Perfect Roast Chicken for a Perfect Valentine's Day

I was a bit confused by the sheer number of roast chicken recipes that Ina gets credited for. In the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, her first, there is a Perfect Roast Chicken recipe that makes a gravy at the end. That's the one I made. 

But then I happened on a video from Food Network that was Perfect Roast Chicken with fennel and other vegetables - no gravy. Ina says her Engagement Roast Chicken recipe was inspired by a recipe from Glamour, Engagement Chicken. She has a skillet-roasted lemon chicken too. It doesn't seem to matter which recipe you make - you're gonna get married regardless if you keep playing around. Proceed with caution.

This engagement chicken phenomenon has always flummoxed me as roast chicken would almost be the last thing I made while fishing for a proposal. It doesn't even have bacon in the recipe. But maybe it's because I'm from the Gulf Coast where blackened surf and turf with a rich sauce for topping is the height of romanticism, followed closely by any Italian dish with lots of cheese. And anything with bacon.  

I, however, was already married when I tried the recipe. And trying to do too many things at once. And burnt the hell out of the vegetables in the pan. (It was not really my fault. The timer did not go off for some reason. Let's just say there was NO gravy that could be made from the charred onions.) Even after cooking the chicken 15 minutes longer than instructed, the chicken was fabulous. The vegetables not so much. I'm honestly not sure the veggies would not have been burnt regardless, though, as 425 for 1 1/2 hours is a lot of roasting for carrots and potatoes. 

For my fellow former English majors, I did check the title. I would have sworn it should be roasted chicken, but Google swears that roasting is a verb and "roast chicken" is the noun that is later served.

In her Engagement Roast Chicken recipe, she counsels to roast the chicken in a small pan or the onions will burn. (This advice was not given in the cookbook.) She also uses olive oil in this recipe after insisting in the video above that butter was the preferred fat for roast chicken. Her stock is made with wine instead of chicken stock - maybe that's where the proposal begins. I mean, the bottle is already open...

Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. Meghan and Prince Harry. Ina and Jeffrey. Your chances are good. If you are looking for a proposal this Valentine's Day, whip out the roasting pan. And even if you're not, as Emily points out, "Who doesn't love a roast chicken?"

Super Bowl Snap Peas!

 

Did the exclamation point help?! ;)

I know Sugar Snap Peas with Sesame does not, at first glance, sound like the perfect Super Bowl food, but how many cheesy dips can your stomach take? And Ina's recipe is like popcorn or edamame - you won't be able to have just one! And how much simpler could this recipe be? 

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook is unabashedly a party food cookbook, but I'm still surprised by the serving sizes. That has stopped me from making quite a few recipes. (Baked Virginia Ham for 35, anyone?) So I was thankful for a recipe that was very easy to half!

While experimenting, I did half with a dash of mirin in addition to the sesame oil. They were equally good - just different. You will definitely need sea salt to taste too!

This one is Super Bowl-worthy. I promise.

Cheddar Corn Chowder

 

Ina says that soup is perfect for Sunday lunch. Just make a big salad too and you're done. Maybe fruit and cheese for dessert. And everyone's ready to deal with the dragons of the coming week. 

And I did love this recipe. My husband loved this recipe. My son loved this recipe. But when Ina says that if feeds 9-10, it must be nine to ten REALLY BIG folks. We ate this twice for dinner. I gave some to my mother-in-law. I ate it three times for lunch. I still froze a big container. 

Trust me. HALF. THIS. RECIPE.

And since Ina encouraged me to make all of her recipes my own, I added shrimp too. Because shrimp, like soup, makes everything better...

The Cocktail Party

 Before Ina owned the Barefoot Contessa, she would spend hours making hors d'oeuvres for a cocktail party. After, she found it more important to have fun and spend time with her friends. She now has several guidelines:

- All the fixings for drinks are on a table in the room where cocktails are served. Pick one or two drinks. Don't overcomplicate it.

- Don't leave the room. Choose appetizers that can be served at room temperature. Put everything out on the table for serving before the first guest arrives.

- A cocktail party is not about the food. It's about the guests. Focus on the guest list. Be intentional but leave room for "surprises" too. 

- Serve five to six different kinds of appetizers and three of each kind per person. Plan the menu like a meal: seafood, veggies, meat, with a dessert platter at the end.

I tried her Roasted Eggplant Spread from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and liked it. She touts it as a recipe that is not only good but good for you (so you can save your calories for dessert!). My husband is not a fan of eggplant. I thought, surely, roasting and blending and chopping he would not even taste the eggplant, but...he's still not a fan of eggplant. :)

Ina suggested serving this recipe alongside other Mediterranean specialties like hummus, pita bread, olives, feta cheese, and stuffed grape leaves. In her cooking show, Ina also recommends reimagining your leftovers - so I took my lucky black eyed peas left over from New Year's and made Black Eyed Pea Hummus. (This was my husband's favorite!) 

The Art of Not Cooking or the Locavore's Dilemma

So how can you be a student of not cooking? Look around you! Base your cooking on ingredients that come from local sources. The Locavore's Dilemma? You gotta KNOW the local sources. If you can't find any sources nearby, turn to the options available by mail from producers all over the country - but keep your eyes and ears open. LOOK for the local and use that when possible.

The menu at Barefoot Contessa was based on "simple, fresh, seasonal food." The key to simple food, though, is to use only the best ingredients. Buy them in season and buy them from the source. And experiment. Taste the strawberries. Try three different kinds of olive oil and see which one you like best.

I am from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I moved just three hours north to Jackson and I can't find local shrimp on a regular basis (besides the guy who brings up a cooler and sits at the gas station from time to time). I have to buy it in bulk when I visit and freeze it. I did not realize how many of my recipes depended on fresh shrimp until I no longer had it. 

One of my projects for this month is to actively look for what I do have available fresh around me and focus on that, rather than what I don't have! This summer, I discovered the fresh peaches available at Bank Farm in Brandon (and their peach jam and peach preserves).  I need to find other similar farms near me.

What farms do you have near you? Give them a shout out in the comments!

Mastering the Art of Not Cooking

 

In the introduction to her first cookbook, Ina Garten explains that when she bought the Barefoot Contessa in the 70s, American cooks (including Ina!) were "studying Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking like it was the Bible and we had just found religion." But each recipe contained at least three mini-recipes - dinner for six (Ina's standard) could take six days to prepare. Ina focused on simple and inexpensive because that's what she needed in her life as a new business owner, and it turns out many others did too.

And she had some great teachers. Devon Fredericks and then Anna Pump from Loaves and Fishes. Eli Zabar from E.A.T. Martha Stewart herself. Ina emphasizes, though, that a cookbook is just a starting place for any recipe. The magic happens when you take the recipes, write notes in the margins, experiment and substitute away, and make it your own.

Food is nurturing, both physical and emotional. Make some great dishes for your friends, but let them treat you too! Ina focuses on food as a vehicle not for impressing people but for making them feel comfortable. And you can feel that comfort-able thread throughout her recipes.

Ina points out that the most useful thing she learned while cooking professionally is that there are many things you can do in advance to make cooking less stressful. Also, don't do it all yourself. Find the specialty food stores in your area and experiment away! Mix homemade items with store-bought items. (It's not one way or the other!) And when you find a recipe or combination that works, use it over and over again.

Martha and Ina

 

Martha Stewart wrote the foreword for Ina's very first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. In the foreword, she extols Ina's joi-de-vivre, intense curiosity, intelligence, and sense of humor. Martha met her at the Barefoot Contessa store as a customer and the two became fast friends. They had shared interests in cooking, gardening, entertaining, designing, and building (particularly renovating old homes in East Hampton). Martha even introduced Ina to an editor when she had her book proposal ready, which helped get her cookbook empire rolling.

Their friendship surprises many, as Ina is often seen as almost an anti-Martha. In the foreword, though, Martha compliments the simplicity and "lack of finickiness" in Ina's recipes. (And, obviously, Martha was often following Ina's own advice and buying rather than making what she could from local specialty stores. Ina also catered many benefits at Martha's house.) 

Martha applauds Ina's "practical approach" on entertaining which focuses more on coddling people than lemon curd - which offers an interesting contrast to Martha's entertaining style of fancy recipes with elaborate presentations. Martha acknowledges, in a way, that there is room for both styles. Before Food Network gave Ina her own TV show, she even did a spec show for Martha's media empire, but it never got the green light.

Despite Ina's down-home style, when a Bacardi survey asked for a preferred drinking buddy - Martha or Ina - the majority chose Martha (78%!). But if I were Ina, I would demand a recount. I have a feeling after her famous pandemic Cosmo pitcher, the vote of many may have changed!

Thank You

 

In her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, published in 1999, Ina thanks a host of characters:

• Frank Newbold - High-end real estate broker and business partner to Ina. He encouraged her to start writing. She wrote a column in both House Beautiful and Martha Stewart Living during his long-term partner's (Stephen Drucker) tenure as editor-in-chief at the publications. (Martha Stewart was a mentor to Ina too and wrote the foreword in her first cookbook. She is thanked also.)
• Diana Stratta - She purchased the Barefoot Contessa food specialty store in the Hamptons from her after seeing an ad in the New York Times in 1978. It was already named (and open!). Ina moved from Washington DC to the Hamptons to run the store. She had never visited the locale. She had never run a business. She had never worked in the food industry.
• Parker Hodges, who was the chef and a business partner (now a restaurant owner) at the Barefoot Contessa (and has quite a few of her recipes named after him) and Amy Baiata (now Amy Baiata Forst), who was a business partner (now a real estate agent). In 1999, Ina sold the Barefoot Contessa store to Parker. Five years later, she would buy the business back from Hodges.
• Harry Goodale
• Suzanna Guiliano, a friend (and her accountant)
• Paul Hodges (Parker's brother, who also worked in the kitchen at Barefoot Contessa and is now co-owner with his brother of The Canal Cafe.)
• Shawn Miller
• Alex Lazen
• Peter Ranft
• Larry Hayden, a pastry chef who supplied her books with several recipes
• Melanie Acevedo, who was the photographer for the cookbook
• Rori Spinelli, the food stylist for the cookbook
• Denise Canter, the stylist
• Cecily Stranahan, a now retired psychotherapist and an interfaith minister
• Pam Bernstein, Ina's agent
• Roy Finamore, Ina's editor

Several of these folks are still working with her on her latest cookbook, Modern Comfort Food.

She also thanks those who contributed recipes to the cookbook:

• Devon Fredericks and Susan Costner, owners of Loaves & Fishes specialty store in Sagaponack, NY (Ina singles out their cookbooks as one of her favorites in a Splendid Table podcast interview and here too.)
• Eli Zabar of the Amagansett Farmer’s Market 
• Sarah Chase of The Open House Cookbook (another of Ina's favorites). She founded the Massachusetts specialty food shop and catering business Que Sera Sarah.
• Brent Newsom from Brent Newsom Catering

In addition, she thanks a whole host of people who let her use their homes as makeshift photography studios and others, including Crate & Barrel, who loaned her their kitchenware to photograph too.

With the publication of this book, Ina ends a 20-year career as the purveyor of a specialty food store and begins a now over-20-year career as a cookbook author and TV and social media personality.