Forget Butter Boards! Ina Garten Has Delicious Ideas For Every Kind of Board ‘Barefoot Contessa’ Fans Can Imagine in ‘Go-To Dinners’
Ina Garten has done it again. She just released Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, and we couldn’t wait to dive in and find all of the new recipes and tips. The new cookbook is filled with recipes for “satisfying and uncomplicated dinners” — and she also included a variety of boards. However, she skipped the current trend of Butter Boards, and instead shared her ideas for every kind of board fans could imagine. Because sometimes, “the best dinner is one you don’t have to cook.”
Forget Butter Boards! The ‘Barefoot Contessa’ star has delicious ideas for every kind of board fans can imagine
Butter boards have been all the rage on social media, with influencers sharing their variations of herb compound butter and warm, crusty bread. But, since making a splash online, new variations have popped up that may be taking the trend a bit too far.
Now, there are buttercream boards that feature buttercream frosting scooped up by sweet treats like strawberries and cake bites. Peanut butter boards have also emerged, with toppings like caramel and nuts, and celery and pretzels for scooping.
Ina takes boards to the next level, though, in her new cookbook Go-To Dinners. She has delicious ideas for every kind of board Barefoot Contessa fans can imagine.
Ina Garten says her Antipasto Board is perfect for serving with cocktails
In addition to discovering dozens of recipes in the new cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa website reveals that “you’ll find Ina’s favorite boards to serve with store-bought ingredients, like an Antipasto Board and Breakfast-for-Dinner Board that are fun to assemble and so impressive to serve.”
Ina explains that an Antipasto Board is a great way to serve a bite with cocktails, instead of putting “little bowls of nibbles out.” This spread can be quite varied, but Ina prefers Italian ingredients. She opts for Italian cheeses like taleggio, mozzarella, fontina, and gorgonzola, and cured and sliced meats like prosciutto and salami.
The Barefoot Contessa also includes olives, cherry tomatoes, whole-grain mustard, and breadsticks with her Antipasto Board.
A Breakfast-for-Dinner Board can feature any special breakfast item
A Breakfast-For-Dinner board can feature anything you want to eat for a special breakfast. The trick is to arrange everything beautifully on a round or rectangular board because these items “look so much more beautiful served all together.”
The Barefoot Contessa recommends assembling your favorite breakfast items from a bakery and grocery store. Her ideas include strawberries, grapes, melon slices, muffins, granola, croissants, scones, cream cheese, honey, fruit preserves, and good salted butter.
A Ploughman’s Lunch Board is an old English tradition
A traditional English ploughman’s lunch originated from the meal that a farmer would take with him to the fields to eat midday. It usually included a large chunk of bread, a piece of cheese, and pickled onions. At some point, ploughman’s lunch boards started showing up in English pubs, with added specialties like ham, sausage, or pork pie.
For Ina’s version of a Ploughman’s Lunch Board, she suggests grilled slices of country bread, aged English cheddar, honey-glazed ham slices, sausages, cherry tomatoes, mini cucumbers, chutney, mustard, fig preserves, and dried apricots.
Ina Garten recommends a Dessert Board at dinner parties so your guests have options
No dinner is complete without dessert. If the meal is light, Ina notes that it’s nice to serve something a bit decadent. But if the meal is rich and filling, a light dessert is a better option. Instead of serving one or the other, Ina says to try a Dessert Board and give guests some options.
For a Dessert Board, Ina recommends a colorful assortment of pastries and cakes from a local bakery arranged on a wooden board. She suggests brownies, cookies, cupcakes, caramels, and dried fruit. Ina also says to add “gorgeous, big strawberries,” green grapes, and chocolate bark so your guests can choose something light, or something rich.
The Barefoot Contessa airs on The Food Network and discovery+.
