Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book (54 page)

SERVES 4 TO THE POINT OF BLISSFUL DISCOMFORT

Preheat the oven to 250ºF.

Place a large pot of water over high heat and bring it to a boil. When the water boils, salt it liberally, add the pasta, and cook to al dente.

Mash together 4 of the garlic cloves with a generous pinch of salt to make a paste, either by squishing and smoothing them under the flat side of your chef's knife, or by mashing them in a small bowl with the back of a spoon. Mix the rosemary, thyme, and some black pepper into the paste.

Butterfly each piece of chicken breast by cutting horizontally into the side of the breast, almost but not all the way through. Open the breast meat up like a book. Place each piece of breast between layers of plastic wrap or wax paper and pound it out nice and thin, between
1
⁄
8
and ¼ inch thick, giving it a couple of whacks with a small pan, mallet, or rolling pin. Rub each pounded cutlet with one quarter of the herb and garlic paste.

Set up a breading station in 3 shallow dishes: flour in one, eggs beaten with a splash of milk in another, and the bread crumbs combined with the lemon zest, parsley, and half the cheese in the third.

Heat about ¼ cup of the EVOO in a large skillet. Coat the cutlets first in the flour, then in the egg and bread crumbs. Cook the cutlets 2 at a time until golden on both sides, about 6 minutes total. Keep the finished cutlets warm in the oven while you cook the remaining batch.

While the cutlets are cooking, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of EVOO in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the peppers and onions and the remaining 2 cloves of garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 8 minutes to soften. Stir in the stock and add the tomatoes. Mash the tomatoes with a potato masher or the edge of a wooden spoon and stir to combine. Simmer for a few minutes. Stir in the basil just to wilt it.

Drain the pasta and return it to the pot it was cooked in and toss it with the butter and the remaining cheese. Add half of the prepared peppers and onions and toss again.

To serve, divide the pasta among 4 plates and accompany with 1 chicken cutlet per person. Divide the remaining sauce among the plates.

Buffalo Chicken Chili was the number-one-most-downloaded recipe from season one of my daytime talk show. It obviously struck a chord, so I play with the flavor combination as many ways as possible. Here's another spin-off. This one I cooked up for spicy Teri Hatcher—and she baked dessert, of course!

SERVES 6

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the EVOO in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped chicken, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until golden brown all over, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the chicken chunks from the skillet and reserve on a plate.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of EVOO to the same pan along with the onions, carrots, celery, bay leaf, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 7 to 8 minutes.

While the veggies are cooking, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute, then whisk in the chicken stock and hot sauce and bring it to a boil. Simmer the gravy until thickened, about 3 minutes.

Return the reserved chicken chunks to the skillet with the cooked vegetables and add the gravy, stirring to combine. Discard the bay leaf. Transfer everything to a 9 × 11-inch casserole dish and set aside while you prepare the topping.

In a medium mixing bowl, prepare the corn bread according to package directions, using the eggs and milk. Stir the blue cheese crumbles into the corn bread batter and drop the batter by spoonfuls onto the top of the casserole, covering it completely.

Bake the potpie until the corn bread is baked through, 18 to 20 minutes.

My mom is something else. One winter night I came in from the cold and sat down to this creation. The sauce looks like a creamy version of traditional poultry gravy but—surprise—it is tangy, rich, slightly sweet, and deeply comforting.

SERVES 4

Preheat a large, heavy-bottomed pot over high heat with 2 tablespoons of the EVOO. While the EVOO is heating up, season the chicken with salt and pepper. Once the oil starts to ripple, add the chicken breasts, skin side down, and brown them on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove to a plate and reserve. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of EVOO to the pot and repeat with the dark meat.

To the chicken drippings add 1 tablespoon of the butter and the carrots and onions. As the veggies cook, tie the bay leaves, thyme, and parsley sprigs together into a neat little bundle with some kitchen twine and toss it in the pot. Season with salt and pepper and cook the vegetables until tender, 7 to 8 minutes.

Add the ½ cup of Calvados to the vegetables. Remove the pan from the heat and, using a lighter or a long match, carefully ignite the brandy to burn off the alcohol.

Let the flame burn out, then return the pot to the stove and add the cider and vinegar or hard cider. Cook over medium-high heat until the liquid has reduced by half. Fish out the herb bundle and reserve, then puree the vegetables and liquid in a food processor or a blender. Return the vegetable puree to the pot along with the herb bundle and browned chicken, season with hot sauce and nutmeg, and adjust the seasonings. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stir in the cream, and cook the sauce for a few minutes more to thicken.

While the chicken is cooking, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apples and sauté until lightly browned; don't overcook them, they should remain crispy. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of Calvados, remove the pan from the heat, and ignite the brandy. Let the alcohol cook out, and reserve the apples for garnish.

Serve the chicken and sauce in shallow bowls with slices of baguette. Top the chicken with a few slices of sautéed apple and a garnish of chopped parsley.

I saw a personal trainer in a TV commercial one night promoting the health benefits of baked potatoes. Hey, sign me up! Serve the spuds with a side salad for a well-rounded supper. If this is your kind of meal, check out the
Ranch-Style Stuffed Taters
and
Broccoli and Cheddar Stuffed Taters
in the Vegetarian Meals chapter of this book.

SERVES 4