Ina Garten Shares the 'Simple' Dinner Party Menu She Used to ‘Wow’ Guests — Including Julianna Margulies!

"BEST MEAL EVER!" Margulies said of the dinner party hosted by Ina Garten and her husband Jeffrey

Ina Garten has all the tips to keep hosting fun.

On Wednesday, the Food Network host shared her own secrets for having friends over for dinner, complete with a menu that details the perfect time to throw everything together.

“Jeffrey and I had some wonderful friends for dinner on Saturday night,” Garten wrote on Instagram. She shared that she wanted the menu to “wow” her guests while still being “simple to prepare so [she] could have fun at the party, too.”

Related: Ina Garten Was Inspired to Make Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup During the Pandemic — Get Her Recipe

“It's too stressful to cook an entire dinner just before people arrive (yes even for me!),” she said. With this in mind, Garten focused on preparing dishes that could get a lot of the leg-work done in advance and be thrown together just before guests arrived.

For her dinner party, Garten shared the six different dishes that made the menu and how she paced out the lead up to her guests' arrival. (All the recipes are on her website.)

Starting early with dessert, Garten made the dough and cut-out the shapes for these shortbread cookies the night before. She eventually baked them off right before dinner. She also served a coffee granita which got thrown together the morning of her soirée.

For drinks, the Barefoot Contessa batched and chilled some watermelon cosmos in the morning, too.

To cap off the a.m. prep work, Garten made a few of the more savory elements. She whipped up some guacamole to be ready when guests arrived and also started making the broth base of her shrimp and swordfish curry.

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Later, the hostess prepared basmati rice 15 minutes before it was time to eat and cooked the seafood in the curry for 7 minutes, to keep everything fresh and flavorful for the meal.

“The dinner was pretty good,” Garten said. “I don’t think anyone was disappointed!”

Garten encouraged fans to “try this menu for your next party.” She added: “It’s a good one.”

In the comments of her post, actress Julianna Margulies revealed that she was present for Garten’s dinner, and confirmed that the menu was the star of the show: “I was one of the lucky guests at this dinner and I can say with complete honesty: BEST MEAL EVER!”

The Good Wife star said she “is still dreaming of that watermelon cosmo and that entire dinner”

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In February, the Food Network star revealed her kitchen remodel in her home in East Hampton, N.Y.

"During the Pandemic, I gave myself a project of renovating my kitchen, which I actually hadn't done in 25 years!!" she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post showing off her new digs. "I built my dream pantry and bought my favorite Lacanche stove plus lots of food photographs and a great view of the garden."

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