Ray - Week in a Day

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eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com W eek in a Day is a concept for busy foodies with impossible schedules. Like most of my friends and family, I have one day off a weekif Im lucky. I shop early in the day and then I go home, get organized, separate ingredients, put on some comfy jeans or jammies, open some wine, and then I cook. Sometimes Ill spend five or six hours straight chopping, roasting, and stirring simmering pots.

But when Im done, we have enough food for as many as five nightsa whole workweekright in the fridge and freezer. When the day is especially long or youre feeling extra exhausted, imagine how comforting it is to know that dinneryour own homemade delicious foodis waiting for you as soon as you walk in. Pop a pot on the stove or throw that casserole into the oven, and by the time you have changed your clothes and checked your e-mails, dinner is served. Whether you cook two meals or five, the idea of Week in a Day is that you get a leg up on the long week ahead so any night you dont feel like cooking, you already have! In addition, I have created a special section that makes another fun promise for busy foodies: 1 Grocery Bag, 3 Meals. With a basic pantry and one bag of groceries, you can cook up three delicious, simple suppers. Also, check out the links and bring this book to life with additional content, recipes, tips, and tricks from me to you.

Rach READ ME FIRST! Getting home-cooked meals on the table on weeknights can be a real challenge, even with 30 Minute Meals on your side. This book is about a different strategy, the strategy of make-ahead. Every recipe in this book was chosen specifically for its make-ahead-ability. Soups, stews, casseroles, pasta saucesall dishes that not only keep well but often improve when made ahead. As I like to say, The longer it sets, the better it gets. Heres how you make this work: Pick the recipes you want to make.

You can choose all of the recipes in one of my suggested menus, or you can choose just a couple of them. Or you can even put together your own set of meals by looking through all the menus in the book. Make a shopping list. Check the pantry first, then make a list of all the things you still need to get for the recipes. Do the big shop on the day before you cook. Cook Day: This is the day when you get it all done.

If you follow one of my menus, youll see that I often start you with a long-cooking dish that can be baking or braising for several hours while you work on the rest of the recipes. Sometimes, I even suggest that the long-cooking dish you start off with be your reward at the end of your Cook Day. Foundation Recipes: One of my favorite strategies for make-ahead meals is to make a big batch of something that I can use in multiple recipes on my Cook Day. Making a big pot of , for example, can yield a whole bunch of recipes, like salads, stews, casseroles, and more. Make-ahead: Each recipe has instructions for when to stop cooking a dish and how to store it. Night of: These instructions guide you on how to finish cooking the dish that youve either refrigerated or frozen earlier in the week.

But heres an important note: If you want to cook any one of the recipes in this book straight through, without stopping to store it as a make-ahead, just ignore the Make-ahead/Night of sections and keep on cooking! WEEK IN A DAY : AN ATRIA SMART BOOK Click here to see inside Week in a Day with Rachael Ray. Join Rach on a personal tour of her Week in a Day set. Click here to see Rachael show you around the Week in a Day show set.

GLOBE-SPANNING COMFORT FOOD, ALL MADE AT HOME, AND IN JUST ONE DAY DISH DISH DISH DISH DISH WEEK 01 DISH Although you could have this as a make-ahead dish because it takes 3 hours to cook, you might want to have it as your reward on Cook Day instead. The pork shoulder that gets braised here is also used to make a . SERVES 4 1 (4- to 5-pound) boneless pork shoulder (pork butt) Salt and pepper 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons EVOO 2 onions , cut into wedges, root end attached 4 large cloves garlic , smashed 11/2 teaspoons chopped oregano leaves 1 fresh red chile , thinly sliced 2 fresh bay leaves 1 (12-ounce) bottle Mexican beer 2 cups chicken stock Juice of 4 oranges (about 2 cups) Pickled Red Onions (see link below) 1 chipotle chile in adobo , seeded and finely chopped, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce Juice of 2 limes 16 flour or corn tortillas 1 cup drained pickled jalapeo slices or banana pepper rings 1/4 head red cabbage , shredded 1 cup crumbled queso fresco or 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese Preheat the oven to 325F.

Season the pork generously with salt and pepper and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pat the pork dry with a paper towel. In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, heat the vegetable oil (2 turns of the pan) over high heat. Put the pork in the pot and evenly brown the meat all over, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the pork to a plate. Turn the heat down to medium-high and add the EVOO (2 turns of the pan) to the Dutch oven.

Add the onions, garlic, oregano, red chile, bay leaves, and salt and pepper and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Deglaze with the beer. Stir in the chicken stock and orange juice. Return the pork to the pot (the liquid should come about two-thirds of the way up the meat) and bring to a simmer. Cover and put the pork in the oven. Cook until the meat is very tender, 21/2 to 3 hours, turning the meat halfway through cooking.

While the pork is cooking, prepare the pickled red onions. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and tent with foil to keep warm. When cool enough to handle, pull the meat apart with 2 forks. Set aside one-third of the shredded pork for the . Simmer the braising liquid over medium heat until reduced by half. Remove the bay leaves.

Add the chipotle, adobo sauce, and lime juice. Stir in the shredded pork. [ Make-ahead: Let cool and refrigerate.] [ Night of: Return to room temp before reheating gently over medium-low heat.] When ready to serve, char the tortillas over an open flame and keep warm in a tortilla warmer or covered with a towel. To serve, put the pork on a platter and garnish with pickled onions and pickled jalapeo slices. Serve with the shredded cabbage, crumbled cheese, and charred tortillas for wrapping. Recipe for Pickled Red Onions Click here to view a bonus Side Dish recipe.