Chicken Ratatouille

Hi all:

If it is just me up here at the cottage, I like to prepare healthy, easy dishes that I know no one else in my family will even touch. These dishes are usually vegetable based, as I love vegetables. Sadly, the rest of my family doesn't share my passion for vegetables, therefore they never get to try these concoctions I like to call, Cottage Fare. (ie. Healthy vegetable-based dishes.)

I grew up at a dinner table where it was expected that we eat and finish everything on our plates, including vegetables. When I balked at this "grave injustice" my Dad would always say, "Think of the good things you are feeding your body. Your body will thank you." That resonated with me then and has influenced me ever since.  Thanks Dad; you were always ahead of your time. I now love my vegetables and always think of you when I eat them. (Except for creamed spinach; there is no way I will EVER eat that again!)

Tonight I made a vegetable based meal inspired by a fantastic lunch I had at White Spot the other day (a restaurant chain here in BC). It was a wild grilled salmon fillet on top of a warm smashed potato salad with grilled tomatoes and zucchini and topped with a caper sauce and julienned beets.  It was absolutely fabulous!!!! What is not to love about that dish; salmon, vegetables, pickled beets?? It was heavenly. So, I set about trying to duplicate that divine dish. I am not sure I accomplished it, but my attempt was very good. I may have to go back and order it again at White Spot, purely for research purposes, that is!

Here is the dish I came up with.  I call it "Chicken Ratatouille".  Typically, ratatouille I am told, has tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini in it.  I did not use tomatoes or eggplant, but my version is close to that and I simply added grilled chicken thighs to it, and my own improvised caper sauce.

Chicken Ratatouille

************************

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 red pepper - chopped large

1 zucchini - chopped large

1/2 lime 

1/2 red onion - chopped

1 garlic clove - minced (I would omit this next time. There are enough flavours competing already)

1/2 avocado

5-6 pickled beets - julienned into strips

3 tsp. capers and brine

3-4 Tablespoons of milk

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

In a large skillet, add some olive oil and heat on medium high. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken thighs and brown them in the skillet with the olive oil. Brown them on both sides. When done, remove from pan.

To the same skillet, add the diced onions and brown slightly. Next add the red pepper, zucchini and garlic and brown until slightly softened. Add more salt and pepper to these vegetables. They will need it. Also add a little more olive oil so the vegetables do not stick.

I kept the size a fairly large chop, so the vegetables stay crisp and do not wilt when browned.

Once the vegetables are browned, remove to a plate and set aside.

In the same skillet, add about 3 tsp. of capers and the caper brine. Mash the capers slightly to release the flavour.

Next, add in the 1/2 avocado and mix with the capers. Squeeze in the juice from 1/2 lime and stir into the capers.  

Next add 3-4 splashes of milk and stir until a creamy sauce forms. Add as much milk as you like. I used about 3-4 Tablespons. (Or thereabouts.)

You won't have a lot of sauce; just enough to flavour the chicken.  Next, assemble the plate.

First add the vegetables to the plate, then add the chicken. Top the chicken with a couple of spoons of the sauce and add some julienned pickled beets. ( I used beets right out of the jar and sliced them on a separate plate, to avoid staining any of my cutting boards.)

Et Voila! C'est magnifique, non? (It really was very good. Nice to have something different.  My poor, poor family will never get a chance to taste this! Oh well.)

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did.

Rosie

P.S. I had to share which wine I was drinking, while I cooked. It was a sparkling organic fruit rose from Harkers Rustic Roots in Cawston, BC.  What a great flavour and beautiful peachy colour.