Make It Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

I just read this book from cover to cover, and I'm itching to get into the kitchen and make a lot of these recipes. This book delivered more than I had hoped for. The first thing that makes me fall in-love with a cookbook are pictures. This book has them, as in a gorgeous photo of each and every recipe. The reason I'm such a fan of Ina Garten is that she makes fancy looking food, that is actually quite simple. Of course, it's not processed meals, that you microwave. She's cooking from scratch, but I find her recipes to be user-friendly, and always successful. I say that her recipes work, with confidence, because I own all of her cookbooks and have made (and blogged) over a dozen of them. Not one recipe of hers, that I've made, has flopped. Sure, some of her ingredients might be on the pricey side (like a 4-5 pound beef tenderloin), but not all of her recipes are super expensive. What appeals to me about Ina's recipes is that many of them look healthy, colorful and I want to dive right into a dish of whatever the recipe photo looks like. This book gives great tips on how to prepare recipes ahead of time. We're not talking spending two days of making freezer meals. Ina's approach is how to prepare dishes just enough so that when company arrives, it's a matter of heating, baking or serving some dishes at room temperature. Some recipes taste even better, when left for a few hours (or a day) for all the flavors to marry. We enjoy entertaining, but sometimes I wear myself out (yes, I am can be a perfectionist), and I know this book will become my new best cooking/baking friend. In the cocktail section, my eyes locked onto a beautiful Greeke mezze Thyme Roasted Red Pepper plate. It's totally doable and a whole lot more impressive than chip and dip. The Summer Rose' Sangria looks like something I'd be proud to serve guests. For starters, I zeroed in on making the Caesar Salad with Blue Cheese & Bacon (a deconstructed version, if you will) The Cauliflower and Celery Root soup looks awesome. I want to make practically all of the starters, such as Spanish Tapas & Peppers, Tomatoes and Burrata, Zucchini Basil Soup. For lunch, I'll take two servings of the Ham & Leek Empenadas. They look simple to prepare and undoubtedly they are very flavorful. The dinner recipes made me so hungry and I've bookmarked many of them. The first one I'm making for a small dinner party will be the Easy Coquilles Saint Jacques, because I adore scallops. The French Chicken Pot Pies will be a perfect way to use my garden tarragon herbs. There's so much! Grilled New York Strip steaks, Herbed Pork Tenderloins with Apple Chutney, Make-Ahead Roast Turkey and Gravy, Moroccan Lamb Tagine, Pastitsio and that mouth-watering photo of the Summer Filet of Beef with Bearnaise Sauce... be still my heart. (Well, not literally, from high cholesterol.) The sides dishes are awesome, and I already see a couple that will be part of my Thanksgiving feast: Carrot & Cauliflower Puree, Leek & Artichoke Bread Pudding (instead of stuffing, which I don't like), Peas & Pancetta, Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes. The Spinach & Ricotta Noodle Pudding looks fabulous. The desserts look decadent and mouth-watering, included a gluten free chocolate cake. I'll take two slices of the chocolate cake with Mocha frosting, please. For Fall, I must make the fresh Apple Spice Cake. There's Fresh Blueberry Pie, Lemon Poppy Seed cake, and whoa, a Make-Ahead Zabaglione with Amaretti. I'm so there! There's so much more, like Skillet brownies and Tri-Berry crumbles. The breakfast section didn't disappoint, either. The Mini Italian Frittatas look fabulous, and I'd love to try the Overnight Belgian Waffles. Raspberry Baked French toast... and more. Yes, I did read the whole book, and now I need to prioritize where to start. Ina Garten, you did it again. I have no doubt I'll cook and bake my way through here, and I look forward to sitting down with my dinner guests feeling as relaxed as she says her tips will help me to be. Great cookbook!

Ina Garten writes the most perfect, wonderful cookbooks. I have every one, and I think this is the 9th.This one might be the most helpful cookbook of all. Who doesn't want to know how to plan and make meals ahead? Ina talks about her history of planning and making meals ahead. When she had her own store, The Barefoot Contessa, she made most of the food ahead,so that customers could take it home and pop it in the oven. She talks about cooking and baking ahead, entertaining and prepping ahead. And, then, there is a short paragraph about using the book. She writes the recipes so that they can be used that day, and then gives instructions on how to make it ahead. Her first recipe is whole wheat peanut butter dog biscuits, so she includes most of the family. At the start of each chapter, Ina talks about her experiences or gives us some advice. Chapters include Cocktails, To Start, Luncheon, Dinner, Vegetables, Dessert, Breakfast, Make Ahead Menus, Index, and then Recipe Index. There are 272 pages, packed full of the most delicious looking food. Photos accompany each recipe, and if you are an Ina follower, you know how gorgeous her cookbook photography is. Pear and parsnip gratin is my first recipe. This is just luscious. And, since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, we now have ideas on how to plan and make our meal ahead. No more anxiety about the food. Now, if you could only control the family, that would be the best Thanksgiving feast! Recommended. prisrob 10-30-14

I think the reviewers who are critical of this book for repeating previously published recipes and for providing only brief "after notes" about how to make these recipes ahead have missed the point of this book. Everyone who entertains wants to do so effortlessly. We want to enjoy our experience along with our guests, rather than be just the cook and wait staff. What Ina Garten does, here, is tell us how to do that. She ultimately changes our thinking about how to enjoy entertaining by making recipes ahead. Her years as a caterer have given her the "make ahead" experience that home cooks lack. As you read this book, you automatically start to think about your own recipes and their "make ahead" potential. As a result of this book, I have developed an entirely new approach to a luncheon I'm planning. My plan includes experimenting with some of her recipes in advance. Two of them - The Kale Chips and the Zucchini & Goat Cheese Tart are both wonderful and can be made ahead just as she describes. I ate kale chips for four days just to make sure. This is a wonderful cookbook for all the right reasons. The photography is fabulous, the recipes are accessible (few exotic ingredients) and when you're done, your food looks just like the pictures. In the end though, the value of this book is that it permanently changes your thinking about entertaining. And, as Ina would say, "How good is that?"

Relativity simple recipes you will surely enjoy! There are a lot of recipes I want to try and the great thing is I won't have to stress about getting it all done because Ina makes the plan for you. I also especially like that there is a whole section for vegetarian recipes! The only down side is I wish there were more. I was able to read through this relatively quickly and I know she has more recipes and I want them all, lol. =) There is a menu plan page in the back too which groups recipes in the book for a complete entertaining menu. Usually I have to imagine and play out how all the flavors for main dishes and sides and desserts will work. But her menu plans take that hassle away. These will make great go-to menus if you're preparing a feast, or if you're just making a simple meal, you can pick and choose what you feel like from the nicely broken down chapters. Ina touches on everything from cocktails/starters to dinner/dessert. Here is a breakdown of the chapters since Amazon doesn't offer a preview right now, and some of the recipes that jumped out at me: 1. Cocktails - sangrias, margaritas, martinis, and snacks like Parmesan kale chips, Roasted red pepper hummus, Truffled chicken liver mousse, and a very pretty Greek mezze platter.. 2. To Start - Zucchini basil soup, Spanish tapas peppers, Warm fig & arugula salad, Wild mushroom & farro soup, Cauliflower & celery root soup, Tomatoes & burrata, bruschettas with sauteed chard (nice change from the classic tomato bruschettas I'm used to making) 3. Lunch - Crunchy iceberg salad with creamy blue cheese, Ham & leek empanadas, French green bean salad with warm goat cheese, Quinoa Tabbouleh, Summer paella salad, and there's a lot more 4. Dinner - Roast chicken w/ bread & arugula salad, Make-ahead roast turkey (plus make-ahead turkey gravy with onions & sage), Herbed pork tenderloins w/ apple chutney, Moroccan lamb Tagine, Summer filet of beef, Grilled NY strip steaks, Roasted vegetable lasagna, Herb-roasted fish, Garlic & herb roasted shrimp, and more! 5. Vegetables - Asparagus & prosciutto bundles! Spinach & ricotta noodle pudding, Make-ahead goat cheese mashed potatoes, Peas & pancetta, Pear & parsnip gratin, Gingered basmati rice, Summer vegetable couscous, Roasted cauliflower snowflakes, Stuffed zucchini, Parmesan chive smashed potatoes, Leek & artichoke bread pudding 6. Dessert - Tres leches cake w/ berries, Salted caramel nuts, Salty Oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies, chocolate cake w/ mocha frosting, and Skillet brownies! 7. Breakfast - Sour cream cornbread, Overnight belgian waffles, Strawberry rhubarb compote w/ greek yogurt, Make-ahead salt & pepper biscuits, Rapsberry baked french toast, and Chocolate banana crumb cake! 8. Make-Ahead Menus I took off 1 star because so many of the vegetable recipes rely on the use of meat or cheese to create more flavor vs. instead how we can build flavor (ie roasting, braising) by highlighting just the vegetables. This is not a biggy, but more of a personal preference.

I have been a fan of Barefoot Contessa for many years now! I love her style of cooking and entertaining. It is so classy, yet hassle free. I could hardly wait for this book to come out, and it was certainly worth the wait! Ina has delivered and exceptional cookboook again! I have recently been attempting to plan meals ahead so that I can keep up with a demanding life. I had searched the web and some other famous sites for tips and ideas on how to accomplish this. Sometimes it worked, and at times not so much. As soon as this book was available, I had to purchase it. Since then, I have tried quite a few of the side dish recipes. I love the tips that she gives at the end of each recipe as it gives me great ideas that I could apply to other meals. I also love that she offers recipes for vegetables that are not cooked too often. Absolutely love this book, and have already recommended to several family members who are attempting to aleviate some weeknight demands.

A good, straightforward book with recipes to please everyone. This is my first Ina Garten cookbook, although I have been cooking for myself and my family for many years and own a small library's worth of cookbooks. I like her shows and her persona. My sister is a devoted fan. I just never bought one of her books. About to celebrate my 60th birthday with a family reunion, I looked to amazon for a book on make-ahead recipes. I wanted someone else to think out menus for me. This book does not disappoint. So far, I have made (and frozen for the family get-together) ginger shortbread cookies, salted chocolate chunk cookies, and zucchini basil soup. All are simple to make from easily-sourced ingredients. All instructions and quantities are correct. All are delicious. Tomorrow I'm making the pearl farro and mushroom soup. (Yes, the pearl farro was available at my local grocery store. I wondered about that.)

Love this book and look forward to entertaining with all this wealth of knowledge. Ina always comes through for me.

Ina has done lovely cookbooks before & always the photography is fantastic (it's always nice to envision a recipe before making it). However, everyone on Earth knows you can make soups, dips, sauces, hummus, & lasagna ahead of time, & then heat/reheat. Everyone knows if you freeze something, it needs thawing before heating/serving (except for ice cream-like items, course). She "borrows" recipes from her former cookbooks for this book, which is extremely disappointing. She even showcases a dog biscuit recipe which you do ahead of time (you have to anyhow as that is what makes 'em crunchy....leaving the oven door open as the oven cools {following a King Arthur Flour recipe}, or just plain using a very hot oven which she does. Then you just keep them in a tightly covered container or Ziplock bag - I don't get the inclusion of a dog biscuit recipe in this cookbook at all. Does she serve her guests dog biscuits that she made months ago? I don't care for the style - she writes the recipe "as is" with no "do aheadedness" to it, that is the main (lengthy) focus to all the recipes, then she writes 1 to 2 tiny sentences in the corner on how a partial recipe component - or the whole recipe - can be made ahead. Everyone knows how to cut up veggies, put them in Ziplock bags and then toss together at the last moment. At times it's only a couple of hours ahead that she talks about (which really doesn't help a cook in the long run in most cases). ? Uncorking the wine one day ahead to taste it? You better have a Vacuvin or some other reliable method of "recorking", keeping oxygen out, and maintaining the integrity of that wine (especially if it's expensive!) while you wait for the serving time! You do not want a stupendous wine to change over hours, which it could for better or worse. Tasting it one day is one taste, keeping it open and then tasting it the second day is another thing. She doesn't touch upon the aspect of wine preservation at all. I wouldn't do that ahead of time under most circumstances, and if she really believes in doing this, she's got to explain more on keeping wine and tasting wine. I'm so sorry to say I'm disappointed. She has had a long ride of good cookbooks and recipes, but it appears she's gone up-n-over the hill now. I won't buy any more of her cookbooks. Sorry! The Summer Paella Salad sounds interesting and I will try that (again, with most salads you do make ahead and chill, whatever...). She borrows from the Sinskey Napa winemakers, which is great! I have been to that winery and enjoyed their food and presentation many a time, so found those entries intriguing and I will try those recipes. I have several of their wines in my cellar and it would be neat and fun to pair those with their recipes, I think, anyhow, trying to say something positive here! So, to recap, probably 3 recipes I will try but not because of the "do aheadedness", but out of curiosity and creativity.

Arrived in like new condition. So happy with this purchase. I own almost all of the barefoot contessa cookbooks. They never disappoint.

I have just recently disconvered her and I think I have instantly fallen in love with her way of cooking! She has lots of inspirational ideas, which is what I was looking for, and her recipes and very simple, yet completely nice and beautifully stated.

作り置きできる おかず スィーツがきれいな写真と共に分かりやすいレシピで紹介されています。

Very ordinary dishes! One would expect some really classy dishes to make ahead for guests.

As always, just as I feel like locking the kitchen door, Ina keeps me cooking with her infallibly delicious recipes, ideas, and stunning photographs. The zucchini basil soup is easy and yummy, good too as turnip basil soup, the chocolate desserts look irresistable. I am having a luncheon just so I can make it and share it with friends, and not have to eat most of it myself. The lamb tagine was a success at a recent dinner party. Most of my page corners are turned down- indicating that I intend to try them. Hooray and thank you, Ina!