Ina Garten's Time-Tested New Year's Eve Dinner: Simple and Luxurious

Leave it to Ina Garten to devise a decadent and delicious New Year's Eve dinner that's simple enough for even us mere mortals. In a recent interview with Katie Couric (video below), the queen of comfort food shared the classic New Year's Eve meal that she's been making for years: lemon capellini with caviar.

Ina Garten Holiday Traditions

Garten explained that she and her husband Jeffrey usually spend the holidays with friends in Paris.

"Jeffrey and I usually have friends and go to some great bar in Paris with a piano, and we have cocktails—you know, it's New Year's Eve!" she tells Couric.

Eventually, the celebrations bring them back to Garten's apartment with limited time to cook dinner before midnight. That's why for New Year's Eve, she always makes something that comes together quickly yet still feels fancy.

"I have to make dinner in like three minutes," Garten laughed. "Because, you know, it's like 11:30 p.m., and everyone expects dinner at that point."

Garten's Lemon Capellini with Caviar is available online and in her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.

The Food Network star explains how she starts making the sauce, "which is like 60 pounds of butter" and lemon juice. For Garten, the recipe's most significant selling point is the capellini, which takes only three minutes to cook.

Then, toss it around and serve it with a big dollop of caviar. And voila—a lavish meal worthy of the holiday.

"It's New Year's Eve, so you can splurge on it!" Garten adds.