Famed Chef Ina Garten Shares Rosh Hashanah Recipes, Recalls Baking Challah as a Newlywed

Shiryn Ghermezian

Ina Garten making Israeli salad. Photo: YouTube screenshot

Acclaimed Jewish chef and cookbook author Ina Garten this week shared recipes for five dishes to serve on Rosh Hashanah, as well as tips about prepping them ahead of time before the start of the Jewish holiday on Friday night.

“Even if you didn’t grow up celebrating the Jewish New Year, these classic recipes are still so comforting and delicious,” Garten said in an Instagram post. She also shared pictures of all the dishes: bourbon honey cake, matzo ball soup, brisket with onions and leeks, orange-roasted rainbow carrots, and challah. All the recipes are provided in the link shared on her Instagram page.

Garten and her husband, Jeffrey Garten, are both Jewish, and Jeffrey’s father was a World War II veteran. The author and host of the Food Network cooking show Barefoot Contessa said her husband loves the bourbon honey cake and that challah “was one of the first things I ever made for him after we were married.”

Ina, whose maiden name is Rosenberg, was born in Brooklyn, New York, but was raised in Stamford, Connecticut. She told the website The Nosher in 2020 that, growing up, she was not allowed in the kitchen and did not enjoy her mother’s cooking. Her love of being in the kitchen only developed after she got married at the age of 20.

“The minute I got married, I really started cooking,” she said, before adding,”I think a lot of what I do is creating what I always wanted, rather than a memory of something.”

She also told the website that her favorite Jewish comfort food is challah French toast flavored with saffron and that she loves potato pancakes, which are traditionally made on the Jewish holiday of Chanukkah.