The Contessa In Her Palace

So what kind of home does a Barefoot Contessa live in? In the first pages of Ina Garten’s newest cookbook, “Barefoot Contessa at Home” (Clarkson Potter, 256 pages, $35), you get to find out. Before the recipes even begin, there are plenty of photographs of Ms. Garten’s impressive East Hampton estate. That is no surprise: Ina Garten’s allure has always been as much about her poshness as her turkey lasagna.But perhaps posh is out of style these days. After all, when it comes to food celebrities, it’s the era of down-market Rachael Ray and Paula Deen. Is there a place for Ina Garten in a world of chicken-fried steak and “EVOO”?I say there most certainly is. Ina Garten may be posh, but her recipes are defiantly simple. In fact, no one else polishes traditional home cooking to such an alluring sheen as Ms. Garten. In her best selling “Barefoot Contessa” cookbook series, she’s managed to alleviate the performance anxiety of countless home cooks by singing the praises of stripped-down cooking. She might be as Hamptons as Martha Stewart, but she’s never going to tell you to bake your own sourdough.Instead, “Barefoot Contessa at Home” sticks to the same basic formula as Ms. Garten’s four previous cookbooks, pairing her simple recipes (cauliflower roasted with Parmesan, chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese) with beautiful photography and Ina-wisdom on subjects like grocery-store shopping lists and planning a menu. Dishes get the Ina Garten treatment — which usually means an easy but savvy embellishment. A fresh pea soup gets a dose of fresh mint, while grated chocolate adds depth to a basic angel food cake batter.Sometimes, Ms. Garten’s recipes are so simple they’re nearly astonishing. Her “Green Green Spring Vegetables” is merely a medley of vegetables sautéed with shallots, while her broccoli rabe with garlic is just that. But with her easy self-assurance and enthusiasm, Ina Garten can melt away any anxiety about serving simple foods to company. And it’s lovely to see hints of her Jewish heritage in her version of dishes like borscht, zucchini pancakes, and stuffed cabbage.Not all of the recipes in “Barefoot Contessa at Home” are easy, though. The recipe for shrimp bisque calls for a separate seafood stock that in turn requires 1 1 /2 cups of shrimp shells. Ms. Garten never explains how to easily acquire the shells, or how to collect and store them in the freezer.Sure, a bit of entitlement creeps in when Ms. Garten rhapsodizes over the East Hampton version of “eating locally”: “In the fall, when Mr. Iacono raises capons, I’ll choose roast capon and serve it with carrots and potatoes from Jim Pike’s farm and a tart of Macoun apples from the Halsey family’s Milk Pail apple orchard.” But it’s no stretch to follow Ms. Garten’s example and seek out our own treats at local farmers’ markets. As Ms. Garten herself would say, “How easy is that?”Stuffed CabbageFrom Ina Garten’s “Barefoot Contessa at Home.”3 tablespoons good olive oil1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes and their juice1/4 cup red wine vinegar1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed1/2 cup raisins1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper1 large head Savoy or green cabbage, including outer leavesFor the filling:2 1/2 pounds ground chuck3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onions1/2 cup plain dried bread crumbs1/2 cup uncooked white rice1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper1. For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onions, and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, brown sugar, raisins, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove the entire core of the cabbage with a paring knife. Immerse the head of cabbage in the boiling water for a few minutes, peeling off each leaf with tongs as soon as it’s flexible. Set the leaves aside. Depending on the size of the leaf, you will need at least 14 leaves.3. For the filling, in a large bowl, combine the ground chuck, eggs, onion, bread crumbs, rice, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add 1 cup of the sauce to the meat mixture and mix lightly with a fork.4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. To assemble, place 1 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a large Dutch oven. Remove the hard triangular rib from the base of each cabbage leaf with a small paring knife. Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup of filling in an oval shape near the rib edge of the leaf and roll up toward the outer edge, tucking in the sides as you roll.5. Place half the cabbage rolls, seam side down, over the sauce. Add more sauce and more cabbage rolls alternately until you’ve placed all the cabbage rolls in the pot. Pour the remaining sauce over the cabbage rolls. Cover the dish tightly with the lid and bake for 1 hour, or until the meat is cooked and the rice is tender. Serve hot.Serves 6.

The Contessa In Her Palace

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