Customer Reviews

Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties That Are Really Fun

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ina Garten has brought sanity and great food to entertaining at home.

The great thing about this book is the style everything is served and prepared in, though it uses a bit more fat than I would cook with for everyday meals. She is a friend of Martha Stewart but her recipes are very un-Martha like in preparation. Ina does not have a staff of hundreds to make everything just perfect for that dinner party for the magazine. This lady runs a business on her culinary skill - she does what works with a minimum amount of fuss - it tastes wonderful AND looks great.

I have received rave reviews for the Sour Cream Coffee Cake, the Happy Birthday! meal, and the Chocolate Ganache Cake. The Chocolate Cake went over big. It was so easy to make, it was an afterthought while putting together a meal for six at the very last minute.

You will not be disappointed with this cookbook.

I had planned to try a few more recipes before writing a review. But after making and eating 2 of the Chocolate Chunk Cookies that are photographed on the back cover of "Barefoot Contessa Parties" it's apparent that anyone who is thinking of buying this book should quickly do so. The cookies are great, they remind me of the kind that were made by a company 'David's Cookies'. Only Ina's are better.Yummm. Or as my 6 year old son Alex has just said,"They are extremely super." Last night I made the Brisket recipe but had to exchange water plus ketshup for tomatoe juice - no time to get back to the store. The results were a major success. Alex who has always refused my previous brisket attempts devoured slice after slice. As did my husband and our 10 year old. Tonight will be the vegetable pie recipe. Ina has written an introduction that clearly states the best parties are the ones you can easily prepare for and then happily join your guests. There are four Chapters:Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Fall. Each chapter has 4 menu planners with a brief introduction story ( filled with tips and personal info.for each menu). Each of the various menu's have easy to prepare recipes that are up to Ina's superior standards. I plan on testing them all. Hope she writes the next one within a year. Personally I enjoy her positive attitude that is clear in each of her many and varied recipes.

I love to cook and bake but I run screaming from complicated recipes. This cookbook contains simple recipes for really great-tasting food. It is uncomplicated and the adjoining photographs are simple and elegant. Never have I found a cookbook where page after page I have found recipes that I actually want to try.

I made the ceasar salad the first day I bought the book, the sour cream coffee cake the second. Both turned out fantastic! Tomorrow I shall conquer the delicious-looking rugelach.

The book is touted for parties but don't let that fool you. These are great recipes for simple family dinners as well as large parties. The book is also sprinkled with Ina Garten's advice and past experiences.

I thank Ina Garten for this wonderful new cookbook - but moreover, my husband thanks her!

Ina Garten has it down to a science - but a very relaxed science, at that. She teaches you how to throw a dinner party, garden party, even a child's birthday party with maximum style and class, and minimum stress. I love this book. I love the recipes and ideas and have used many of them on different occasions - often mixing and matching from different sections. The book is divided into four seasons, which makes perfect sense when planning a party - because it makes life so much easier when you use what is seasonally available for recipes as well as planning seasonally appropriate venues and activities for the party - indoor vs. outdoor, what type of drinks to enjoy, etc. I can't say enough good things about this book - you need it in your cookbook collection. I loaned it to someone and missed it dearly for the several weeks it was gone. I even considered purchasing a second one - just in case.

It doesn't top her first book, but boy, it's close! My only complaint about the book is that it's a little hard to find the recipes by category (looking for an entree? you'll have to search under poultry, seafood, etc... in the index) so I give it 4 stars, not 5. However, there is no complaint about the recipes themselves! Just like in her first book, everything I've made from this has turned out beautifully. AND, as a bonus, that beautiful looking lemon cake pictured in the dessert trays from the first book, but sadly not listed as a recipe, is included in this book. Ina Garten is my hero! I only wish the Barefoot Contessa store wasn't on the other side of the country.

I loved her first book so when this one came out I had to get it. I was not disappointed. I've made the Herbed Grilled Shrimp with Mango Salsa a couple of times now and everyone loved it. The Garlic Roasted Potatoes were so easy and delicious. I even e-mailed Ina to tell her how much I enjoyed her books and 2 days later she replied to my e-mail. I highly recommend this book to those who entertain and go into "panic mode" when company's coming (like me). The last 2 times I've entertained I've used recipes from her books and I was so relaxed because I wasn't rushing around that I finally got to enjoy myself without having to excuse myself from my guests to finish food preparations.

I was very disappointed with this cookbook. I read all the rave reviews and somehow expected the book to help me plan and pull off elegant dinner parties with recipes for those. Instead it has tips and recipes for doing everything but (i.e. a make your own pizza party, a new years day brunch, a tea party). The ideas, recipes and strategies for creating a relaxed atmosphere are good, but the book's philosophy is that those fancy Saturday night dinner parties should be avoided. If you agree, then this may be the book for you-- but it wasn't what I wanted.

This cookbook offers easy-to-follow, easy-to-prepare recipes that nonetheless produce delicious and elegant results. It offers tips for planning parties and creating menus aimed at getting the cook out of the kitchen and into the living room to spend more time with guests. Most of the recipes use ingredients that can be found in any supermarket, which is a big plus, and many of the recipes can either be prepared quickly or in advance. The recipes are broken down by season and then by occasion, which enhances the usefulness of the book, and the recipes are printed in a large font that's easy to read. Plenty of sumptuous photographs, too. This cookbook will be of use not only to anyone who enjoys entertaining, but to those of us who enjoy creating great meals even in the absence of a special occasion.

There are some flaws, however. First, there's way too much name-dropping. Who cares if the author parties with the rich and famous? Do we really need to know this? Secondly, the menus often call for dishes or components which the reader is directed to locate in the author's other cookbook, "The Barefoot Contessa". There's no reason that those recipes couldn't have been reprinted here to save the reader the bother of hunting down and purchasing another book. I couldn't help but cynically wonder whether this wasn't a bald-faced attempt to boost sales. Thirdly, the oven temperature is missing from the recipe for "Rori's Potato Chips"--a minor error which will no doubt be corrected in subsequent editions. Apart from these flaws, I nonetheless recommend this cookbook wholeheartedly. After checking it out of my local library and taking it for a test-drive, I decided that it was well worth purchasing.

I just love to read the intros to great cookbooks. They tell the story of the rest of the work. Here, what I never knew before about this great cook: how she came to the Barefoot Contessa: She loved to throw great parties!

Arranged around the four seasons, she provides four menus for events like Sunday breakfast, Canoe trip, Birthday, Christmas, Snow Day, Fireside Dinner.

Great solid recipes that are not too complicated or overpowering on the exotic ingredients nor techniques, just great party offerings such as: Perfect Poached Fruit;Carmel Chocolate Nut Ice Cream; Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Apples (this is soooo good!!); Fennel Soup Gratin; Vegetaple PotPie.

Couple this with lavish Clarkston Potter superb layout, writing and color photos, and advice on scheduling, decorating, invites, etc. and this is great work for you who like Ina enjoy feeding and entertaining others. Love your advice: Never seem like you're not cool about what's happening, even though it seems disastrous.

I class myself as a good cook when I follow a recipe and it turns out well. I love to entertain but have generally ended up in a sweat and not really enjoying the event itself. Then I discovered Nigella Lawson and Ina Garten.

Barefoot Contessa Parties is for the woman who wants to relax and enjoy the party when cooking for other people. She has a busy life and cooking is somewhat of a hobby.

Barefoot Contessa Parties and Nigella Lawson's How To Eat (plus a double oven) gave me more confidence to cook for others and experiment with my own ingredients to adapt recipes than any of your Joy of Cooking or famous chef books. My kitchen is clean and tidy when guests arrive (a big plus for me being a messy cook) and the food is great. I also had dinner at a friend's house some months ago when the most delicious lamb was served. I've long envied the way it was cooked to discover the recipe in Barefoot Contessa Parties!

On another note - there have been mixed reports about the beef tenderloin recipe. It worked for me. Perfectly. Yes, the oven smoked but the meat was superb and my guests were very complimentary. This will now be one of my staple dishes when entertaining.

Please try Nigella Lawson's How to Eat or any book by Nigella. She too is an advocate for keeping it simple and being with your guests. She's also famous for the quote "after all, it's only dinner"