Taylor Swift knows a thing or two about good food. So, during her turn as the covergirl of Elle’s April issue, instead of answering a bunch of questions she’s likely responded to dozens of times before, the 29-year-old took the opportunity to share a few lessons she’s learned prior to turning 30 – including a go-to recipes.
Having go-to recipes to rely on for dinner parties and such is a must once you hit your thirties. “I’ve always cooked a LOT, but I found three recipes I know I’ll be making at dinner parties for life: Ina Garten’s real meatballs and spaghetti (I just use packaged bread crumbs and only ground beef for meat), Nigella Lawson’s Mughlai chicken and Jamie Oliver’s chicken fajitas with molé sauce,” Swift explained.
Though most homecooks wouldn’t dare alter a recipe perfected by the Barefoot Contessa herself, it’s highly likely that Garten, 71, won’t mind that the singer simplifies the dish by using store-bought breadcrumbs and only makes the meatballs with ground beef instead of the beef and veal combo Garten’s version of the meal calls for.
The Food Network star and the Valentine’s Day actress have been friends for years, and Garten even went so far as to call Swift “extraordinary” during an interview with the Huffington Post in October 2018, adding of her pal: “She’s very smart and very interesting and she loves her friends. She is wise beyond her years to say the least.”
Another famous fan of Garten’s? Duchess Meghan. The royal, 37, reportedly whipped up the Cook Like a Pro author’s roast chicken the night she and Prince Harry got engaged in 2017. “Without me, it never would have happened,” Garten joked to the Today Show’s Willie Geist in October 2018. “Isn’t that a wonderful story? How powerful is that?”
But back to Swift. Aside from a handful of trade and true recipes, the songwriter also told Elle she now understands the importance of certain cooking hacks. “Getting a garlic crusher is a whole game changer,” she declared. “I also learned how to immediately calculate Celsius to Fahrenheit in my head. (Which is what I’m pretty sure the internet would call a ‘weird flex.’)”
And because every cook knows that a good drink is an easy way to elevate a meal, Swift also revealed: “I learned how to make some easy cocktails like Pimm’s cups, Aperol spritzes, Old-Fashioneds, and Mojitos because … 2016.”
