Disclaimer (and small tangent): I'm not biased against people who don't like bacon. I just don't understand it. I've met only one person in my life who honestly did not like the taste of bacon (and she was obviouslywrong). I've met several people who don't eat bacon for various religious, cultural, or health reasons. That doesn't mean they don't love it... they just don't know they love it.
That post lead to this comment from my friend Robb: "Don't know if you've seen this recipe, Shelley. Its really good and has bacon in it. http://db.tt/Ip7rsWOr"
And so it began... my obsession with this recipe. I read it and thought it sounded delicious. I planned on trying it soon because a) I already stated that it sounded delicious--I shouldn't have to say it again, and b) it combines chicken, bacon, and an iron skillet--three of my favorite things. Then I realized that I was thinking and talking about this recipe like it was a vacation destination. The more I talked about it and looked over the recipe, the more I wanted to make it--right now. How could I not want to make it with this opening description?
"Named for the 'peasant' dish of layered potatoes encased in bacon, this dish was a favorite of grape pickers in France's Burgundy region." Potatoes encased in bacon?? ENCASED in bacon.
Oh.my.goodness.
Finally, I made it to the store to get some leeks and Gruyere cheese so you, my dearest of dear blog-reader, get to travel on the delicious adventure with me.
In the spotlight: Grape Pickers Skillet with Chicken
I will repeat that I'm not a great blogger or a great photographer. In fact, I did not take any pictures of the making of the meal... only one of the final product. I must have gotten too excited to grab the camera. For pictures of the process, you could follow the link that Robb posted (above). I found the picture of how to position the bacon especially helpful.
Side note: Don't be intimidated by new ingredients. I'd never used leeks or Gruyere cheese before, but I will be finding more uses for both because they are wonderful!
This makes 8 servings (for our family, it was more like 6 servings because everyone wanted a little more). Allow yourself plenty of time because it does take a little while to assemble and over an hour for the baking and the standing. It's well worth the time. Trust me. This is going in our family favorites. Bill was asking me to make it again before he was finished eating his first helping!
So here we go! Preheat your oven to 450*. Grab your 8" cast iron skillet. It might be old like mine and say No. 8 on the bottom. It might be new and I don't know what it will say. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, what the hell are you waiting for? Go get one. Now. I'll wait.
Line the skillet with 10 bacon slices. Don't use thick-cut bacon because it won't cook through. Don't use more than 10 slices because you need to position the slices in a sort of pinwheel. You've got to bunch up the ends of the bacon so they're not overlapping. (See? I told you a picture would be helpful here. Go click on that link up there.) The bacon strips will start at the center of the skillet, go across the bottom and up the side, with about a third of each strip hanging over to the outside of your skillet.
Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons minced fresh thyme over the bacon. I used to think that dried herbs were just fine... until I tried fresh. I still use a lot of dried herbs, but I use fresh whenever I can. It really does make a huge difference in flavor. If you don't have fresh thyme, I'd say about two teaspoons of dried thyme would do it. Don't sprinkle it just on the bacon. Cover the whole bottom of the skillet.
Slice up about 3 Yukon gold potatoes. Make them thin, but not paper-thin. I used the "2" setting on my mandolin slicer and it was perfect, but I probably could have gotten away with the "3" setting. Layer those potatoes over the bacon and thyme. Don't get crazy about it, but make that layer as even as possible. Grate up 1/4 cup Gruyere cheese and sprinkle it over the potatoes. Gruyere is a smoky Swiss cheese, but it doesn't taste like the Swiss cheese we all know around here. If you live in Chillicothe, you can find Gruyere in the deli section at Kroger on Bridge Street. If you can't find Gruyere, I would say a smoky sharp Cheddar cheese would be a good stand in.
Season the skillet with however much salt and pepper you like. I didn't use much salt at all, but went a little heavier on the pepper because we like it. Now take about 1-1/2 cups of cooked shredded chicken (see my tangent about that below) and spread it around your skillet. Put another 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere on there. You're about halfway done!
Clean up 3 leeks by cutting off the green tops and rinsing any sand out/off. Cut off the root part and slice up the whites. I used my mandolin again, on the same setting I used for the potatoes, and put all three leeks standing up in the holder at once. Layer those leeks, 2-3 minced garlic cloves, 3 more sliced potatoes, salt and pepper to your liking, and a final 1/4 cup Gruyere into the skillet. You should now have a pretty full skillet!
Fold the hanging parts of the bacon to the center of the skillet. Again, don't let them overlap. You'll have to bunch up the ends so they're touching, but not overlapping. At this point, I just realized that the recipe tells you to cook it on the stovetop for about 10 minutes. I didn't do that part and mine was cooked through, top to bottom. Some bits were even stuck to the bottom of the skillet, so I probably would skip this when I make it again, too.
Cover your skillet with foil, transfer it to your preheated oven, and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and roast, uncovered, another 30 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven to a cooling rack or trivet and let it stand for 10 minutes. Drain the drippings and run a knife around the edge of your skillet. You can serve it from the skillet (preferred) or turn it out onto a platter. Be warned, though, some of the bacon and other yummy goodness sticks to the bottom of the skillet, so you'll miss out on that if you flip it out. I cut it into wedges, which kind of worked for us to gauge portions (mostly for my carb-counting), but don't expect it to stay in wedge form on the plates. If you don't have to be picky about portion control, you could serve it casserole-style with a spoon.
If Emeril was here, I know he would say BAM!!
Surprisingly, one-eighth of this meal-in-one-pan has only 386 calories, 24 g fat (9g saturated fat) (damn you, delicious bacon), 62 mg cholesterol, 417mg sodium (ugh. I'll skip the extra salt next time), 22g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, and 19g protein. I served it with a mixed-greens salad.
I'm amazed at how flavorful this is without any more seasoning than it has. It's melt-in-your-mouth, craving-in-the-middle-of-the-night, family-favorite, share-the-recipe-not-the-leftovers goooooood!
Extra tangent about the chicken: I went to Sam's Club yesterday and bought two whole chickens for just under $8. I put one in the freezer and cooked one for 30 minutes (no seasoning at all) in the microwave using my Deep Covered Baker. From that one chicken, I got two 1-1/2 cup freezer bags of shredded chicken (one for this Grape Pickers Skillet and one for my freezer so I can make it again). I also got an extra cup of shredded chicken that I'm going to use for Chicken Pesto & Tomato Flatbread later this week. That's THREE meals worth of chicken for about $4 and 45 minutes worth of time. Amazing.
Also, I wanted to give a Diabeetus update: I went to the doctor this week. My A1C is amazingly low at 6.5 (not in the normal range, but well below where the doctor and I expected it to be). My blood glucose levels have ranged from 85 to 290 in the past few weeks and I haven't felt very well because of it. I'm still learning to keep things on an even keel. *sigh* The doctor suggested going back to the way I was eating when I originally was diagnosed because it seemed like things were more regulated for me that way. That means 5-6 small meals per day. Do you know how hard that is?? I have been doing it, though, for the past week-ish and I have been feeling better. *bigger sigh* Am I too old to whine? I will still take my occasional "diabetic holidays" where I eat a regular meal without thinking of carbs or sugar, which are a luxury that I have because I have Type 2 instead of Type 1. If you don't know the difference between the two, I suggest looking it up just to discover the basics. For most people, Type 2 Diabetes is avoidable. For me, the doctors seem to be baffled about what caused it. Luckily, I live in this information age where I can research, plan, and learn as much as I want. There is no cure (not matter what Halle Berry, Biggest Loser, or anyone else says), but there certainly is control. :)
