Ina Garten Said She Could Eat 1 Barefoot Contessa Salad Every Day
Ina Garten has the perfect healthy no-cook salad recipe for summer when it’s just too hot to turn on the oven. The Barefoot Contessa star’s Israeli vegetable salad is loaded with flavorful ingredients and makes a great appetizer or lunch.
Ina Garten shared her Israeli vegetable salad as a no-cook summer idea
On July 28, Garten took to Instagram to share a photo and info about her Israeli vegetable salad recipe. Garten offered up ideas as part of her “too hot to cook week” of meal ideas.
“Israeli Vegetable Salad — a big puddle of creamy lemony hummus with a crunchy tomato and cucumber salad piled on top,” she shared in the caption. “It’s so satisfying and you don’t even have to turn on the oven!”
In a July 2017 Instagram post, Garten shared a photo of the salad and declared in the caption: “Israeli vegetable salad on hummus for lunch! I could eat this every day! #goodforyou #recipetesting.”
How to make Ina Garten’s Israeli vegetable salad recipe
Garten’s salad idea begins with making a simple hummus recipe. She combines chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, sriracha, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a food processor, blending it until smooth.
Garten recommends adding a few tablespoons of warm water if the hummus is too thick, noting it should be “creamy but still thick and spreadable.”
The Barefoot Contessa star preps a variety of vegetables for the salad portion of the dish. She cuts a cucumber, heirloom cherry tomatoes, a red pepper, and red onion and puts them in a bowl. Garten adds olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and combines everything.
To assemble the dish, Garten spreads hummus out on a 12 x 16-inch serving platter, then uses a slotted spoon to scoop the vegetables on top. The Food Network star mounds the vegetables in the middle, leaving an edge of hummus visible.
She sprinkles mint and salt on the vegetables then drizzles olive oil over the top. Garten serves the dish at room temperature with pita bread.
The full recipe is available on the Barefoot Contessa website.
Garten came under fire for the recipe name
Many of Garten’s fans commented on her Instagram post about the recipe. “That looks so delicious, Ina! Looks like the perfect dish for a summer garden party! I’ll bring the mint lemonade,” one of her followers wrote.
Another fan remarked, “Israeli salad is so perfect for this weather! Love your recipe!!”
Not all of her followers were pleased, however, with many pointing out that the recipe’s name is inaccurate.
“Israeli?? Did you mean Palestinian or Mediterranean??” one fan asked.
Another commenter explained, “Food is so strongly tied to cultural pride and cultural recognition. It’s wonderful other cultures have taken a liking to this dish, as it is very tasty, but it’s important to source it as a staple of Palestinian cuisine so as to not mistakenly appropriate our culture. Not recognizing our food contributes to and supports the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and our culture. So glad this dish is being shared, and let’s continue spotlighting Palestinian dishes.”
One of her followers advised, “Do better, Ina.”
