A new cookbook from Ina Garten is always a reason to celebrate, but for her to take on comfort food at a time like this is simple perfection. Garten is the Barefoot Contessa, a part of Taylor Swift’s posse, and the woman who welcomed this year’s pandemic by making a cocktail big enough for a bachelorette party. And now she has a gift for all of us, recipes of comfort food, updated with new flavors and twists but still with her carefree elegance.
How could she know how badly we would need this cookbook in 2020?
She starts us off with cocktails, because of course she does. There is a Hot Spiced Apple Cider, Ultimate Bloody Marys, and Pomegranate Gimlets along with some nibbles to get the party started. You can try the Warm Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Fresh Crab Nachos, Cacio e Pepe Cheese Puffs, or Grilled Oysters with Lemon Dill Butter. And with all these great party recipes comes more of the ingredients you can use for a great party—tips for serving and decorating that will help put guests at ease and encourage conversation.
Then it’s on to lunch. Whether it’s a soup like the Chicken Pot Pie Soup, Baked Fish Chowder, or Maine Lobster Stew or a sandwich like her Ultimate Tuna Melts, Lobster BLTs, or Cheddar and Chutney Grilled Cheese, these recipes will comfort you and give you what you need to get through the rest of your day. With dinner, the Contessa offers up hearty meals of updated classics, like the Tuscan Turkey Roulade, Skillet-Roasted Chicken and Potatoes, Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas , Baked Cod with Garlic and Herb Ritz Crumbs, Fresh Crab and Pea Risotto, or Truffled Mac and Cheese.
Offering up modern takes on some of her favorite sides and vegetables, there are Roasted Broccolini and Cheddar, Charred Carrots, Cheddar and Scallion Creamed Corn, Celery Root and Cauliflower Puree, Provencal Zucchini Gratin, Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes (recipe courtesy of actress Emily Blunt), and Outrageous Garlic Bread. Because you always need Outrageous Garlic Bread.
And then there are the desserts! Peach Almond Torte, Milk Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream, Black and White Cookies, Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Tuscan Baked Apples, just to name a few. And to get an idea of how Garten comes up with her recipes, she tells the story of her Boston Cream Pie recipe. She tried for years to get it right, but it just wouldn’t come together. She could get all the individual components to taste the way she wanted them, but when she put the cake together, it just wasn’t right somehow. It wasn’t until she was asked if any recipe had eluded her and she admitted to her problems with her Boston Cream Pie that pastry chef Christina Tosi piped up with what turned out to be the answer. And that recipe is included here too (along with Tosi’s advice that worked).
And how better to end this than how you start the day—with breakfast. Garten herself talks about how rarely she raises her breakfast game, but lately she has, and she includes her new favorites like Smashed Eggs on Toast, Whole-Grain Breakfast Bowl, Breakfast Tacos, Apple Cinnamon Dutch Baby, Waffle Iron Hash Browns, Vanilla Cold-Brewed Ice Coffee, and the Bacon, Egg and Cheddar Sandwich that she is loving right now.
Throughout Modern Comfort Food, Garten talks about her favorite ingredients, and she names names. She shares her favorite brand names from the grocery store as well as some of her favorite high-end ingredients and where she finds them. Because she is a chef who understands the importance of a good grocery store shortcut, and there is no shame in that.
The reason we love Ina Garten is that she is a master of elegant entertaining with grace and great taste, and she lets us in on her secrets. And after spending decades entertaining and helping others do the same means that she knows all the tricks to adding great taste to the food and to the party with the least amount of effort, and she spills the tea for us.
How easy is that?
