Use it or lose it

I went out to dinner a couple days this week so I wanted to make a meal based on my CSA holdings to make sure I use the delicious veggies before they go bad. Plus sometimes it's fun to see how creative you can be using as many of the CSA offerings as possible. We made a Chicken in a ratatouille sauce and garlic green beans.

Pan Fried Chicken in a Ratatouille sauce

Bone in chicken
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small bunch beet greens, stems and leaves separated and chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
a couple pieces of bacon, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
pinch red pepper flake
2 sprigs thyme
small handful oregano, chopped fine

Render bacon in a deep skillet and remove. Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides and pan sear in same skillet. Chicken should be nicely browned but not completely cooked. Remove chicken. Deglaze with 1/2 cup dry wine wine and reduce by half. Add onions and when starting to soften add garlic and zucchini. Saute for a few minutes. Drain the tomatoes and add to the pan along with the thyme, red pepper flake, and beet stems. Bring mixture to a simmer for five minutes. Add chicken back in. Spoon some of the mixture to cover the chicken and simmer until chicken is cooked through. In the last couple minutes add the beet greens and oregano.

Garlic Green Beans

2 handful green beans
3 cloves garlic, diced

In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and toss in the green beans. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until green beans start to soften. Add garlic, salt and pepper and toss. Cook about 5 more minutes, tossing often.

The Results: The chicken was good but the ratatouille was very sweet. The onions and tomatoes cooked down and sweetened so much it was a little too sweet for us, especially my husband. It was a good idea that I want to tweak to figure out how to up the savory quotient. I like the idea of a chunky vegetable based stew-sauce to spoon on chicken. Maybe I could deglaze with chicken stock instead of white wine for a start and use spinach instead of beet greens. The green beans were awesome, as always. Really, I can saute anything in olive oil and toss with garlic and I'll love it. Ice cream? Sure! Cake? Yum! This meal gets an C+.

By the way, you might have noticed that bacon never made it back into the pan. I decided the fat alone made this meal rich enough that we didn't need the bacon pieces in the sauce. I know that goes against everything I believe in. Don't throw that bacon house people, keep it and put in salads or sprinkle in a shot glass of maple syrup or dunk in hot chocolate. Bacon should never go to waste.

The Breakdown: The green beans, beet greens, beet stems and zucchini were from the CSA. The chicken, bacon, and onions were from the farmer's market and the herbs are from my garden. The wine and tomatoes were from the grocery store. I get an A for localness.