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You know, I cook almost every single night,
so the last thing I want to do
is get into rush hour at the supermarket
every single night.
So, I've come up with a strategy.
It let's me create three meals from one trip to the store
and a single bag of groceries.
This is "3 in the Bag."
-- Captions by VITAC -- www.vitac.com
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
Welcome to "3 in the Bag."
Today's menu definitely has some international appeal.
I've got meals from three different cuisines.
I'm gonna start out
with a Spanish-style chorizo stew with kale.
It's also got potatoes and tomatoes and chick peas.
Super nutritious, very delicious.
Up next, teriyaki chicken with soba.
It's a sweet and savory Japanese meal
that you can have on the table in minutes.
Our third meal out of this bag --
Moroccan red harissa chicken.
That's boneless chicken thighs,
and we're gonna simmer them in a chili sauce --
mild peppers and sweet peppers coming together,
a little bit of cinnamon in the background.
Let's get cooking.
I've got a couple more things I need for this meal,
and then I'll get the bag out of the way for a few minutes.
I think that's all I need.
[ Grunts ] Back here.
Okay.
Preheat my soup pot.
Let's get organized.
Chorizo should go first.
Now, Spanish chorizo is usually in the packaged-meats case
of your grocery store, and it's a fully cooked product.
All you're gonna do is render it out
and crisp it up a little bit.
I use a whole package -- 3/4 of a pound to a pound.
Pull the casing off.
Cut the chorizo lengthwise,
and then into thick half-moons.
A little olive oil in the bottom of your soup pot.
And we'll let the chorizo render out.
[ Pot sizzling ]
It's only gonna take a couple of minutes, guys.
It'll go really fast, so try and keep half an eye on it.
Once it gets crispy at the edges,
I take it out of the pot,
add in the drippings and the rendered fat.
Yum!
I brown up a couple of big, starchy potatoes.
You know, cut them -- big chunks.
You know, stew, not a little, tiny piece of soup.
This is hearty.
While the potatoes are browning,
I chop up a couple of onions, peel up some garlic.
You throw in, of course, salt and pepper, a bay leaf.
If you want to bump up the smoky flavor --
there's a ton of paprika in chorizo,
but if you want the stew itself to have a nice smoky flavor,
I'd put in some smoked sweet paprika.
[ Pot sizzling ]
Spin that around.
Once the potatoes start to get a little color on them,
then I add in the onions and the garlic.
Now I'm gonna trap all the heat in the pan
so those onions can start sweating out,
and I'm gonna work on the kale.
Now, this is flat kale, Tuscan kale,
dinosaur kale, black kale.
It's marked with a lot of different names in the markets,
but basically, I like the flat kale
as opposed to the curly 'cause it's a little easier to chop up.
That doesn't mean you can't make the soup with curly kale --
equally delicious.
These little, tiny guys, you don't even have to stem them.
Just put them off to the side,
and you go ahead and chop them up.
The bigger guys, you just curl your fingers,
gently pull the leaf away from the stem, and there you go.
Kale's fantastic because not only is it a superfood
filled with great nutrition,
but if you stem the kale and chop it up,
it stays, like, for days in that stew.
It doesn't get mealy or fall apart on you.
So, then I wilt in a ton of kale,
and our work is pretty much done.
Add some chicken stock,
open up a couple cans of stewed tomatoes,
some garbonzo beans.
Throw it all in there, slide the chorizo back in,
and you're done.
Wow!
That's a pot of food.
I'm just gonna let it simmer away.
I just like to toast up some Portuguese rolls.
I love Portuguese rolls because they're slightly sweet,
and with this spicy stew, just a nice little counterpoint,
but any crusty bread will do.
The rolls freeze great.
Sandwiches are delicious on these, as well.
It's just me, so I'm just gonna heat up one.
So, I really love this particular 3 in the bag
because it takes you all over the world.
And I've always said, "Food is really fun
because it connects generations,"
but it's also really special
because it can take you anywhere.
It can take you to places you've never been
or help you remember your travels just by making dinner.
Okay, guys, are you ready for some chorizo and kale stew?
I'm just gonna grab a big old shallow bowl,
grab my Portuguese roll.
I have to admit something.
I am infamous in my family
for setting the bread and rolls on fire.
Even if I'm only cooking for myself or myself and John,
I will still come home with four rolls.
If I'm lucky enough not to burn them or ignite them,
set them on fire -- oh, yes, I do that often --
I will just put the extra in the freezer.
But as I was saying, the Portuguese rolls
are really delicious with this simple stew
because they're slightly sweet and the stew is so spicy.
Heads up.
Fish out that bay leaf before you serve up your stew.
Look how great that looks.
Look at the color, the texture, the flavor you're gonna get,
and what did it take?
Minutes to make this meal, literally.
Delicious.
Chunks of chorizo, stewed tomato, chick peas,
lightly browned paprika potatoes.
Yum.
Garlic, onions.
Great nutrition, too.
You got a superfood in there with your kale.
Gorgeous.
Just wipe off the edge a bit.
And then, whenever I'm eating super stew with crusty bread,
I like to put a couple of big chunks at the edge.
You know what I call that?
It's gets all nice and soaking up the juices
and just crusty on the outside and soupy on the inside.
I call that "dessert."
[ Chuckles ]
Okay, so, up next
in our international three-pack of meals,
we're gonna have a Japanese-style dinner --
delicious, light, fabulous, and it's a real crowd-pleaser.
Who doesn't love chicken teriyaki?
Chicken teriyaki with soba, right after this.
Welcome back to "3 in the Bag."
We're onto our second meal and our second type of cuisine
from one bag of groceries,
moving on to a Japanese-style dinner with teriyaki chicken
served over soba noodles.
So, over here, I've got four pieces
of boneless, skinless chicken breast,
and we're gonna get these guys working in our skillet
while we're reducing our sauce.
So, we're gonna get the chicken in the pan first --
easy on salt, a little bit heavier on the black pepper.
Now, the chicken *** are gonna take
about 12 to 15 minutes to cook through,
depending on the size of the breast.
And when we pull them out of the pan,
we're gonna let them rest a couple of minutes,
and then we'll slice them up
while we're cooking up some mild frying peppers and scallion --
just to give you a little roadmap.
This is a super-quick-cooking dinner,
and it's a real crowd-pleaser.
Everybody loves teriyaki.
So, I've got a pan, screaming hot,
high-temperature cooking oil --
a little layer of it twice around the pan.
Medium-high heat for the chicken then high heat for the veg.
[ Pan sizzling ]
I certainly use a couple things in my teriyaki sauce
that are not traditional to Japanese cuisine,
but it's what makes my teriyaki sauce my teriyaki sauce.
I love the depth of flavor Worcestershire gives this.
It's really interesting.
Worcestershire sauce has everything under the sun in it,
from tamarind to anchovies,
and it's just my secret ingredient
that makes my teriyaki a little bit different
than teriyaki you'd buy in a bottle
or even a traditional recipe
that you'd read online for teriyaki.
So, we're going to put the 3 tablespoons of sugar in there.
I go a little shy on the sugar.
I don't like things too, too sweet.
Although, teriyaki is a sweet and savory sauce.
About 3 tablespoons of the mirin, as well.
1/4 to 1/3 cup of tamari.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
I just count to six. That gives me about 1/3 cup.
And a little Worcestershire sauce.
I'm just gonna give it a good, fat pour --
probably a tablespoon and a half or so.
To give this a place to cook out, too,
I'm gonna about a cup of Stock-In-A-Box.
And then, I love the flavor of sherry.
I use it often
when I'm making any sort of Japanese or Chinese
or Thai cuisine -- a little splash of sherry.
It's gilding the lily,
but again, it's the way I like my teriyaki.
Now, you're gonna get this on the stove and let it rip.
Bring it up to a boil.
Reduce the heat so it doesn't boil away on you completely.
But you're gonna reduce that down for about 15 minutes or so.
A few slices of ginger.
Throw that down in.
And a little crushed garlic.
Cool.
See how the chicken's doing.
It's getting some good color. I'm gonna give it a flip.
I turn it a couple times because as it starts to cook up,
it plumps up a little bit.
It may need to turn around a few times
until it feels almost firm to the touch.
You want a little bit of give left for juice,
but you want it to feel,
well, pretty close to the meaty part of your thumb.
Chicken feels perfect.
I'm gonna take it out.
When the chicken is done, I put it on a cutting board,
and then I turn the heat up on the pan,
add a little more high-temperature oil,
give that a swirl.
See this back here, guys?
I want you to see the teriyaki reducing there.
That's the boil you want.
So, you intensify the flavors as that sauce starts to cook down.
So, our pan is nice and hot, and I add two frying peppers --
cubanelle or any large, mild frying pepper --
and a bunch of green onions or scallions.
Quick cook those, literally --
two minutes in the pan while you cook off your soba.
Soba is a buckwheat, Japanese noodle.
If you cannot find it,
a good substitute is spaghetti or thin spaghetti,
whole wheat or whole grain variety.
These look good.
Now, to serve, I slice my chicken...
...I take my shallow bowl, pile in a little soba,
top it with my peppers and green onions,
fan the chicken over the whole thing,
and then pour my homemade teriyaki.
Use one quarter of the sauce per portion
down over the top of the whole thing.
How adorable is that, right?
Delicious, too.
Up next, ooh, I love this.
We're gonna go Moroccan --
Moroccan red harissa chicken.
That's peppers and garlic and ginger all cooked together,
so good, right after this.
Welcome back, guys.
This week's "3 in the Bag" is all about variety.
I'm cooking dishes from all over the globe.
This one -- Moroccan inspired.
It's a red harissa chicken.
You know, harissa is a combination of peppers --
hot and sweet or both --
onions, garlic, ginger, usually a little vinegar,
usually a smoky flavor like cumin,
a little olive oil, salt.
That's pretty much it.
And it's a condiment,
but here I'm gonna blow it up and turn it into a sauce
so we can have it as an entrée.
That's how delicious it is.
So, sort of traditional flavors
in that we're making Moroccan harissa.
Not so traditional --
we're turning it into a full-on sauce for an entrée.
Pop the peppers, hot and sweet, under the broiler.
Let them char all over.
I'll leave the oven door ajar so steam can escape.
When it comes out, pop it into a bowl,
cover the bowl, you know the deal.
As soon as it's cool enough, wipe away the skins,
scrape away the seeds,
and they're ready to chop or process.
Meanwhile, I'm gonna crank the heat in a big skillet.
Ooh, it's getting nice and hot.
I'm gonna add some olive oil to that.
Medium-high heat.
And we'll season up
eight boneless, skinless chicken thighs --
always delicious, always affordable.
Salt and pepper.
Season side down, and then you can season upside, too.
[ Pan sizzling ]
These are huge chicken thighs -- beautiful.
They barely fit in the pan.
I was getting really worried there.
Just made it.
Season up the flip side.
Now while those are working,
we can start on a couple of onions and some garlic.
I actually was fortunate enough to go to Morocco
with my sister for her 50th birthday,
and I already loved Moroccan food.
But man, did I get super hooked
once I really got into Moroccan cuisine.
Okay, let's see how that chicken is doing.
[ Pan sizzling ]
The chicken cooks until brown on one side.
Flip it over.
It'll take less time to brown on side two.
Heads up -- it does not need to finish cooking
all the way through.
These guys just need to brown.
We want them to finish cooking in the sauce
so we get the benefit of some of their juices
coming out into the pepper puree that we'll add in a little bit.
So, I'm gonna take these brown pieces out
while they're still a little pink in the middle.
Pull the chicken out of the pan,
add to the pan two medium or one large onion,
three or four large cloves of garlic,
a chunk of ginger root, a bay leaf,
a cinnamon stick, a little teaspoon of paprika,
salt, pepper, smoky cumin.
[ Pan sizzling ]
Oh, it smells great once the heat --
mmm -- hits those spices!
Yum.
Okay, we're in good shape.
Now, the peppers, we're gonna get them out and cool them.
We're gonna puree them.
We're gonna slide the chicken back into that puree,
and we're gonna serve it up with a little rice.
I'm gonna cook up some basmati to go with this.
I'm gonna get a cup and a half of chicken stock.
Get it up to a boil and reduce the heat to low.
I'm gonna add a tab of butter and one cup of the basmati.
I still say always cook your rice in stock
instead of in water because, of course, it's a flavor factor.
You're packing all that flavor into the rice.
If you have long-grain rice in the pantry,
perfectly fine, use it up.
I'll meet you right back here in a couple
for the rest of our harissa chicken.
Welcome back, guys, to "3 in the Bag."
We've already gotten two meals out of one grocery bag --
a chorizo stew with kale
and our teriyaki chicken with soba.
Now we're working on a third dish --
Moroccan-style red harissa chicken.
I sort of rolled my "r" like an Italian there, but whatever.
Harissa is normally a little condiment.
We blew that up into a big, beautiful sauce.
Got some onions, a ton of spices,
garlic, ginger, bay, cinnamon, all cooking up over here.
Peeling up the star of harissa sauce, our peppers over here.
Three sweet peppers, three fresno peppers.
I'm gonna add some chicken stock.
Pop a lid on.
[ Processor whirring ]
Pulse it to get it going, and then let her rip.
Meanwhile, guys, I'm gonna give my onions a stir.
I don't want these to go too far,
so I'm gonna add a little splash --
just a splash -- of wine vinegar.
Heads up -- when you add vinegar to a sauce,
it adds a lovely acidity, but hold your head back
'cause it cleans out your sinuses, too.
Lid off.
[ Pan sizzling ]
Pour our pepper sauce in.
Now we're gonna take our chicken,
slide it back into our spicy pepper sauce
with all of those beautiful juices they've been collecting.
I use my tongs to nestle that in.
Get them covered in the sauce.
Once you've got them all coated and nested in there,
just let it gently bubble, just like this,
and let that finish cooking through.
Serve it with couscous,
which you can cook in five minutes or less,
or with beautiful, nutty basmati cooked in chicken stock,
which cooks in about 15 minutes and then it has to stand for 10.
Scoot it out to the edges of the plate.
It should just be a ring to catch the liquids.
Use a shallow bowl for this dish.
Obviously it's very saucy,
but you need to be able to cut the chicken thighs.
Then, scoop out two pieces of the thigh...
...and top with lots of that flavorful, insanely tasty sauce.
Done.
And I like a little green onion on this.
Lots of exotic, fun flavor combinations
in this particular 3 in the bag.
Beautiful.
Okay.
So, out of one quick trip to the store,
we made three satisfying suppers.
I'm Rachael Ray,
and if you're wondering what the secret is
to putting great food on the table
without spending hours in the supermarket
or in the kitchen, remember [Clicks tongue]
it's in the bag.