Rachael Ray - Rachael Rays Big Orange Book: Her Biggest Ever Collection of All-New 30-Minute Meals Plus Kosher Meals, Meals for One, Veggie Dinners, Holiday Favorites, and Much More!

Copyright 2008 by Rachael Ray
Photographs copyright 2008 by Tina Rupp

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

www.clarksonpotter.com

Clarkson Potter is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request

eISBN: 978-0-307-95499-2

Design by Amy Sly and Jennifer K. Beal Davis

v3.1

DEDICATED TO THE LOVED ONES IVE LOST, THOSE GOOD EATERS, GOOD SOULS, AND ONE GOOD DOG WHO I CAN NO LONGER SIT AT THE TABLE WITH. IN MY DREAMS, WE ARE STILL TOGETHER AND THE TABLE IS AS FULL AS OUR HEARTS.

THANKS!

HUGE HUGS for the BIG help on the BIG ORANGE BOOK (I call him Bob, for short) and many thanks to the team of editors and artists who shape and style my recipes into lovely books, especially Pam Krauss and Amy Boorstein at Clarkson Potter, and Tina Rupp, Andrea Steinberg, and Deborah Williams (plus their assistants Elizabeth Drago, Teresa Horgan, Ivone Moutela, Jessica Gorman, and Alicia Steiling). Thanks also to my support system at all my homes away from home who test-kitchen my recipes and challenge me to make each dish tastier than the next. Thank you to the Food Network, EDWRR Magazine, and Rachael Ray Show staffs, especially Emily Rieger and our culinary team of Abigail Bodiker, Kara Vogt, and Patrick Decker. Thanks to my delicious family, including Isaboo, who is such a love and good eater, too. Special thanks to my mom and mother-in-law for the family memories and recipes they contributed to this book. Thanks to Michelle Boxer for her organizational acumen and the laughs! And thanks to my readers and viewers, who keep me employed and ever-hungry to do better.

The Big Orange Book is my biggest collection of recipes to date, but its 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 whats working for themand what they would like to see more of. Well, maybe you cant please all of the people all of the time, but Ive given it my best shot here, with entire chapters devoted to Kosher meals, vegetarian meals, meals for one, entre 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 mealsall in one BIG book. Its 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 happythe 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 dont 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 Ive 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. Its 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.

THERES EATING AND THEN THERES EATING.

I try to write recipes that take a bite outta lifefood 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 oclock 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! Ive 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 youve done it a few times it will become second nature. If youre 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.