Leek love

You will see a common thread here, vegetables repeated in several dishes.  I try my hardest to creatively incorporate vegetables into every meal without the feeling of "eat your vegetables!" One vegetable that I was always leery of is the leek.  Partially because of the movie Witches where the grouchy dinner insists on eating the cress soup instead of the cock a leeky soup.  I am sure this makes no sense to most of you, but Heather, remember?!  

Moving on, I always passed them up in the produce isle because they looked fancy and unapproachable.  Really, a leek is like a really big green onion, and they are lovely!  They have a mild onion taste and are really beautiful.  You do have to be careful with dirt, as the grit gets into the leaves and can be an unpleasant surprise in your dinner.  All you have to do is place the the sliced leeks in a colander and rinse with cool water.  I challenge you to buy a leek.  Try using a leek in place of an onion, and let me know what you think.  I think you'll like it!  

Roasted chicken with leeks and squash

(The number of chicken breasts can be adjusted, I just happened to have three in my fridge)

3 chicken breasts, skin removed

6 slices bacon

1 crookneck squash, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

1 leek, sliced

1 tsp olive oil

thyme sprigs

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Toss leeks, squash and zucchini with olive oil and salt and pepper. Evenly spread out on the bottom of a casserole dish.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and wrap with two slices of bacon.  Place a thyme sprig on top of each breast.  Bake 40 minutes or until bacon is crispy.