Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals (12 page)

Place the arugula in a bowl and dress with lemon juice, EVOO, and salt. Divide the arugula among 4 dinner plates or place on a serving platter and mound the greens. Use a vegetable peeler to shred some cheese on top of the arugula. Arrange the bresaola in a thin layer all around the plate, draping it over the arugula. The plates or platter should look like a mound of beef. Thinly slice the artichokes, finely chop the rosemary and parsley, and slice the capers. Decoratively arrange the artichokes, chopped herbs, and capers all over the meat. Drizzle the completed salad with aged balsamic vinegar and serve.

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PARSLEY-FETA PESTO

Preheat a grill pan to high heat.

In a bowl, combine the yogurt, coriander, cumin, oregano, and the grill seasoning. Coat the chicken in the mixture, then thread the meat onto metal skewers. Brush the grill pan with oil and grill the meat for 5 to 6 minutes on each side.

Combine the chopped veggies, olives, and hot peppers on a large platter or in a serving bowl. Dress the salad very lightly in lemon juice, EVOO, and salt and pepper.

Place all ingredients for the pesto in the food processor except the EVOO. Turn the processor on and stream in EVOO until all is incorporated.

Place the grilled meat on the salad and top liberally with the pesto, streaming it back and forth over the salad and the meat.

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Carefully slice the brick of feta into 12 slices, ¼ to ½ inch thick each. Use a cheese wire or some dental floss to cut the cheese if it crumbles too easily when using a knife. Next, trim off both ends of the bell pepper and pull out the seeds and membranes. Thinly slice the pepper into 12 pieces, ¼ to ½ inch thick. Slice the cucumber even thinner, into ⅛-inch-thick rounds. Trim the ends off the onion as you did the pepper. Cut the outer layer of skin off, then trim one side with a shallow cut so that the whole onion sits
stable on its side. Thinly slice the onion as you did the pepper, into 12 pieces. Slice the tomatoes in the same fashion as the onion, trimming off one side to stabilize it before slicing it across. Cut the tomatoes a little thicker, 6 slices per tomato. Season the tomatoes with a little coarse salt.

Strip the oregano leaves off the stems by holding stems at the top and gently pulling backward. Pile up the leaves on your cutting board and combine with the parsley leaves. Finely chop both, milling them together. To the chopped herbs, add the zest of the lemon. Trim the ends of the lemon and wedge it; reserve wedges. To the herb and lemon zest combination, add lots of fresh coarse black pepper—at least a full teaspoon and up to 2. Mix it in with your fingertips.

Arrange the cheese slices in a single layer on your work surface and scatter the herb mixture over the cheese slices.

Pour a puddle of EVOO on each plate or on a serving platter. Assemble stacks of Greek salad like this: sliced tomato, sliced onion, a layer of thin slices of cucumber, a slice of bell pepper, a slice of herb-crusted feta. Repeat twice. Each stack will have 3 layers, making a tower of Greek salad for each portion. Garnish each plate or the serving platter with olives and wedges of lemon.

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Crisp the bacon in the microwave according to package directions. Remove it from the microwave and chop it. Of course, any bacon or turkey bacon that you have on hand may be substituted. These prerendered bacon products simply allow you to keep more heat out of the kitchen by giving you the option of a low-maintenance microwave preparation.

Chop the romaine lettuce and arrange on a large platter. Arrange a bed of pea shoots or sprouts on top of the lettuce, then arrange the tomatoes and red onion on top of that. Season the salad vegetables with salt and pepper, to your taste. Scatter the chopped bacon onto the salad.

Remove the rotisserie turkey from the bone with a sharp carving knife. Slice the rotisserie breast meat on an angle into strips. For thick-cut turkey from the deli, julienne the meat into ½-inch strips.
Arrange the sliced turkey down the center of the salad platter.

Cut all around the ripe avocados down to the pit. Twist and separate the halved fruit. Remove the pit with a spoon, then scoop the flesh with a spoon into the bowl of a food processor. Add the lemon zest and juice to the food processor. Chop the garlic on a cutting board and mash with 1 teaspoon salt to make a paste. Add the garlic paste to the food processor. Add the red wine vinegar. Place a lid on the food processor and turn it on. While the blade is spinning, stream in EVOO and add hot sauce. Stop the processor, taste the dressing, and adjust the seasonings. Pour the dressing back and forth over the platter evenly when you are ready to serve this simple and so-cool salad meal.

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Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a food processor combine the basil, parsley, garlic, orange zest, and salt and pepper. With the processor running, stream in about ¼ cup of the EVOO. Process until it looks like a paste. Pour the herb mixture into a shallow dish. Add the chicken breasts and toss to coat the chicken completely. Unwind a slice of the pancetta and wrap it around the center of an herb-coated chicken breast. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts.

Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet with a heat-safe handle with 2 tablespoons of the remaining EVOO (twice around the pan) over medium-high heat. Once you see the oil ripple, add the wrapped chicken breasts and brown for 2 minutes. Flip the chicken breasts and continue to brown for about 1 more minute. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven and roast for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the salad. Add the juice of the orange, Dijon mustard, and red wine vinegar to a small bowl. Whisk in the remaining ¼ cup of EVOO (eyeball it). In a salad bowl combine the thinly sliced fennel with the arugula. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the chicken wrapped in pancetta on an angle. Arrange the sliced chicken on top of a pile of the salad and serve.

Chipotle in adobo sauce can be found in both small and large cans. They are smoked dried jalapeño peppers that are packed with flavor! In the can, they are soft and packed in vinegar and spices. If heat is not your thing, then use half of one chipotle pepper. The remainder of the chipotles can be frozen in a resealable plastic bag for other uses such as adding a smoky, spicy flavor to soups and stews or shaking up and waking up your everyday guacamole.

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