Ina Garten - Make It Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Copyright 2014 by Ina Garten

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Make it ahead / Ina Garten.
pages cm (A Barefoot Contessa cookbook)
1. Make-ahead cooking. 2. Barefoot Contessa (Store)I. Title.
TX714.G36442014
641.555dc23 2014004486

ISBN 978-0-307-46488-0
Ebook ISBN 978-0-7704-3449-6

Design by Marysarah Quinn
Photographs by Quentin Bacon
Garden photographs copyright 2014 by John M. Hall
Front jacket and title page photographs copyright 2014 by Brigitte Lacombe
Photograph on copyright by Joshua Greene

v3.1

contents

When I wake up in the morning, I sometimes ask myself, What do I feel like doing today? Happily, the answer is, I feel like testing recipes! My team, Barbara Libath and Lidey Heuck, and I work really hard but we also have a wonderful time together. There is no way these recipes would be so accurate if, after I was done working on them, they didnt retest them over and over again. Im as grateful for their constant support and counsel as I am for the joy they bring to work.

Next is the team of people at Clarkson Potter/Publishers, which has been my home since my first book; I cant imagine a happier place. Im so grateful to Maya Mavjee, the lovely president of the Crown Group; Pam Krauss, the amazing publisher of Clarkson Potter; Marysarah Quinn, the creative director of Crown who also designs my books with such creativity; Rica Allannic, my wonderful editor; and Kate Tyler, who handles all the publicity so brilliantly. They are all extraordinary women and so good at what they do. Thank you!

Then there is the amazing team of people who help create the photographs for my books. We spend weeks on end together cooking, baking, styling, and photographing the food. Quentin Bacon takes the most gorgeous food photographs! It may look easy when he does it but anyone who has taken a snap of their dinner for Instagram knows how hard it is to make food look that luscious! Cyd McDowell and Vivian Lui cook and bake gorgeous food for the photographsand no tricks with motor oil are allowed! (In fact, after Quentin takes the picture, we often sit down and eat it!) Thank you also to my dear friend Sarah Chase, who constantly inspires me with new ideas and recipes. And my thanks to Barb Fritz, for finding the simplest, most stylish plate or bowl for us to use. These are some of the happiest days I have working on my books. Also, John Hall is a genius at photographing my garden at all times of the year. And one of the most exciting experiences of my life was being photographed by the incomparable Brigitte Lacombe for the book cover! I will always cherish that day that we spent together.

Finally, there is the extraordinary support from my wonderful agent, Esther Newberg, who takes such good care of me so I can concentrate on writing books. And of course to my husband, Jeffrey: I can honestly say that none of this would be possible without you. Thank you for your unconditional love and your inspiration over the past fifty years.

When I started thinking about this book, I asked my assistant Barbara Libath, Whats the most common cooking problem that people write to us about? Thats easy! she exclaimed. We get the same question all the time: Can I make it ahead? Wonderful, I thought, because Ive had so much experience with cooking ahead! When I had a specialty food store in East Hampton, New York, thats basically what we didwe prepared all kinds of savory dishes and baked goods and people took them home and served them that night or the next day. During the twenty years that I ran the store, I learned so many tricks for preparing the kinds of recipes that you really can make ahead, and we made them in a way that ensured the food would taste fresh and delicious whenever it was served.

We all have the same dilemmawe want to entertain with ease. One of my great pleasures is cooking a wonderful meal for Jeffrey and my friends; but, like everyone else, I have so much going on that its hard to find a whole day to cook just for the fun of it. There are two things I like about cooking ahead. First, the task of making a three-course dinner over several days seems so much less daunting and anxious-making than cooking everything on the actual day of the party. Second, when surprises happenand they always do!I have time to fix them. Maybe one of those onions I got for the stew is brown inside and I need to run to the store for a fresh one. Or the store was out of my favorite Pernigotti cocoa powder so I need a day or two to order it online. Weve all had FedEx deliveries that got held up in a snowstorm in Memphis and arrived a day late. When its your Thanksgiving turkey, though, you dont want to be stuck at the last minute without the main course! If Im making everything in advance, Im relaxed because I have time to fix a problem or even change the menu. Each recipe in this book is designed to make and serve right away, plus I give easy instructions so you know not only how to make it ahead but also how far in advance you can make it.

Of course, there is ahead of time and theres way ahead of time. Im often asked some variation of Can I bake my holiday cookies in August and defrost them for Christmas? The answer, sadly, is no. Cookies will be soggy and tasteless . Everyone who has roasted a chicken knows that if you cook it on Wednesday, refrigerate it, and serve it on Friday, itll never taste as moist and delicious as it would have if youd served it hot right out of the oven. On the other hand, the chicken will be even better if you season and prep it on Wednesday so its ready to simply throw into the oven an hour and a half before dinner on Friday. Whats important about learning to cook ahead is to know what you can make in advance and what you need to do at the last minute. Some dishes, such as soups and stews, can be cooked ahead completely and simply reheated before dinner, but it doesnt work for everything. In this book, Ill recommend which method works best for each recipe. In addition, Ive tried to include in each chapter a recipe for something that you think you cant make ahead, such as mashed potatoes and whipped cream, but even there, Ive figured out a way!