The holiday season means buffets and potlucks, so for cookbook club this month, we cooked from Ina Garten’s Make It Ahead!
I made the Summer Paella Salad, which was time-consuming but also a true make-ahead recipe in that you could make the entire dish a few days in advance and put it in the refrigerator.
The recipe was definitely a keeper for the next time I need to bring an impressive dish for a potluck meal.
The recipe for Summer Paella Salad is on the Food Network site here. It would be good for summer, but was great in the fall, too!
Better known, of course, as the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten has a newly released cookbook that I will definitely check out from the library to take a look at, called Cook Like a Pro.
The recipes in Make It Ahead! tended to be meat-centric and heavy on dairy and fat, so the cookbook wouldn’t be one I would use for everyday, but might be a good one to have on hand for parties and special-occasion meals. Too late for this year, but the book includes a recipe for her Ultimate Make-Ahead Roast Turkey and Gravy with Onions & Sage, which the publisher says “may change your life.”
Make It Ahead! may not be one that I personally need to own, but it was very popular with all of us in the cookbook club and our buffet spread looked and smelled great!
Happy Weekend Cooking!
Linked to Weekend Cooking, a weekly feature on Beth Fish Reads. Click/tap image for Weekend Cooking posts from other bloggers.
I love Ina Garten’s books and didn’t know she had a new one coming out. I’ll have to see if my library has it. Your paella — and all the dishes shown — look great, but I’m not surprised. I always have good luck with her books. (P.S. — what a great book club!)
That salad is so pretty! Will have to make for my next potluck.
I am a vegetarian but I can still appreciate the beauty of that salad. Make ahead is the way to go for entertaining.