Paper Palate

Coming to a bookstore near you is the fifth cookbook from Ina Garten: Barefoot Contessa at Home. The book releases on October 24, 2006. Publisher’s Weekly states that the cookbook sticks to Garten’s usual formula: “uncomplicated but elegant recipes for the home cook whose priority is spending time with friends and family, not in the kitchen.” In case you are unfamiliar with the Food Network star, she owned, and later sold, the Barefoot Contessa specialty store in Westhampton, New York. The store closed in 2003, but Garten continues the idea of simple, quality gourmet food through her cookbooks and Food Network show.

According to the book’s description, this cookbook is focused on providing recipes for “a cozy dinner, surrounded by the people you love most, in the comfort that only your own home can provide.” The cookbook is organized by meal with a recipe list at the beginning of each chapter. For breakfast, recipes include Easy Cheese Danishes, Breakfast Fruit Crunch and Spicy Bloody Marys. Lunch recipes offered include Tomato, Mozzarella, and Pesto Paninis and Old-Fashioned Potato Salad. Loin of pork stuffed with sautéed fennel and Eli’s Asian Salmon are examples of the dinner offerings. Because no Barefoot Contessa cookbook would be complete without some decadent desserts, there are recipes for Peach and Blueberry Crumble, Pumpkin Mousse Parfait, and Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing.

Publisher’s Weekly found that “[i]f 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.” And if you are on your way the Hamptons, “Garten also includes advice on designing a kitchen, making a grocery list, planning a menu and where to shop and dine in the Hamptons.”

The idea for this cookbook seems to be an effort to make the reader feel that they are getting a glimpse into Garten’s personal life. In addition to photos of the food, there are also photos of her home and her hometown of East Hampton. Personal stories and tips from Garten about a wide variety of topics, from designing a kitchen to entertaining are highlighted.