Posts Tagged ‘Barefoot Contessa’

It’s no wonder my boys adore lemonade. Every time I was pregnant, I drank gallons and gallons of the stuff ““ and it had to be homemade. None of that powdered junk or frozen concentrate. In fact, the first hint I had that I was pregnant with the twins was a sudden craving for lemonade (and full-sour pickles from Carnegie Deli!).

Lemonade makes us all smile, and we even make it from time to time in the cold of winter as a cheerful reminder of warmer, sunnier days. The happy color and the sweet-tart flavor are like liquid sunshine, and we couldn’t think of a better way to end this fantastic summer than by sharing a…

Category: Recipes

Sixteen years ago today I ate chocolate cake. It was a beautiful three-tiered dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and white fondant, and I joyfully shared it with 160 people. It was our wedding cake!

There was likely a fair share of dubious guests toasting with us that Sunday evening and dancing into the wee hours of Labor Day. After all, Dave and I had met on a blind date, gotten engaged seven weeks later, and were married within five months. (And no, our first baby was still almost a year-and-a-half off…I know what you were thinking!) But as they say, when it’s right, sometimes you just know it instantly. After every blind date, my grandmother would…

Category: Recipes

This is one of the very first recipes in the very first book, and a long-time personal favorite.

You see, for at least a decade before ever hearing of the Barefoot Contessa, I got to enjoy this healthy and flavorful spread, thanks to one of my most beloved kitchen heros, Auntie Sondie. I don’t know where she got the recipe, and I think her version was called Eggplant Caviar, but it was one of my top four favorite treats to come out of her kitchen (the other three being kugel, mohn cookies and brownies, of course ““ no offense to her legendary liver and onions!). I still love it best atop Pepperidge Farms Hearty Wheat Crackers, Sondie’s traditional…

Category: Recipes

So this is the third dish I made, along with the Indonesian Ginger Chicken and Herbed Basmati Rice. Toldja it was a culturally schizophrenic meal!

I’m a late arrival to the cauliflower party. My mom didn’t serve it to us growing up, and I guess it’s kinda like the Barry Manilow of veggies ““ pretty boring and no one admits they love it, but someone’s buying it out of the produce bins. My most gratifying introduction to cauliflower came last winter after watching a Food Network Challenge in which chefs faced off making their most creative mac and cheese. Fanatic cheese-a-holics, our whole family was intrigued by Duskie Estes’ recipe, which included roasted cauliflower and bacon…

Category: Recipes

This is how I know I’m a true Barefoot Contessa junkie. I was trying to come up with a side dish or two for the Indonesian Ginger Chicken we made the other night, and my first thought was that it would go nicely with a light rice. So I grabbed the Barefoot library and began searching the indexes. I quickly came upon this recipe…and I broke into a big grin when I read Ina’s intro note:

“Years ago, I was making a side dish at Barefoot Contessa and I didn’t think it had enough flavor. My wonderful chef Martine Sharp said something I’ve never forgotten. She told me that if every dish on your…

Category: Recipes

Oh, if only you could’ve smelled my kitchen while this was cooking…

I can’t believe I’ve had this original cookbook for so many years and have never made this chicken. It’s preposterously easy. All you need is chicken (duh!), honey, soy sauce, and loads of minced garlic and fresh ginger root. Instead of using quartered chickens, I used thighs and drumsticks, which are popular with this crowd. And because I’ve left my brain back in the Hamptons during my short week here in Westport (I’m desperately hoping to bring said cerebellum home with me on Labor Day), I didn’t read the whole recipe through to find out that it’s supposed to marinate overnight. Now there’s…

Category: Recipes

Back in “the day” (whatever that means!) when I was a hose-‘n-pumps corporate chick in Downtown Providence, RI, I used to take out the most awesome sandwiches from this little place called Barclay’s Gourmet on Weybosset Street. They were among the earliest adopters of Boar’s Head provisions and they used fresh breads, great cheeses and good quality veggies on their creative sandwiches. One of my faves was the “BLTA” — you know what the B, L and T stand for, but the A was the genius addition of avocado.

These California BLTs bring back memories of the early 90s: standing behind the same giant, buff attorney every day in line at Barclay’s, tall white cans of hair spray,…

Category: Recipes

Okay, so it was spaghetti with shrimp scampi…but I have to tell you it was exceptional spaghetti and it made the dish especially mouthwatering.

This is one of our weekday standbys. I keep cleaned, top-quality IQF Texas Toros in the freezer, so the dish takes less than half an hour from start to finish, and it’s a cinch to pull together on late Little League nights or when I’m not in the mood to make anything complicated. I usually have the rest of the ingredients on hand in the fridge and pantry ““ pasta, garlic, butter, lemons, olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper ““ so it’s often a last-minute dish for us….

Category: Recipes

Aw, c’mon now, you didn’t honestly think we were going to let the whole summer go by without making the quintessential Barefoot recipe, did you?

These are dessert nirvana ““ fluffy, buttery, vanilla-y cupcakes topped with luxurious cream cheese frosting and an ethereal sprinkling of coconut. A tiered cake stand of them is nothing less than a dazzling showstopper. Even a pie guy like Dave admits these are as scrumptious as they are breathtaking.

A perennial family favorite, I’ve made these cupcakes many times over the years, and they always come out a little differently, depending on the freshness of the baking powder and the particular oven. This time the stars were aligned and the gods were…

Category: Recipes

It’s a cool, rainy day here on the East End and to me there’s nothing cozier than sitting down at our long farmhouse dining table and enjoying a splendid mid-afternoon family lunch. Inspired by the French influence of the tarts, I picked up some of those glamorous glass bottles of sparkling French lemonade and even made a special Hotel Costes playlist to add to the ambience. I don’t want to make you jealous or anything, but this was, quite simply, the finest lunch of the summer!

It was also the most time-consuming Barefoot recipe I’ve made all summer. Nothing remotely complicated, but a bunch of steps. But let me be quick to add: it was more than worth…

Category: Recipes