The Barefoot Contessa – Cookbook Dinner Party

My cousin who is oh so inspiring, Maggie, hosted the most wonderful dinner party last weekend. January eleventh, which eleven is and always will be a beautiful number, was the date of this soiree.

The object of the game is simple: Choose a dish from Ina Garten’s plethora of recipes, and then we all gather and enjoy. We all signed up for a dish so there were no repeats, but we ended up with such a delicious array of food. Because they were all from the same chef, the meal was exceptionally cohesive.
Appetizers: Stuffed mushrooms (Katelyn and myself), Smoked salmon deviled eggs, Creamy hummus, and Pan fried onion dip.
Sides: Sour cream cornbread, Popovers (K&M), Endive, orange & roquefort salad, Mushroom & leek bread pudding, Potato fennel gratin, Maple roasted carrot salad, and Roasted broccolini and cheddar.
Mains: Brisket with onions + leeks, Chicken thighs with creamy mustard, Penne alla vodka, and Chicken piccata.
Desserts: Raspberry crumble bars, Outrageous brownies, and Black and white cookies.

As you can only imagine, our plates and stomachs were at capacity!

Everything was delicious, and while we enjoyed our meals, we also had three lovely topics of conversation provided by our host:
1. What drew you to the dish you selected?
2. What is a memorable food-related experience you have had in your life?3. Is there something you learned during your process of preparing your dish?

I will answer them now for you, using what I remember being my answers at the time.
1. I was drawn to stuffed mushrooms because they remind me of the mushroom turnovers that my own grandmary and grandjoe have at family and holiday gatherings a lot. The flavors of mushrooms to start your evening as something warm, earthy, and easy to pop in your mouth in one go, made it seem like a great dish. The popovers were an additional undertaking that I thought would be super fun to try, and if they failed, we still had the mushrooms to fall back on. Spoiler, we failed in appearance because out popover pan did not arrive, but we did not fail in taste.
2. This question was much more difficult to select, due to the fact that there are too many experiences to choose from. I found myself leaning towards my other grandmother in that moment. She took me to a cooking class in Santa Fe, New Mexico when I was around eight years old, I think? Not sure. We made cilantro lime rice, I was the youngest there by decades, and I was the life of the party! It was quite a formative day, solidifying the fact that I wanted to be a chef when I grew up.
3. One thing Katelyn and I learned, and what we talked about while cooking, was that trying something new, be it a new dish or a new haircut, or a new turn, you name it, but trying something new can lead to new ideas. It’s like your ideas become exponential the moment you question the status quo. We had leftovers of our mushroom filling, and immediately thought, we could make a quiche, we could make tacos, we could combine it with pieces of the popovers and make a bread pudding, yada yada.

Now, while you were not there, and you cannot say what drew you to the dish you chose, you can still answer question two, and you can save one and three for a rainy day. Our conversations were enchanting. I wanted to be in everyone’s kitchen growing up, wanted to share in the smells and join in the laughs, and feel the weight of learning a family recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation. I wanted to meet the parents I have yet to meet, and try the dishes I have yet to try. We talked about how we can forget that we don’t always need to take on more and more and more, when perhaps more is not what we can handle. Yes, I almost used a bite off more than we can chew line there, but it’s true. We talked about how different her cooking is from what we may be more accustomed too. We talked about pranks. Really everything and nothing all at once. Our conversations were sincere, and we were all happily enjoying the moment together.

To end the evening, as if bringing our own tupperware and loading up before heading home, Maggie also gifted us each a present. When we got home, the present was literally jaw dropping. Each person received an thrifted Ina Garten cookbook. Yep. Infinity/10. Don’t call don’t text, she wins! Her kindness shines brighter than most, and you are lucky to call her a friend. I am lucky to also call her family.

She also recently celebrated her new year, and wanted to share a quote from one of our favorite books, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin: “To allow yourself to play with another person is no small risk. It means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt. It is the human equivalent of the dog rolling on its back–I know you won’t hurt me, even though you can. It is the dog putting its mouth around your hand and never biting down. To play requires trust and love.”

Find those who want to play! Find those who you can trust and love and live this life with. Times are dark, the future seems grim, and the world is a violent and harsh place. We have to find people that want to play with us.

So thank you, Ina Garten and Maggie, for giving us a reason to play last weekend.