Tag: ina garten

IMG_2463This was an interesting one. It’s another Ina Garten recipe, I really am in love with her food lately. I could eat roasted pieces of butternut squash all day long, like candy. So I’ve been wanting to try out some fall recipes with its yumminess full center. This recipe had kind of a crazy flavor. It’s very savory with bits of sweet squash. There were lots of comments left about this recipe on Food Network saying it was too salty and yet also bland at the same time. I could see that as it was cooking, so I actually more than doubled the amount of white wine called for in the recipe and kept the pancetta (I used bacon) at the amount used for the full recipe (this is halved for 2). That mellowed out the flavor and made it taste a little more sophisticated, but I couldn’t really taste the saffron. Adam really liked it, and I did as well. But I might try another recipe for this sometime to compare.

Ina Garten’s Butternut Squash Risotto (adapted for 2 and for my kitchen)

Half a butternut squash (about 1 lb)
1 Tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade (I used pre-made, this may be part of the lack of flavor people mentioned)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces bacon, diced
1/4 cup minced shallots
3/4 cups Arborio rice (5 ounces)
1 to 1.5 cups dry white wine (to taste)
.5 teaspoon saffron threads
.5 cup freshly grated Parmesan

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baked shrimp scampiCan someone explain to me why I don’t own any Barefoot Contessa cookbooks? I love Ina Garten, and her food is killer. That chicken pot pie has become a sacred occasion at my house, and people still talk about the salted caramels (once I got the hang of the recipe). Now I’ve made her baked shrimp scampi after seeing her make it on TV the other day. And it’s awesome.

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fleur de sel caramelsIt’s August now, so I feel like I need to pack in as much stuff every day as humanly possible. I will not let the rest of my summer go to waste!

Anyway, after my newly discovered obsession with salted caramels, Adam suggested I learn to make them to save our wallets from my monthly fix at Galipette. So yesterday, I did.

For a first attempt at making caramels, this turned out pretty awesome. But there was a very slight burnt aftertaste to them, so next batch I will cook the caramel a little less. The texture was absolutely perfect, though. I took it off the heat at about 300 degrees F.

This recipe is from Ina Garten, but apparently the website version has the wrong ingredient list (her show had the correct list). I read a bunch of the comments on this recipe before I made it, and they were really helpful. So this is an adaptation of the one on the website. The only problem I had other than overcooking the sugar was getting the parchment paper off of them when they were cool. I haven’t figured out how to solve this problem yet…

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