Cooking can get monotonous and stressful even for the most seasoned chefs, including America’s favorite home cook, Ina Garten. After spending countless hours in the kitchen preparing dinner (especially during the pandemic), the Food Network star decided she needed a break.
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In an effort to make a change, Garten started to approach meals differently. In her upcoming cookbook, Go-To Dinners, Garten focuses on a variety of delicious, fuss-free recipes that will make dinner preparations a snap.
Readers will find a smorgasbord of fuss-free, freeze-ahead, make-ahead, prep-ahead recipes that make cooking a breeze. The Barefoot Contessa recently teased one of her featured recipes on Instagram, and we haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
Turn Snack Time Into Mealtime
Charcuterie boards have been all the rage lately as an eye-catching and all-encompassing appetizer. The original art of preparing meat and cheese on a tray has evolved to include brunch boards, dessert charcuterie, and more. What was once reserved for appetizers can now take the place of a whole meal.
Moreover, this meal doesn’t require endless cooking or mountains of dishes, making it the perfect addition to Garten’s no-fuss cookbook. In true Ina Garten fashion, she transformed a simple plate of cheese, meats, and fruit into a true work of art.
Garten served her vibrant spread cold with typical British fare. Among the snacks on Garten’s lunch board were crusty bread, bleu and Stilton cheeses, ham, pate, chutney, hard-boiled eggs, fresh figs, apples, apricots, and fresh vegetables.
Many fans were taken back by the beauty of the lunch board. “Seriously, this would make a beautiful food still life painting!” one user said. Others commented that it looked delicious and rather simple to make, saying they were inspired to make their own lunch board.
Luckily, those commenters are right on all accounts: these lunch boards are mouthwateringly tasty and amazingly simple to create.
How To Make A Lunch Board
Charcuterie boards have no hard-and-fast rules for what you can and cannot include. Typically, the goal is to make the spread as visually appealing as possible. But with a lunch board, the goal is to elevate a small snacking plate to a full-blown, meal-worthy spread.
Like Garten, a great start is to have items like lunch meat, cheese, and bread to make a quick sandwich. Adding fresh fruits and vegetables are the perfect addition for a healthy side. Work with whatever you have in the fridge right now (read: so long, leftovers), or stick to a theme, like Garten’s Ploughman design.
The Ploughman’s Lunch Board takes mealtime to a whole new level of tastiness and convenience. Go-To Dinners is available for pre-order now, so you can start planning your own delicious lunch boards.