Sunday, May 29, 2011

Farmers market dinner

Sauteed scapes with spring garlic, roasted Tomato, and pickled onion

Baby spinach salad with sunflower shoots and portabella mushrooms & pickled onions tossed with shredded feta cheese & balsamic vinaigrette dressing

Roasted chicken stuffed with sauteed scallions, parsley spring garlic.

(Not in picture but also enjoyed - rustic sourdough rolls and an assortment of homemade chocolates)

What a great day to kick off the outdoor farmers market season! There were so many goodies to be tasted and purchased and of course talking to the local farmers and vendors! At the market I picked up some fresh sunflower shoots from little seed gardens as well as some baby spinach. Another farmer had spring garlic, as well as these baby shallots and some yummy red onions. There was a Greek guy selling EVOO but I have so much olive oil already, his Greek oregano caught my nose and smelled so good I bought a baggie of that. On my way out by I found real fresh chickens slaughtered less than 24 hours ago, what a score I never got to cook with such fresh chicken before USDA says they must be frozen within 24 hours so almost all chicken has been previously frozen at least once.














Chicken
While the bread was rising I prepped the chicken, first by brining it for a few hours in a solution of hot sauce, sugar, and tons of salt. While the chicken was brining I sautéed in olive oil some of the local shallots, spring garlic, salt, cumin, quite a bit of that greek oregano, and some parsley. After it was cooked up I added more parsley some basil and set it aside to cool. After a few hours I took the chicken out of the brine and put it on a wire rack, loosened as much of the skin as I could, and stuffed it padded it dry I wanted the skin as dry as possible to get it nice and crispy, I also lightly seasoned the outside of the chicken. Once ready to cook put in a 425 degree oven for 20 mins, then turn breast side up and cook at 350 for about 2 hours until done (165ish) 90 minutes into baking I took the chicken out, basted it and poured some olive oil over the skin J

Baby Spinach salad
This local salad just had sunflower shoots, baby spinach, a sliced portabella mushroom with some shredded feta cheese. I made a dressing using Italian evoo and balsamic vinegar, some of the spring garlic, Cajun mustard, greek oregano, feta cheese (yes), salt and pepper. I wanted some color in the dish so I pickled a red onion in a simple pickling solution for a couple hours. Right before serving the whole thing gets tossed together and mmmmmmmmmm good!





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