Ina Baugarten Why We Need Her Now

 Is there was any popular cook than Ina Garten? She has a large cult following that includes  Jennifer Garner, Taylor Swift and Katie Couric, the last her neighbor in East Hampton New York. The question is why is she and her cookbooks so popular and why do we need her especially during this fraught holiday season?

Julia Moskin answered this question in today's New York Times Food section. She went to Ms. Garten, also known as The Barefood Contessa, after her famed deli in her posh Long Island town.The reason for the big fan base is because she is like us. Ms. Garten states that she finds cooking hard and is not a trained chef. She just loves it, which most of us do. Yes it can be a challenge and a chore - and she definitely understands that. She brings that knowledge and a bursting enthusiasm to the screen which makes her identifiable. However she is not your  go-to television chef for ordinary recipes. It's more upscale bistro food for those with disposable incomes. Yet she still remains the darling of the culinary world, especially when she opened up her pantry on Instagram during the pandemic. It came with the question "Does anyone have something they don't know what to do with?" In March she gained a million more followers. It was the first time she invited regular contact with her followers. Through them, she learned no one was using dried beans and sourdough was over quickly. The need for her baked mac and cheese recipe crashed her website. On April 1st she posted herself making a Cosmopolitan That got her three million more fans. They love her, probably because she has a fondness for fats, heavy cream and pancetta, lush ingredients that make any recipe sing. Surprisingly she started out as an analyst in the Carter White House of Office of Management and Budget. she left to start her celebrity loved deli The Barefoot Contessa in East Hampton, New York.

Ms Moskin includes Ms. Garten's favorite recipes. There is the flavorful cacio and pepe cheese puffs, the perfect hors ' d'ouevres for any dinner,These are cheesy biscuit  like balls, about the size of Hershey's kisses. They're zinged up with Pecorino cheese and freshly ground pepper. The recipe is rife with five (!) eggs , butter and whole milk. A great side dish for next week is pureed potatoes with lemon. These are Yukon Gold spuds cooked with two whole sticks of butter and a cup of whole milk. To balance out the richness is a tablespoon of grated lemon zest. Another would be perfect side is Ms. Garten's recipe for charred carrots with orange and balsamic vinegar. It's a colorful dish of rainbow carrots oven roasted and drizzled with a mix of orange juice and zest mixed with balsamic vinegar. Of course the star is the turkey breast roulade with garlic and rosemary. This is a riff on a Florentine pork roast. There are ingredients not usually associated with turkey, like fennel seeds garlic and rosemary. The only traditional herb is  sage.  The breast is butterflied and stuffed with prosciutto and an herbed onion mix. It's basted with a mix of dry white wine like Chablis and water. It's cooked for about one and a half hours until the skin is golden brown in a 350 degree F oven. . It's then tented with foil and cooked for fifteen minutes more.

Ina Garten will continue to be our go to chef for well after the pandemic. She is one of us , but with tasty  upscale recipes that she urges us to make. We can all give these delicious recipes a try for Thanksgiving and other holiday dinners.