Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties That Are Really Fun
by Ina Garten
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ina GartenBrand: Random House
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-03-27
ISBN: 0609606441
Number of pages: 264
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Book Reviews of Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties That Are Really Fun
Book Review: Barefoot and Carefree in the Kitchen
Summary: 5 Stars
Have you ever noticed that when you go to a party where everyone is hanging out in the kitchen, those parties are the most fun? Well, Ina encourages guests to participate in the last minute food preparation. She puts on fun music and takes a more relaxed approach.
Ina Garten decided she would rather cook because it was her true love and left her job as a budget analyst in the White House in 1978 to follow her dream of opening a specialty food store. She now owns The Barefoot Contessa in East Hampton, N.Y. Over the past 23 years, this has become a culinary destination. It is now a 3,000 square foot market where 20 cooks prepare the food and another 20 people help customers in the store. The scent of rosemary and fresh French bread dances in the air. They prepare fresh salads and dinners according to what's in season. In this book, you will find many of the good ideas and delicious foods that you can find in the store.
After years of her customers asking for her recipes, she finally revealed some of her secrets in her first book: "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook." I was very impressed with Ina's first book and gave her book as gifts to friends. This book is equally beautiful and James Merrell has done a wonderful job photographing all the food styled by Rori Spinelli.
When you open this cookbook, you will feel like you are entering Ina Garten's world. The lush color picture of her home with the door left open is so wonderful and you feel like you could just walk inside and smell freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and take one right off the plate!
So, where will you find Ina when she is hosting a party? You might find her whipping up Tropical Smoothies (page 39) and chatting with a friend in the kitchen. Someone might be helping to cook the scrambled eggs with asparagus (page 34) while another guest is cutting the Sour Cream Coffee Cake (page 37). These are all recipes in the Sunday Breakfast section.
Was I impressed by her new cookbook? Yes. She has organized it so well and I love the party themes by season. Each recipe has a refreshing header and sometimes gives a variation for the recipe. The parties are divided into Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. They include a Sunday Breakfast, Pizza Party, Jewish Holiday, Academy Awards, Canoe Trip, Lunch in the Garden, Happy Birthday, Outdoor Grill, Football Party, Autumn Dinner, NOT Thanksgiving, Afternoon Tea, New Year's day, Snow Day, Valentine's Dinner and Fireside Dinner Parties.
The Index is also well organized. The book design is superb and is all a cookbook author could wish for. Except for a few recipes, the entire recipe is on one page and you don't have to turn the page to read the directions in most cases. The instructions are not numbered. A space between various instructions gives you the idea that you are onto a new step, so they are easy to follow. Her recipes are not difficult to make. Most of the dishes can be prepared in advance.
I also love her writing style. When you read her notes, you feel as if she is talking to you and you are sitting out on the deck with a glass of lemonade. Each party begins with a page telling you something funny about a party. "I'll never forget the worst party I ever gave.".....pg. 33 Ina also shares her wisdom from years of catering and planning parties. Some of the things she writes in this book are just laugh out loud funny! She is so daring and has been catering parties professionally for more than twenty years. I mean, why not serve dinner in the study by the fireplace! I love her creativity.
"Drag the table out on the porch and set big platters of cut melons, papayas and long stemmed strawberries down the middle. Put out baskets of fresh bread and coffeecake. Have hot coffee in thermoses out where people can help themselves. The food will be the decoration." - Ina Garten
I can truly say that every recipe in this book looks just divine. I made the chicken chili recipe today, but in half the quantity. The ingredients included chicken breast that you bake while the onions, tomatoes and bell peppers simmer on the stove top. You just toss in the diced baked chicken and then in a few minutes, dinner is ready. You may use green bell peppers in place of the more expensive red and yellow bell peppers. I also used Mexican-style canned tomatoes since I had those on hand. You can also make the recipe even if you don't have a food processor. Just use a kitchen shears to cut up the tomatoes right in the cans. A 6-quart pot works well and someone might want to include more pan/pot sizes in a future printing, especially for new cooks.
Now, I am thinking that to really have a real Barefoot Contessa Party, you might want to order her great coffee, the Contessa Blend. It was invented over twenty years ago and is a blend of coffee with cinnamon. While you are ordering the coffee from her site, I dare you to resist ordering some double-chocolate brownies.
~The Rebecca Review
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Summary of Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties That Are Really Fun
After more than twenty years of running Barefoot Contessa, the acclaimed specialty food store, Ina Garten published her first collection of recipes. The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook was an overnight sensation, but it's the kind of success that can only be grounded in years of experience. In it, Ina shared her ideas for familiar food but with outstanding flavor and -- most important of all -- recipes that really work.Now, with Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ina shares secrets she has gleaned from her years not only as a caterer but as a dedicated party giver. The keyword here is fun. Ina's parties are easy to prepare and fun for everyone, including the host. Forget those boring Saturday-night dinners that just won't end. With Ina's advice, you're certain to have all your friends saying, "Wasn't that fun!"
Ina has packed Barefoot Contessa Parties! with plans for pulling off parties like a pro, stories about her own parties, and tips on assembling food (rather than cooking everything) and organizing like a caterer. In the spring you can invite your friends to a party where they all make their own pizzas. Come summer, it's into the garden for a lunch with grilled lamb and pita sandwiches that guests assemble themselves. In the autumn, when it's not Thanksgiving, Ina roasts a fresh turkey, which her friends enjoy with popovers and a creamy spinach gratin. And on a snowy winter's day, everyone is invited for a lunch buffet with seafood chowder and butternut squash and apple soup.
Ever since Ina published her first book, people write, e-mail, and stop her on the street to say how much they love the food. She's reached new heights here with recipes like sour cream coffee cake--the ultimate breakfast treat. Salads? The red lettuce, balsamic onions, and blue cheese; Chinese chicken salad; and panzanella may be the best you've ever tasted. Filet of beef is easy to make for a fancy dinner with oh-so-good gorgonzola sauce, or sliced into sandwiches and served with lobster rolls for a Superbowl party. And fans of The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook will be delighted to find the recipe for the Lemon Cake they drooled over but only saw pictured, right here in this book.
With so many great ideas and recipes in these pages for you to use, your friends will start to wonder why your parties are always so much fun.
"A good party is not about the food," says Ina Garten, "it's about the people." That may be true, but her Barefoot Contessa Parties! will ensure that your next party is a fabulous one, regardless of your guest list. Garten, author of The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and a monthly column in Martha Stewart Living, has been catering since 1978. So who better to put together a collection of entertaining theme parties? She's included everything from drinks and hors d'oeuvres to dessert and coffee, as well as notes about what "surprises," atmospheres, venues, and table decorations lend themselves to each. Because she likes to attend her own parties (and who doesn't?), almost every recipe is make-ahead and remarkably uncomplicated.
From casual get-togethers, such as the Pizza Party--which includes recipes for Caesar Salad with Pancetta, California Pizzas that your guests can assemble themselves, and Ice-Cream Sodas--to the elegant Academy Awards dinner--where your guests will enjoy Raspberry Vodka, Rori's Potato Chips with Caviar Dip, Smoked Salmon with Mesclun, Filet of Beef with Gorgonzola Sauce, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Garlic Roasted Potatoes, and Chocolate Ganache Cake--Garten's parties are well thought out and well organized. Divided by season, you'll look forward to Summer's Outdoor Grill, which starts with Real Margaritas, followed by Endive and Avocado Salad, Grilled Herb Shrimp with Mango Salsa, Spaghettoni al Pesto, Tomato Fennel Salad, and Peach Raspberry Shortcakes for dessert. Autumn brings beautiful menus like the one where you cook with your guests and end up with a feast of Potato Pancakes with Caviar, Salad with Warm Goat Cheese, Rack of Lamb, Orzo with Roasted Vegetables, and Apple Crostata. Winter's menus bring soul-warming food, such as Seafood Chowder, Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, and a recipe for possibly the world's best Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Spring offers menus such as the Sunday Breakfast, with a main course of Roasted Asparagus with Scrambled Eggs, and the Jewish Holiday Party, with Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls.
Filled with funny party anecdotes, a bit of Ina Garten history, and clever hints and tips to help guarantee the success of these recipes, this collection, subtitled "Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties That Are Really Fun," delivers on every count. --Leora Y. Bloom
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