Pressed Chicken with Squash & Tomatoes

One thing I was taught about making burgers was never to press on them while they're grilling. Pressing them squeezes all of the juices out into the grill and makes the burgers tough and dry. But now I'm attempting a recipe that does just that: presses meat to release its juices. The only difference is that this time I'm putting those juices to work.


This recipe comes from Gourmet Magazine. The main idea is that you press your bone-in chicken while it cooks with either a heavy skillet or a brick. This makes all of the chicken's juices go into the pan, so you can use them to make your sauce, which in this case consists of yellow squash, tomatoes, garlic, and marjoram. I was quite pleased with this dish. The chicken came out moist, especially with the nicely chunk tomato-squash sauce. The flavors were simple, but robust nonetheless.

On the side you can see some okra that has been steamed, then sauteed with ginger and green onion. Before making this, I thought okra was only used in gumbo and fried, but there's a lot to be said for this whimsical-looking vegetable. Also on the side is a potato salad with a Dijon mustard base with sliced radishes, onion and sugar snap peas. All of these vegetables came directly from my local neighborhood CSA, and both sides were different spins on the usual fare.