Summer Squash Gratin

Pre-oven Summer Squash Gratin

Just out of the oven.  So GOOD!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 small leeks (1/2 pound), white and tender green parts thinly sliced into rounds
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices, preferably on a mandolin
• 3 medium yellow summer squash, cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices, preferably on a mandoline
• Kosher salt
• Pepper
• 1 cup finely shredded Gruyère (about 2 ounces)
• 1 plum tomato, very thinly sliced crosswise
• Flaky sea salt and crusty bread, for serving

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over moderately high heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Spread in a 9-inch round baking dish
2. Meanwhile, on 2 large baking sheets, spread the zucchini and yellow squash and brush with the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the cheese and let sit until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. 
3. Tightly roll 1 piece of zucchini and set it on the leeks in the center of the dish. Working 
outward from that center slice, continue rolling and coiling additional pieces of zucchini and yellow squash until you reach the edge of the baking dish. Season the tomato slices with salt and pepper, then tuck in intervals between the zucchini and squash. Scrape any cheese off of the baking sheets and sprinkle on top.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, until the zucchini and squash are tender and browned in spots. Sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool slightly, then serve with crusty bread.

Ben Ford's Devil's Chicken or The Road Back to Healthy

From January 2017.

The holiday season is over and as I look back it seems I not only took time off from blogging, I also took time off from my usually healthy eating.  

For over two years my husband and I have faithfully followed a gluten free, soy free, sugar free diet.  The first year we stuck to our plan exclusively.  Year two we realized it was ok, in fact, psychologically necessary, to cheat on occasion.  We established the 80/20 rule. Healthy for 80% and the remaining 20% my husband could sneak in a burger and not feel guilty about the brioche bun and I could be guilt free about my order of blackened fish tacos on, gasp, a flour tortilla.

This holiday more and more "bad" food snuck into my diet.  It wasn't so much about the holiday.  It was about the time I was committing to other projects.  While spending more and more time volunteering at a farm that was promoting Buy Local, Eat Fresh, Live Well, I was buying local fast food, eating processed and feeling ill.

It is a new year and time to get back to my routine.  Good bye gluten.  Good bye sugar and the rest of the evils. Usually I am talking about how to modify or change a recipe to fit in with my  diet.  While its fun for me to take these great recipes I find and convert them into my version of "healthier", its also great to find a recipe that is ready from the starting block. That recipe today is Ben Ford's Devil's Chicken from Food and Wine Magazine.

So, if I'm not going to be talking about conversion and substitutions, then what?  How about knowing where your food comes from and is it fresh, organic and, importantly, local?  In this dish we used ingredients mostly from The Fancy Chicken Farm, a local poultry farm that also grows its own herbs.  (garlic, lemon, dijon, crushed red pepper and salt and pepper were purchased at the local market)





INGREDIENTS

·         8 garlic cloves, finely chopped

·         3 tablespoons chopped thyme

·         3 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary

·         2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

·         2 tablespoons finely chopped basil

·         2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano

·         1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest plus 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

·         2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

·         1 tablespoon kosher salt

·         1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

·         2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

·         1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

·         Three 1 1/2-pound skin-on, boneless whole chicken breasts  

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE

In a food processor, combine the garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, basil, oregano, lemon zest and juice, black pepper and salt; pulse until a paste forms. With the machine on, add the oil, then add the mustard and crushed red pepper and pulse to mix. Scrape the marinade into a large bowl. Add the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Set up a grill for indirect cooking and heat to 425°. Cover 3 bricks with foil. Remove
the chicken from the marinade, scraping off the excess. Oil the grill grate. Set the chicken breasts skin side down on the grill and press them down with the bricks. Cover and cook at 425° until browned on the bottom, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the bricks and turn the chicken. Cover with the bricks, press down and cover the grill. Cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breasts registers 160°, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 5 minutes. Serve.