A Barefoot Contessa dinner party!
My mom loves Ina Garten aka the Barefoot Contessa, she loves her recipes, adores her shows, pores over her cookbooks, except…my mom doesn’t cook. Instead she bookmarks recipes and subtly leaves them for me to see. I keep putting it off so for her birthday I went all out and made a complete Ina Garten dinner from appetizer to dessert, using all of Ina Garten’s recipes.
For the recipes I used two of Ina’s best books, Barefoot Contessa Family Style and Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics. Both books contain simple, easy to follow, FABULOUS recipes.
One thing about Ina Garten, her recipes will always give perfect results. I started off with cheddar biscuits which were even better the second day. Followed by my Mom’s favorite, a smoked salmon spread dip. The main course was a roast loin of pork even though my mom doesn’t love meat, but since the entire family was coming over and they are all carnivores it was an easy choiceThe sides were green beans with shallots, Ina’s famous mashed potatoes with gravy.
The one recipe my mom insisted upon was Ina’s Baked Shrimp Scampi. This was simple to prepare and so tasty, it was easily the most popular thing on the table. For dessert I changed it up a bit and took Ina’s birthday sheet cake recipe and made cupcakes.
I chose all of these recipes because they could be prepped in advance making for a very easy dinner party. The whole family was happy so I’m pretty sure I’ve set a precedent and now will be cooking family dinners for years to come. Happy birthday to my mother!
