Michael Chiarello Shares His Signature Recipes for Easy Entertaining During Italian Heritage Month and All Year Long

Celebrity chef brings easy entertaining home with Progresso ingredients, wine pairing advice and entertaining tips

09/25/2007

Chef Michael Chiarello has spent more than 20 years creating the perfect fusion of his Southern Italian heritage with the Napa Valley lifestyle he fell in love with as a child. Now, in celebration of Italian Heritage Month, he’s sharing his creation with eight new recipes for Progresso® – recipes he hopes will help home chefs celebrate the joys of simple, vibrant meals and easy entertaining all year round.

Progresso makes an entire line of exceptional ingredients, designed to inspire a passion for the art of Italian cooking. Progresso’s ingredients have garnered high marks from chefs and epicurean experts, including a “highly recommended” rating for Progresso whole peeled tomatoes from Cooks Illustrated magazine, in addition to numerous other positive reviews and awards.

“If you fill your pantry with the highest quality ingredients, you have all you need to create wonderful meals,” says Chiarello. “I learned that from my grandmother and mother, and so I’ve spent my career as a chef discovering all the best ingredients.” Chiarello’s new signature recipes use Progresso ingredients to add that distinctive Italian flair without adding a lot of preparation time. His recipes for the good life include sensational starters like “Tomato Steak with Baked Goat Cheese and Herb Salad” and mouthwatering main dishes, like “Angry Shrimp with Tuscan White Beans.” Consumers can find all of Chiarello’s recipes at www.progressofoods.com, along with Chiarello’s tips for stocking the perfect pantry and wine pairing advice from Blackstone Wineries.

“Our founder, Vincent Taormina, brought quality ingredients over from Italy so that Italian families could enjoy the vibrant flavors from home,” said Chris Leising, marketing manager for Progresso Foods. “Today, Progresso continues that tradition by working with Michael Chiarello to create great recipes and by providing the best ingredients around, so that home chefs have everything they need to make every meal flavorful and memorable.”

Chiarello’s “Parmesan Herb-Crusted Turkey Scaloppine,” one of his eight signature Progresso recipes, offers a prime example of how a few key ingredients, along with a little culinary know-how, can turn an everyday meal into extraordinary dining.

Parmesan Herb-Crusted Turkey Scaloppine
Recipe by Michael Chiarello for Progresso
4 servings

Ingredients:

For the Turkey:
1 boneless skinless turkey breast (1 1/2 lb)
Dash coarse sea salt (gray salt)
Dash freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups Progresso® Italian Style Panko Bread Crumbs or Progresso® Italian Style Bread Crumbs
3/4 cup Sargento® Artisan Blends Shredded Parmesan Cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt (gray salt)
Dash freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 eggs
Olive oil for frying

For the Arugula Salad:
About 8 cups arugula (4 oz)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh lemon juice
Coarse sea salt (gray salt)
Freshly ground black pepper
Sargento® Artisan Blends Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 lemon, quartered

Directions:
Cut turkey breast diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Between sheets of plastic wrap, pound turkey to 1/8-inch thickness with meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle with dash salt and dash pepper; press seasonings into turkey with fingers.

In small bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, 1 teaspoon salt and dash pepper. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil; work with fingers to moisten the crumbs lightly. Spread mixture on dinner plate. Spread flour on another dinner plate. In shallow bowl or pie plate, beat eggs slightly with fork.

Dip turkey slices into flour to coat both sides; shake off any excess flour. Dip into eggs, letting any excess drip back into bowl. Coat completely with bread crumb mixture, pressing crumbs in place; place on tray. Cover; refrigerate until ready to fry.

Heat 12-inch skillet over high heat. Add 1/4 inch of olive oil for frying; heat to almost smoking. Add as many turkey slices as skillet will hold; do not crowd. Cook about 2 minutes or until bottom is golden. Turn slices; cook about 30 seconds longer. With tongs, remove turkey as each slice is done, allowing any excess oil to drain back into skillet; place on several thicknesses of paper towels. Repeat with the remaining turkey slices.

Place arugula in large bowl. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil to coat leaves lightly. Add squeeze of lemon juice, additional salt and pepper; toss, taste and adjust the seasoning.

Divide turkey evenly among dinner plates, placing in center of plate. Mound salad evenly on top of turkey. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of each salad. Garnish plate with lemon quarter. Serve immediately.

For more than a century, Progresso Foods has been sharing their high-quality ingredients with Americans from coast to coast, making it easier than ever to create classic, delicious food at home.
Progresso Foods offers a wide variety of high-quality ingredients, including four varieties of bread crumbs; pureed, crushed, diced and whole tomatoes; a variety of beans, including cannellini, chick peas and black beans; marinated and ready-to-serve artichokes; vinegars, such as balsamic and red wine; seafood sauce and tuna.

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For More Information, Contact:

Pam Becker
General Mills
(763) 764-2470
pam.becker@genmills.com

Mary Jo Exley
Padilla Speer Beardsley
(612) 455-1776
mexley@psbpr.com