Description: For more than twenty years, Barefoot Contessa, the acclaimed specialty food store, has been cooking and baking extraordinary dishes for enthusiastic customers in the Hamptons. For many of those years, people have tried to get the exuberant owner, Ina Garten, to share the secrets of her store. Finally, the energy and style that make Barefoot Contessa such a special place are shown here, with dozens of recipes and more than 160 breathtaking photographs, in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.
Ina's most popular recipes use familiar ingredients, but they taste even better than you would expect. Her Pan-Fried Onion Dip is the real thing, with slowly car-amelized onions and fresh sour cream. Tomato soup is created from oven-roasted tomatoes and fresh basil to intensify the flavors. Meat loaf is as good as your grandmother's, but it's healthier because it's made with ground turkey and fresh herbs. The light and flaky Maple-Oatmeal Scones are baked with rolled oats, whole wheat, and real maple...

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From the Publisher: The Barefoot Contessa is a conventionally organized cookbook with unconventionally delicious food. From crab cakes to turkey meatloaf to strawberry scones, Garten likes foods that are recognizable and she loves foods that are as fresh and delicious as possible.

Ina knows that the best party fare is the kind that stays fabulous even after eliminating cost, time, and stress from the ingredients list. She reveals how to cook a dinner for six and have nothing left to do when the doorbell rings. She shares all of the many discoveries she has made on her journey from complete food amateur to seasoned professional, from making your own vanilla extract (even if you don't actually do it, it makes great party chatter) to preparing the appetizers, entrees, desserts, and accompaniments that will make any event a smashing success.

In addition to the recipes, Ina offers her expert advice on topics like throwing cocktail and dinner parties and arranging food on a platter to make it irresistib...

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