Me and RR in the Kitchen

This week I've been puting my inner Rachel Ray to work. I made a couple of recipes out of February's issue of Everyday with RR. Matthew, I must put your gift to work

First I made Deconstucted Lasagna

Salt and Pepper

1 lb. fusili or mafalda pasta

2 tbl of extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 small crrot grated or chopped

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 cup beef broth

28 oz can crushed omatoes

a few torn basil leaves

1 cup ricotta

1/2 cup finlesly chopped parsley

2 tbl butter

2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Boil water and cook pasta unil al dente.

2. Heat olive oil over medium heat and cook beef until lightly browned. Add carrots, onions, and garlic, along wtih salt and pepper to taste. Cook until vegetables are sftened (abt. 5 minutes). Stir in beef froth, tomatoes, and basil. Simmer

3. Stir together ricotta and parsley

4. Toss pasta with butter, followed by stiring in parmesan cheese and meat sauce. Scoop Ricotta into bowls and cover with pasta-meat mixture.

VERDICT: The deconstructed lasagne was ok. I actually liked it more the second night when I put the ricotta in the bowl, covered it with the meat/pasta mix, and then added some motzarella before re-heating. It was good, nothing absolutely must have fabulous though.

A few days later I gave another meal in the mag a try, Fried Chicken Rollups.

Vegetable oil ( i always use canola)

1 onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 cups shredded store-bought roisserie chicken meat

salt and pepper to tase

1 1/2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

~12 small corn tortillas

1. In a large skillet heat 2 tbl vegie oil. Add onion and garlic, stirring until sofened (~ 6 min). Add chicken, salt, and pepper. Stir until heated through. Transfer to a bowl and mix in cheese

2. Wipe out the skilet, warm tortillas abou 15 secons per side on low heat. Spoon ~ 1/4 cup of chicken mix down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas.

3. Heat about 2/3 cup veg oil over medium-high heat. Place chicken roll up seam side down and cook. turn once, cooking until golden, about 2 minutes total. Cook roll ups in batches. Drain on paper towels.

VERDICT: AMAZING. I enjoyed these with some guacamole. They were fabulous, and soooo easy. They made me think of flautas, so that is what I'm going to call them in the future. They were amazingly easy, quick, and tasty. RR suggests that you may want to stir in a tsp of cumin, paprika, or chili powder when cooking the chicken. I will definitely try that, because I will definitely make them again. The only real deviation from the recipe was that I did cook it up with 6 large cloves of garlic - because I always up the garlic!