By JENNIFER MATHEWS
Ina Garten's Pro Tip To Make Simple Ingredients Shine
Chef Ina Garten’s cooking is about simple, flavorful dishes with quality, easy-to-find ingredients. She prioritizes the joy of entertaining and sometimes serves store-bought items.
One of her secrets is to use seasonal produce to enhance the taste of her dishes. She then boosts her recipes’ natural flavors. For example, she adds sweet fortified wine to fruit.
Garten's recipes are often minimalistic. Her three-ingredient roasted fig and prosciutto appetizer, with ripe figs, Italian prosciutto, and good olive oil, is a perfect example.
She recommends cooking some meats with skin and bone for superior taste and tenderness, and generally favors roasting over boiling, as it is more efficient and intensifies flavors.
Exciting combinations of ingredients are one way she elevates flavors without overdoing them. Adding citrus or vinegar wakes up dull dishes, maintaining simplicity and seasonality.
Garten's art lies in enhancing the natural goodness of ingredients. Her tasty, unfussy recipes will leave you free to enjoy your guests' company without worrying about the food.