Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That? (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
The recipe for chipotle and rosemary roasted nuts is reason alone to acquire this cookbook! Add the roasted summer vegetables, the flat beans with pecorino, tomatoes roasted with pesto, red velvet cupcakes (and associated frosting, natch), and the old-fashioned banana cake (with cream cheese frosting) and you've got yourself a justification to go out and buy a cookbook. As with most of Ina Garten's recipes, these are quite straightforward and with one exception (i.e., wouldn't bother with the fennel bulb in the roasted vegetables) all steps and ingredients make important additions to the dish in question. In answer to the rhetorical question posed in the book's title: Quite Easy--and quite tasty, too. One of the Christmas presents my husband got me was Ina Garten’s new cookbook Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That? Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips. I started reading the cookbook last night, and finished it this morning and am so excited to try these recipes. Ina offers helpful tips and makes thoughtful recommendations on equipment and kitchen stuff you should have handy and gadgets she does not bother owning. Most of us do not have an enormous kitchen as Ina has to stock everything we would like, but everything she recommends is practical and can work even in small kitchens like mine. Some pots I have not purchased yet since they are so expensive but Ina offers alternatives that are affordable. There are 68 easy tips and some I already do, but Ina has given me new ideas for my kitchen space. I also love the Contessa’s simple pictures of beautiful place settings for her dining table. The recipes are simple, sound delicious, and the pictures are beautiful. I have seen some of these recipes on the Food Network already and remember wishing there were such a thing as smellavision. The book has six main sections cocktails, starters, lunch, dinner, vegetables and desserts. If you love to entertain friends and family, this cookbook is a treasure trove. The recipes are also perfect for family dinners or just for two as in my case. I have made many Ina recipes and they always come out great so I am eager to make many of the ones in this cookbook. The main theme of the cookbook is the word “easy.” Ina is keeping it simple by using easy ingredients, providing easy shortcuts, easy techniques, easy menus and easy recipes. I cannot wait to make Foie Gras With Roasted Apples, Roasted Vegetable Frittata, Tarragon Potato Salad, Greek Lamb With Yogurt Mint Sauce, Spaghetti Aglio E Olio, Easy Parmesan “Risotto,” Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms, Chocolate Pudding Cream Tart and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. I want to make so many other recipes as well but I will make these recipes first.
What do You think about Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That? (2010)?
The only thing that would be easier is if the Barefoot Contessa, herself, was coming to cook for me!
—rapid
I mostly liked the vegetable section because I'm just learning new ways to cook veggies :)
—Shanzay
