There are few things more revealing than asking someone what they like to eat. Unlike the usual interview questions, food has a way of taking us to really personal places, and that comes to life in our first-ever Cooking Together issue with cover stars Jennifer Garner and Ina Garten. Their friendship has flourished through years of cooking, sharing meals, and showing up for one another at the kitchen counter. It’s a beautiful reminder that many of life’s strongest relationships are built one recipe at a time. Below is an excerpt from my conversation with Jen and Ina, which you can read now on Delish.com.
—Joanna Saltz, Editorial Director
JO: Jen, what’s an Ina recipe you go back to again and again?
JEN: My cookbook pages are splattered. Like your meatballs, for example—you have to peel those pages apart, though we all have it memorized at this point at my house. But on that Zoom, it was a new cookbook—Modern Comfort Food. I put the computer on a cat stand so Ina could watch me on Zoom. I had never made the recipe before, and I was sweating. Like, “Girl, get it right. Ina is right there on the cat stand.” It was the beautiful chicken with an orzo.
INA: Crispy Chicken With Lemon Orzo.
JEN: Yes! I’ve made that chicken like 100 million times. You dredge it in flour a little bit and then *shhhhh* it’s really hot [in the oil]. Then *bow wow wow* with the lemon. It’s so good. In your first book, I think you had an orzo salad.
JO: Ooh, we love an orzo at Delish.
INA: Because it cooks so fast! When somebody is coming for dinner for the first time, my go-to is Rack Of Lamb and Orzo With Roasted Vegetables, from my second book [2001’s] Barefoot Contessa Parties! Easiest thing you can possibly make. You put mustard and thyme and a little balsamic vinegar in a food processor and just kind of smear it on the lamb. Put it in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, and it’s perfect every time.
JEN: As soon as I get home, I’m making that. People forget about the early books and how great they were.
JO: Ina, who’s your toughest food critic?
I just love Fried Lumpia. The gastronomic sensation of having crispy fried lumpia dipped in vinegar garlic sauce always makes me salivat...