Take-out cooked IN
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I have run across the perfect gift idea for your favorite foodie. And if that happens to be you, well, now you’ll have an excuse to spend a little money on yourself!
The ever-vivacious Rachael Ray has come out with a new product called “Make Your Own Takeout.” But I can’t call this a cookbook in the standard sense because the recipes actually come in a little box and are printed on removable cards that are categorized by the cuisine. There are categories for Thai, Chinese, Indian, pizza, burgers and sandwiches and Tex-Mex. At a time when lots of us are trying to spend less money on entertainment, this strikes me as a genius idea!
The question is, do the recipes look good and do they cook good? Well, here’s a sampling of what the M.Y.O.T.O. deck has to offer (she really likes those acronyms for some reason).
* Ginger-soy chicken on shredded lettuce (low-carb)
* Thai chicken noodle soup
* Lo mein
* Spicy shrimp and bok choy noodle bowl
* Orange-cashew chicken with broccoli
* Mostly green curry chicken over coconut jasmine rice
* Spiced lamb/chicken patties in a pita
* Mushroom lovers’ French bread pizza
* Hungry man Bloody Mary burgers and spicy garlic-roasted broccoli
* Grilled kielbasa reubens with warm mustard-caraway sauerkraut
* Chipotle chicken rolls with avocado dipping sauce
Is your mouth watering yet? I don’t see a single thing on that list that I wouldn’t devour with relish. This cute little recipe box is retailing for $14.99 in the U.S. and includes more than 50 recipes, including variations, which are all fairly easy to master.
Since zucchini is in season, I”ll share Rachael’s recipe for zucchini pizza, which she says she picked up on a trip to Rome.
Zucchini Pizza
Serves 4
EVOO (Extra-virgin olive oil) for drizzling
2 pizza dough rolls from a tube, such as Pillsbury
Coarse salt and coarse black pepper
2 cups ricotta cheese
8 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 medium to large zucchini
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle olive oil on one large or two small cookie sheets, then roll out the dough. It’s already in a rectangular shape, just pat it out a bit. Poke it with the tines of a fork, season it with salt and pepper and place it in the oven for 5 to 6 minutes.
In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta with the garlic. When you remove the dough from the oven, cover it evenly with the ricotta cheese. Top the ricotta with a layer of mozzarella, then return the crust to the oven on the center rack and cook until golden, 12 to 13 minutes.
Heat a large nonstick griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. Trim the ends off the zucchini. Cut zucchini into strips lengthwise, no more than 1/4 inch thick. Trim a sliver off the skin on one side if you need to make the zucchini more stable while you slice it.
Fill the dry skillet with a single layer of the squash strips and cook for 5 minutes, turning once. Remove to a cutting board and repeat.
When all of the zucchini is cooked, pile a few slices at a time into stacks. Cut the cooked zucchini across into thick sticks. Pile the sticks together and season with salt and pepper. Scatter across the pizzas in the last 2 to 3 minutes of cooking time.
Source: “Rachael Ray’s Make Your Own Takeout”
August 19, 2009 - 10:32 AM
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I’ve found Rachael Ray’s recipes to be easy to make, but usually lacking spice and flavor. I don’t know about the MYOTO, but if the recipes are anything like her cookbooks, magazine, or show, they will definitely need more seasoning.
This zucchini pizza sounds tasty, and looks like an easy meal !
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Her acronyms drive me crazy. She must be trying to develop her own foodie language.
Her perkiness drives me crazy! Her food always looks good, but it cracks me up when the judges for The Next Food Network Star tell contestants that they are too perky. Rachael has 3 or 4 shows on there and is the poster child for perkiness. A little Rachael goes a long long way.
The only dish I’ve ever fixed of hers was a mac and cheese with chicken thrown in on one of her 30 Minute Meal shows. I timed myself, and from the moment I got everything out of the fridge, cooked the mac, to the end result took more than 30 minutes. I don’t know how she does it. It was a good dish, but yeah, her perkiness and the acronyms make me nuts, too.
On another note, I watched the Guy Fieri Chefography last night, now he is fun to watch. I still think he needs to come to Texas Tavern for Diners Drive-ins and Dives.
I saw the Guy Fieri Chefography this past weekend! That’s the one I was waiting for. I like him. He is such a natural on camera. I couldn’t eat that much on camera without feeling self-conscious.
I could make a meal in 30 minutes if I had a team of prep people to set up all my ingredients up for me!
The zucchini pizza sounds good. I made a pizza 2 weeks ago with some tomatoes from our garden. I made my own dough (from the recipe in the Kithcen Aid mixer manual!) then made herb-infused olive oil with thyme and parsley, and another with just basil. I salted the sliced tomatoes and let them sit while the dough was rising, to get the extra juice out. Once I had the crust spread in my pizza pan, I brushed it with the thyme-parsley oil, layed out the tomatoes, then spread a mix of Italian cheeses mixed with some leftover Kraft Mexican blend cheese. I drizzled the basil oil over that. OMG it was some of the best pizza I’ve ever had! I took photos and have been meaning to upload them to the Fridge Magnet Flickr site!
I enjoy the Chefographies. I started watching Ace of Cakes after seeing one about Duff a couple years ago. His sense of humor lured me in.
Guy sure has a tough job, doesn’t he. Oh,that someone would pay me to eat for a living!