Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips [Hardcover]

Ina Garten (Author), Quentin Bacon (Photographer)

Book Description

Release date: October 26, 2010

Ina Garten, bestselling cookbook author and beloved star of Barefoot Contessa on Food Network, is back with her easiest recipes ever.
 
In Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That? Ina proves once again that it doesn’t take complicated techniques, special equipment, or stops at more than one grocery store to make wonderful dishes for your family and friends. Her newest must-have cookbook is all about saving time and avoiding stress while having fun in the kitchen.

These are not recipes with three ingredients thrown together in five minutes; instead home cooks will find fantastic Barefoot Contessa recipes that are easy to make but still have all that deep, delicious flavor Ina is known for—and that makes a meal so satisfying. Think Pink Grapefruit Margaritas served with Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs—two classics with a twist. For lunch, Ina makes everyone’s favorite Ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwich and Snap Peas with Pancetta. For dinner, try Jeffrey’s Roast Chicken (tried and true!); Steakhouse Steaks, which come out perfectly every time and—with Ina’s easy tip—couldn’t be simpler; or an Easy Parmesan “Risotto” that you throw in the oven instead of stirring endlessly on the stovetop. Finally, Ina’s desserts never disappoint—from Red Velvet Cupcakes to Chocolate Pudding Cream Tart.

To top it all off, Ina also shares her best tips for making cooking really easy. She leaves bowls of lemons and limes on the counter not only because they look great but because they also remind her that a squeeze of lemon in a dish brightens the flavors. She shows us the equipment that makes a difference to her—like sharp knives, the right zester, an extra bowl for her electric mixer—and that can help you in your kitchen, too.

Filled with 225 gorgeous full-color photographs, Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That? is the perfect kitchen companion for busy home cooks who still want fabulous flavor.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Fall into Cooking Featured Recipe from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That?: Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast

Why do we only serve turkey on Thanksgiving? A whole turkey breast roasted with fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme is a great weeknight dinner and the leftovers make delicious sandwiches the next day. Roasting the turkey at 325 degrees and allowing it to rest for fifteen minutes ensures that it will be very moist. --Ina Garten

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

1 whole bone-in turkey breast (6½ to 7 pounds)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup dry white wine

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the turkey breast on a rack in a roasting pan, skin side up.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper. Rub the mixture evenly all over the skin of the turkey breast. (You can also loosen the skin and smear half of the paste underneath, directly on the meat.) Pour the wine into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Roast the turkey for 1½ to 1 ¾ hours, until the skin is golden brown and an instant-read meat thermometer registers 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest and meatiest area of the breast. Check the breast after an hour or so; if the skin is overbrowning, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.

When the turkey is done, remove from the oven, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and allow the turkey to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Slice and serve warm with the pan juices.

Fall into Cooking Featured Recipe from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That?: Easy Cranberry & Apple Cake

This recipe is inspired by a cranberry pie from Sarah Chase’s book Cold Weather Cooking. My friend Barbara Liberman calls it “easy cake”--I call it delicious. It’s even better served warm with vanilla ice cream. --Ina Garten

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

12 ounces fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over for stems
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (2 oranges)
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
11⁄8 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup sour cream
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the cranberries, apple, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the butter, vanilla, and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt.

Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10-inch glass pie plate. Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1⁄8 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the batter. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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From Publishers Weekly

The focus is on creating simpler yet appetizing dishes that save time and minimize stress in the kitchen in bestselling author (Barefoot Contessa Cookbook) and Food Network guru Garten's latest. She showcases recipes that utilize fewer ingredients, limited to those easily found in supermarkets or specialty food stores. She also stays away from time-consuming cooking techniques, instead making unusually good use of her oven for everything from easy parmesan risotto and French toast bread pudding to spicy turkey meatballs. Despite the relative simplicity of these dishes, they are still elegant enough to be served at dinner parties, especially the roasted figs and prosciutto, fresh salmon tartare, and the mouthwatering, easy Provençal lamb. Garten's vegetable dishes are particularly appealing and varied, including scalloped tomatoes, garlic-roasted cauliflower, and potato basil purée, and her desserts are equally strong, with easy cranberry and apple cake and fleur de sel caramels. Full-color photos accompany each recipe and are enough to send any hungry soul immediately into the kitchen. True to her trademark style, Garten once again shows that delicious food can be prepared with a minimum of fuss, even with guests on the way.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; First Edition edition (October 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307238768
• ISBN-13: 978-0307238764
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.8 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (217 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Reference
  • #24 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Quick & Easy
  • #37 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > U.S. Regional

More About the Author

In 1978, Ina Garten left her job as a budget analyst in the White House to pursue her dream of operating a specialty food store in the Hamptons. She is a frequent contributor to major national magazines and writes a recurring column in O Magazine. Her new television series on entertaining can be seen on Food Network. Ina lives in East Hampton, New York, and Southport, Connecticut, with her husband, Jeffrey.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

537 of 581 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not so easy... November 1, 2010

By thatcherite

Format:Hardcover

I didn't think it was possible to be disappointed with anything Ina Garten is associated with, but I guess there's a first time for everything. I loved her last book (Back to Basics), but this one just fell flat for me for a few reasons:

1. The recipes aren't neccesarily easy, especially when you have to search for some of the special ingredients (duck fois gras, Tate's Bake Shop chocolate chip cookies, Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup, etc.). Also, "good ketchup such as Stonewall Kitchen"?!? There were just too many instances of blatantly trying to advertise other people's products. I think the only people who will have no trouble finding these specialized ingredients live in New York City, East Hampton or near a Whole Foods store (which for me is a 2 hour drive).

2. Some of the tips are not realistic for regular cooks, especially in these tough economic times (having 2 dishwashers!?!?!). Sure, I'd love to have 2 dishwashers in my kitchen, but unless you regularly host dinner parties with > 10 people or you run a catering business out of your house, what's the point? And who has room in their kitchen for that?

3. Unlike Ina's other books, none of the recipes here made me want to drop what I was doing and start cooking. Also, Ina's other books have included a chapter on breakfast foods, so I was sad when I saw that this book did not.

The book was not a total disappointment. As always, the pictures and layout of the book were beautiful (although I didn't understand the full page individual photos of each of Ina's friends). Also, some recipes, such as Lemon Chicken Breasts, Ultimate Peach Ice Cream and Old Fashioned Banana Cake are really good.

I'm still a big Ina fan and I'll continue to buy her books. I guess not everyone can hit a homerun everytime they step up to the plate.

116 of 127 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Back to Basics Part II October 31, 2010

By Reine des Coeurs VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love both Ina's show and her cookbooks. If you've been a fan of both, most of these recipes (as others have noted) are going to seem redundant, particularly if you own her "Back to Basics" or The Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. While the layout and pictures are gorgeous, as usual, I couldn't get over the feeling this book was rushed out and with a little more time and development could have been better.

This is not to say that the recipes themselves are bad - we've just seen them before. The Mustard Chicken salad (page 104) is one of my favorites, but she's published it before. Jeffrey's Roast Chicken (page 122) is a re-tweaked version of the same recipe from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Again, these are good recipes, but the book wasn't presented as a redux of her other cookbooks. If it had been, customers would have been prepared for it, but as it was marketed - as a new book of recipes and tips - it is somewhat of a disappointment.

212 of 240 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars disappointed October 30, 2010

By cowgirl

Format:Hardcover

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with this book..I love Ina and I love watching her shows but this book is not as good as her previous ones. I guess I thought it was about "easy" and it's not. If one must go to specialty stores for items such as tray figs, prosciutto, white truffle butter, smoked salmon, oxtails,mussels, soppressata salami(what is that?), duck foie gras(yikes),creme fraiche, romano flat bean(never saw those), bakery meringue shells,etc, etc,---this is not what I consider easy. Most cooks are into saving time with fresh, normal food items that are easily found in a normal foodstore. I hope in the future Ina reaches out to middle America for more normal not so expensive items to feed our families and friends. With today's economy, one has to be smart, a bit frugal and wise in making easy decisions for quick dinners on the table.. and healthy and easy does not have to be gourmet.Also, most of her tips and extra info was quite simplistic and took up alot of space in the book.