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I'm Ina Garten, and I'm cooking with friends.
I'm showing the adorable Katie and Amanda from Amber Waves farm
two delicious dishes
for a potluck party they're throwing.
First, lemon chicken with broccoli and bow ties,
and a great crowd-pleasing wheatberry and farro salad.
Then I'm helping them set up a buffet table
with a real farm twist.
But before class begins,
I'm whipping up easy tomato soup
with grilled cheese croutons,
perfect for two hungry farmers and for me.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
My friends, Katie and Amanda, from Amber Waves Farm
give a potluck dinner every year at the farm.
It's fantastic.
But I think they're always nervous about it,
so they asked for my help.
Could I give them a lesson
on how to make two dishes for the potluck?
Potluck buffet is not as easy as you think.
But first, I thought,
I'm gonna make something warm and comforting for them
when they arrive,
so I'm making easy tomato soup and grilled cheese croutons.
How good does that sound?
So I've sautéed 3 tablespoons of olive oil
with 3 cups of onions -- it's about 2 onions.
Just for about 15 minutes
until it really brings out the flavor of the onions,
and they're tender.
Then I'm gonna add some garlic.
I always add it at the end
'cause I don't want to burn the garlic.
So it's 3 cloves of garlic,
which is one tablespoon.
It's a big pot of soup.
You want it to taste good.
And I'm just gonna cook that for about a minute.
Just to bring out the flavor in the garlic.
The key to a good tomato soup is tomatoes.
They have to taste good,
and generally, tomatoes don't taste that great
except in the summer,
so when I'm making it in the winter,
I use canned tomatoes.
They're so much better
because they're canned when they're ripe.
Okay, the garlic's done,
so I'm gonna add four cups of good chicken stock.
I really like homemade chicken stock.
If you have the time to do it, it makes such a difference.
And a 28-ounce can of good tomatoes.
They're crushed tomatoes.
If you can't find crushed tomatoes,
just take a whole can,
put it in the food processor and grind it up.
It's real easy.
I like saffron in it.
I love tomatoes and saffron,
so I'm gonna do a big pinch of saffron right in.
Tablespoon of salt.
Really important. Teaspoon of pepper.
So, I'm just gonna bring this to a boil
and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
And in the meantime, I'd love to tell you
about Katie and Amanda and their farm and the party.
Katie and Amanda met when they were farm apprentices,
and now they run Amber Waves as a nonprofit,
community supported agriculture and education center
in Amagansett, New York.
They have two acres, and year-round,
they have hens for eggs, and in season,
they grow more than 100 varieties
of wheat, vegetables, fruit, and flowers.
They're already starting to get things ready for the party.
It's an annual event.
They invite local farmers and fishermen
to celebrate the start of the season
with a really fun potluck party.
Okay, I think this is about good for today.
So, I've got the tomato soup simmering away.
Classically, you have rice and tomato soup,
but I actually think it's fun to do orzo,
which is about the same shape, but it's a nice twist.
So, a little salted water.
Whoa. Bubbling up.
And I've got a half a cup of orzo.
And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna partially cook it
for about seven minutes in salted, boiling water.
And then I'm gonna put it into the soup,
and the starch in it is gonna thicken the soup a little bit.
It's a great combination.
How much did Ina say she needed?
I don't know. Let's give her three big scoops.
Great.
Here we go.
So, the tomato soup is simmering away.
The orzo cooked for seven minutes.
Just gonna drain it
and then put it right into the tomato soup.
A little bit of starch that's left in the cooking
is gonna be fantastic.
It's gonna thicken it just a little bit.
It's gonna get nice and thick and just delicious.
Actually, I'm gonna make cream of tomato soup.
I'm gonna add a little bit of cream to it,
about a half a cup, but you don't really have to.
If you want to just have regular tomato soup,
you can do that,
but cream makes everything taste better, right?
And I want this to be really good for Amanda and Katie.
Okay, so while that simmers away,
I'm just gonna make the croutons.
So, grilled cheese croutons,
just like making a grilled cheese sandwich.
I need two slices of white bread.
This is a good bakery white bread.
This looks fantastic.
So, I'm just gonna take a little bit of melted butter
and brush it on two sides of the bread,
just like that.
Don't neglect the corners.
Make sure you get the whole thing,
'cause you know, with grilled cheese sandwich,
you want it really nicely browned.
And turn that butter side down.
This is really easy.
So, I'm just gonna take some grated gruyere
and just pile it high right on the bread,
and then take the unbuttered side and put it right on top.
So I've just heated a panini grill.
I'm just gonna grill it right in there.
Of course, you can do it in a sauté pan,
but this is so easy.
Ooh.
Mm.
Really taste the tomatoes and the onions
and that hint of saffron.
They're gonna love this.
All right, Ina's. Let's go. I'm starving.
Me too.
You can see, all the orzo
has really fluffed up and absorbed some of the soup.
Okay, so that's the soup, and now the croutons.
The grilled cheese sandwich is perfectly done.
Nothing like melted grilled cheese.
And I'm just gonna cut it up into small dice
and put it right on top.
Ooh, how good does this look?
Ooh!
Okay, croutons on top for everybody.
How cheesy and delicious.
Hi!
So happy to see you.
Hi, Amanda. Hi, Katie.
Are these the two most gorgeous farmers you've ever seen?
So what do you have in school day?
You have tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich, right?
So what I did was I made easy tomato soup
and grilled cheese croutons for everyone.
Oh, my gosh, that looks amazing.
How's that?
I'll trade you because we brought wheatberries for you.
Oh! That's a lot of wheatberries.
I can't wait to make things from it.
Thank you. This looks great.
I hope you love it, and school is open.
Wow. Welcome to class.
INA: Coming up, we're firing up the grill
for lemon chicken with broccoli and bow ties,
then I'm showing the girls
a delicious wheatberry and farro salad
and how to set up a perfect potluck buffet.
The invitations are out,
and it's gonna be one great party.
My friends Katie and Amanda
have a potluck dinner at their farm every year,
and I'm showing them some great dishes that they can serve.
We're very excited.
The first thing we're gonna make
is grilled lemon chicken with broccoli and bow ties.
First the broccoli.
So what I've done is I've cooked the broccoli
for about three minutes, just blanch it really ast.
I'm just gonna put it in a big bowl.
This is a huge dish,
and it has everything together.
It has chicken, broccoli,
bow ties, and a lemon vinaigrette.
Does that sound good?
That sounds like a dish that a big group can really enjoy.
Exactly. Can you hand me the bow ties?
So it's a half a pound of bow ties,
and I just put it right into the big pot
where the broccoli was
and cook it so you don't have to boil more water.
And you're not shocking it.
No, 'cause I want to add the dressing when it's warm,
and it really absorbs it well.
That's a little trick I learned.
Great. That's a new one for me.
So next is the marinade for the chicken.
I want it to taste really good,
so I've got 3/4 of a cup of lemon juice,
and I actually mix it in a glass measuring cup
so you can just measure and mix at the same time.
And 3/4 of a cup of olive oil.
I love these little whisks.
They just whisk things together really easily.
Just whisk it together.
And fewer bowls to wash after.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay, two teaspoons of salt.
I use kosher salt, and a teaspoon of pepper.
We have a lot of people to feed, so --
How many people come?
I think we'll expect about 50.
Whoa, oh.
And how many people actually bring a dish?
Well, actually, this is a funny story.
In the past, we've said, "Bring drinks or a dish."
A few years ago, do you remember that time,
everybody brought beer?
Oh!
So you had, like, gallons and gallons of beer but no food?
So this is a great plan to set up ahead of time.
You bring a vegetable, you bring a main course.
Oh, my gosh.
Now we provide a little more instruction.
But everybody had a really good time.
I think we all ate chips.
[ Laughter ]
That works for me.
We'll be better fed this time.
Tablespoon of chopped thyme, which you have done brilliantly.
You want to just pick it up with your knife
and put it in there?
Sure.
We're very specific about it.
A tablespoon.
That was a nice estimate.
There we go.
So this is gonna go on
two pounds of boneless chicken breast.
They're gonna marinate for about six hours overnight,
but since we don't want to wait six hours,
I just happen to have some marinading in the refrigerator.
So convenient. Thank you.
Isn't that nice?
This is the chicken that's been marinating.
It's got so much flavor.
Okay, we're gonna head to the grill.
Let's go.
I'm gonna show you my tried and true method. How's that?
So, I've got the grill ready, got hot coals.
Okay, so two pounds of boneless chicken breast.
INA: I do it with the skin off.
And so they're gonna be cooking
for about ten minutes on each side.
Oh, that smells good already.
I know, okay. So, who's in charge of grilling?
Katie's always the grill master.
Fantastic, you're the grill master.
Okay, you're in charge. So ten minutes on each side.
Just flip it over until it's just perfectly cooked, okay?
Amanda, you're coming with me.
Sounds good.
INA: Okay, I think it's time to drain the pasta.
A nice steam bath.
Perfect.
And remember, I told you I wanted to put the dressing on
Yes.
So that's what we're gonna do next.
We're gonna make a lemon dressing.
So, dressing actually is cooked.
So what I do is I take 2 tablespoons of butter.
You want 4 tablespoons of olive oil,
which is a quarter of a cup.
That should be about right.
With some garlic that you cut up beautifully.
Right.
Okay, so I've got about a teaspoon of garlic,
and then I need one lemon zested.
Can you zest a lemon,
or do you want a little lemon zesting?
I would love a personal demonstration.
[ Laughs ] So I love these zesters.
It's called a rasp,
and just see which side is rough,
which is that side.
And then what you want to take off
is just the yellow part of the lemon.
You don't want to take off the white pith 'cause it's bitter.
So you just keep running it around.
Move the lemon around and around
until you get just the lemon yellow part.
How's that?
The zest of the entire lemon?
Okay.
All right. That's been just about time.
Wow, that looks great. Lovely. Golden brown.
So the lemon zest is gonna go right into the sauce.
Okay.
It just gives it so much flavor.
Just think how much flavor is in that lemon zest.
Okay, I'm putting a lot of salt
'cause this is a lot of salad.
A tablespoon of salt
and about 3/4 of a teaspoon of pepper.
The last thing I need is lemon juice.
So I'm just gonna cut this in half.
There's a little strainer right there.
Here we go.
How would you like to hold that right over the pan?
So much better to just do it right into the pan,
but we don't want seeds.
So, I need about a quarter of a cup
of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
All right, these look beautifully done.
Great.
And that's the sauce,
and then I'm just gonna pour the whole thing
right over the pasta, so the pasta's warm.
It's gonna really absorb it.
We'll toss the whole thing together.
Okay, now all we need is the chicken.
I wonder how Katie's doing.
She's right here.
Here come the golden beauties.
That looks gorgeous, fantastic.
Okay, you guys get one knife.
They smell great.
Perfectly cooked.
So what I do is,
I do it on the diagonal a little bit like that.
And then we'll just toss them into the salad.
It's nice that it's still warm.
Put it right in there.
Fabulous.
Should put the juices in, too?
We should?
Okay, why don't you pour those juices in.
The grill juices.
That is the essence of the grill.
Oh, this looks -- this looks good, doesn't it?
And smells great.
It does.
Okay, we got two more ingredients.
One is pine nuts,
and I toasted them so it sort of brings out the nutty flavor.
And parmesan cheese, which goes on everything.
It really does.
So there's a container there with grated parmesan cheese,
so about a quarter of a cup.
Okay, are we ready for a taste?
Get one of them big spoons over there.
We need big taste.
Okay.
Just dig in.
It's good to get all of everything, right?
Broccoli, pasta.
Is that good?
You really taste all the flavors.
The farmers are gonna love this.
They are? Perfect.
Thank you.
INA: Coming up,
it's a crowd-pleasing wheatberry and farro salad.
Then we're headed to the farm
to set up the potluck food table.
Something tells me this is gonna be a great party.
Katie and Amanda do a potluck dinner every year,
so I'm showing them some great potluck items
to put on the buffet table.
And since they have wheatberries at their farm,
we're making wheatberry salad.
So, I'm making wheatberry and farro salad.
So we boiled the wheatberries and farro separately,
about 45 minutes for each one.
We want to do them separately
just because one might cook faster than the other.
Okay, Amanda, you're on the vegetables.
You want to do the peppers and scallions?
Yes, I'll move on to that next.
Fantastic, same size. Doing beautifully.
You want to drain the farro and the wheatberries?
Okay, fabulous.
And I'm making the vinaigrette.
So what I've done is,
I've sautéed some red onions in a little bit of olive oil,
and now I'm gonna add more olive oil.
Do you have the olive oil? I like having assistants.
[ Laughter ]
Another quarter of a cup of olive oil.
This is the vinaigrette that's gonna go on the salad.
And off the heat,
a quarter of a cup of balsamic vinegar,
which is right there. Why, thank you.
This is fun. [ Laughs ]
One of the key things about this,
it has to have a lot of flavor
because it's gonna flavor all the wheatberries
and the vegetables. Okay.
I think we need a little salt and pepper.
Yes.
Okay, salt and pepper.
Fabulous. Okay.
Time to make the salad.
Do you want to put the wheatberries
and the farro in the bowl?
Okay, great.
And Amanda, you've done a gorgeous job
with those vegetables.
Okay.
So that's one carrot, half a pepper,
and three scallions diced.
And they're perfectly cut up.
Thank you.
And then I'm gonna put the vinaigrette on.
And it's great, 'cause the wheatberries
and the farro are warm,
so they're really gonna absorb all the flavors.
There's a big spoon right over there.
Want to grab one, Katie? Fantastic.
Just give it a big stir.
That looks great, doesn't it?
I love the salad,
'cause it's crunchy, it's flavorful.
It's fresh, all the vegetables are fresh.
And again, great to make for a big group,
as we're gonna have to do.
And served at room temperature, which is really --
And actually, if it sits a little bit,
it really absorbs more.
I think we need a little parsley.
You want to grab some parsley and chop it up?
Just enough so it gives it a little flavor --
fresh flavor and color.
You probably have all these vegetables
at the farm, too, don't you?
Do you have scallions?
And you have peppers, I know, and you have parsley.
And you have wheatberries.
[ Laughter ]
Parsley is one of our favorite things to grow and eat.
I actually think it's underutilized.
People use it like as a garnish,
but it's actually got a lot of flavor.
It does, especially fresh parsley.
And you know it's fresh when you can smell it.
Yes, exactly.
Perfect. That looks good.
Okay, right in.
Okay, I think we need three spoons to test it,
see if it needs anything.
Doesn't that look great?
I love the way this looks.
Okay, a little taste.
Thank you.
See if it's any good.
I don't know. You never know.
It's good, isn't it?
I really love the balsamic with it.
I'm going in again.
That's the real test, if you can't stop eating it.
I would say we've nailed
wheatberry and farro salad, wouldn't you?
I couldn't agree more.
Fabulous. Okay, good.
So, one last thing, Ina.
We would love your tips and tricks
on helping us set up the buffet for the party.
Oh, I would love to, at the farm?
At the farm.
We have taken a few photographs
that we can send you
to get a sense of what we're working with.
And then we'd love your help.
This is my specialty.
Fabulous.
We knew you'd be up to the task.
I'll see you on the day of the party.
INA: Coming up, I'm at the farm
showing Katie and Amanda how to set up a buffet.
Field trips have never been so much fun.
Well, it's a gorgeous night for the Amber Waves potluck dinner.
A little windy, but we can deal with this.
So, they sent me photographs of the table they want to do.
I sent them a rental list,
and let's see if we can actually do it.
Hi, Ina.
That looks great.
Thank you so much for coming to help us.
I love it.
This is -- what a great setting this is.
So, you're gonna set up drinks on this table?
Okay, fabulous.
I just like that just like that in a galvanized.
I love that sort of natural farm look.
Are these for drinks? Isn't that great?
Oh, what a great idea.
You know, usually I set them up fairly formally,
when they're glasses,
but I don't think they should be done that way.
I think they should just be
in casual rows straight across the front.
What do you think?
I think that sounds great.
Isn't that a great idea?
And so we have this galvanized tub here,
also for ice and drinks.
Do you think on this table?
I would leave it right here.
So people will pick up wine or something like that,
pour them some, or beer.
Perfect. Okay, great.
Am I gonna leave that with you?
Yes, I'm gonna go ahead.
I'm on to the buffet table.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, I'm ready for the buffet.
All right. Nice to see you.
This is gorgeous.
We're gonna have plates here and utensils,
and then plates and utensils on the other side
so people can help themselves from both sides.
You're the buffet master.
Everybody's gonna bring stuff in really weird bowls,
and we're just gonna put them right into these bowls,
so it has a really nice look about it, right?
And you know what?
Why don't you hand me the wheat grasses, too?
And we'll put them in the middle
so it'll look very farm, right?
Do we like this?
Yes, I love this splash of green and color.
Just has a bit of freshness to it.
I love that they put the utensils in egg crates.
That's great.
So it's still farm-like, but it's a little modern, right?
Like us.
Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Katie, you've got all these gorgeous magnolia.
Aren't they amazing?
So you want to put them in these vases?
Yes, that was our plan.
So I think just a sort of a nice little grouping,
don't you? Not too formal.
We like casual.
I like the casual randomness of it.
How does this look?
And I love magnolias
'cause they're really kind of fun and wacky, right?
I love it.
And we're keeping with the white and the green.
Fabulous.
What do you think?
It's looking great over here!
So I'm gonna leave it with you?
Thank you for your help.
You don't need your teacher.
Thanks, Ina.
It was so much fun. I'll see you after. Report back.
All right. We will. Thank you again.
See you soon.
Okay, I think this is looking great.
I love the way it looks.
Should we go get dressed for the party?
Yes.
Hey, guys, how are you?
Oh, my gosh.
Hi.
Oh, yeah.
WOMAN: Are we going to fill up a bowl?
Okay, we have some serving utensils.
They are, yes.
Everything's from the property.
[ Chatter ]
Wow, that looks so good.
Wheatberry salad.
Wow, it still smells like lemon.
Don't throw them away. [ Laughs ]
[ Indistinct conversation ]
Everyone, let's eat!
[ All cheer ]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
KATIE: I'm so thrilled with how things turned out.
The farmers are so happy.
We could not have done it without Ina.
Cheers to Ina.