Friday, August 10, 2012

Summer squash napoleon with potato, tomato and pea shoots

I'm pretty proud of how tonight's dinner came out. First of all, it's entirely my own creation. We had yellow Summer squash, tomatoes and potatoes to use up from last week's CSA share. Tick, tock, another share is coming tomorrow!

I had some pea shoots from Trader Joes to use up, too. I figured that I must be able to make something from these ingredients.

This is one of those recipes where it's helpful to prepare some steps ahead of time. Especially if one has a 10 month old baby crawling around. The potatoes can be boiled, sliced and marinated in a mixture of honey Dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar. The tomatoes can be sliced and set aside.

For the sauce, I reduced a mixture of balsamic vinegar and honey. Once it appeared thicker I took it off the heat. It thickens more as it cools.

For the squash pancakes, I grated the squash into a big bowl. I added 2 minced cloves of garlic, added 2 eggs, beaten, 1/4 cup of flour, some breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Mix it all together and heat oil in a cast iron skillet. I dropped large spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot skillet and cooked the pancakes until browned slightly. Cool them on paper towels.

I sautéed the pea shoots in a little oil with mince garlic until they wilted slightly.

For assembly, I drizzled a little sauce onto a plate and placed one pancake on top. A slice of tomato topped that, followed by a slice of potato. I topped that with a little bundle of pea shoots and started over with the pancake, tomato and potato again. Topped with more pea shoots and a drizzle of the sauce. The different flavors and textures worked well together and the sweet and sour sauce really pulled it all together.

The only way that I can possibly make a meal like this is to start what I can ahead of time and cook after Mike puts Emily to bed! Yay for parental teamwork! "Yay",incidentally, is Em's new word. Thankfully, she has an early bedtime and, lately, is a sound sleeper. It's all good.

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