Ina Garten
Ina Garten
Ina Rosenberg Garten is an American author and host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa, and a former staff member of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Known for designing recipes with an emphasis on fresh ingredients and time-saving tips, she has been noted by Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Patricia Wells for her cooking and home entertaining...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChef
Date of Birth2 February 1948
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
When I thought my professional career was over, it hadn't even started yet.
People have more fun if they don't eat so much they have to be taken home in an ambulance.
I get up every day, do the best that I can do, and go home and have a good time.
One of the great gifts that you can give people is to cook for them.
I've lived in the Hamptons since 1978, when I first bought my store Barefoot Contessa.
The thing about all my food is that everything is a remembered flavor. Maybe it's something I had as a child or maybe it's something I had in Milan, but I want it to taste better than you ever thought.
When I wrote 'Barefoot in Paris,' I wanted to make simple recipes that you could make at home that tasted like French classics.
In the summer you want fresh, light and sort of quick things; in winter you want things that are comforting, so your body really tells you you want to go towards potatoes, apples, fennel, things that are warm and comforting. And loin of pork.
I worked for the Office of Management and Budget in the White House, on nuclear energy policy. But I decided it would be much more fun to have a specialty food store, so I left Washington D.C. and moved to the Hamptons. And how glad I am that I did!
I time everything. I'm a scientist at heart.
You don't have to do everything from scratch. Nobody wants to make puff pastry!
I like almonds as a snack - keeps your energy up but doesn't fill you up.
The planning is everything. Deciding which dishes you're going to prepare can turn into the make-or-break decision five days later, when you actually serve the meal.
You can get bogged down in a recipe that's got a lot of steps and a million ingredients, and it takes all day to make. And then you realize, you've just got one dish. For Thanksgiving, you want an abundance of choices, and so you want dishes that you can put together really quickly, but that doesn't mean less flavor.