Barefoot Contessa Recipe #39: Meringues Chantilly

This recipe can be found in Barefoot in Paris, pg. 176.

Monday was my day off from work. And I had the opportunity to make dinner for us all once again. I made a recipe out of Cook Like a Pro. Check out Recipe #38! But, the original plan for Monday was to make a dessert! I think I’m becoming a dessert person. Ha!

So, sticking with the Paris and French theme I started last Friday, I decided to bang out a dessert recipe from Barefoot in Paris. Meringues Chantilly called to me as soon as I laid my eyes on it! So I knew that had to be it. But there was one problem. I’ve never attempted meringue before.

Well, this was definitely the recipe I would because, after all, one of the reasons for this blog is to learn new things, right? So the meringues were made. And to be honest, after I accomplished separating the egg whites successfully (went through a couple more than I wanted to, pesky yolks!), the stand mixer did most of the work.

Then came the piping! I read the recipe, drew my circles on the parchment, made of mess of the piping bag, my hand, and the counter and piped my circles. It wasn’t until after I stuck them in the oven that I realized they were supposed to be discs. Oh well! I’ll work with it and it still came out fine.

Since meringue can be kind of bland and dry on their own, I decided to whip up Ina’s sweetened whipped cream and the raspberry sauce that is a few pages later in Barefoot in Paris.

When it came time to serve, I spooned some raspberry sauce on the bottom of the plate, placed one meringue ring on top, added some whipped cream, more raspberry sauce, another meringue ring, a dab of whipped cream, and finally some more raspberry sauce. I garnished with some fresh raspberries and a strawberry.

How did it taste?

One word: DIVINE!

Some Great Valentine’s Day Desserts

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! With the pandemic still affecting “normal life,” I figured most people would be spending more time indoors this weekend. And if you live in the North East, like I do, we may be getting an ice storm! Yay for winter!! (Is it spring yet??….anyone….)

Anyway….I decided to scour the interwebs to find some Valentine’s Day worthy desserts that you can whip up and serve to a loved one. If you try one of these, let me know what you thought of it in the comments down below!

Continue reading “Some Great Valentine’s Day Desserts”

Cookbook Review: Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That?

If you are a long-time reader of this blog, then you know that it used to feature, almost exclusively, Ina Garten recipes and reviews. It was basically a lifestyle blog revolving around Ina Garten.

Even though I have decided to tweak things a bit (a move that I think will be much more enjoyable for me and my readers), I still want to pay homage to Ina Garten. So, the first Cookbook Review will be of one of her books.

This is not a new feature. I had previously reviewed the first six Barefoot Contessa cookbooks earlier this year. (Hint: on the homepage, click the Category “Cookbook Reviews” to view them.)

Okay, here it goes….

Continue reading “Cookbook Review: Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That?”