Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten:
What to serve when Martha Stewart drops by
Interview by Candace Dempsey
"I spend my life cooking so when I come home I don't want to do anything complicated," says Ina Garten, a former caterer who cooked her way to fame. "I've learned to do things that are simple and easy to make. I don't like towering food, Eiffel towers made out of chocolate and all that complicated stuff."
Here this hostess extraordinaire, Food Network star chef and author of such books as The Barefoot Contessa at Home talks about everything from what to serve when her good friend Martha Stewart drops by to how to set a beautiful table and create a sumptuous holiday spread without stressing yourself.
What makes a party successful?
A happy hostess. My goal is to be a guest at the party. I find it's a better party if I can sit down and don't run around like crazy. The simpler the party, the more fun it is for everybody, including me. I invite people over because they're my friends and I want to spend time with them. If I'm in the kitchen when they're here, then I've missed the point.
The first party I had was a disaster. I invited 20 people for breakfast and made an omelet for each person. I spent the entire time in the kitchen. Nobody had fun, least of all me. We've all done that, just laid on the sofa afterward and said, I'm not going to have a party ever again.
You've catered parties for multimillionaires like Steven Spielberg. Don't they request elaborate spreads?
No, it's all the same philosophy. Celebrities like to have fun, just like us. Everybody wants to feel welcome and be entertained. It's not about impressing people. We get caught up in that too much. It ruins a lot of parties.
What about Martha Stewart? You can't serve her pigs and blankets.
Sure you can. For the Fourth of July, Martha and I have literally had hot dogs and made ice sodas for dessert. Another time we called out for Chinese, because we were doing things in the garden and wanted to spend time with each other.
Martha, like anybody else who cooks professionally, loves to have somebody else cook for her. So even if it's just roast chicken, she's really appreciative. It's fun to cook for her. Because of her magazine, she has to do very complicated things, but her personal style is very simple. She is about being best of class. It doesn't matter if it's hot dogs as long as they are the best hot dogs. Personally, I think that's Hebrew Nationals.
Must a good hostess cook everything herself?
Of course not. Keep your eye on the prize, which is that the party is fun, not that you made everything. I pick two or three things to make. I remember a dinner party that I did for friends. I made Indonesian ginger chicken and roasted carrots. Instead of spending the whole day making a complicated dessert, I got a chunk of Stilton and a bottle of port and that's what we had. People actually clapped. And I thought, that's great, because I didn't make everything.
There's something about serving things 'as is' that people like, such as a whole cheese. Or a whole Israeli melon — called Galia — when it's perfect and ripe. Sometimes I serve Galia melon and some wonderful spicy ginger cookies that I buy from a company called Dancing Deer.
What's an easy holiday dish?
Buy a spiral-cut ham, already cooked and sliced. Make a glaze with mango chutney and garlic and put that into the food processor. You slather it on the ham and pop it into the oven and it bakes in about an hour. That's all there is to it, and it feeds 35 for dinner or 50 for cocktails.
What's another scrumptious holiday idea?
Filet of beef bourguignon, which can be made in advance. Instead of using brisket, which takes forever to cook, you roast filet of beef, which takes only about 30 minutes. You make the bourguignon sauce and then heat the beef in the sauce. It's wonderful.
From UnderWire.msn.com
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