Farmer's Market Dinner

Yesterday my husband and I had a wonderful morning at the Mill City Farmer’s Market. I was asked to shop the market and create a simple meal from what we purchase. We meandered the aisles, chatting with vendors about the mushrooms in season, the best bundle of beets and how to create the perfect sourdough bread. We spent a couple hours taking it all in, stopping for breakfast to mull over meal ideas and finally filled our basket to the brim with stunning produce.

That evening, I could hardly wait to cook what we had bought. I wanted to create one meal where every bit of what we purchased was used, from the leaf to the root. Below is a perfectly crispy skinned chicken (inspired by Bonapetit’s crispy chicken thighs recipe) with carrot top gremolata, sweet and earthy carrots and golden beets with dill, and lemony beet greens. It’s a perfect meal to enjoy the peek summer harvest.

Crispy Skinned Chicken with Carrot Top Gremolata, Carrots and Golden Beets with Dill, and Sautéed Beet Greens

1.5 lbs. Sunshine Harvest Farm chicken leg quarters, de-thawed (2 quarters)

1 bunch Burning River Farm golden beets, with leaves

1 bunch Burning River Farm carrots, with tops

1 bunch of dill

1 small lemon

Salt and pepper

Red pepper flakes

Olive Oil

1 tbs. butter

Carrot Top Gremolata

1. Cut carrots off of stems. Cut off the last 3-4 inches of stem and discard, keeping the tops. Wash carrots and carrot tops thoroughly. Set carrots aside.

2. Take your carrot tops and finely chop them. You should have around 1 cup of tops.

3. Peel two strips off your lemon, and finely chop them.

4. Combine carrot tops, lemon peel, a 1/4 c. olive oil, a pinch of red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste.

5. Let sit in the fridge so the flavors marry while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Crispy Skin Chicken and Sautéed Beet Greens

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cut beets and leaves off of the stem, and discard stems. Wash beets and beet greens thoroughly. Set aside.

3. Pat chicken dry with a paper towel, season generously on all sides with salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.

4. Drizzle 1-2 tbs. olive oil into a cast iron skillet and set on a cold burner. Place the chicken leg quarters in the skillet, skin side down.

5. Turn burner onto high. As soon as the chicken sizzles, cook on high for two minutes.

6. Drop the heat to med-low and cook without touching an additional 12 minutes.

7. Place chicken in oven for 12 minutes more.

8. Flip the chicken over and cook an additional 8-10 minutes, until the chicken’s internal temperature is at least 160 degrees.

9. Remove chicken from the skillet to a plate. Return the skillet to the stove over medium heat. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the pan, scrapping up any brown bits left from the chicken. Add beet greens, salt and pepper to taste and cook until wilted and tender, 8-10 minutes.

Carrots and Golden Beets with Dill

1. While the chicken cooks, bring 4 quarts of well salted water to a boil. Add beets and boil 22 minutes. Add carrots and boil 8 minutes more.

2. Pour beets and carrot into strainer, and rinse them with cold water. Remove the beet skins. You can remove the carrot skins as well, or leave them on.

3. Cut beets in half, add beets and carrots to a bowl and top with 1 Tbs. butter, salt and pepper to taste. Gently shake the bowl to coat the carrots and beets in butter, salt and pepper.

4. Garnish with 2-3 Tbs. chopped fresh dill.