Barefoot Contessa At Home : Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over And Over Again.
Garten, Ina.
New York : Clarkson Potter, c2006.
Garten's fifth cookbook (after Barefoot in Paris) follows her surefire formula: uncomplicated but elegant recipes for the home cook whose priority is spending time with friends and family, not in the kitchen. From breakfast to dessert, the Food Network star organizes this volume by meal, with an easy-to-navigate recipe list at the top of each section. Many entries provide a creative alternative to the basics: the Summer Borscht—which calls for fresh beets, cucumber and chicken stock—will make a cool, flavorful substitute for the predictable bowl of gazpacho, and the mayonnaise-based Jon Snow's Fish Salad—freshly roasted white fish filets (e.g., halibut) distinguished by the addition of diced fennel—will supersede tuna salad. But some of Garten's "feel-good" foods barely warrant inclusion—her recipe for Sunday Morning Oatmeal barely elevates the instructions on the Quaker canister. If not always inventive, these recipes (e.g., Cornish Hens with Cornbread Stuffing) should be reliable for seasoned but time-pressed or ambitious but inexperienced cooks. Striking a warm, personal tone, Garten also includes advice on designing a kitchen, making a grocery list, planning a menu and where to shop and dine in the Hamptons.
Review from Publisher Weekly
Barefoot in Paris
Garten, Ina.
New York: Clarkson Potter, c2004.
It would be easy to resent Garten: the successful Hamptons specialty food store, three previous cookbooks—one a New York Times bestseller—her own series on the Food Network and an apartment on the Left Bank all invite envy. But Garten is much too pleasant and friendly in this book for anyone to wish her ill. While she doesn't break any ground—with simple recipes like Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic, and Loin of Pork with Green Peppercorns—she also doesn't step on any toes or have any pretension, and writes personally in a way that feels genuine. Garten even includes a photograph of herself, circa age three, in the frilly dress her grandparents brought her from Paris that inspired a lifelong love affair with the city. Part of Garten's charm lies in her self-deprecating sense of humor. "I was a little afraid to attempt a soufflé (think Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina)," she relates in the introduction to Blue Cheese Soufflé. "I really love beautiful flower arrangements, but I usually make a mess of them on the first try," she admits in a brief note on flowers. Her relaxed attitude toward entertaining also comes through in dishes like Ice Cream Bombe, where she reassures readers that Häagen-Dazs mango sorbet will do fine. Even the innovation is low-key: Avocado and Grapefruit Salad features an unusual pair, but is dressed with a very basic vinaigrette; and Zucchini Vichyssoise is no more complicated than the traditional potato-only version.
Review from Publishers Weekly Review