Product Description

Throughout the years that she has lived and worked in East Hampton, Ina Garten has catered and attended countless parties and dinners. She will be the first to tell you, though, that nothing beats a cozy dinner, surrounded by the people you love most, in the comfort that only your own home can provide. In Barefoot Contessa at Home, Ina shares her life in East Hampton, the recipes she loves, and her secrets to making guests feel welcome and comfortable.

For Ina, it’s friends and family–gathered around the dinner table or cooking with her in the kitchen–that really make her house feel like home. Here Ina offers the tried-and-true recipes that she makes over and over again because they’re easy, they work, and they’re universally loved. For a leisurely Sunday breakfast, she has Easy Cheese Danishes or Breakfast Fruit Crunch to serve with the perfect Spicy Bloody Mary. For lunch, she has classics with a twist, such as Tomato, Mozzarella, and Pesto Paninis and Old-Fashioned Potato Salad, which are simply delicious. Then there are Ina’s homey dinners–from her own version of loin of pork stuffed with sautéed fennel to the exotic flavors of Eli’s Asian Salmon. And since Ina knows no one ever forgets what you serve for dessert, she includes recipes for outrageously luscious sweets like Peach and Blueberry Crumble, Pumpkin Mousse Parfait, and Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing.

Ina also lets readers in on her time-tested secrets for cooking and entertaining. Get the inside scoop on everything from what Ina considers when she’s designing a kitchen to menu-planning basics and how to make a dinner party fun (here’s a hint: it doesn’t involve making complicated food!).

Along with beautiful photographs of Ina’s dishes, her home, and the East Hampton she loves, this book is filled with signature recipes that strike the perfect balance between elegance and casual comfort. With her most indispensable collection yet, Ina Garten proves beyond a shadow of doubt that there truly is no place like home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1494 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-24
• Released on: 2006-10-24
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
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. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Ina Garten is the author of four previous cookbooks, which have sold more than three million copies: The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, and Barefoot in Paris. Ina is also the star of the Food Network Show Barefoot Contessa, and her new line of cake mixes, marinades, and condiments can now be found at specialty food stores across America. She lives in East Hampton, New York, and New York City with her husband, Jeffrey. Visit Ina at www.barefootcontessa.com.

Customer Reviews

i officially love to cook!
because of this book i love to cook. i've seen her shows in passing on tv and changed the channel, never thought much of them. after trying many of these recipes, i can't get enough. the compliments are endless when ever i make anything from this book. if you don't consider yourself a cook, consider this book. it will change your mind. the recipes all have easy to find ingredients, are easy to make and they are truly recipes you will make again and again. i should warn in advance that if you make the peanutbutter frosted chocolate cupcakes people will devour them before you have a chance to blink:).

Gotta love Ina...makes you feel right at home.
Outrageously and deliciously seductive color photos on each page!
Recipes everyone loves, often with a little twist that just makes this comfort food even better, like the cole slaw that adds my favorite blue cheese, or roasted red potatoes with onions that come out of the oven looking just like the picture, or the lemon pound cake to die for. Each recipe is simple to follow, with fabulous results. And, the ingredients are things even my family eats.
I ordered the book based on an on-line video clip of Nancy Soriano, editor of Country Living Magazine [...] who described the fabulous chocolate cake recipe she made for guests... from 'at home'. And, yes, it is fabulous. The frosting WOW!
Paging through this book is a treat, just like the chicken salad and the cupcakes. The written text is exactly like listening to Ina on her show, same effortless style, smooth, relaxed and welcoming; as if she is at her Hamptons' door greeting you, baking a chicken and sharing her comforting space ~~ which she endearingly describes as: "Home is anywhere Jeffrey is".
Nowadays, recipes can be found in just about any magazine, and all over the internet. But, the 'feel' of being 'at home' and the confidence to make a memorable family meal comes only from this chef I try to emulate...

Very nice cookbook!
It's my first Ina's cookbook and I like it very much. Nice pictures and great but not difficult recipes!