Ina In A Year: Week 13

WHAT HAPPENED

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through Hurley House, we were losing our minds and working our tails off, trying to get everything done. This is our busiest week of the year, and yet, somehow, I managed to cook.

Week Thirteen was also when we had to say goodbye to one of our employees, Ellie. She and her husband work for Wycliffe and had been in Fort Worth on furlough for several months. We had the pleasure of having Ellie join our kitchen staff, and she was instantly knit into our hearts from the first day she arrived. To celebrate her departure, we ate Pastitsio, which I had never heard of. It was the perfect meal in which to soothe our sad hearts. I will always remember the distinct flavor of that dish and associate it with her adventurous spirit and exuberance for life. Sometime food can carry our emotions and seal experiences into our heart in a tangible, therapeutic way.

WHAT I COOKED

Winter Minestrone with Garlic Bruschetta, Foolproof

Easy Coquilles Saint Jacques, Make It Ahead

Roasted Eggplant Caponata, How Easy Is That
Boeuf Bourguignon, Barefoot In Paris
White Hot Chocolate, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup and Curry Condiments, Back to Basics
Croque Monsieur, Barefoot In Paris
Old Fashioned Gingerbread, Back to Basics

Pastitsio, Make It Ahead
Bourbon Honey Cake, Cooking for Jeffrey

Roast Lamb with White Beans, Barefoot In Paris
Roasted Vine Tomatoes, Cooking for Jeffrey

WHAT I LEARNED

WINTER MINESTRONE WITH GARLIC BRUSCHETTA. This is the best vegetable soup I have ever eaten. It tasted bright, sweet, savory, interesting, and so satisfying. My daughter Annie added the apt observation, “This is the most beautiful soup I have ever seen.” I tend to agree. It was visually striking. There was an added element of comfort found in making this for dinner on a Sunday evening, and then knowing we had enough leftover for another week night dinner.

EASY COQUILLES SAINT JACQUES. Coquilles Saint Jacques is a scallop dish, cooked in wine and cream, topped with cheese, and browned under the broiler. I had never heard of this dish before this week, and the discovery of something new turned into a theme. I love the exercise in contrast that this provides. It is decadent, rich, “fancy” food, and requires very little to along side of it to complete the meal. At most, I would suggest a glass of crisp white wine and a tug of crusty bread. With nothing else required, when serving this for dinner, you in fact get out of having to do much work preparing the meal. And because it is so rich, even a first course appetizer or a dessert needs to be simple, restrained, and dairy-free. Mixed nuts before the meal and biscotti after feel appropriate, both of which could be purchased instead of made from scratch. This dish can be assembled in the morning, popped in the oven, and ready to from the oven in less than thirty minutes. You could literally walk int he door at 5:30 after work, put this in the oven, turn on music, uncork wine, set out nuts, and have a dinner party by 6:00. It’s a strange irony that at times the fanciest of foods requires the least amount of last-minute hustle from the host. Yes, scallops are pricey, but I would love to see a comparative price analysis on what this meal costs versus what a more traditional dinner party menu would cost. My experience tells me this menu might actually save money in the end. As an added feature, I love how this dish is served in individual gratin dishes which instantly elevates anything you put in them.

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON. There is nothing finer than a bowl of Ina’s Boeuf Bourguignon. Don’t let your eyes deceive you. To look at the finished product, shockingly similar in appearance to something you could perhaps get out of a can, you might think, “What is so special about this bowl of stew? I’ve had stew before.” What your eyes can’t see, and what makes this dish stand out, is the layering of flavors that meld and work together into a combination of something familiar yet fantastically surprising. It begins with bacon, then followed with seared beef, sauteed vegetables, each one taking on components of the step before it and leaving behind new flavor notes for the next stage. Then, cognac is added and lit on fire, leaving behind a trail of carmelized brandy sugar. The last step is a bottle of red Burgundy wine. The whole thing, layer after layer, is simmered together until the beef is fork-tender, and then the most important step is that it rests overnight in the fridge. The next day, all of those layers have become something distinct and sublime. The flavors are deep, beautiful, intricate, immaculate on the tongue. The stew is perfection in a bowl. It needs nothing served with it except a confident dose of restraint to let it stand alone, perhaps with a crust of bread.

WHITE HOT CHOCOLATE. I was perhaps the most resistant I have ever been about a recipe when approaching this drink. I am not a fan of white chocolate, for two reasons. First, it is not, in fact, chocolate. Not even close. Second, it is so sickeningly sweet. I can only tolerate a few tastes of white chocolate before I reach my threshold and crave a potato chip to balance it out. This White Hot Chocoalte, however, turned out to be a surprise winner. It is swimming with vanilla, and somehow the white chocolate becomes a back note, balanced by cream and surrounded by warmth to mellow it out and leave you wanting more instead of fatigued by it’s sweetness. Kara said it was like “drinking hot ice cream.” It delivered an oddly comforting, nourishing effect, which was a welcome feeling in the middle of our busy work week. It is sugar and vanilla and cream, and on a cold cloudy December day, it was perfect. It is also a recipe for a nap, so watch out.

PASTITSIO. This is tricky to describe, but I’m going to do my best. Pastitsio is a meat, pasta, tomato, creamy sauce kind of dish, but not with the typical Italian flavor profile. The sauce has cinnamon and red wine, and the béchamel is made with greek yogurt. It is delicious, different, and we tore through it, scraping our bowls and going back for seconds. It is unique in a welcomed way. This recipe is involved, and maybe a little bit hard because of all the different elements and the long cook time. If it had not been a busy week in December, I would have planned better and made this in advance. I want to introduce this to my family as part of our regular meal rotation soon.

Ina In A Year: Week 14

WHAT HAPPENED

Into every life (and project) a little Christmas must fall. Week Fourteen was spent primarily celebrating Christmas, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Eve Eve with family. It was a whirlwind of wrapping up everything at work (including hundreds of pans of Cinnamon Rolls), traveling, wrapping gifts, traveling, and then collapsing when it was all over.

It was also the week that Rachel and her family moved back to Fort Worth, and if you have no idea who Rachel is, I wrote a few blog posts about her here and here. We helped them get settled into their new home, and our hearts are very full to have them back in the fold.

I did not cook much this week, for obvious reasons of limited time mixed with needing a break. I went off the grid a bit and shut down everything I could for the sake of rest. Of the four recipes I cooked, two of them were winners, one was so-so, and was not successful even a little bit.

WHAT I COOKED

Chicken Soup, Parties
Matzo Balls, Parties
Chocolate Buttercream Cake, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Sour Cream Coffee Cake, Parties

WHAT I LEARNED

CHICKEN SOUP. I will always be grateful for the lessons learned from making homemade chicken stock and using it as an ingredient in soup and other dishes. It really is ridiculous how much better it is than the canned stuff. I have come to enjoy the process as much as the finished product. The great discovery from this recipe is not the broth. I’ve done this same song and dance multiple times now. The great discovery is, in fact, the secret of how to use the chicken meat from the chicken you are using to make stock! Up to this point, I would have told you there is nothing you can do with the chicken that is left after the stock is made. It tastes and feels like wet socks. All of its goodness has been given over to the broth. But in this recipe, we are instructed to remove the chicken meat from the carcass after one hour of bubbling away in the stock pot. Then we return the bones to the broth, save the chicken, and carry on with stock making. This yields chicken that still tastes and feels like chicken, while also producing a broth with excellent flavor and body.

MATZO BALLS. I accept all responsibility for the failure that ensued. I trust that Ina’s recipe for Matzo Balls must be a winner. I have never eaten nor prepared matzo balls before this go, and I quickly learned that if your cooking liquid is not simmering when you place the matzo balls in them, the matzo balls disintegrate and lose their shape. Instead of matzo balls, I had matzo mush. I was able to salvage a couple of sort-of-round matzo balls, but the rest became one with the liquid, and the finished product was hard to enjoy as a result. I want to try this again, because my gut tells me this could be a winner.

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE. Add this to your breakfast repertoire. It is buttery and deliciuos, full of brown sugar streusel and a crumbly topping. I took this to Rachel and Patrick as a gift to welcome them to their new home. There is something homey about a fresh baked breakfast treat waiting for you after a long hard move. Eat it for breakfast. Eat it for dinner. Eat it for dessert. Sour Cream Coffee Cake is always a good idea.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM CAKE. Let me break the bad news to you. This cake is not awesome. It’s fine. And I guess it could be considered awesome if you’ve only had grocery store cake or boxed cake. But when you’ve had a Hurley House chocolate cake, the finest chocolate cake around, you’re ruined. I’m ruined. I love our chocolate cake, and until I find a better one, I won’t be swayed. I found the crumb on this cake to be dry, and although the chocolate flavor is there, it’s not deep or dark or interesting. It’s fine. It will do. But for the trouble involved, this cake (including the frosting) did not win me over.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING. Remember when I made Ina’s Devil’s Food Cake with Coffee Meringue Buttercream in Week Three and the recipe said to beat the buttercream for one hour and we all thought it was a bit much? Turns out it was a bit much. This buttercream recipe calls for five minutes of beating, and it was done. My mixer and my sanity were thankful. Apart from that one redeeming quality, this frosting was disappointing. It makes enough frosting for two (maybe three) cakes, which is super annoying considering the price of butter and chocolate. In addition to the surplus of frosting and the lackluster chocolate flavor, I don’t think I care for buttercream. It tastes like butter, which I realize is the most obvious statement I could make, but it feels like I’m eating butter on cake. I don’t want to feel like I’m eating butter. I want frosting that is made with butter, not frosting-flavored butter. We ate it, but we didn’t love it.

Ina In A Year: Week 15

WHAT HAPPENED

After a week off for Christmas, I hit the kitchen as hard I could the week of New Year’s. We have standing plans on New Year’s Eve with another family, and we take turns hosting each year. We have been ringing in the new year together for twenty years, and this was our year to host. Knowing that one of our guests is a pescatarian, I took full advantage of the opportunity to prepare on of Ina’s many seafood dishes. This week I also made two cocktails in two days, tasted a dish I’ve never tasted before, and had an onion soup cook-off later in the week. I had a lot of strong feelings about most of what I cooked, and as a result, this post is longer than most. Here we go…

WHAT I COOKED

Sidecars with Dried Cherries, Foolproof
Dinner Spanakopitas, Back to Basics
Tomatoes Roasted with Pesto, How Easy Is That?
Pesto, How Easy Is That?
Provencal Fish Stew with Sriracha Rioulle, Make It Ahead
Mexican Hot Chocolate, Foolproof
Cinnamon Baked Donuts, Foolproof

Spicy Bloody Mary, At Home
Roasted Shrimp Cocktail, Back to Basics

Stuffed Cabbage, At Home

Lobster Mac and Cheese, Foolproof

Curried Chicken Salad, Family Style
Potato Chips, Barefoot In Paris

Rosemary Cashews, Parties!
Onion and Fennel Soup Gratin, How Easy Is That?
Fennel Soup Gratin, Parties!
Meringues Chantilly, Paris
Raspberry Sauce, Paris
Homemade Chicken Stock, Paris

WHAT I LEARNED

SIDE CARS WITH DRIED CHERRIES. If you like Whiskey Sours (and Ina’s are the best I’ve ever had), then you will enjoy this drink. It is in the same vein as a Whiskey Sour, but uses brandy. The resulting drink is a bit more sophisticated in flavor. I made this for New Year’s Eve, and it was the perfect specialty cocktail for the setting. I made them in batches early in the day, set up glasses with sugared rims, had the soaked cherries ready on skewers, and was able to shake these up when our guests arrived. They have just enough of a fancy flair to feel more special than a simple mixed drink, but are not at all daunting or difficult.

DINNER SPANAKOPITAS. Oh my goodness, yes. We collectively could not get enough of these. They were spectacular. In fact, I had planned to serve these for dinner earlier in the week, but then our plans changed. So I followed Ina’s suggestion and froze the unbaked spanakopitas and then baked them later. I did not thaw them. I did not adjust the cooking time or temperature. I just popped them into the oven, directly from the freezer, and thirty minutes later they were done. The flavor is amazing, and the phyllo dough is perfection. I cannot wait to make these again.

PROVENCAL FISH STEW WITH SRIRACHA ROUILLE. Let me get this part out of the way. The rouille didn’t work. It’s supposed to be like a garlic-sriracha mayonaisse, but mine never emulsified and it was a failure. I’m sure I did something incorrect, and I will figure that part out another time. But the fish stew, even without the rouille, was epic. I made homemade seafood stock (see below), and the flavor of that alone was breathtaking. The stew was artful, yet relatively simple to prepare. Layers of flavors resulted in a stew that was anything but boring. I prepped all the ingredients for the stew that morning. When our friends arrived for New Year’s Eve, I started cooking, and it came together in a snap. I can’t recommend this highly enough.

SEAFOOD STOCK. Make this. No excuses. No regrets. It requires one pound of shrimp shells, and you should definitely use the shrimp meat to make the Roasted Shrimp Cocktail (see below). This stock made the house smell amazing, and I am convinced it was a contributing factor to how delicious the finished few stew tasted. I have purchased seafood stock from the grocery store fish counter, and in no way are these two products even remotely related. If you’re going to go tot he trouble to make a seafood dish that needs stock, then plan ahead and make this stock from scratch. I would not say the same of beef stock or chicken stock. But in my opinion, homemade seafood stock is always necessary.

ROASTED SHRIMP COCKTAIL. Simply put, this is the best shrimp cocktail you will ever eat. Roast it. Chill it. Enjoy it. I served mine with a batch of Ina’s Bloody Mary (see below).

SPICY BLOODY MARY’S. Are you seeing the chain of events? Seafood Stew required Seafood Stock. Seafood Stock resulted in Shrimp Cocktail. And Shrimp Cocktail (obviously) resulted in requiring a batch of Spicy Bloody Marys with which to serve them. It makes total sense. I love a good Bloody Mary, complete with all the garnishes my glass can hold. In this case, I put the cold Shrimp Cocktail on skewers along with briny olives and served it alongside long stalks of crisp celery. It was basically brunch in a cup, and you will hear no complaints from me.

BAKED CINNAMON DONUTS. Come on, Ina. Don’t tell me this yields twelve donuts without providing any pan specifications. The first time I made this, I overfilled the pan because I was trying to make sure it only yielded twelve donuts. The batter overflowed and it did not look like donuts. I tried it again, using less batter, and they looked like donuts, but they weren’t that great. I wanted to love these so much, and I even bought special pans, but they just weren’t that great. It was easy and fun and my kids liked the idea, but I will not be making these again.

STUFFED CABBAGE. This was new for me. I have never had stuffed cabbage, and per Ina’s suggestion, I made this on a cold winter night. This is a dish that has a very unique flavor. I cannot quite compare it to anything familiar, and that is unusual in my book. Bottom line, I loved this dish. My family was on the fence. They liked the idea of it, but the flavor threw them a bit. The sauce in this dish is unexpectedly sweet from the addition of brown sugar and raisins to the tomato base. In my opinion, the sweetness balances the savory filling nicely. This dish is warming, nourishing, and easy to assemble. I loved that it baked for a full hour, which is always a welcome gift during the evening time.

LOBSTER MAC AND CHEESE. What is it about lobster? I feel like the appeal of lobster comes in saying that something includes lobster, not in the actual flavor. The only wow factor is in the title, but not in the finished product. Would I have known this was lobster if you hadn’t told me? Probably not. But the second that you mentioned it was Lobster Mac and Cheese, I would feel the need to be impressed, and that feels insincere for some reason. I purchased cooked lobster meat (because in no way am I cooking a live lobster only to add it macaroni and cheese), but at $35 a pound, this is more expensive than beef tenderloin. I suppose this is an ingredient that would make more sense in certain parts of the country. Maybe other regions think of lobster the way Texans think of avocados. We have them all the time, they are beautiful, and they are relatively inexpensive. This was tasty, but it did not knock my socks off given the sticker price of the main ingredient. Lobster aside, Ina’s basic mac and cheese is my go to. I’ve been making it for my family for years, and it is the best.

CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD. You either do or do not enjoy curry, and if you do, you’re going to love this chicken salad. Half of my family is on team curry, the other half is not. For those of us who enjoy the flavor, we could not get enough. I could have made myself sick eating this, and I made it my lunch for a solid week.

ONION AND FENNEL SOUP GRATIN. FENNEL SOUP GRATIN. I made both of these soups on the same night. I followed the recipes exactly as written, and the results were astonishing. When it comes to a stand alone soup in the style of French Onion, the Fennel Soup Gratin wins. But, if you are going to add the delicious bread and broiled cheese on top, the Onion and Fennel Soup Gratin wins. The Fennel Soup is a chicken broth base, and the Onion and Fennel Soup is beef broth based. For being so similar, they were quite different. Sadly, I don’t think either of them win my heart. I have had killer French Onion Soup, and neither one of these hit the mark for me. They are delicious soups, but they feel rushed or trying too hard to short cut the extremely long time it takes to correctly caramelize onions and build on that base of flavor.

POTATO CHIPS. Not worth it even a little bit.

MERINGUES CHANTILLY. Are these a lot of trouble? Yes. No mincing words. These are tricky and take a lot of time. But if you feel like taking on this project, it will reward you with a beautiful, delicious, impressive dessert. Hear my heart, these are not difficult. They are just involved. Ina breaks it all down for you, and the directions are easy to follow. I don’t work with meringues, and I was able to make these with ease. They require six hours in the oven, and so I made them a day ahead, which felt like a gift, and then assembled all the components the next day. The perfect setting for these would be when you are having some friends over to celebrate a birthday or if you are hosting a celebration. I regret not making these for New Year’s Eve, as they would have been perfect with a glass of cold champagne at midnight.

Ina In A Year: Week 16

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Sixteen, I finally had success with ice cream! If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that my first go at ice cream failed miserably. As this week showed me, sometimes there are bad recipes. It takes getting a good one to be reminded that a good recipe is a required first step.

We fired up our Ina Lunches again this week after a break for the holiday. Everything from this week was stunning. There is not one thing on this list that I regretted making, and trying to choose what to summarize proved challenging for this post. If you have questions about anything on this list, I am so happy to tell you my experience and share what I learned.

The unexpected wow factor from this week was the Celery and Parmesan Salad. I think I have told everyone I know about this crazy good salad. I thought it would be terrible (celery salad? really?), but I find myself craving it. I love discovering new and excitingly unexpected winners in the flavor category!

WHAT I COOKED

Cheese Puffs, Barefoot In Paris
Provencal Vegetable Soup, Barefoot In Paris
Pistou, Barefoot In Paris

Chicken with Shallots, How Easy Is That?
Potato Basil Puree, How Easy Is That?
Roasted Broccolini, Cooking for Jeffrey
Old Fashioned Banana Cake, How Easy Is That?

Celery and Parmesan Salad, How Easy Is That?
Saffron Risotto with Butternut Squash, Family Style
Espresso Ice Cream, Family Style
Cherry Pistachio Biscotti, Cooking for Jeffrey

Lentil and Kielbasa Salad, Cooking for Jeffrey
Perfect Poached Fruit, Parties!

Parmesan and Chipotle Popcorn, Cooking for Jeffrey
Turkey Meatloaf, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Parmesan Smashed Potatoes, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Roasted Carrots, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Beatty’s Chocolate Cake, At Home

Caviar Dip, Parties!
Smoked Salmon with Mesclun, Parties!
Filet of Beef with Gorgonzola Sauce, Parties!
Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Parties!
Garlic Roasted Potatoes, Parties!
Chocolate Ganache Cake, Parties!

WHAT I LEARNED

PROVENCAL VEGETABLE SOUP WITH PISTOU. I am going to use my experience making this soup as a platform from which to preach the gospel of salt. I followed this recipe with exceptional attention to detail. I even used homemade chicken stock. Along the way, the recipe instructs us to add a specific amount of salt, and then at the end says, “Depending on the saltiness of your chicken stock, you may have to add up to a tablespoon more of salt.” I really appreciate this kind of instruction. So I tasted. It was, in fact, very bland. I added the full extra tablespoon of salt, and I tasted again. Still not loving it. At this point, I could have stopped, thinking I had done what the recipe said to do, and this must be the way the soup is supposed to taste, and I guess I don’t like this soup. But I have been cooking for so many years that I knew better. I know the truth about salt and the impact it has on a dish. I have always described salt as the light that turns on the flavors you otherwise can’t see. If you can’t taste the flavors, then you need more light. So I continued to add salt to the soup, half a teaspoon at a time, and eventually this soup came to life. I could taste everything: the onion, the leek, the carrot, potatoes, saffron, the basil tomato paste, the pasta, and the delicious homemade chicken stock. It was all there, waiting to be revealed by the correct amount of salt. This soup was so delicious that I ended up eating two bowls. If I had stopped seasoning when the recipe told me to, I would have barely made it through one bowl. This is the power of seasoning something well. The sad news on the seasoning front is, one size does not fit all. My tongue is not your tongue. My salt is not your salt. My broth is not your broth. There are so many factors at play, so many variables. God bless Ina. She really is doing the best she can to instruct the home cook in the ways of correct seasoning. She is better than most at giving specific salting instructions. But even with her directives, there is lots of room for error. The only way to get this right is to taste your food and choose to engage in the process of active seasoning. Sure, every once in a while you are going to go too far. But then you will know what too far tastes like, and you will stop before you get there next time. A perfectly seasoned bowl of Provencal Vegetable Soup reminded me that the lesson of learning to season a dish well is the difference between success and failure in the kitchen.

OLD FASHIONED BANANA CAKE. Banana bread, as we all know, is basically cake masquerading as a breakfast bread. This recipe takes what we are all thinking (“Isn’t this basically banana cake?”) and turns it into its logical conclusion by slathering the top with cream cheese frosting. Ina’s not afraid to call a spade a spade, and when it comes to this Banana Cake, I applaud her bravery. Every bite was a treat. It was simple to make. And the next day it was still moist and delicious.

SAFFRON RISOTTO WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH. This is one of our family’s long time standing favorites. My daughter Norah has requested this as her birthday meal for several years running. Like a perfect bowl of Beef Bourguignon, Saffron Risotto with Butternut Squash is best served alone in the bowl with little else alongside. It has everything you want. A base of smoky cubed pancetta. Wine and shallots for depth and acidity. Creamy, perfectly cooked risotto. Roasted butternut squash for sweetness. And a salty pungent bite from an ample helping of Parmesan. Every bite is better than the last. The creaminess of the finished dish comes not from dairy, but from stirring the grains of arborio rice and encouraging it to shed its starch into the bubbling broth while it cooks, creating a base that feels rich and velvety on the tongue. Cooking risotto is not hard, and I think that Ina sums it up best in her note on this recipe. “After the first try, you’ll get the idea.” Once you make risotto, you’ll be hooked, and then you’ll be set and ready to cook risotto and enjoy it with your guests.

ESPRESSO ICE CREAM. After the ice cream debacle from Week One, I regained my footing with the best coffee ice cream I have ever tasted. This ice cream is perfect and infused with deep coffee flavor and a satisfying crunch from the chocolate covered espresso beans. This sounds silly, but it tasted like “real” ice cream. Sometimes homemade ice cream has a quality about it that, though delicious, is sort of a give away that it was not made my professionals. This looked, scooped, and tasted like something you would purchase from the freezer section of your local grocery store, but even better because it was homemade. I love that if desired, you could make this decaffeinated.

PARMESAN AND CHIPOTLE POPCORN. Chipotle chili powder is different from regular chili powder. Chipotles are smoked jalapenos. You may have seen canned chipotle chilies in the thick red adobo sauce. Same idea. If you take smoked jalapenos, dry them, then grind them, you get chipotle chili powder. Its flavor is vastly different from standard chili powder, and it packs a whallop of flavor and (if you’re not careful) heat. This popcorn is so good. It took three minutes to make, and manages to be smoky, salty, crunchy, and buttery in a way that had us scraping up the bits from the bottom of the bowl. This is a perfect game day snack. Perfect cocktail party fare. Or, a perfect anytime staple.

FILET OF BEEF WITH GORGONZOLA. Un-freaking-believable. Best sauce on beef I’ve ever eaten. I served this at an Ina Dinner, and (no exaggeration) every single man in attendance came up to me personally with a bit of a stunned look in their eye to thank me for such a delicious meal. It was stunning.

Ina In A Year: Week 17

WHAT HAPPENED

Week Seventeen was a busy week for me personally. Our daughter Annie turned 16, then we celebrated my birthday the next day, and the we hosted a party for Annie for following day. Birthday week is always very full, in the best way possible.

I find in weeks like this, where the calendar is overflowing and emotions are running high, that having a plan ready and waiting for me is a source of direction and comfort. The work of figuring out what we are going to be eating along the way (because no matter what is going on, people still need to eat) is taken care of, and working the plan ministers to me in very tangible ways.

Yes, cooking is quite a lot of work and requires effort. But I find that trying escape the work of cooking, either by eating out, eating processed food, or eating food that isn’t worth the effort, brings its own kind of work or negative consequences. Preparing food, even simple food, with care and quality ingredients can facilitate stability and routine during the most stressful of times.

WHAT I COOKED

Parker’s Beef Stew, Back to Basics

Ribollita, At Home
Vanilla Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Cooking for Jeffrey

Butternut Squash Hummus, Cooking for Jeffrey
Skillet Roasted Lemon Chicken, Cooking for Jeffrey
Zucchini Gratin, Barefoot In Paris
Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Barefoot In Paris
Mocha Chocolate Ice Box Cake, How Easy Is That?

Chicken Chili, Parties!
Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Parties!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Parties
!Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Parties!
Hot Mulled Cider, Parties!

Spicy Turkey Meatballs and Spaghetti, How Easy Is That?

WHAT I LEARNED

PARKER’S BEEF STEW. This is a rare addition to the category “I Thought This Was Going To Be Great But It Was Not.” The finished stew is quite thick, too thick in my opinion, with almost no liquid which makes reheating it quite unruly. The beef is marinated in red wine overnight, which yields a very wine-y flavor, but not in a desirable way as it does in Beef Bourguignon. There is also quite a lot of flour and dredging in this recipe which I didn’t care for in beef stew. I wanted the process and the flavors to be cleaner, and instead they were gluey and muddled. I love beef stew, but this is not worth the effort in my opinion.

VANILLA CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE. The best pound cake I’ve ever eaten. This is perfection in a loaf pan, and I am hooked. It’s an added bonus that this recipe yields two perfect loaves, which gives you double the fun, or something to store in your freezer for a future dessert emergency or a new neighbor or just because you want to eat pound cake for breakfast (toasted with butter, of course). Pound cake does not have any leavening agents, such as baking powder or baking soda or yeast, so the volume and lift comes solely from the process of creaming the butter and sugar into a fully fluffed concoction. In order to yield the necessary lightness, your butter must be room temperature, left out for several hours (or, as Ina instructs, overnight). You must also mix the butter and sugar for as long as it takes, until it is light and fluffy. In the summer, when everything is warm, this can happen in as little as three minutes. In the winter, when the air and the bowl and the butter are all a bit cool, this process can take five to seven minutes, with several stops to scrape the bowl and encourage the butter to fluff up. Without this step, your pound cake (or any other baked good for that matter) will not turn out as desired.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH HUMMUS. Top ten appetizer! I know I keep saying things are “top tens,” and I promise along the way I am going to start compiling some actual lists, but this will definitely make an appearance on multiple lists. Not only is this easy to prepare, but the flavor is unexpected and satisfying. It has the sweet spicy, salty combination that gets you coming back for more. It is hummus-like, but I would not taste this and think it was hummus. I cannot wait to make this again.

MOCHA CHOCOLATE ICE BOX CAKE. Did you see me make this on Instagram? This dessert is a throw back to a time when refrigerators were called ice boxes. Essentially, this dessert takes thin crisp cookies and layers them between soft clouds of mascarpone and chocolate whipped cream in a spring form pan. While it chills overnight, the cookies absorb the moisture from the cream mixture and they become cake-like. When you slice into it, it tastes and feels like thin layers of cake, and it is incredibly delicious. Even better, and an added bonus, you can easily make this gluten-free by purchasing the gluten-free varieties of Tate’s cookies. You can’t even tell the difference.

CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES. Out of the trio of cookies I baked on my birthday, these were the only ones I would make again. They are definitely worth it. While I love my recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies, these offer the added heft of chopped walnuts, plus the indulgent pools of melting chocolate that come from hand-chopping chunks of bittersweet bars to stir into the batter. The resulting cookie is excellent, and worth trying. As with the pound cake above, make sure you really cream the butter and sugar for best results.

SPICY TURKEY MEATBALLS AND SPAGHETTI. These are spectacular. I love that Ina has found a way to make homemade meatballs easy as well as flavorful. You mix everything together, you form them, you bake them. Then, you toss them with jarred tomato sauce while the pasta cooks. The texture of the turkey is light and juicy, and the asiago cheese mixed with the red pepper flakes yields a punch of flavor and a kick of heat. And the Rao’s jarred marinara sauce? Worth it. Better than homemade. Yes, it’s expensive ($9 a jar), but the convenience alone of not making sauce from scratch made serving this dish to 24 people for Annie’s birthday a snap. I baked the meatballs that morning, and then when it was dinner time, I boiled water, heated jarred sauce, and threw the meatballs in to warm. I’m not sure I could have been more pleased.

Ina In A Year: Week 18

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Eighteen I caught up on all the blog post writing! Hopefully you can’t tell from reading this after the fact, but somewhere around Week Four, I started not being able to keep up with the cooking and the writing and the running of the business and the family and the holidays. So I began keeping notes, made a promise to myself to pick it up in January, and after Christmas came up with a very strict schedule to get it back on track. This week I completed the plan and am now positioned to return to writing these posts in real time. It has been a huge hurdle to churn out all of these posts en masse, but I am committed to telling the story of this project as much as I am committed to actually cooking all of the recipes. Huge victory dance over here this week! Thank you for reading along.

WHAT I COOKED

Roasted Potato Fennel Soup, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Mussels with Saffron Mayonnaise, Foolproof

Endive with Roquefort and Walnuts, Family Style
Filet of Beef Bourguignon, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Creme Brûlée, Barefoot In Paris

Roasted Shrimp with Feta, How Easy Is That?
Spaghetti Aglio y Olio, How Easy Is That?

Shrimp and Swordfish Curry, Cooking for Jeffrey
Roasted Raspberry Applesauce, Cooking for Jeffrey

Parmesan and Thyme Crackers, Back to Basics
Cauliflower and Celery Root Soup, Make It Ahead
Camembert and Prosciutto Tartines, Cooking for Jeffrey
Wild Rice Salad, How Easy Is That?
Chocolate Orange Mousse, Barefoot In Paris

Roasted Ratatouille with Polenta, Cooking for Jeffrey
Creamy Parmesan Polenta, Cooking for Jeffrey
Deep Dish Apple Pie, Family Style
Perfect Pie Crust, Family Style

WHAT I LEARNED

MUSSELS WITH SAFFRON MAYONNAISE. If you enjoy mussels, you must try these. These literally took less than five minutes to prepare, and it was a satisfying and communal appetizer. We all stood around the cast iron skillet and devoured these in a split second. Perfect party food or first course for a casual evening together with fellow mussel-loving friends.

FILET OF BEEF BOURGUIGNON. It’s not a surprise that another version of Ina’s Beef Bourguignon is amazing. I wrote about my love of this classic French favorite in Week Thirteen. The same opinions apply here. What was surprising to me about this dish was an unexpected gift found in the pacing of the preparation process. The truth is, when it was time for me to make this, I didn’t have a lot to give. I usually bring a measure of energy and excitement to the cooking process, but on this particular Tuesday I was found lacking in both. I didn’t want to cook. I wanted to cry and curl up in my bed and forget the wreck of a day I was having. But I had to cook. So, I read the recipe, looking for a spark that would inspire me to dig deep and dive in. I discovered this dish could be prepared slowly, one step at a time, gently, not requiring a lot of hustle or energy. It is presented in a simple progression of steps that can each be completed while the previous ingredient cooks or simmers. For me, this week, it felt like a metaphor for life. Can you chop an onion? Yes. I can chop an onion. Great. Then start there. One simple step is all that is required of you in the moment. Once that is done, you move on. Can you dice the bacon? Yes. So easy. I can definitely dice a few slices of bacon. Excellent. That’s all you have to do right now. And so it went on, one step, then another, and another, building slowly, never requiring scads of energy from me or ever feeling like I was taking on a huge project. Just chop the next vegetable, then see what’s next. I continued in this manner, one gentle step at a time, and before I knew it, I had created something outstanding and excellent, ready to be tucked into the fridge until I pulled it out the next day to serve this spectacular dish to my lunch guests. I felt a sense of accomplishment that in turn poured into my emptiness and encouraged me to keep going. Sometimes the food is more than the food.

CREME BRULEE. The kitchen torch is so fun!! It’s awesome to watch the sugar melt then brown then burn and smoke, yielding the scent of caramel and the satisfying sizzle as the sugar transforms into a sweet ceiling of sugar glass on top of creamy vanilla custard. This dessert is not difficult. It’s perfect and works equally well in individual dishes or as one large dish. It feels celebratory and elegant, but in truth is much easier to prepare than cake or pie.

ROASTED RASPBERRY APPLESAUCE. Please, everyone, make homemade applesauce at least once in your life. Do it for me. Do it for your children. Do it for yourself. You will not regret the choice to bake apples with brown sugar, butter, citrus, and in this case, raspberries, until soft and perfect. This is out of this world. I find it satisfying on a soul level. How can something so simple be so delicious?

WILD RICE SALAD. As an Instagram follower informed me, wild rice is not rice at all. It is a grass, native to North America and called “rice” because of the similarity in how it cooks. This salad has an odd list of ingredients, but it works. I was not prepared for how much I would enjoy a cold rice salad with fruit and nuts and green onions, but I definitely will be making this again.

ROASTED RATATOUILLE AND PARMESAN POLENTA. Let’s talk about the polenta first. I cannot think of a better way to use six cups of homemade chicken stock. This polenta is heaven in a bowl. I have only ever had bland, soupy, mushy polenta. This was an entirely different experience. The course-grain cornmeal that Ina suggests is paramount. Plus, in this case, I happened to have homemade chicken stock on hand, and I would bet it has a lot to do with the way this turned out. You cannot fake homemade stock. At the end this gets a healthy dose of grated parmesan, a nob of butter, and a generous portion of creme fraiche. Comfort in a bowl, best side dish ever, blowing-my-mind good. The Roasted Ratatouille on top of this? I’m done. I could not get a second helping fast enough. When I saw the recipe I was really prepared for something underwhelming. It looks like every other version Ina has of roasting vegetables at high heat with olive oil and salt and pepper. I truly thought this was going to be a joke. It is not a joke. It is one of the best things I have cooked so far, and if you give me your address I will come over and make it for you because I want everyone to try this.

Ina In A Year: Week 19

WHAT HAPPENED

Guess who had a birthday in Week Nineteen? The Barefoot Contessa, that’s who! Ina’s birthday is February 2, and I love pretending like we’re friends, and you know, her birthday is on my calendar because that’s what friends do. In reality, I looked it up at the beginning of the project because it seemed like the kind of date worth noting. Maybe my birthday is on her calendar too?

On Ina’s birthday, I celebrated with a group of sponsors by bringing the party to them. In-home dinner parties are one of my favorite things I get to do because cooking dinner is one of my favorite things to to. Plus, in this case, the host’s kitchen was so much swankier than mine, which is always fun.

I served Spiced Rub Pork Shoulder, with Maple Baked Beans, Sour Cream Cornbread, and a bright crunchy Winter Slaw. I love watching people’s expectations being exceeded. Ina’s food never fails to deliver in this regard. People assume the food is going to be good, but they typically aren’t prepared for how amazing it all tastes. Women usually are not apt to eat large portions, particularly with a menu like this one, but it gave me joy to watch everyone go back for seconds.

The evening was a delight. We sang “Happy Birthday” to Ina, blew out candles, and enjoyed a slice of Raspberry Cheesecake in her honor. Even though Ina wasn’t there with us, we celebrated like she was.

WHAT I COOKED

Chicken Bouillabaisse, Back to Basics
Rouille, Back to Basics
Chocolate Peanut Butter Globs, Foolproof

California BLT’s, At Home

Slow Roasted Filet of Beef, Foolproof
Basil Parmesan Mayo, Foolproof
Provencal Cherry Tomato Gratin, Foolproof
Green Beans Gremolata, Foolproof
Perfect Pound Cake, Foolproof

Easy Provencal Lamb, How Easy Is That?
Couscous with Peas and Mint, Foolproof

Crispy Mustard Roasted Chicken, Foolproof
Macaroni and Cheese, Family Style
Crispy Roasted Kale, Foolproof
Chocolate Casis Cake, Foolproof

Wild Mushroom and Farro Soup, Make It Ahead

Spanish Tapas Peppers, Make It Ahead
Slow Roasted Spiced Pork, Make It Ahead
Maple Baked Beans, At Home
Winter Slaw, Make It Ahead
Sour Cream Corn Bread, Make It Ahead
Raspberry Cheesecake, Family Style
Raspberry Sauce, Family Style

WHAT I LEARNED

CALIFORNIA BLT.
This recipe has been one of my go-to favorites for years because of how quickly it comes together for a weeknight dinner, and yet how tasty and satisfying it is when each component is the highest quality. Bakery white bread, applewood smoked bacon, crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes, and perfectly ripe avocado makes for an incredible sandwich, even if it is familiar. This recipe proves how cooking doesn’t have to be complicated to be delicious.

SLOW ROASTED FILET OF BEEF WITH BASIL PARMESAN MAYO.
This is my favorite way to cook a whole beef tenderloin because it sets me up for success. The low and slow method reduced the chance of overcooking the meat, and it is very low-stress and easy-to-monitor. I will never go back to the high oven method. This is perfection and the basil parmesan mayonnaise is to die for.

PROVENCAL TOMATO GRATIN.
Yet another example of a baked tomato dish that turns into a magical concoction with only the heat of the oven and the simplest smattering of ingredients. It tastes like it took a lot of time to prepare. In fact, it took fifteen minutes. There was not a crumb of this left on anyone’s plate.

WILD MUSHROOM AND FARRO SOUP.
This is the best mushroom soup I have ever eaten. With so many layers of flavors, built on each other with care and attention, how could it not be? The dried morels cost a whopping $300 per pound, and the portion for this soup rang up at around $10. They were worth every penny, and I cannot stress enough how everything in this soup was perfectly balanced and awe-inspiring.

SPICED ROASTED PORK SHOULDER.
This entire menu was a winner. I was able to serve twelve women (with seconds) from one roast. The rub is full of flavor, and it goes so perfectly with the beans, slaw, and cornbread. This is one of those dinner party menus that really takes away any last minutes stress because everything just hangs out until you’re ready to eat. Even the slaw gets tossed and then put back in the fridge for several hours. The cornbread is moist, sweet, and satisfying.

Ina In A Year: Week 20

WHAT HAPPENED

Week Twenty was the week I wanted to quit. I knew it would hit at some point, and right on time, my desperation set in. I was flooded this week with unmet expectations, jealousy, disappointment, frustration, fatigue, aimlessness, and none of it felt good. It all hit hard and made for a rough week. I stopped posting on social media. I stopped writing. I barely made it through the cooking.

I found myself a fair distance away from the project’s half-way mark, floundering and wondering why in the world I ever thought this whole thing was a good idea. I lost any inkling of inspiration, and found myself in a perfect storm of emotional mess.

I tend to find comfort in routine, and so I went back to what I knew would pour into my empty places. For me, sleep and rest are always my foundation, so I made both a priority. I rebooted my morning routine, including slurping down a nutrient-dense smoothie that looked and tasted like yuck but always kick starts my system in the right direction.

Most importantly, I persisted in kindness towards myself. No bad talking, no shame speaking, no lie listening. I leaned into the feelings, expressing and processing the ones that needed some attention, and letting go of the ones that did not deserve a second look. Along the way, I found moments of real pleasure and a restorative sensory experience in bites of delicious food such as meatloaf, creamy farro, and chicken stew.

It’s a fine line between turning to food for comfort (which it can never fully provide) and receiving food as a gift. The later can bring a moment of comfort, the same as a beautiful sunset, a cozy blanket, a perfect cup of coffee. When food, particularly delicious food, is put in its proper place, the relationship becomes one of health. We are able to enjoy the gifts of flavor without looking to the object to heal our hearts.

WHAT I COOKED

Green Salad with Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette, Family Style
East Hampton Clam Chowder, Family Style
Coconut Macaroons, Family Style

Vegetable Pot Pie, Parties!

Parmesan Kale Chips, Make It Ahead
1770 House Meatloaf, Foolproof
Parmesan Chive Smashed Potatoes, Make It Ahead
Orange Braised Carrots and Parsnips, Foolproof
Double Chocolate Pudding, Parties

Chicken Stew with Biscuits, Family Style

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing with Bibb Lettuce, How Easy Is That?
Perfect Roast Chicken, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Baked Farro and Butternut Squash, Make It Ahead
Mixed Berry Pavlova, At Home

Baked Fontina, How Easy Is That?
Tricolore Salad with Oranges, Cook Like a Pro
Red Wine Braised Short Ribs, Cook Like a Pro
Creamy Blue Cheese Grits, Cook Like a Pro
Roasted Broccoli with Panko Gremolata, Cook Like a Pro
Stewed Rhubarb and Red Berries, Foolproof

WHAT I LEARNED

GREEN SALAD WITH CREAMY MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE
This is the perfect recipe to learn the basics of making vinaigrettes at home. It is a formula that can be adapted, but this one is the one I recommend as the starting place. If you don’t feel like using a raw egg yolk (although, you really must try it once to see how creamy and rich it can be!), you can substitute a tablespoon of mayonnaise instead.

COCONUT MACAROONS
Macaroons are not the same thing as macarons. Macaroons are flourless coconut cookies, lightened with whipped egg whites, and these could not be any simpler. Four ingredients. Ten minutes. Golden brown globs of sweet delicious confection, with a soft center, and an aroma that will remind you why baking at home is always worth any speck of effort.

1770 HOUSE MEATLOAF
I have a new favorite meatloaf. The 1770 House is a restaurant in Ina’s neighborhood, and from what I can tell, they make delicious food. The combination of beef, pork, and veal yielded a soft, tender, delicate meatloaf. This version tastes like Thanksgiving a little bit. Lots of onion, celery, thyme. Not a hint of ketchup, although I did wonder if ketchup would work as a topper for this one. When I made this, I was having a hard day (see above), and when I knew this was on the docket for lunch, the mere thought lifted my spirits. Not because I thought meatloaf could solve anything (also, see above), but because when we are hurting, it feels good to taste something delicious. Flavor provides a momentary respite from pain, a reminder that there are things that are good in this broken world. A bite of meatloaf, if we let it, can reflect the truth that even hard times can have pockets of delight.

CHICKEN STEW WITH BISCUITS
I ate this twice in one day and wasn’t even a little bit mad about it. Everything about it is perfect. It’s heaven, particularly when made with homemade chicken stock. The sauce is creamy and seasoned well, the vegetables are familiar and just the right consistency, the chicken is juicy, and the flaky salty biscuits on top provide a finishing touch that takes the entire dish over the top.

BAKED FARRO AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH
The flavors of this remind me of the Saffron Risotto with Butternut Squash, which is a compliment in my book. I had never had farro before, and I am so happy to have discovered this charming grain. It cooks up with a creamy texture and a satisfying nutty flavor. My husband described it as a cross between oatmeal and rice. This dish is a new favorite, and will be quickly on repeat.

BUTTERMILK RANCH DRESSING WITH BIBB LETTUCE
The best ranch I’ve ever made at home. If you’ve ever made Ina’s Basil Green Goddess dressing, this will remind you of that killer concoction, but with the tang of buttermilk and a bit more of a liquid texture. Pour this on anything resembling salad and it will become the best green thing you’ve ever eaten.

BAKED FONTINA (and entire menu)
When I tell you that grown women could not tear themselves away from the cast iron skillet filled with bubbling hot garlic-specked fontina, I’m not over exaggerating. Melted cheese has the power to woo even delicate dispositions to dive back in for another and another and another bite. In fact, this entire menu had that effect. My favorite part of this appetizer was how quick and easily it came together. Six minutes under the broiler…and done!

Ina In A Year: Week 21

WHAT HAPPENED

Week Twenty-One was Valentine’s Day week, and as it goes, the week I reaped the harvest of my emotional crisis from the week prior. When you take a break from everything, things pile up. Even though that break was much-needed, the deluge of tasks waiting for me was almost as brutal.

Valentine’s Day at Hurley House was huge this year (hooray!). We were hustling, bustling, and packing our little hearts out. I hosted three Ina Lunches and one Ina Dinner in the span of three day (an ambitious feat that will not be repeated, ever). Oh, and on top of everything, my husband Timm left for Africa. I did the best I could, reaching a new level of physical exhaustion and requiring a weekend of laying very very low to recharge.

I did my best to keep my head in a healthy place. I have learned that the best gift I can give myself, aside from grace in the journey and continued self-kindness, is to work The Plan. Work. The. Plan. I know what to do. I know how to do it. I spent a lot of hours thinking it through, mapping it out, and putting it down on paper. It’s hard, and it requires a lot, more than I think I have to give at times. But if I work The Plan, it works.

What is The Plan? The Plan is how I refer to the highly detailed schedule of tasks and due dates that have to be completed each day so that nothing falls through the cracks. Most of what I do in regard to my work and this project is on a loop. It repeats a pattern every week. There may be six thousand steps in the pattern, but it is predictable, and it repeats. I have designed a schedule for myself that outlines each day’s tasks. In order to stay on track, I have to simply complete all the tasks assigned to a given day. If I succeed, then my life clips along at a full, but doable, pace. If I start to talk myself out of the work (“I bet I can do this tomorrow.”), then the tasks overflow into the next day, which makes the next day way too full, which results in more overflow, more feelings of being overwhelmed, and then I am snowed in with no sign of resurfacing.

Why do I do this to myself? This is exactly where I found myself this week, wondering why I ever stop working The Plan in the first place, reminding myself that The Plan is the way I keep myself from being overwhelmed. I felt stuck between the realization that getting off track was not wise, but without a free moment to regain my bearings and right the ship. I just rode the wave, giving attention to the next immediate thing that needed it, and hoping for the best. This week was chaos, and I do not thrive in chaos.

That being said, I made it through, lived to tell about it, and awoke on Monday (after a weekend of napping and elevating my feet) determined and resolved to give myself the gift I needed most, which is to stay on course and do the work assigned to each day.

This pace won’t last forever. I keep telling myself this. This way of life is a temporary arrangement between me and a year-long project. This will end, and I will return to a time when I wasn’t chasing down a thousand recipes. Right?

WHAT I COOKED

Arugula with Prosciutto and Burrata, Cooking for Jeffrey
Real Meatballs and Spaghetti, Family Style
Tiramisu, Family Style

French Green Bean Salad with Warm Goat Cheese, Make It Ahead
Chicken with Morels, Barefoot in Paris
Spinach in Puff Pastry, Barefoot in Paris
Vanilla Rum Panna Cotta with Salted Caramel, Cooking for Jeffrey

Cheese Straws, Barefoot in Paris
Coq au Vin, Back to Basics
English Chocolate Crisps, Make It Ahead

Frozen Chocolate Mousse, Cooking for Jeffrey

WHAT I LEARNED

REAL MEATBALLS AND SPAGHETTI.
I loved this entire menu (see above). We sat the arugula salad out in large bowls on the table for people to help themselves. The plate was simple, with only pasta, sauce, and meatballs. The dessert was equally basic. But not in flavor. Three dishes, each packing a whallop of flavor and the art of perfect execution that carried them beyond basic and transformed the meal into something extraordinary. Someone even commented, “I love how there aren’t any distractions in this meal. It’s the best version of spaghetti I can imagine.”

CHICKEN WITH MORELS.
There is something very special about this chicken and the sauce it creates. Maybe it is the morels or the perfect combination of marsala, lemon juice, and creme fraiche, but everyone who ate it commented. Our guests, the staff, even my children. “Wow” was the standard first word uttered upon taking a bite. It looks like a standard chicken dish, but it is not. It is wow.

VANILLA RUM PANNA COTTA WITH SALTED CARAMEL.
I had no idea I loved panna cotta until this week. I now love panna cotta with my whole heart. It has a nice tang from the yogurt, but not a lot of sweetness. It is thick and cold, keeping it’s shape when you take a spoonful. The caramel on top, flecked with sea salt, brings sophisticated sweetness to the whole set up, although I could easily eat this on its own without complaint.

COQ AU VIN.
Sadly, this was a fail. But not because of the recipe. Or, at least, it’s too soon to make that claim. I goofed up, and the goof up is going to take a long time to explain, so here it goes. In the world of Kosher salt, there are two brand. Diamond Crystal and Morton’s. I use Morton’s. I always have, and to be perfectly honest, it was not until a few months ago that I discovered that Ina does NOT use Morton’s. Ina uses Diamond Crystal. The two salts are both technically the same thing, but the size of the grains of Diamond Crystal is vastly different than the size of the grains of Morton’s. The net result? One teaspoon of Diamond Crystal tastes half as salty as one teaspoon of Morton’s. I switched to Diamond Crystal early in the process, keeping a little jar of it at home and at my station at Hurley House for when I cook Ina recipes. However at Hurley House, our recipes are written using Morton’s, and so that salt is what is at all the other stations in the kitchen. When I was making the Coq au Vin, I used what was at the stove (Morton’s), and right before serving lunch, I realized the dish was way too salty. I scrambled, panicked, and stressed out. I sort of fixed it by adding a lot of extra liquid to dilute the salinity, and it worked in a pinch, but the whole experience ruined this dish for me. I feel frustrated by the different salts. I want these recipes to work regardless of what salt brand you use, and the truth it they don’t. If you use Morton’s salt, you should halve all of Ina’s salt suggestions. But to add another layer of confusion and frustration to the whole situation, I have been cooking Ina’s food with Morton’s salt for years and never had a problem. It seems like to me that only in her more recent books has it become a problem. I don’t have a great answer to the great salt conundrum, but I know that in my kitchen, while cooking for this project, I am using Diamond Crystal and tasting as I go. I also will be repeating this Coq au Vin to see how it turns out when I use the “right” salt. Eye roll.

FROZEN CHOCOLATE MOUSSE.
Sign me up for frozen chocolate mousse. I loved this! It’s like a grown up fudgesicle. I almost didn’t make this because I could not wrap my mind around what it would be like, but it was perfect. We served it in martini glasses with extra whipped cream. Elegant and easy. If I ever suffer a great loss or endure a tragedy, please bring me frozen chocolate mousse. It is all I will want to eat.

Ina In A Year: Week 22

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Twenty-Two the details of life fell back into place. Timm arrived home from Africa, the Valentine’s rush was behind us, and I caught my breath. I celebrated by knocking out thirty recipes and feeling pretty good about it.

I also posted a rant on Instagram about how much I hate red velvet cake (it’s saved in my highlights if you care to check it out), and proceeded to receive the highest level of follower engagement I’ve ever had. It turns out I’m not the only one with strong feelings about this cake flavor (or non-flavor, if you’re asking).

This was a good week.

WHAT I COOKED

Scallion Cream Cheese, Family Style
Garlic and Herb Cream Cheese, Family Style
Vegetable Cream Cheese, Family Style

Israeli Couscous and Tuna Salad, Foolproof

Hummus, How Easy Is That?
Tuna and Hummus Sandwiches, How Easy Is That?

Lobster Corn Fritters, Foolproof
Rosemary White Bean Soup, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Grilled Salmon Sandwiches, Parties!
Quinoa Tabbouleh with Feta, Make It Ahead
Carrot Cake with Mascarpone Frosting, Foolproof

Orange Yogurt, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Blueberry Bran Muffins, Make It Ahead
Scrambled Eggs with Herbs, Family Style

Overnight Belgium Waffles, Make It Ahead

Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce, Cook Like A Pro
Charlie Bird’s Farro Salad, Cook Like A Pro
Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce, Cook Like A Pro

Vegetable Platter, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Salmon with Fennel, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Provencal Potato Salad, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Red Velvet Cupcakes, How Easy Is That?

Lamb Shanks with Orzo, Foolproof
Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Foolproof
Chocolate Terrine with Orange Sauce, Make It Ahead

Raspberry Vodka, Parties
Rori’s Potato Chips, Parties!
Tarragon Shrimp Salad, Cooking for Jeffrey
Brown Rice, Tomato, and Basil, Family Style
Fruitcake Cookies, At Home

WHAT I LEARNED

ISRAELI COUSCOUS AND TUNA SALAD.
I love Israeli couscous! This salad surprised me, in the best way possible. I thought it was going to be full of strong tuna or olive flavor, and instead it was light, bright, fresh, and the kind of salad that I could eat all day. I had it for leftovers the next day, and it held up quite well. I would highly recommend making this again!

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH FRESH HERBS.
Holy cow, these are the best scrambled eggs I have ever eaten. I served this for Staff Lunch, alongside the Blueberry Bran Muffins and the Orange Yogurt, and it was an experience we all were giddy about. I want everyone to learn how to cook scrambled eggs like this. The butter, the salt, the slow cooking, and the finish of the perfect combination of fresh herbs. So satisfying.

BANANA BRAN MUFFINS.
These are going in a top ten list for sure. I love bran muffins, and I particularly like muffins that do not resemble cake, but are in fact hearty and full of the kind of ingredients I want to begin my morning with. There are two and a half cups bran in this batter, which means each muffin has close to one-quarter of a cup of bran. That’s a hefty helping of fiber. I took the leftover muffins home, and my kids loved them. My pickiest eater even commented, “I was surprised how much I enjoyed this muffin!” Three days later, I nibbled on the last leftover muffin, and it was still moist. The muffins were thick, craggy, and baked up beautifully.

CHARLIE BIRD’S FARRO SALAD.
Charlie Bird is apparently a restaurant in Houston. This salad is interesting and features my new favorite grain…farro! I gobbled this up. I like that the greens aren’t dressed in vinaigrette, but instead they get “dressed” from the vinaigrette that you pour over the hot farro. The crunch of pistachio, the surprise of parsley and mint, and the sharp bite of parmesan with juicy cherry tomatoes is fantastic.

SALMON WITH FENNEL.
Were it not for this project, I would never have cooked this. It calls for a LOT of salmon, and it just doesn’t jump off of the page as something compelling to prepare. More wrong I could not be. This is perhaps the best salmon I’ve ever eaten. The fennel filling is sweet and caramelized, with a hint of orange that works in this setting. The salmon is perfectly cooked, buttery, flaky. The whole presentation was impressive and fun. I served it at room temp with a beautiful grilled Vegetable Platter and the Provencal Potato Salad. It was a hit.

TARRAGON SHRIMP SALAD.
Add this to your summer menu line up! Such a great dish. Timm took it to the next level and put it in bread, and claimed it to be “better than a lobster roll.” It was simple enough to prepare, and full of crunch and flavor. It is creamy, but not in a gloppy way. It’s the kind of thing I want to keep in the fridge and eat for a cold dinner in the middle of August.

Ina In A Year: Week 23

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Twenty-Three I experienced a lot of frustrating moments in the kitchen. I’m not sure why so many things went poorly, but I found myself disappointed more than seemed possible, given that I love Ina’s recipes and consider them trustworthy.

I always find it particularly frustrating when things don’t turn out the way I expect. Cooking from scratch takes a lot of time, not just in the kitchen, but also in the planning, the grocery shopping, the list making, the ingredient gathering. If, after all of that effort, the dish does not satisfy or taste good or turn out the way it looks in the photograph, the whole endeavor feels like a waste of time and resources. Of course, there are always lessons to be learned through failures, but they are not fun or easy. This week held a lot of those lessons, which left me tired of cooking and weary from putting forth effort that yielded a diminishing return.

WHAT I COOKED

Indonesian Ginger Chicken, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Ginger Basmati Rice, Make It Ahead
Coeur a la Crème with Raspberries, In Paris
Savory Palmiers, Back to Basics
Roast Chicken with Radishes, Cooking for Jeffery
Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes, Make It Ahead
Broccoli Rabe with Garlic, At Home
Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars, At Home
Roast Loin of Pork with Fennel, Parties!
Sautéed Cabbage, Parties!
Baked Virginia Ham, Parties
Cranberry Fruit Conserve, Parties!
Roasted Vegetable Torte, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Old Fashioned Apple Crisp, Parties!
Maple Vanilla Cream of Wheat, Make It Ahead
Raspberry Corn Muffins, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

WHAT I LEARNED

INDONESIAN GINGER CHICKEN.
In the spirit of being authentic and honest, I am going to tell my true feelings about this dish. Indonesian Ginger Chicken was a huge disappointment. It’s a rare occurrence with Ina’s recipes, but when it happens, it really sticks out. This chicken dish should be good. It has everything going for it: bone-in, skin on chicken; a saucy marinade of spicy ginger, salty soy sauce, and sweet honey; an overnight drenching in the sauce; a nice hour bake in the oven, the last half of which the chicken is cooked skin-side-up so that the sauce can thicken and glaze the chicken. But at the end of the day, this is merely a recipe for a tasty sauce, not a tasty chicken. By now I should know better than to assume that unseasoned chicken is somehow going to magically become infused with flavor. It won’t. Even when it marinates overnight, if there isn’t any flavor going into the meat of the chicken, the chicken is not going to have flavor. The marinade in this recipe sits on the surface of the chicken, and chicken breasts are very thick. A surface smattering won’t suffice. In order to season chicken, you really have to get the seasoning onto the meat. This recipe might have worked its flavor magic better with thinner cuts of chicken. This chicken was average at best. This dish wasn’t worth the time or effort.

TWICE BAKED SWEET POTATOES.
These are interesting, in a good way, if you like sophisticated flavor combinations. The recipe calls for tellegio cheese, which I had never tasted before this recipe. Tellegio is definitely a funky cheese (in a good way). It has a very distinct flavor, and when combined with the shallots, thyme, butter, and roasted sweet potato flesh, it is complex and interesting. However, I did not love the presentation of these. I found that by the time my sweet potatoes were cooked all the way through, the skins had lost a lot of their structural integrity. They were kind of floppy and didn’t do a great job holding up the filling once I returned it to the cavity. All that being said, the finished dish was different and delicious.

PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY BARS.
These are awesome! This recipe is based on the same idea as Ina’s Raspberry Crumble Bars, but with peanut butter. They really do taste like everything I love about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The end result is not too sweet, with a peanut-forward flavor. Were it not for our bakery case already being full of peanut-butter flavored things, I would consider adding these to the Hurley House lineup.

SAUTÈED CABBAGE.
For a cabbage side dish, this is simple, easy, and so very delicious. Cabbage is underrated in my opinion. Cabbage is cheap, feeds a crowd, and when flavored correctly (as this one is) can really shine next to pork or chicken. This method of cooking is so fast and simple, and the butter and salt is mandatory.

OLD FASHIONED APPLE CRISP.
What Ina lacks in her recipe for apple pie, she totally makes up for with this apple crisp. This is the best apple crisp I have ever made. I think a lot of the success has to do with using McIntosh apples. Do you know this variety of apple? It is sweet, but it keeps its form when cooked. The results have texture, but not in an applesauce kind of way. The topping is perfect, and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, this is a top ten dessert.

BAKED VIRGINIA HAM and CRANBERRY FRUIT CONSERVE.
There is not a lot to say about ham covered in glaze except to say that I have never made ham covered with glaze until this project, and now I have made it twice. I quite enjoy it. It is the world’s fastest main dish, and for holiday buffets, there is not an easier choice. This version is incredibly flavorful with the conserve beside it. I served it with biscuits (from the freezer), and we were all very happy.

Ina In A Year: Week 24

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Twenty-Four…well, how do I say this and still remain family-friendly? In Week Twenty-Four, the dirty diaper really hit the fan. Does that get the point across? Week Twenty-Four, and I want to be real careful not to overstate this or exagerate, but Week Twenty-Four almost gutted me emotionally, physically, and mentally.

We all have limits, a breaking point, a level of reasonable stress that we can metabolize and still function like a normal human being. My limits whizzed into my rear view mirror this week, bringing my breaking point front and center and my stress level to a red hot defcon one.

In Week Twenty-Four, I unexpectedly found myself managing the kitchen full time at Hurley House, on top of my role as business owner, operations manager, marketing manager, communications manager, content manager, and creative manager. Oh, and almost half-way through this little Ina In A Year project that is basically a part-time job.

I buckled. To make the whole situation even more laughable (or cry-able, depending on who you ask), I had four private events in four days this week. On Monday I taught a private class on how to roast a chicken. On Tuesday we hosted our second Ina In A Year VIP Party. On Wednesday I hosted an Ina Lunch. On Thursday we hosted our first Whiskey Night at Hurley House. All of these events required enormous amounts of time and energy from me, and I felt every second of it.

In the midst of my crisis, my Enneagram type 1 coping mechanisms took over. I immediately dropped anything that was not vitally important and created a new system for running the Hurley House kitchen. Creating a new system, which brought with it a hefty learning curve, was only part of the equation. I also decided it would be in the best interest of the company long-term for me to batch test every recipe in an effort to eliminate as many errors as possible, increase efficiency, and reduce waste. This process required my hands-on involvement and oversight of every single detail. I was thrown into the deep end of my own kitchen and wondered whether or not I would sink or swim.

Coughing up water, flailing to hang on, gasping for air, I fought my way through this week and came out alive. I decided I was not about to let this new snag ruin me or my business. If I needed to dig in, then I would dig in. By the end of the week, knew where I wanted to go and how I wanted to get us there. What I didn’t know was how I was going to carry the monstrous load of all this on my own. I geared up as best I could, and kept my head down as I powered through each day, discovering new levels of exhaustion.

I did not write or post very much. How could I? I toiled behind the scenes, putting in the hours necessary to get our train moving in the right direction. The work was vital, but it was hard. It wasn’t cute. It wasn’t charmingly challenging. It was ugly.

WHAT I COOKED

Dark Rum Southsides, Cooking for Jeffery
Rossinis, Foolproof
Chunky Blue Cheese & Yogurt Dip, How Easy Is That?
Jalapeño Cheese Crackers, Foolproof
Tomato Crostini with Whipped Feta, Foolproof
Elephant Ears, Barefoot In Paris
Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs, How Easy Is That?

Roasted Chicken with Potatoes
Caesar Salad with Pancetta, Parties!
Weeknight Bolognese, How Easy Is That?
Caesar Salad with Blue Cheese and Bacon, Make it Ahead
Frozen Hot Chocolate, Cooking for Jeffery

Garlic and Herb Roasted Shrimp, Make it Ahead
Pears, English Stilton, Port, Parties!

WHAT I LEARNED

DARK RUM SOUTHSIDES.
Winner winner! We served these at the VIP party, and several people commented on how refreshing and easy these were to drink. The base of lime, mint, and rum is topped with sparkling water which makes these a light, low-alcohol cocktail. We set up a station with all of the components, and people helped themselves and mixed their own drink. I went back for seconds and will definitely be repeating these at future gatherings!

WHIPPED FETA BRUSCHETTA.
This is one of my favorite appetizers yet. The combination of feta and lemon whipped together and then topped with tomatoes sounds deceptively basic, but it is not. The flavors mix and mingle and bring out hidden notes in each element making this a magical dish. It also happens to be strikingly beautiful when displayed on a platter.

CHUNKY BLUE CHEESE AND YOGURT DIP.
Not only was this delicious as a dip with fresh vegetables, but later in the week I used the leftover as a spread for a roast beef sandwich. The flavor is intense, creamy, tangy, and geared toward the blue-cheese lover (which I am).

WEEKNIGHT BOLOGNESE.
Sometimes when someone labels a certain recipe as a weeknight favorite, I quickly discover that we define “weeknight” very differently. Weeknight recipes need to be fast, easy, and relatively inexpensive. For this recipe, Ina and I definitely define “weeknight” the same. I loved this so much. The flavor is very meaty and satisfying, with a touch of heat and a touch of cream, but not too much of either. My kids loved it. And it was a cinch to throw together. I am adding this to my line up of favorite go-to dinners.

Ina In A Year: Week 25

WHAT HAPPENED

After the week that almost ended me, I continued on in the same way during Week Twenty-Five. It is interesting me to look back on my notes from this week and see a marked difference in the word count. Up to this point I had poured out any and every thought, feeling, response, description, and possible follow up plan for every recipe I was cooking. This week, my notes were bare-bones, concise, and straight to the point. Reduced to a single sentence sometimes (“This is a cinch to prepare.”), you can tell that I am in a state of no nonsense, without room for any fluff of any kind.

I swore to myself when I started Ina In A Year that I would not willingly choose to embark on a project the that would obviously require a lot of me, and then whine and complain about how hard it is. Of course it’s hard. No one needs or wants to hear me complain about how hard it is. I chose to do this. I made this whole thing happen. If I choose to complain about it, then why am I doing it? So this is not going to turn into a weekly update where I complain about how hard this project is.

I will, however, continue to let you know that juggling this many hats has tested and pulled me in ways I could not have predicted. I have wanted to quit several times over the past five months. But this week, I began to wonder if I would have to quit in order to save my business. How can one person possibly complete all this cooking while managing a kitchen and running a business? The truth is, in Week Twenty Five, I did not have an answer. To make it even worse, I also had no hope of an answer. Nothing on the horizon that pointed toward relief or a change. Just miles of hard work ahead of me and no one to tend to it but me.

I dug in and kept going.

WHAT I COOKED

Chilled Cucumber Soup, Back to Basics
Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts, Back to Basics
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake, Make It Ahead

Sole Meuniere, Back to Basics
Wild Rice Pilaf, Family Style
Rich Beef Barley Soup, How Easy Is That?
Smoked Salmon Spread, Family Style
Shrimp Salad, Parties!
Chinese Chicken Salad, Parties
!Pasta, Pesto and Peas, Parties!
Panzanella, Parties!
Lemon Cake, Parties!

Portobello Mushroom Lasagna, At Home

Fresh Fruit Platter, Barefoot Contessa
Chunky Banana Bran Muffins, At Home
Maple Roasted Bacon, At Home
Zucchini and Leek Fritatta, Cooking for Jeffery
Easy Sticky Buns, Back to Basics

WHAT I LEARNED

LEMON POPPY SEED CAKE (and LEMON LOAF CAKE).
This formula is one of Ina’s classics. Her Lemon Loaf Cake is the gold standard, and this version, baked in a bundt pan with the addition of poppy seeds, does not disappoint. I love this cake in all of its iterations so much. I cannot for the life of me figure out why we must soak the poppy seeds in buttermilk for two hours (TWO HOURS!!!), but it was delicious none the less. Next time, I will skip the soaking. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will tell you that my bundt cake stuck to the pan, but have no fear! The glaze covered a multitude of mistakes and made everything beautiful. You really cannot mess up a cake when glaze is involved.

SOLE MINEURE.
If you’ve never cooked sole, let me see if I can describe it in a way that will make it as real as possible for you. Imagine taking a small piece of tissue paper, coating it in flour, and then sautéing it in a pan. That’s what it’s like to cook sole. Yes, it is delicate and (in theory) delicious. But it is also delicate and (in reality) prone to turn to mush like the paper thin fragile fish that it is. I did not enjoy this.

PASTA PESTO PEAS.
This is a classic Ina winner. I have served this at so many memorable family gatherings, and it is the hit of every buffet. It makes a huge amount, it is beautiful, it is fresh, it is absolutely delicious. I never regret making this pasta salad, and each bite reminds me why.

ZUCCHINI LEEK FRITTATA.
This is my favorite Ina frittata recipe. About a year ago I started making this version once a week and portioning it out for breakfasts during the week. Then I started to add my own twists, changing up the vegetables or cheese, but always using this formula as a base. It is fantastic. I served this at an Ina Brunch, and the flavor was the topic of conversation. The caramelized leeks really pack a punch on the bottom of the skillet, and all the other elements work so well together.

EASY STICKY BUNS.
Heck. Yes. These are amazing!!! Top ten breakfast treat for sure. Puff pastry is rolled around brown sugar and chopped nuts, swirled in a sauce, and baked until puffed and golden brown. They get dumped out and served up, and I dare you not to salivate at the sight of these beauties.

Ina In A Year: Week 26

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Twenty-Six I started to feel sad. The kind of sadness that comes with being overwhelmed and not sure how anything is ever going to get better. The kind of sadness that looks around and hears a tiny voice whisper from the darkness of a fear-filled mind, “How will you ever pull this off?” The kind of sadness that expresses itself in angry tears, full of exhaustion, confusion, and doubt.

This was me as I rounded the half-way point of this project. To add insult to injury, I had originally planned to make a big deal about cresting the fifty percent mark, to celebrate it and start the downhill coast. There was no celebrating, no announcement, and no coasting.

I was spending fifteen hours a day at Hurley House to get everything done. The Kitchen Manager job was drowning me as I attempted to completely overhaul our operation. The cooking was grueling, and I had moments where I literally cussed out loud at a dessert because I thought it was the dumbest dessert in the world. Have you ever cussed at sorbet? It’s not a proud moment.

As it turns out, the dessert was the hit of the lunch the next day, and I just needed a good night’s sleep. But these are the moments that I remember. Alone in the kitchen at midnight, up to my wrists in mango sorbet, wanting to fling the whole contraption across the room and walk out. But I didn’t fling, and I didn’t walk out. I kept going.

WHAT I COOKED

Date Nut Spice Bread, Back to Basics
Herbed-Baked Eggs, In Paris
Pan Fried Onion Dip, Barefoot Contessa
Lemon Chicken with Croutons, In Paris
Maroccan Couscous, In Paris
Roasted Cauliflower Snowflakes, Make It Ahead
Raspberry Orange Trifle, Family Style
Penne with Five Cheeses, Family Style
Vegetable Sushi, Barefoot Contessa
Asian Grilled Salmon, Parties!
Sugar Snap Peas with Sesame, Barefoot Contessa
Szechuan Noodles, Barefoot Contessa
Ice Cream Bombe, In Paris
Grilled New York Strip Steak, Make It Ahead
Caramelized Shallots, In Paris
Crusty Baked Potatoes with Whipped Feta, Make It Ahead
Pear, Apple and Cranberry Crisp, Make It Ahead

WHAT I LEARNED

GRILLED NEW YORK STRIP STEAKS.
At first glance, I thought this recipe was too fussy and a way for Ina to fill a page. Everyone knows the only “recipe” you need for steak is olive oil, and plenty of salt and pepper. Fancy rubs have no place on a thick New York strip steak, right? Wrong. The flavor of this rub, with its list of odd ingredients including brown sugar, chili powder, and coffee, is spot on. This recipe yields a fantastic version of grilled steak, transforming the finished dish into something equally delicious as the classic, but with more interesting flavors. I found it insanely satisfying.

PEAR, APPLE, AND CRANBERRY CRISP.
To quote my husband Timm, “This is one of the best desserts from this project so far.” It’s the basic formula of Ina’s apple crisp with the addition of pears and cranberries. The depth of flavor is subtle, but the added ingredients transform this dish into an amalgam of notes that compliment one another and make the others shine. Kind of like a good marriage.

PAN FRIED ONION DIP.
I have a memory from my childhood of sitting on the beach under an umbrella with a bag of Fritos and a can of onion dip from the gas station. Not my classiest moment, but it stuck with me. Good onion dip is hard to find, until now. THIS is the onion dip of my dreams. Richly caramelized onions, golden brown and sweet, are mixed with cream cheese and sour cream, and the perfect amount of salt. I could eat this for days. I served it with kettle potato chips, and there was nothing low-brow about it. Everyone likes onion dip, and I will be serving this at parties for years.

MORROCON COUSCOUS.
This!!! I served Ina’s Morrocon Couscous at an Ina Lunch, and it was the star of the show. The broth is infused with saffron and cumin. The vegetables are roasted until caramelized and sweet. The finished dish is nothing short of a show-stopper. Couscous recipes can tend to border on bland, but this one is full of flavor. I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day, and it was equally as good served cold out of a Tupperware container.

ICE CREAM BOMBE.
This was the dessert that had me cussing at sorbet late at night. I was angry and sad when I made it, slapping sorbet in the bowl, my fingers numb, melting sorbet mess all over the counter. Who makes bombes? Who thinks this is a good idea? No one. I put the finished contraption in the freezer overnight and expected it to be a bomb (pun intended). I even had my speech ready for what I was going to say to our lunch guests when it didn’t turn out. The next day, to my surprise and the sheet delight of everyone who got to enjoy this masterpiece, it turned out spectacularly. I regret not capturing the moment on video. It was a triple wow moment, and I think I almost cussed (again) out of disbelief. Not only did this dessert look beautiful, but the combination of mango sorbet, raspberry sorbet, and strawberry ice cream is crazy good. It’s cold, tart, beautiful, interesting, and such a cool presentation. I seriously still cannot believe it worked.

Ina In A Year: Week 27

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Twenty-Seven, I was still struggling to figure out how to get everything done. I began to treat the Ina recipes like a catering order, trying to work it into my daily work flow, tricking myself into making sure it got done. It helped a little bit, but I was still working ten hours every day in the Hurley House kitchen, and then going home to recover before coming back the next day to do it all over again.

I wrote in my notes, “It’s too much. I’m losing my sense of who I am. I’m living a life I can’t sustain, and I feel sad and frustrated.” I spent a lot of time this week trying to get a game plan together so that I could pivot and still make it to the finish line, despite all the recipes that I had not been able to cook according to schedule. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m still giving it everything I have.

WHAT I COOKED

Niman Ranch Burgers with Caramelized Onions, Back to Basics
Baked Sweet Potato “Fries”, Back to Basics
Creamy Cucumber Salad, Back to Basics
Fresh Lemon Mousse, Back to Basics
Grilled Salmon Salad, Barefoot Contessa
Roasted Striped Bass, In Paris
Rum Raisin Tiramisu, How Easy Is That

WHAT I LEARNED

NIMAN RANCH BURGERS WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS.
On a week where I had a lot of things go wrong, these burgers really hit the spot. The juicy, tender patties, flavored with dijon and thyme, were delightfully tasty. The topping of caramelized onions was perfect. And the English muffin as a bun was surprising, but a successful pairing. I would make these again in a second.

GRILLED SALMON SALAD.
This was my favorite dish I cooked all week! The salmon was perfectly cooked, tender and juicy. The salad had lots of crunch from the celery and red onion, and the capers, dill, and raspberry vinegar brought bursts of flavor. It’s not part of the recipe, but I paired this with fresh avocado for a healthy lunch.

ROASTED STRIPED BASS.
No no no. I’m sorry, but when I spend $100 on fish, I expect something kind of amazing. Let me save you the trouble and spare you the details by saying, this is not worth the time or money.

RUM RAISIN TIRAMISU.
I have never had a recipe turn out so horribly. I made it exactly as written, even using the brand of rum she suggests. The finished tiramisu tasted only of rum. Nothing else. My kids spit it out. Annie said it tasted like a sharpie. It was so strong I felt buzzy after a few bites. There was not a hint of orange, vanilla, cream, cookie, or any of the other ingredients layered in this dessert. It was gross, unless you like eating rum.

Ina In A Year: Week 28

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Twenty-Eight I decided to stop caring about whether or not what I was cooking was appropriate for the time of day or if it went together in a well-constructed menu. I just cooked. On Sunday night I served scallops, beets, oatmeal, biscuits, an omelette, french toast, and fruit salad. It was hilarious, and odd, but memorable.

WHAT I COOKED

Roasted Asparagus and Prosciutto, Foolproof
Easy Hollandaise Sauce, Foolproof
Roasted Chicken with Bread and Arugula Salad, Make It Ahead
Parmesan Roasted Zucchini, Cooking for Jeffery
Herbed New Potatoes, Barefoot In Paris
Stewed Berries & Ice Cream, Family Style

Bagels with Smoked Salmon & Whitefish Salad, Back to Basics
Sauteed Carrots, Family Style
Brisket with Carrots and Onions, Parties!
Chopped Liver, Parties!
Rendered Chicken Fat, Parties!
Noodle Kugel, Parties!

Seared Scallops & Potato Celery Root Purée, Foolproof
Beets with Orange Vinaigrette, Barefoot Contessa
Sunday Morning Oatmeal, At Home
French Toast Bread Pudding, How Easy Is That?
Country French Omelet, Back to Basics
Fruit Salad with Lemoncello, Back to Basics
Chive Biscuits, Family Style

WHAT I LEARNED

ROAST CHICKEN WITH BREAD AND ARUGULA SALAD.
Top ten alert. Roasting chicken on top of slices of bread is something you have to try. The resulting chicken bread (as I call it) is burnt on one side, soft on the other, and bathed in all those delicious chicken juices. The chopped up chicken bread becomes croutons for the salad, which includes fresh arugula, the chunks of roasted chicken, chopped green onions, currants, and a zingy dressing. I would make this a staple at HH if I could. We even nibbled on the leftovers the next day, which held up surprisingly well given that the greens were already dressed.

PARMESAN ROASTED ZUCCHINI.
This recipe is a great way to use zucchini if you’re looking for something new. It’s easy. It’s fast. It’s crunchy. It looks interesting on the plate. The flavor is well-rounded and satisfying without being odd or weird.

STEWED BERRIES WITH ICE CREAM.
I love having a fast dessert recipe in my repertoire, and this one could not be faster. Berries are cooked on the stove for a bit, with sugar and a hit of framboise (raspberry liqueur), until they are broken down a bit. Then, you scoop them into a bowl and top with your favorite vanilla ice cream. I really thought this was going to be boring, but it was truly delightful. Surprising, even. I served it in individual shallow gratin dishes. So cute.

SUNDAY MORNING OATMEAL.
This is a great example of how to take a simple ingredient (quick-cooking oats) and turn it into something special. Cooking oatmeal in part water and part dairy yields a luxurious consistency that feels elevated. I also liked the step of steeping the banana and dried fruit in the oatmeal for a few minutes before serving. The flavors infused the oatmeal, and the heat softened the fruit. I added a touch of maple syrup for sweetness.

COUNTRY FRENCH OMELETTE.
For such a straight-forward omelette recipe, this has crazy-good flavor. It is more like a frittata than an omelette, which makes this simpler to prepare in my opinion. There is no cheese, and I didn’t even miss it. I served this to my family of six by cutting it into small wedges. Excellent breakfast for dinner!

FRUIT SALAD WITH LIMONCELLO.
This is going to sound crazy, because, hello, we are talking about fruit salad which doesn’t normally require a recipe, but I could not get enough of this. The limoncello wakes up the flavor of the fruit, yet you cannot taste the liqueur. It reminds me of the same effect the framboise had on the stewed berries (see above). It adds another dimension of flavor that is impossible to achieve without the addition of the alcohol. The lemon curd yogurt topping is so fast, and seriously takes this whole dish over the top. This would make a perfect brunch or shower menu offering.

Ina In A Year: Week 29

WHAT HAPPENED

Full disclosure. In Week Twenty-Nine I forgot to take notes about what was happening in my life, so I am working purely from memory on this one. I do remember that it was a busy week at Hurley House due to five private events. This always translates into more hours for me, because most of the cooking and kitchen tasks fall into my lane for special events (on top of all of the normal kitchen duties).

Because I was physically present at the store during the events, but only working from the kitchen and not out in the front of the store, I made the best of the time by cooking through a lot of recipes. While a private dinner was happening, I made Filet Mignon with Mustard and Mushroom. While Timm taught Whiskey Night, I made French Chicken Pot Pies. It worked.

I am beginning to accept the reality that this cooking for the Ina Project really requires so many extra hours. There’s not a short cut, no matter how much I want there to be one. I want to believe that I can do it while I’m managing the kitchen, and it never works that way. So, on weeks like this, it works because I was forced to be in the kitchen at night. Other weeks, it doesn’t work because I am at home and my bed is within my reach.

WHAT I COOKED

Savory Coeur à la Crème, How Easy Is That?
French Chicken Pot Pies, Make It Ahead
Lemoncello Ricotta Cheesecake, Cooking for Jeffery
French Chocolate Bark, Back to Basics
Toasted Coconut Marshmallows, Family Style
Homemade Marshmallows, Family Style
Ultimate Pumpkin Pie with Rum Whipped Cream, Foolproof
Perfect Pie Crust, Foolproof
Orange French Lace Cookies, Foolproof
Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies, Back to Basics
Lobster Rolls, Cook Like a Pro
Filet Mignon with Mustard and Mushrooms, Cooking for Jeffery
Rich Celery Root Puree, How Easy Is That?
Turkey Tea Sandwiches, Barefoot Contessa
Banana Sour Cream Pancakes, Family Style
Scrambled Eggs with Caviar, Family Style
Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins, Family Style
Homemade Muesli with Red Berries, Back to Basics

WHAT I LEARNED

FILET MIGNON WITH MUSTARD AND MUSHROOMS.
This recipe is an excellent use of a cast iron skillet. The heat of the pan is a tool towards success when it comes to cooking steaks. They sear in the smoking hot pan, and then the residual heat finishes the cooking. The mushroom sauce is perfection. As in my other notes about filets, no one needs twelve ounces of meat. No one. Four twelve ounce filets can feed six to eight adults, which comes in handy, because this recipe does not scale well. So, if you want to serve more than eight people, either use two pans, or choose a different recipe.

RAISIN PECAN OATMEAL COOKIES.
Listen. I know. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies get a bad rap. They are the ugly stepchild of the Oatmeal Cookie family. But these are different. These are the version for people that have been wounded by renditions of this cooke that are too sweet, too bland, too raisin-heavy. This cookie will remind you of all that’s good and true about toasted pecans, brown sugar, hearty oats, and a few raisins thrown in for sweetness. This is the official Oatmeal Raisin Cookie at HH, and I would never serve something that I didn’t love. This cookie is a worth-it endeavor.

HOMEMADE MUESLI.
I was shocked by how much I loved this. I ate it four days in a row for breakfast, which in a world where I don’t need to add cooking to my schedule, should say a lot for this recipe. It is hearty and interesting, and I loved the hazelnuts and honey. The addition of yogurt and fruit adds freshness. I liked how I could let it soak while I was getting other things done, and then when I was ready to eat, it was waiting for me. In theory, I think you could make a big batch of this and eat it all week.

FRENCH CHICKEN POT PIES.
There is a soulful satisfaction that comes with making chicken pot pie, particularly when you don’t have to make the topping from scratch! Using puff pastry makes the perfect elegant topping for this dish. I think everyone should have a delicious pot pie recipe in thier arsenal of dinner menus, and if not this one, then choose any of Ina’s variations. She has several, and they all follow the same basic formula, with little tweaks here and there to add varity. This version has leeks and quite a lot of tarragon, so if either of those ingredients don’t strike your fancy, maybe head a different direction. But, the overall appeal of this dish is that is a complete meal in one pan, and you get to eat puff pastry. As an added point of presentation, I love to make chicken pot pie in a large cast iron skillet and serve it family style at the table.

Ina In A Year: Week 30

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Thirty, I made a Big Decision. In Week Thirty I hired a personal assistant. Typing that sentence, or even saying it out loud, still brings me a smidge of discomfort because who do I think I am? But also, if you’ve been following along, how could I not ask for help?

I was sitting at our back patio table with Timm after work, my head swimming. Things were beginning to fall away at a pace that alarmed me. I literally could not do my primary job of running a business because of the time I was spending in the kitchen managing our team. Never mind the Ina work. My day job was crumbling, and it was causing me alarm. Sitting there in that moment, I looked at Timm and said, “I need help. Now.”

I walked into the house, found my computer, and posted a job listing on my church’s private Facebook group. Twenty minutes later I had a message from someone saying she was interested. We set up an interview, and by the end of the week, she was officially on board. The fast turn around was a gift in itself. I expected it to take weeks to find the right person, and instead it took hours.

Her name is Emily, and Emily is saving me. I literally have handed her everything that does not require my specific attention. I have never felt more validated than the moment when Emily looked at me, after listening to me outline everything I have to do in a given week, and said, “Katherine. This is a lot.”

Four little words. This is a lot. I know it’s a lot, but you know how you get used to things when you’re in them, and then someone other than you takes a look at your reality and calls it what it is and it washes over you for the first time? That was me, sitting next to Emily, bathing in the flood of validation at hearing her say how large of a load I had been carrying by myself. Thank you, Emily, for being honest. And thank you for stepping in and helping me carry this load. I feel hope for the first time in a long time.

WHAT I COOKED

Cheddar and Chutney on Brioche, Parties!
Herbed Goat Cheese Sandwiches, Parties!
Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches, Barefoot Contessa
Herbed Ricotta Bruschettas, How Easy Is That?
Greek Mezze Platter w/ Thyme Roasted Red Peppers, Make It Ahead
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Make It Ahead
Marinated Herbed Feta, Make It Ahead
Easy Tzatziki with Feta, Foolproof
Foolproof Ribs with Barbecue Sauce, Foolproof
Tarragon Potato Salad, How Easy Is That?
Watermelon & Arugula Salad, How Easy Is That?
Fresh Blueberry Pie, Make It Ahead
Perfect Pie Crust, Make It Ahead
Roasted Shrimp & Orzo, At Home
Veal Chops with Roquefort Butter, Barefoot In ParisPotato Celery Root Puree, Barefoot In Paris
Sauteed Wild Mushrooms, Barefoot In ParisOven Roasted Vegetables, Back to Basics
Roasted Shrimp Salad, How Easy Is That?
Roasted Beets, Barefoot In Paris

WHAT I LEARNED

ROASTED SHRIMP AND ORZO.
This would be a fantastic party dish for a summer brunch or shower. It yields a boat load of food, and is fairly simple and straightforward. The dish is full of lots of fresh ingredients. Make sure you really chop the herbs finely, otherwise they lend a “furry texture” to the pasta that my children made sure I knew was a hinderance to their overall enjoyment level. Kids, man.

VEAL CHOPS WITH ROQUEFORT BUTTER.
I’ve never eaten veal. But every time I think about it, I get a scrunched-up sick look on my face. I’m not an animal rights activist, but veal bothers me. It makes me cringe. Yes, it’s tender. Yes, it’s flavorful. Yes, it’s expensive. But it still bothers me. I could manage two bites, one with the roquefort butter, one without. I preferred it without the roquefort butter, but that really isn’t the point.

WATERMELON AND ARUGUA SALAD.
This was beautiful. Big shallow bowls of bright green arugula with pops of red watermelon and shards of white parmesan. It is a visually striking first course, full of refreshing flavors that are cooling and easy on the palette. My only complaint was that our watermelon was not that great, but that’s what I get for buying watermelon in April.

TARRAGON POTATO SALAD.
I will keep this brief. THIS is my default potato salad, and I feel like I have completed a life-long quest. The flavor of this is everything I want in a potato salad, without being so off of the page that it isn’t recognizable as a classic. The method of allowing the hot potatoes to soak up the dressing makes sure every bite is full of flavor. Don’t forget to taste the finished salad after it cools. Frequently it needs another sprinkling of salt at this point to wake it back up.

FRESH BLUEBERRY PIE.
This was the dessert for an Ina Lunch, and I was so sure this pie wasn’t going to turn out, I had a backup dessert ready. Fruit pies in general can be difficult. They rarely slice well, usually resulting in a soggy mess that requires scooping rather than slicing. Blueberries are a tricky ingredient, because unless your blueberries were harvested in your backyard at the peak of the season, they typically don’t have a lot of flavor. Take these potential pitfalls together, and I had zero confidence in Ina’s Fresh Blueberry Pie. Granted, when it came out of the oven, it looked amazing. The crust was glistening golden brown, dribbling with hot bubbling fruit juices oozing out in the best way possible. But to be fair, the apple pie from Week ?? also looked beautiful when she came out of the oven, only to break my heart with her puddle of filling and cavern of crust. I held my breath, steadied my knife, and dove in. More wrong about this pie I could not have been. It was AMAZING!!! Perhaps even a top ten dessert, and by far the best pie I’ve made from this project so far. The slices held their form perfectly. The flavor was dynamite, thanks to the framboise and lemon juice. And topped with a scoop of Haagan Daaz vanilla ice cream? Done and done. I think I will bake this again as a Father’s Day gift for Timm. Shhhhhh. Don’t tell him.

Ina In A Year: Week 31

WHAT HAPPENED

In Week Thirty-One, I was able to begin writing blog posts again, thanks to the magical work of Emily. It is an interesting exercise to learn how to ask for help, and then to figure out what it looks like to actually allow someone to help. I find it equal parts exhilarating and exhausting.

On the one hand, there is no greater pragmatic gift than to have someone manage a task for me so that I can attend to other things. But on the other hand, handing tasks to another person and then diving into the process of letting go of control while maintaining the quality of the process is not easy. There is an up front investment of time and attention that feels counter intuitive. When I first hired her, I spent several hours with Emily explaining processes and methods, showing how I do things, and painting a picture of what success will look like.

When you already don’t have enough time to do the things you need to do, adding the task of teaching and training someone to help you feels like more work. For a couple of weeks I had to press pause on certain things so that Emily and I could figure out what we both needed in order to get into a productive groove. There were a lot of questions and text messages and conversations. But then, the investment pays off, and for me, it felt like cresting a hill.

I was walking uphill alone, dragging an enormous weight behind me. Each step up the hill was harder than the one before it, muscles burning, breath labored, sweat dripping from my brow. Will this get easier? Emily started walking alongside me, and I started handing her things. Little by little, the hill began to level out, and I began to coast. The pace quickened because now my load is lighter. The effort eased because now I am giving attention only to my lane. The output improved because we are a team working towards a common goal. It feels amazing to have helpful help. Like riding a bike down a hill with the wind whirring in your ears and the road blazing behind you as you take a breath and give your legs a break.

WHAT I COOKED

Chicken Piccata, At HomeGarlic Roasted Cauliflower, How Easy Is That?
Salad with Warm Goat Cheese, Barefoot In Paris
Chocolate Crème Brûlée, Cooking for Jeffery
Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables, Cooking for Jeffery
Shortbread Cookies with Dragées, Parties!
Hot Chocolate, Barefoot Contessa
Swordfish with Tomatoes and Capers, Barefoot Contessa
Crusty Baked Shells and Cauliflower, Cooking for Jeffery
Green Green Spring Vegetables, At Home
Scrambled Eggs with Truffles, Barefoot In Paris
Maple Oatmeal Scones, Barefoot Contessa
Seafood Stew, Barefoot In Paris
Seafood Stock, Barefoot In Paris

WHAT I LEARNED

CHICKEN PICCATA.
I always let this recipe bully me. That is, until I get into it and remember how silly it is to think any part of the preparation is too much trouble. On first glance, there are multiple mental road blocks, too many steps, too many dishes, too much handling of raw chicken. But the truth is, none of these steps takes very long, and there are ways to reduce the stress caused by each one. If I am not in the mood for more dishes than necessary, I will dredge the chicken in disposable pie plates. And when I’m not in the mood to deal with chicken splattering all over my counter (which happens to be always), I use a gallon zip bag (squeeze all of the air out first). The cook time of this chicken is about two minutes per side, and the sauce can be made and held for a while before serving. I love the resulting thin, crisp, flavorful chicken, particularly when paired with a green salad.

GARLIC ROASTED CAULIFLOWER.
This is an amazing way to serve cauliflower, which in my opinion can be overly laden with dairy or just plain boring. I love the charred bits of the roasted cauliflower, the sweet roasted garlic cloves, and the hit of lemon and pine nuts at the end. It looks interesting on the plate and pairs nicely with the Chicken Piccata.

CHOCOLATE CREME BRÛLÉE.
I thought there wasn’t anything better than classic creme brûlée. Then I discovered this beauty. I agree with Elizabeth’s observation that it tastes a lot like our chocolate frosting. I will take it one step further and say it reminds me of the crusty bits of frosting left on the cake platter after you slice a cake. You know the part I’m talking about. The little remnents of frosting left behind that are soft in the middle and sort of crusty on the outside? That’s what this dessert reminded me of. And entire dish of yummy nibbly bites of chocolate frosting. I have loved learning how simple it is to prepare creme brulée, and I love any excuse to fire up the kitchen torch.

SWORDFISH WITH TOMATOES AND CAPERS.
I had never cooked nor eaten swordfish before this recipe. I learned that swordfish is a lot. It is very expensive, very rich, and very large. One steak (which Ina dubs as one serving) could easily serve four people for lunch or maybe two people for dinner. It’s so much meat on one steak. The smell is quite fishy, but the flavor is not. It is juicy, clean, and has a lot of bite and texture. I would not describe it as flaky. I also learned that we are not supposed to eat swordfish more than twice a year due to high levels of mercury, so I will not be adding this to my dinner line up any time soon.

CRUSTY BAKED SHELLS AND CAULIFLOWER.
Sadly, this is a hard no. The picture is beautiful and the idea captivating, but in the end, it did not deliver. There is way too much sage to make this work. There also is not a sauce, so the end result is kind of dry. The cauliflower is not creamy as the recipe would suggest. I kept taking another bite thinking it would start to taste good at some point, but it never did.

Ina In A Year: Week 32

WHAT HAPPENED

On Tuesday afternoon of Week Thirty-Two, Rachel arrived for her weekly Hurley House visit with her fifteen-month-old son, Hogan, in a bit of a crisis. On the way over, Hogan had blown out his diaper in the worst possible way. Poop was everywhere. All over the carseat, all over his clothes, and worst of all, all over him. Hair. Face. Clothes. Hands. Everywhere. To make matters worse, Rachel had just the day prior removed the extra outfit she normally keeps in the diaper bag for situations just like the one she found herself in. It was a mess.

She did her best to clean up the carseat, and then we headed to the bathroom armed with disinfecting wipes and lots of paper towels to clean Hogan up the best we could. When it was all over, and all the yucky was wiped away and Hogan was calmed down a little bit from the trauma of cold wipes on his little naked body, we realized he didn’t have a single item of poop-free clothing to wear. The best solution? An extra-small Ina In A Year shirt, tied up with a rubber band. Hogan toddled all around the store, happy and clean, and we laughed openly at our littlest fan.

The incident with Hogan felt like a metaphor for my week. The poop exploded everywhere, metaphorically, and all I could do was clean it up, make creative solutions work, and move forward the best I could. I cooked five things this week out of the twenty-five recipes on the schedule. If you were grading my performance, I would have scored a 20 out of 100. There is not a feeling I hate more than watching a week’s worth of recipes float right on by, spilling over in the non-existent margins of this time-sensitive project. It feels like being in debt with an interest rate that guarantees I will never be able to pay off the balance. But I couldn’t help it this week. I could not make the cooking happen. Things kept coming up that needed my attention, and it is not an option for me to walk away from my responsibilities as a business owner.

I’m still smiling, still happy to be here doing this work, chipping away at this project, but this week Hogan and I did the best we could recovering from a mess that we could not control.

WHAT I COOKED

Potato Basil Frittata, Family Style
Chocolate Banana Crumb Cake, Make It Ahead
Raspberry Crumble Bars, Foolproof
Outrageous Brownies, Barefoot Contessa
Green Green Spring Vegetables, At Home

WHAT I LEARNED

CHOCOLATE BANANA CRUMB CAKE.
I would definitely make this again. Imagine banana bread with chocolate chunks and a crumbly topping, and you get the idea. It’s an elevated version of the breakfast staple, and in my opinion it would make a delicious dessert option as well. Ina’s Banana Breads are always delicious because she doesn’t skimp, which I appreciate. If you’re going to go to the trouble to bake, make it worth it. Don’t make it a dumbed down version, attempting to side step calories or infuse something with “health” that is designed to be a treat. Just go for it. Use butter. Use cream. Use it all.

RASPBERRY CRUMBLE BARS and OUTRAGEOUS BROWNIES.
These are both a part of the Hurley House bakery menu for a reason. They are the best version of a fruit crumble bar and a brownie that I have ever found. Granted, at Hurley House we omit the nuts in the brownies because we have found most people want it this way, but when I make these at home, I follow the recipe exactly. They are decadent, full of the most intense chocolate flavor with a hint of coffee. I always feel a sense of gratitude to Ina for both of these recipes because they are two of our top sellers.