
Sunday Rib Roast, Family Style
Mustard Horseradish Sauce, Family Style
Stilton Sauce, Family Style
Herb and Apple Bread Pudding, Cooking for Jeffrey
French String Beans, Barefoot in Paris
Mashed Butternut Squash, Family Style
Rum Raisin Rice Pudding, Family Style

WHAT I LEARNED

CREAM OF WILD MUSHROOM SOUP. In much the same way that the French Mussel Bisque from Week Seven used the cooking liquid to flavor the soup, this recipe uses a thirty minute mushroom stock, made from the stems of the mushrooms, to build the foundation of this perfect mushroom soup. This dish came together in under an hour, and even though I was unable to find the specific mushrooms listed in the ingredients, I found it be spot on with whatever mix of mushrooms I found at the market. This yielded a modest six servings, so if you would like more servings or ample leftovers, double as needed.

MAPLE ROASTED CARROT SALAD. Amazing. The carrots alone are worth repeating, and they could stand alone as a delicious side dish on their own. The combination of flavors and textures really does make this a stand out salad. It is beautiful on the plate, with the deep carrot orange on a background of bright green arugula, studded with specks of white goat cheese and deep jewel-toned cranberries. I prepared all the components a bit ahead of when I served it. It was perfection, and I will definitely make this part of my seasonal salad rotation.

CORNISH HENS WITH CORNBREAD STUFFING. Stop the presses. We have a winner. This was, to date, the best thing I have cooked from this project. And, yes, I realized the heft of that statement. Cornish hens are my new favorite thing. To start with, they are quite inexpensive, averaging around $3.00 per hen. After a few days thawing in the fridge (don’t underestimate how long this takes), they require nothing more than salt and pepper, an ample brushing of butter, and one hour in the oven. That’s it. They emerge golden, tender, juicy, and perfect. But wait, it gets better. These little beauties are roasted on top of a bed of onions, which yields a gorgeous base of golden strands of melting onions swimming in the most delicious juices from the butter and roasting meat. And, as if that weren’t enough, each of these hens gets stuffed with the most basic of cornbread stuffings (which calls for store-bought cornbread and requires no cooking!). The sweet cornbread dressing, bathed in the juices of the bird, so perfectly balanced the salty meat, that we literally were all aghast at how superbly sublime these little unassuming hens turned out. We could not get enough. We stood around the baking sheet like vultures, picking the meat off of the bones, groaning with each bite, swearing it was our last, but then diving back in for another go. The delight of being served your own individual tiny chicken is special, unique, and not to be underrated. As it turns out, I (along with another staff member) served these for Christmas Dinner. They were too perfect, simple, inexpensive, and delicious not to. Still not convinced? Come over. I’m cooking Cornish Hens for dinner.

WARM VACHERIN. Do you like hot melting French cheese? Me too. I wish I had better news, but I might be about to break your heart. This was the best cheese I have ever eaten, and yet, it is not readily available where I live. I really thought we were going to have to get creative and air mail this from a cheese shop outside the USA, but then a cheese miracle happened. While on Thanksgiving break in Denver, Colorado, Treslyn wandered into a specialty cheese store and sent me a very excited text. “They have Vacherin!!! How many do you want?” At $50 a pop, she purchased a single, perfect, Vacherin Mont D’or, and she carefully brought it home to Hurley House. Talk about going above and beyond. We baked it according to the recipe, carefully slicing off its lid before putting it in the oven. It came out so perfectly gooey and with a bit of funk, but not too much. I saved a video of the process on my Instagram Stories. We had the best time gathering around and eating that cheese with sliced of toasty bread and tiny gherkin pickles to balance the richness. I want to eat this again in my life, and if that means traveling to Denver, then so be it.

BALSAMIC ROASTED BEET SALAD. Let’s talk about beets. I don’t like them. They taste like soil. Literally, like dirt in my mouth. I don’t get the appeal, and many people whom I respect have told me I just haven’t had the right beet experience. So, I’m open. And if anyone can change my mind, we all know Ina’s my one. I vow to continue to give it an open mind as I progress through all of her beet recipes, starting with this one. I have to say, this was not a bad first go. The beets were soft from the long roast, and I can see how a bright acidic vinaigrette really is necessary to bring them to life. I ate my beets and really worked on becoming better acquainted with them, even if they do taste like licking a shovel.

RUM RAISIN RICE PUDDING. Do you like rice pudding? If so, did you grow up eating it hot or cold? I have only ever had rice pudding as an adult, and only because of Ina. I like it cold. And this version is so great, if you like the flavors of rum raisin. It tastes like the best ice cream you’ve ever eaten, but in a pudding form, with little velvety soft grains fo the softest, creamiest rice you can imagine. I served this scooped into vintage cordial glasses, and it proved to be the perfect portion for a tasty, yet rich dessert.

Ina In A Year: Week 11

WHAT HAPPENED

A funny thing happened at the Week Eleven Ina Lunch, which in hindsight was only funny because I knew the people involved. If they had been strangers, it might have been less funny and more stressful. Basically, there was a reservation misunderstanding, and we had two unexpected guests show up ready to sit and enjoy a leisurely meal together. Babysitters had been arranged, and alternate dates were not an option.

We set another table. We gathered glasses and dishes. And we made it work. I was so thankful for the extra servings of food I happened to have on hand and for the ability to make both of them feel comfortable and welcome in a situation that can tend to make everyone feel awkward or uncomfortable. It was hospitality in action, and it never ceases to speak to my heart.

Hospitality is the art of creating space for others, and while it is a gift when planned in advance, I tend to think it is particularly special when inconvenient or impossible to anticipate. It’s the uncomfortable situations, like unexpected lunch guests, where we get to lean in and say to our guest, “There is always space for you.” I was thankful for the tangible lesson and picture of hospitality this week.

WHAT I COOKED

Homemade Chicken Stock, Foolproof
Mexican Chicken Soup, At Home
Chili Tortilla Chips, Foolproof
Easy Cranberry and Apple Cake, How Easy Is That?
Parker’s Split Pea Soup, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Chicken with Tabbouleh, Family Style
Herbed Goat Cheese, Cooking for Jeffrey
Loin of Pork with Fennel, At Home
Orange Honey Glazed Carrots, At Home
Creamy Rosemary Polenta, At Home
Caramel Pecan Sundaes, At Home

Filet of Beef Sandwiches, Barefoot Contessa Parties!
Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Family Style

Mustard and Gruyere Batons, Foolproof
Lentil Sausage Soup, Barefoot in Paris
Apple Pie Bars, Cooking for Jeffrey

Oven Fried Chicken, Family Style
Mashed Potatoes, Family StyleGravy, Family Style
String Beans, Family Style
Croissant Bread Pudding, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Challah French Toast, Family Style

WHAT I LEARNED

MEXICAN CHICKEN SOUP. There is probably a reason Ina’s recipes don’t feature a lot of Tex-Mex staples. Primarily, she’s not from Texas, but also, she hates cilantro. It’s one of her things, and I think she has whatever the genetic predisposition is where the herb literally tastes like soap. I wanted this soup to be a winner, but it was obvious after a couple of bites that this was written by someone who hasn’t grown up with twenty different Mexican restaurants within a five mile radius. There were a couple of contributing factors that made this feel off. The cilantro is cooked in the soup, which means by the time it is served, it is dark and has lost it’s bright “cilantro-ness.” The base of vegetables included carrots and celery, which in my opinion should have been peppers and onions. It needs something smoky. It needs lime. It needs less celery. This soup is fine, but in light of how stellar the majority of her offerings are, it fell flat.

EASY CRANBERRY APPLE CAKE. This is one of the easiest dessert recipes out there. I love the tart fresh cranberries, the sweet apple, and the hint of orange and cinnamon. The flavor is reminiscent of apple pie, but with a burst of holiday cranberry flavor. The cake batter top has a nice crunch from the cinnamon sugar, and it comes together so quickly. Topped with vanilla ice cream while still warm? Yes please.

HERBED GOAT CHEESE. Winner. Add it to the line-up. Top ten appetizer. No cooking required. And I want to add this to the menu at Hurley House. It was that good. Layers of goat cheese are topped with olive oil, fresh herbs, cracked red pepper, and salt. Dive in with the cracker of your choice, and never look back. I think this would make a darling hostess gift, and would definitely be a welcome addition to a cheese board.

LOIN OF PORK WITH FENNEL. True story. I literally went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for this dish at 8:00 that morning, prepped it, cooked it, and served it for lunch at noon the same day. It was that fast, which is surprising given that this is a stuffed meat dish. It was moist, beautiful, and each roast served seven to eight people. I would repeat this on a week night and serve it with a green vegetable or salad. I would also serve this at a dinner party with fancier sides and not let anyone know how fast and easy the main dish was.

LENTIL SAUSAGE SOUP. Where the Mexican soup failed, the lentil soup soared. Ina knows her lentils, and this soup is a show stopper. In the spirit of full disclosure, I want you to know that I did use homemade chicken stock, which always adds depth of flavor and body. But, even if I had used boxed chicken stock, this soup would have rocked. There is a layer of sweetness from the tomato paste, a layer of spice from the kielbasa, and a zing of acid from the vinegar at the end. As an added bonus, I had chopped all the ingredients the day before and store them in the fridge. I am learning more and more how valuable this kind of simple prep work can be. Because the chopping was done, I was able to make this soup with minimal active attention needed, which freed me up to do other things while the most delicious pot of wonderfulness bubbled away, making my day.

MASHED POTATOES. I love that Ina taught me how to make mashed potatoes. She taught me that the secret ingredient is salt. She taught me that I can make them ahead and keep them warm on the stove. She taught me that they are not to be saved only for holidays or special occasions. Mashed potatoes are for weeknight meals, and when you know how to do them well, they won’t disappoint. This recipe was the first mashed potato recipe I ever tried, after watching her make it on her show, and I haven’t looked back since. Thank you, Ina, for the gift of mashed potatoes.

CROISSANT BREAD PUDDING. This hit all the right notes for me. Flaky buttery pastry is soaked in sweet vanilla custard and then baked until puffed and golden. Who’s with me? I loved it. I would serve this at New Year’s Eve with a glass of champagne. I would serve this at the end of a dinner party. I would stick birthday candles in this and serve it instead of cake. I was particularly surprised how much I liked the raisins. It is a little fussy to bake a pan inside another pan of hot water (it helps the custard bake more evenly), but it all works spectacularly.

Ina In A Year: Week 12

WHAT HAPPENED

Twelve weeks in, and I am starting to realize a few things. The more you keep trying something, the more you are inclined to learn to like it. For example, lamb. I’m not sure I love it yet, but this week’s Rosemary Rack of Lamb was the first time I glimpsed wanting to eat this by choice.

Ina and I can disagree about what constitutes a dramatic dish. Lemon Capellini with Caviar was pitched as “This is the perfect special appetizer or dinner for a celebration….It’s dramatic, it’s delicious, and best of all it’s ready in five minutes,” but at the end of the day it was a bowl of noodles with butter and lemon zest. Sure, there was caviar on top, but that really doesn’t change the heart of the dish, which is hot pasta and melted butter. This does not translate as dramatic in my book. Quick? Yes. Dramatic? Hardly.

There are people who will enjoy something I don’t care for, and I will not care for certain things that other people really enjoy. Fennel is one ingredient that I enjoy as a contributing flavor in certain dishes, but when it is the main attraction, I reach my threshold in a bout two bites. Other people can’t get enough of it.

I love just about anything that is served with Tzatziki on the side. There’s really nothing more to say about this.

Pear is a really difficult fruit to get right in a dessert setting. Pear Clafouti hit the mark this week, while other pear desserts have not. This was elegant, delicate, feminine, and quite delightful.

If you walk past a large bowl of raw vegetables and start to drool, it might be a sign that you need more raw vegetables in your diet. The Greek Panzanella proved to be my opportunity to realize how long it had been since I had ingested a full serving of raw food, and I was thankful for the opportunity to feed my body what it clearly craved.

WHAT I COOKED

Salmon with Lentils, Barefoot in ParisRoasted Fennel with Parmesan, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Italian White Beans with Escarole, Cooking for Jeffrey
Rosemary Rack of Lamb, Make It Ahead
Easy Tzatziki, Make It Ahead
Greek Panzanella, How Easy Is That?
Pear Clafouti, Barefoot In Paris

Lemon Capellini with Caviar, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Roasted Winter Vegetables, Family Style
Roasted Vegetable Soup, Family Style
Brioche Croutons, Family Style
Winter Squash Soup, Barefoot In Paris
Ginger Shortbread, Make It Ahead

WHAT I LEARNED

SALMON WITH LENTILS. Let’s be clear about one thing. Ina has a formula for lentils, and over the span of her cookbooks, it can be found in six different forms. Two side dishes, one main dish, two soups, and a salad. This dish is one of the six. Don’t get me wrong. I love it. They work every time. But it strikes me as funny the way she will take one recipe, rework it, repackage it, and then republish it. I guess in a way it’s kind of genius, because regardless of which cookbook you own, chances are you have one of her recipes for lentils. They really are delicious.

ITALIAN WHITE BEANS AND ESCAROLE. Escarole is a member of the bitter herb family. It is thicker than a lettuce, but thinner than kale. There really isn’t a substitution for escarole, and most grocery stores carry it. When you taste it raw, it has a nice bitter flavor, sort of like arugula, but without the peppery bite. This soup really knocked my socks off, and I enjoyed serving it as a first course for lunch. It came together quite quickly, was easy, and the finished flavor was more complex than the simple prep would have you expect. It is creamy from the beans, brothy from the stock, and has a kick of heat from crushed red pepper flakes, but not at all spicy. It is meant to be eaten in the winter, where its warming effect can be best enjoyed. A double batch of this would serve ten.

ROSEMARY RACK OF LAMB WITH EASY TZATZIKI. The best lamb recipe I’ve made so far, and this is coming from a not-so-enthusiastic lamb eater. The overnight rub really infused it with lots of flavor, and they cooked perfectly in 25 minutes. The added element of the cucumber yogurt sauce helped make these more familiar and platable for me. I think if I had started my lamb journey with this recipe, as sort of a gateway dish, then the other ones that I’ve tried would have perhaps been more enjoyable. We had several people at the Ina Lunch say how much they enjoyed this lamb dish, and one of them said she really didn’t ever eat lamb. So there is something about this dish that is more universally appreciated and enjoyed than some of the others.

GREEK PANZANELLA. Run, don’t walk. Grab a cart, get the vegetables, and make this right now. Everything about this was perfect. It is summer in a bowl (even though we served it in December). It is fresh, so beautiful, perfectly seasoned. The beautiful colors, and the huge chunks of bread, soaking up the vinaigrette make it one of the top contenders for the best recipe from the project.

GINGER SHORTBREAD. All of Ina’s shortbread variations (and there are quite a few) are the best. Buttery, perfect, easy. The addition of crystallized ginger is soft and subtle, not at all overpowering or spicy like a ginger snap. It is almost indiscernible in the finished cookie, but in the best way possible. The ginger doesn’t roar at you. It just sweetly lets you know its there, every once in a while. This is an elegant, simple cookie. They last for a very long time, making them an ideal gift-giving cookie.