Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics--A Home Run for the Homesick!

It’s funny how you can sometimes buy a cookbook and then get very very homesick. This is exactly what happened to me earlier this week when I bought a copy of Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients (Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2008).





When I was young, my parents owned a home on Main Street in West Hampton Beach. Ina’s shop, Barefoot Contessa, was right down the block. I spent many days cruising the shop and studying her gorgeous displays. When I was in college, I landed a summer job at Barefoot Contessa. I started shortly after Memorial Day, and Ina became one of my first and favorite culinary mentors.



With her telltale exuberant personality and infectious enthusiasm for food, Ina taught her crew the ins and outs of food service, preparation, simple presentation and customer service relations. Working at Barefoot was a great experience and to this day I reach for Ina’s cookbooks when I want to be home in the Hamptons yet again.  Ina has sold her shops, and my dad has since sold our little house.



So, Ina’s collection is often a powerful and comforting antidote to my blues. Many of the recipes featured in her first book,The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook,  are the ones I made or served at Barefoot more than 20 years ago. My favorites recipes include Sugar Snap Peas with Sesame and the Outrageous Brownies.



Back to Basics is pure Ina.  I can hear Ina’s voice on every page! In the introduction, there’s a subsection called “In Search of Flavor” where Ina discusses the importance of tasting while you cook and offers suggestions for  unlocking the flavors. Indeed, that was one of my first culinary lessons learned at Barefoot.  I vividly remember Ina tasting and tweaking in the kitchen.



She’s a master at it, and her customers always trusted her to get it right.  On Saturday mornings her urban-weary customers lined up early and eagerly waited in line for scones, muffins, rugelach, cookies and pound cakes. The delicious smell of cinnamon, raisins and walnuts wafting from the kitchen ultimately became what I think was Barefoot’s signature aroma.



When I read the introduction to Ina’s recipe for Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies, I had to clear the counters and get to work. Ina explains that she considers herself an oatmeal cookie aficionado and had been searching for decades for the perfect recipes. She declares that this is finally the one. Who can resist an endorsement like that?



While the cookies were baking in my oven, that telltale Barefoot aroma of cinnamon, raisins, and nuts permeated the house. Even before I took my first bite, I knew the Barefoot Contessa had hit a home run yet again.  Indeed, they are wonderfully, deliciously Ina!



So, Happy Memorial Day and thanks for the taste of home, Ina! I feel better already.



NOTE: Ina also offers these cookies in a mix, made by Stonewall Kitchen.



–Melissa A. Trainer