Come Down to the Farm

The stunning conclusion to the Chickpeas, Butternut, and Lamb meal series will have to wait a little, because I have to share some timely information about a local gem. If you live in or around Champaign-Urbana, you need to visit Prairie Fruits Farm for their pre-market sales every Saturday (sign up to their mailing list for notifications) from 9A-12P. They started two weeks ago, on March 21, selling their cheese and yogurt, along with local baked goods, produce, eggs, and locally-produced yarn. Not only is there great food, but there are baby goats! You can also see the older ones, and some chickens, but the babies are not to be missed. Just look at them jumping around.

This previous Saturday, they expanded their offerings by adding hot food, prepared by the highly talented chef Alisa DeMarco. They had a few offerings, a frittata, an egg sandwich, and a yogurt parfait. I had one of the frittatas, featuring Blue Moon Farms spring greens, potatoes, Prairie Fruits goat cheese (Moonglo I think?), all set in a frittata made with some of the fresh eggs from Tomahnous Farm. I got some of these eggs the first week, and they were so fresh, with vibrant yolks. It was served with some toast, I’m guessing it was from Stewart Pequinot, the bagel and bread guy in Mahomet (try the egg bagels, they’re great). It was gooey, soft, and deliciously hot on an unseasonably cold Saturday morning. They also had fair trade coffee for sale.

In a splurge, brought on by long months without the farmer’s market, I picked up a little of everything. I got spinach, kale, some potato sourdough bread, some Moonglo cheese and some of the sheep yogurt. They were extremely busy this past weekend, but they still offered tastes of the cheese and yogurt. The yogurt is full-fat, and there is a thick layer of cream at the top. The taste is sour, but it’s mellowed by the sweetness of the milk and the fat content. For the health-conscious out there, keep in mind that despite the higher fat content of sheep’s milk, it also has higher nutritional value. It’s ready to be paired with berries, or flavored any way you like.

I was inspired by the frittata to do something with the spinach and some cheese. I thought a stuffed chicken breast would be a great idea.

Pre-Market Stuffed Chicken

2T olive oil
2-4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 bag Blue Moon spinach (mine was 7 1/2 oz. after picking, washing, and draining)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted

4 chicken breasts
a 2-4 ounce chunk of Moonglo cheese
kitchen twine

To prepare the stuffing:

1. Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium high heat.
2. When hot, add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds
3. Add the spinach, season with salt and pepper. Stir and toss to gently wilt the spinach, only a few minutes.
4. Add the lemon juice, stir.
5. Remove from heat, and add pine nuts to taste (eat the rest).
6. Drain any excess liquid, and allow to cool to room tempurature

To prepare the chicken:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Butterfly the chicken breasts. Here’s a tutorial if you’ve never done it before.
3. Divide the spinach stuffing into 4 portions and put some on each piece of chicken.
4. Take a chunk of the cheese and mold it into a log and place on the spinach.
5. Fold/roll the chicken up, enclosing the stuffing.
6. Tie it up with twine to help it stay together, look nice, and cook evenly. I like using the classic method.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Not all my spinach fit in my chicken, so I cut squares of the potato sourdough I got, sliced some of the cheese, and made a couple little treats for my wife and me.

Chicken Velouté sauce
I used some on-sale supermarket chicken for this, so there were some bits I had to trim (fat, bone, tendon, etc). I added the trimmings to a pot with

• 1/2 a carrot, chopped
• 1/4 of an onion, chopped
• a clove of garlic
• some parsley stems
• covered with about 3c of water

I simmered that while I was doing other things (about 30-45 minutes) to make a quick broth.

In a small sauce pan, I heated 1 1/2 T butter, tossed in 1 1/2 carrots, diced fine, 1/2 an onion, diced fine, and sauteed them slowly (no browning) for 5 minutes. Then I added about 1 1/2 T flour, stirred it in and cooked to make a very light roux. I tossed in a bay leaf, some parsley, and the broth I made. I cooked that down and then strained it. This was all about using up some of the bits that would have otherwise been thrown away.

I served mine with some quinoa (flavored with onion, garlic, parsley, and lemon) and sauteed asparagus.

I urge you join the Prairie Fruits mailing list to find out the details, and to come to the on-farm sales. It’s a great opportunity to get some great food and meet some cute animals. Maybe you’ll see me there, and maybe you’ll be inspired to come up with your own creations.

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