The Best Ina Garten Recipes For Fall

When Ina Garten invites you over to her barn for dinner, you've climbed the social ladder to the point where you can show up in a black Mercedes and throw around a casual jab about people who buy subpar vanilla (all while jamming out to Taylor Swift and celebrating your mutual hate for cilantro). 

OK, maybe that fantasy might be something more out of 30 Rock than an actual Barefoot Contessa episode, but that won't stop us from daydreaming like Liz Lemon. Luckily, with a little imagination and some of Garten's best fall recipes, you won't be far off from a dinner party worthy of the Hamptons queen herself.

Can a salad actually be better than the main course? Once it's dressed to the nines with Marcona almonds, roast taproots and marinated cranberries, then absolutely.

In a world of overpowering autumnal sweets, Garten's bourbon-spiked custard is the only dessert that can make us remember not all pumpkin spice things have to taste like a scented candle.

Forget your usual chicken, brown rice and broccoli. This is the Sunday meal whose leftovers will actually make you look forward to lunch all week long.

A Barefoot Contessa classic, these crispy, nutty sprouts have converted the vegetable-hating child in all of us.

For those days when you need a slab of apple pie (without all the effort), these buttery, spiced shortbread bars provide max payoff for a minimal amount of effort.

Will your breath be a little pungent after this meal? Perhaps, but at least it will smell of sweetly caramelized garlic and cognac-laced gravy.

Deceptively easy to make, this elegant tart is a showstopper worthy of any patisserie. Swap out the homemade pastry dough for store-bought puff pastry if you're in a pinch.

Hearty roast root vegetables serve as a bed for chunks of fish wrapped in salty ham—perfect for weeknight entertaining.

When it comes to the ultimate flannel-worthy comfort food, it's hard to beat the bubbling mix of chicken and vegetables hiding underneath this pastry crust.

If you can't travel to the Mediterranean and handpick your own crocus stamens, store-bought saffron will do just fine for this hearty risotto. 

Just ignore the total grams of fat per serving in these caramelized, buttery sweets that somehow qualify as breakfast. (After all, fall is bulking season, right?)