Ina Garten Talks Trad Wives and Her Marriage Confession—but Don’t Ask Her About Trump

Well, I have two books ahead of me. One is a 14th cookbook, which, after writing more than 1,000 recipes, it’s a challenge to come up with new things that are really compelling and people want to make. And then after that, I plan to do a design book, which is going to be a real challenge. It’ll be my experience in doing houses, gardens, table settings, but also much more of a how-to book than just pretty pictures. Like, how do you set a table that’s simple and exciting?

If you were to share tips for an absolute newbie entertainer hosting a dinner party, what would those be?

The first one is just remember these are your friends, and that you’ve invited them to spend time with them.

Which is so easy to forget for some reason.

It’s so easy to forget. It’s so easy to think, Oh my God, I have to impress them with this dinner. But in fact, you just need to make something that’s absolutely delicious that you already know how to make, and pare it down to the absolute minimum.

I had some friends for lunch recently, and I mean, I’ve been cooking my whole life—I’m assuming I’m quite a bit older than you—and at every stage I thought to myself, will my friends have more fun if I make the peach tart, or can I go to a wonderful local bakery and buy a peach tart, and we’ll have as much fun together? And so I did that. Will my friends have more fun if I make the watermelon lemonade, or can I just open a delicious bottle of rosé and we’ll have a great time? I pared it down to the things that were really important, and reminded myself that this is about the people, not the food.

The number of times I’ve totally set people on edge because I’m anxious about what I’ve made, anxious about—

Because you’re anxious, exactly. And cooking’s hard. It’s not easy, and so the simpler you can make it and the more you can use local resources to fill in for yourself, the better you are.

You have a detail in the memoir about encountering sriracha. Are there any new ingredients more recently that you have started working with—or any you’ve re-fallen in love with?

One of my favorite ingredients is truffle butter. And it’s white truffle butter, not black truffle butter, because it’s so fragrant. There are a lot of things, like truffle oil, that I don’t think has ever met a truffle in its life. But truffle butter is actually shaved truffles and butter, and it’s just delicious. And for maybe $10, a little pot of truffle butter can flavor a risotto or a mashed potatoes or a pasta, and make something very simple into something really luxurious.

I think that’s something that people love your recipes for, is that they’re totally doable, but they feel luxurious.

I’m always looking for the place where something is both simple and special. Anybody can make something simple and boring, but making something simple and really good is what my challenge is.

You included so many Paris favorites in the book. Are there any that top your list?

People think I go to Paris and go to really fancy places. But what we love is to go out for a late dinner at Café De Flore and have an omelet and a glass of champagne, and just watch the world go by.

In 2016, you answered the Proust Questionnaire for this magazine. And for the question “What is your current state of mind?,” you said, “It simply doesn’t get any better than this.” So what’s your current state of mind now?

I’m pretty much the same way. I haven’t progressed at all!