Cooking with Ina Garten: Fresh Ingredients and Time-Saving Tips from the Barefoot Contessa

Make It Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Enough of the cook being stuck in the kitchen! Ina knows a hostess should be able to mingle with her guests, whether there are one or one hundred of them, and the trick is to make everything ahead. Included in these 75 recipes are make-ahead standbys such as casseroles, soups, and grain salads, alongside pleasant surprises like Ham & Leek Empanadas and Summer Filet of Beef. Many of these dishes can be kept in the refrigerator or freezer for hours, days, or months before serving. As Ina says, the last-minute instructions can fit on a Post-It note.

Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust
I often get the the feeling Ina knows me better than I know myself, which is why this cookbook is all about having a game plan and taking a chill pill. Barefoot Contessa recipes are known for being consistent and straightforward, but in Foolproof, Madame Ina puts on her silk turban and brings out her crystal ball to predict where in these recipes you might trip up and just how to avoid it. (RELAX; the Sticky Toffee Date Cake batter is supposed to bubble like your kid’s baking soda volcano science project.) The subtitle is “Recipes You Can Trust,” but it should be, “Remain Calm. I Warned You About This, Remember?”

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Before she was a Food Network maven, Garten was a nuclear energy analyst for the White House. But after that, she was the owner of the eponymous Barefoot Contessa, East Hampton’s best specialty food store (it’s true because Eli Zabar says so). In her first cookbook, published 16 years ago, Ina shared the shop’s most beloved recipes. It’s chock full of classics, like meatloaf, crab cakes, and corn muffins, but in Ina’s hands, even the familiar can surprise.

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
Ina is not into trends. You will not see her in a flirty lace jumpsuit this season, and you will not find her telling you how to incorporate spherification into your cucumber soup. Instead, in this book, she goes back to basics, reminding her adoring acolytes of the foundation on which all cooking is built: flavor. In Ina’s world, chicken should taste like chicken and tomatoes should taste like tomatoes—but it’s also amazing how a splash of lemon juice and a sprinkling of salt can totally transform a dish. This is a master course contained in a book.

Barefoot Contessa at Home
One of the best parts of the Barefoot Contessa Food Network show is the behind-the-scenes peek it offers into Ina’s real life. Friends and family stop by to cook and to eat, and it’s clear Ina lives and entertains in a home, not a soundstage. This cookbook, her fifth, pays homage to her elegantly, deliberately casual approach with everyday recipes like Pea Soup with homemade Garlic Croutons and Blue Cheese Burgers. She shares her favorite local haunts and offers tips on staging your home to set a comfy mood. Hint: music.

Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?
“How easy is that?” Ina asks at the end of her cooking segments. It seems to be an almost involuntary catchphrase, but the thing is, when you’re cooking with Ina, it is easy. Garten was not professionally trained as a chef, so she understands the home cook. We want recipes that involve simple ingredients we can find in local stores, easy techniques that don’t require years of practice, and the equipment we already have in our kitchens. More oven, less hot stove; ingredients that can be bought in the quantity needed (no more half-used cans of tomato sauce in your fridge); and pre-packaged baking mixes. Ina’s shortcuts save time and money without sacrificing flavor or style.

Barefoot Contessa Family Style
To feed someone is to love them. In her third book, Ina shows us how to share the love so that friends become family and family remain friends. From ideas like eating in the kitchen to giving guests responsibilities (if they can’t cook, they can at least pour the wine!), she reminds us how she became not just a cooking sensation but America’s quintessential hostess. (Seriously, who hasn’t dreamed of an Ina invitation?) It doesn’t have to be fancy when it’s about family. Turn on the music, send around the platter of Shrimp Scampi, and enjoy the company.
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