Keeping it simple is key for family-style entertaining

CHICAGO -- Meet Ina Garten. She's attractive, smart, fun. One minute she's barefoot in her kitchen or garden. The next, she may be wearing a classy neck scarf, at the wheel of an even classier black BMW convertible.

One year she's working in the White House; the next, she's running a specialty food store in East Hampton, N.Y.

To many fans, this best-selling cookbook author and television personality is better known as the "Barefoot Contessa."

Although Garten made the moniker a household name in the culinary world, it refers to the store she owned more than 20 years, and to its original namesake: the 1954 movie starring Ava Gardner as a former flamenco dancer who becomes a contessa.

"It's really about being elegant and earthy," says Garten, interviewed in a Chicago tea room, on a recent visit. "I think the elegance comes from the simplicity, and the earthiness is just very simple ingredients."

Garten's newest cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa Family Style," tells home cooks and party-givers how to be, well, simply elegant.

She believes the best way to make friends feel loved and nurtured is to offer "real traditional food but with the volume turned up a little bit."

Her French toast recipe, for example, replaces ordinary bread with rich challah or brioche and boosts the flavor with orange zest, honey and vanilla extract.

Garten makes the following recipe for lasagna lighter by using turkey sausage and doesn't precook the noodles. She says the unbaked lasagna can be assembled and refrigerated the day before serving. In that case, she says, bake it 30 to 40 minutes, until bubbly.

Garten uses sweet Italian turkey sausage but says the hot Italian turkey sausage can also be used.

Lasagna with Turkey Sausage

Recipe from "Barefoot Contessa Family Style"

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed

28-oz. can crushed tomatoes in tomato purée

6-oz. can tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 pound lasagna noodles

15 ounces ricotta cheese

3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling

1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten

1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large (10- to 12-inch) skillet. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the sausage and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened.

Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with the hottest tap water. Add the noodles and allow them to sit in the water for 20 minutes. Drain.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9-by-12-by-2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Then add the layers as follows: half the pasta, half the mozzarella, half the ricotta and 1/3 of the sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta and finally sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

To make ahead, refrigerate the assembled, unbaked lasagna. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until bubbly.

Makes 8 servings.

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Garten writes that her challah French toast "is Sunday breakfast with the volume turned up."

Challah French Toast

6 extra-large eggs

1 1/2 cups half-and-half or milk

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon good honey

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large loaf of challah or brioche bread

Unsalted butter

Vegetable oil

To serve:

Pure maple syrup

Good raspberry preserves (optional)

Sifted confectioners' sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, orange zest, vanilla, honey and salt. Slice the challah in 3/4-inch-thick slices. Soak as many slices in the egg mixture as possible for 5 minutes, turning once.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a very large saute pan over medium heat. Add the soaked bread and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned.

Place the cooked French toast on a sheet pan and keep it warm in the oven. Fry the remaining soaked bread slices, adding butter and oil as needed, until it's all cooked. Serve hot with maple syrup, raspberry preserves and-or confectioners' sugar.

Makes 8 large slices.

Garten's "fish and chips" recipe is named for Parker Hodges, chef and co-owner of Barefoot Contessa. He decided to serve the dish as a hot lunch, and said it was the first thing to always run out. "I love that the 'chips' are baked!" Garten says.

The chips are so good, you shouldn't wait to make them only with fish, Garten adds. Made with garlic and rosemary, they are great any time you want crisp potatoes without the frying.

Parker's Fish and Chips

3 pounds fresh cod fillets (choose thick ones)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 extra-large eggs

Vegetable oil

Baked Chips (recipe follows)

Lay the cod fillets on a cutting board. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Cut the fillets in 1 1/2-by-3-inch pieces.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, lemon zest, cayenne pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Whisk in 1 cup of water and then the 2 eggs.

Pour 1/2 inch of oil into a large (12-inch) frying pan and heat it to about 360 degrees. Dip each fillet into the batter, allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl. Place it very carefully into the hot oil. Don't crowd the pieces. Adjust the heat as needed to keep the oil between 360 degrees and 400 degrees. Cook the fish on each side for 2 to 3 minutes, until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove to a plate lined with a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with the chips.

Note: To keep hot for up to 20 minutes, line a baking sheet with paper towels and put the fish into a 200 degree oven.

Makes 6 servings.

Baked 'Chips'

4 large baking potatoes, unpeeled

4 tablespoons good olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves (see note)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Scrub the potatoes, cut them in half lengthwise, then cut each half in thirds lengthwise. You'll have six long wedges from each potato. Place the potatoes on a sheet pan with the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary. With clean hands, toss all the ingredients together, making sure the potatoes are covered with oil. Spread the potatoes in a single layer with one cut side down.

Bake the potatoes for 30 to 35 minutes, turning to the other cut side after 20 minutes. Bake until they are lightly browned, crisp outside and tender inside. Sprinkle with salt and serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings.

Note: If you don't have fresh rosemary, these chips are delicious with just olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.