Ina Garten couldn’t possibly have known when she started working on her latest cookbook how much we’d all need comfort food right now. She came up with the concept for Modern Comfort Food more than two years ago, figuring the book would arrive just before the presidential election and that we might be a bit stressed. “Little did I know that 2020 would bring so much more,” she says. “Right now I think we just want really simple comforting foods that make us feel good.” In many ways, the book seems meant to be. “It was the easiest one I’ve ever written. I tend to gravitate toward comfort food anyway, and I found that the book just flowed in a way I don’t ever remember.” Many of the recipes are the culmination of years of experimentation and taste memories. This beef stew was inspired by the takeout stews Ina and Jeffrey ate in their tent when they camped outside Paris in the spring and summer of 1971. “Over the years I learned a lot about what makes beef stew really delicious,” she says. “A nice red wine, short ribs instead of chuck. It’s a classic recipe, just done in a more modern way.”