The designer Daniel Roseberry recalls first encountering “Barefoot Contessa,” the cookbook author Ina Garten’s hit series on Food Network, in 2006, during his freshman year at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. He instantly became hooked on the show, in which the warmly bantering Garten welcomes viewers into her East Hampton, N.Y., kitchen and guides them through the preparation of classic, luscious often-French-inspired fare. “From the minute I saw Ina’s world,” Roseberry says, “I wanted to be a part of it.”
Later, as a designer at Thom Browne, he would survive long days during fashion weeks by returning home to watch episodes of “Barefoot Contessa.” “It was the ultimate self-soothing exercise for me,” he explains, adding that his entire family soon became fans, too; the Roseberry household now packs its holiday tables each year with nothing but Garten’s dishes. “Ina taught me everything I know in the kitchen,” he says. “But more than that, I really think she has defined what it means to cook and entertain in America.”
T’s editor, Hanya Yanagihara, is a friend of Roseberry and knew of his passion for Garten’s work. So when T hoped to enlist Garten for the first episode of a new video series, T 101, in which one creative person teaches another how to make something, we approached Roseberry, who jumped at the chance to roll up his sleeves with his longtime idol. Garten, who is just as famous for her convivial gatherings as for her food — she often invites friends over to share a meal on “Barefoot Contessa,” and this year she debuted a new show, “Be My Guest,” in which she cooks with visiting celebrities such as the chef Marcus Samuelsson and the actor Emily Blunt — graciously accepted. And so in August, Roseberry traveled from Paris, where he has been the creative director of the storied French house Schiaparelli since 2019, to Garten’s home for a lesson in how to cook risotto, a dish he had never made before. The encounter was the start of a friendship that, in Roseberry’s mind, had been years in the making.
At first glance, the 74-year-old Garten, with her easy charisma and her trend-averse approach to food, might seem an unlikely influence for the 37-year-old Roseberry. At Schiaparelli, he has been injecting modern red-carpet glamour into a nearly century-old brand famed for its founder’s madcap, Surrealism-inspired vision. Before this, as the head of design at Thom Browne, he produced rigorously tailored collections with a radical, transgressive edge. And yet the two creative forces share many things: a love of chambray shirts, for one, but also a grounded ethos, a strong work ethic and a willingness to take risks. As Garten says of their tête-à-tête, “We come from such different fields, but we see so many things between food and fashion exactly the same way. We started talking and didn’t stop until it was time for him to leave — and I can’t ever remember having that experience with someone.”
While chatting with Roseberry, Garten was reminded of her early days studying fashion design at Syracuse University, before she switched to business and embarked on the path that would lead her to culinary stardom. (Her latest cookbook, “Go-To Dinners,” which includes recipes for fuss-free dishes such as Overnight Mac & Cheese and the One-Pot Oven Risotto she made with Roseberry, was published on Oct. 25; she also has a memoir and an interior design book in the works.) “I’d forgotten this whole other side of myself, one that came back to me as I talked to Daniel,” she says.
Roseberry, for his part, confided to Garten that, besides his mother, she is the one person he looks to for inspiration when making bold career moves — such as leaving the New York-based Thom Browne after more than a decade to reinvigorate a then-somewhat-nodding Parisian couture house. “So much of Ina’s philosophy has informed the way I think about being a creative director,” says Roseberry. “She’s all about defying expectations. She always says, when people expect something fancy, you do something super earthy, and vice versa. And that mentality was something that I brought to Schiaparelli, in a way.” His spring 2023 ready-to-wear collection reflects that sensibility, marrying everyday silhouettes with ultra-luxurious, couture-like details, as in a silver-sequined organza suit jacket intricately embroidered with matador patterns and eye motifs or a pair of Japanese-denim jeans hand painted with colorful brushstrokes by a Parisian craftsman.
For Roseberry, Garten is also an antidote to the eccentricity that abounds in the fashion industry. “I’m constantly looking for examples of highly prolific creatives who are happy and complete people — the stable geniuses, to use a terrible term,” he says. “In fashion, it’s almost impossible to find people in midcareer or later who feel like whole people.” For that reason, among many others, Roseberry arrived at Garten’s home with a special gift: a clutch of orange tulips — one of her favorite flowers — crafted from leather, their petals having been shaped using the backs of kitchen spoons (a technique the Schiaparelli atelier had developed for the fall 2022 couture collection, which featured blooms made of everything from shredded tulle to ceramic).
“People always warn you, ‘Never meet your heroes,’ and I hate that,” says Roseberry. “Meeting Ina in person was confirmation that she is everything and more than what you would expect her to be in real life. It was so gratifying.”
Ina Garten’s One-Pot Oven Risotto
(This recipe is reproduced from Garten’s book “Go-To Dinners” [Clarkson Potter, 2022].)
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Good olive oil
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1¼ cups thinly sliced shallots (2 large)
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1 pound fresh asparagus, tough ends removed, cut diagonally in 1-inch lengths (see note below)
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1½ cups Arborio rice (10 ounces)
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5 to 6 cups simmering chicken stock, preferably homemade
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½ teaspoon saffron threads
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½ cup dry white wine
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1 cup freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
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3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
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Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium (11-inch) Dutch oven such as Le Creuset, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for 2 minutes. Add the asparagus and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
3. In the same Dutch oven, heat one additional tablespoon olive oil. Add the rice and stir to coat the rice with oil. Add 4 cups of the chicken stock and the saffron, bring to a simmer and cover. Transfer to the oven and bake for 35 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.
4. Remove from the oven and add the white wine, stirring well until incorporated, then add one more cup of chicken stock, the Parmesan, butter, 2½ teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon for 2 to 3 minutes, until the risotto is thick and creamy, adding more chicken stock, if necessary, to keep the risotto very creamy. Stir in the asparagus-and-shallot mixture and serve hot sprinkled with extra grated Parmesan.
Notes
To reheat, add a little white wine and reheat in individual bowls in the microwave. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve hot.
Instead of asparagus, you can use broccolini, broccoli, snow peas or snap peas; or you can add frozen peas just before serving.
