Barefoot Contessa at Home

August 21, 2006
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.

October 15, 2006
Garten's most recent book, Barefoot in Paris, was just as popular as her earlier best-selling Barefoot Contessa books. Now she's back here at her country home, with recipes for casual, contemporary comfort food, from Fennel-Stuffed Loin of Pork to Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing. Each chapter of this lavishly illustrated book opens with a mini-essay on a different aspect of entertaining or welcoming guests, from Designing a Kitchen to The Important Dinner, and most of the recipes include helpful tips on ingredients, substitutions, advance preparation, and the like. Sure to be in demand, this is recommended for most collections.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.