Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa

I have never had an Ina Garten recipe that I don't like. My mom cooked a lot of her recipes growing up. One of my favorite things about her is that she insists on using high quality ingredients. I've prepared her recipes the cheap way and her way, and she's right - better ingredients make better food.

This recipe is for a Mustard Horseradish Sauce intended for a beef sandwich. My family uses it as a steak sauce so we can get as much as we want on every single bite of beef. I have been eating it for years and I LOVE it! I always knew it had horseradish in it, but everything else was a mystery to me until today.

I still love it even though the main ingredient is mayonnaise, which I hate. Also, I chopped up a few leaves of Italian parsley to sprinkle on top, mostly for color because the flavor is not overpowering.


Mustard Horseradish Sauce:

3/4 cup good mayonnaise

1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

1/2 tablespoon prepared horseradish

2 tablespoons sour cream

Kosher salt

Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustards, horseradish, sour cream, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: 1 cup

This is easy and then dinner is ready.

I totally forgot about this blog until Randi emailed me today and asked about one of the recipes. It got me in the mood to share recipes and keep a record for myself, so here we go again.

This recipe comes from Andrea Peroitti who's name I can never remember how to spell. We were roommates at BYU. The four of us (plus Micah who I was dating at the time) took turns cooking dinner for each other once a week. I liked that plan and always liked what Andrea would serve us because it was never something I had grown up eating once a week. Even since then I've gotten really great recipes from her that I just wouldn't have thought of making on my own.

This one is pretty basic, but you'll love yourself for having the ingredients on hand when your dinner makes itself.

Easy Beefy Sandwiches

2-4 lb rump roast

1 envelope Italian dressing

1 envelope dried onion soup mix

2 beef bullion cubes

2 TBLS yellow mustard

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt and pepper

1 ½ cups water

Combine all ingredients in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours. Shred meat and serve on your favorite bread.

(I always season and brown the meat on all sides on the stove top just before putting it in the crock pot.)