Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book (2 page)

HOLIDAY MENUS

INDEX

The
Big Orange Book
is my biggest collection of recipes to date, but it's actually several small collections in one book. I always come up with recipes for television or print based on the feedback from readers and viewers who tell me what they are feeding themselves and their friends and families at home. They let me know what's working for them—and what they would like to see more of. Well, maybe you can't please all of the people all of the time, but I've given it my best shot here, with entire chapters devoted to Kosher meals, vegetarian meals, meals for one, entrée burgers, slow-it-down recipes that take a bit more than 30 minutes but are
definitely
worth it, family hand-me-down recipes, holiday menus, starters and apps, PLUS nearly 200 brand-new 30-minute meals—all in one BIG book. It's orange simply because orange is my favorite color. Orange is friendly and sparks my appetite for all things. The color orange makes me feel inspired, curious, and happy—the same words I would use to describe my love of food.

CAN DO!

All of these recipes are above all accessible to cooks of all skill levels. I have never set my bar anywhere above waist high in the kitchen because I don't think cooking a meal should be like running a marathon. I have friends who love the challenge of complicated cooking techniques and exotic ingredients, and I marvel at many of the meals I've enjoyed that were prepared by skilled chefs, professional and amateur alike. Still, while there are no fancy techniques to master here, turning out really good food that can be prepared by anyone at any time no matter where they live or shop feels and tastes like a new trick in and of itself. It's always been my belief that, with the right ingredients and easy methods, everyone can produce quality meals in a short (or relatively short) amount of time that will inspire the soul while they fill the stomach.

THERE'S EATING AND THEN THERE'S EATING.

I try to write recipes that take a bite outta life—food with a sense of humor and adventure. Today, I am striving to make the food I prepare in my home have social purpose as well. Thanks to independently owned small purveyors and farmers' markets cropping back into all of our communities, we have the opportunity to improve the quality of the food we eat as well as our quality of life while supporting and sustaining local, small growers. In my state alone, from the Bronx to the Adirondacks, every community has a grassroots effort of some sort to promote local growers and good-food awareness. The growing global food crisis and the rising costs associated with running a household and caring for a family have made cooking at home more often and supporting your local growers a strategic decision that makes good budgetary sense, too.

MY STUDY OF SLOW AND STEADY FOOD

While most of my recipes can be made in 30 minutes or less I still consider my cooking a relative of the slow-food tradition, because I make an effort to buy locally as much as I can and I try to savor every bite, sharing the food with family and friends. Sure, balance is hard to come by in my life, and I work many more hours than I rest, but even at 10 o'clock at night the act of preparing food is so satisfying and fulfilling to me that I finish each meal feeling more complete, uncompromised. Whether prepared fast or slow, food should be enjoyed, savored, and should inspire conversation, even if you are talking to yourself! I've worked out many tough decisions digesting my thoughts along with a dinner for one.

COOK, FEED, FUND

I also believe that everyone should have access to good food, and to that end I have established the Yum-o! organization to empower kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking. Our goal is to teach families to cook, aid in the fight against hunger, and provide scholarships to fund cooking education across the country so that kids, their schools, and their families can make better choices in their eating habits. We want to see a country where everyone can experience the joys of food and cooking and live healthier lives as they do so. (For more information about Yum-o! and to check out the Yum-o! community, please visit
www.yum-o.org
.)

A NOTE ABOUT THE RECIPES IN THE BOOK

Some meals with more than one course or multiple components are broken into individual recipes so that the ingredient lists are easier to follow. These “square meals” are marked with a square orange symbol. Read through all the component recipes quickly before you start to cook. These menus are designed so that you can start the first recipe, then in the first pocket of time that recipe allows, begin the preparation of the next one. This is the method I use in cooking my 30-Minute Meals on Food Network, and once you've done it a few times it will become second nature. If you're new to 30-minute cooking, choose a meal that incorporates all the components in one recipe; these recipes let you know what to cook when so you use your time most efficiently and everything gets on the table at the same time.

There are as many recipes for pozole stew as there are Mexican cooks, and they almost all contain slow-cooked pork or poached chicken in addition to dried corn kernels known as hominy. This fast ground-pork version is like a quick green weeknight chili. Don't forget to chill some Coronas.

SERVES 4

Heat the EVOO in a high-sided skillet or medium soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the pork, season with the salt, pepper, allspice, and cumin, and brown for 3 to 4 minutes, crumbling and breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. Add the onions, garlic, and jalapeños and stir to combine.

Halve the tomatillos, then place in the food processor and pulse until they are chopped into a chunky salsa. Stir the tomatillos into the skillet with the pork and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the honey and adjust the salt and pepper, then stir in the hominy and stock. Heat through for another minute or two. Stir in the cilantro and turn off the heat. Douse the diced avocado with the juice of 1 lime. Squeeze the juice of the second lime over the pozole and stir.

Serve the soup in shallow bowls with some diced avocado, a handful of crushed chips, and some shredded lettuce on top.

Rock soup is a recipe and a fable that exists in many different cultures, and it is especially dear to the Portuguese. Our thirty-something guide, Patricia, said it's one of her favorite “recipes” because there
is
no recipe: just add whatever's in your fridge or cupboard and stir. As the story goes (in case it's been a while), a clever beggar went door-to-door through a village bragging about his delicious specialty, something called Rock Soup. Each villager, excited about the mysterious recipe and vain enough to think he or she could improve it, offered the beggar chef an ingredient for the pot. In the end, the beggar had a soup fit for a king. When the townsfolk asked, “But where is the rock in this soup?” he replied, “I think I'll save it for the next pot.” If I were living in Lisbon, here's what I might put in my Rock Soup.

SERVES 4