A Local Organic Farm Providing REAL Food
There are a million ways to make homemade pizza. We’ve made many and through this enjoyable experimentation, we’ve landed on what works for our family. Below is the outline of how we make our own pies, but feel free to change it up to work …
We thank our favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen, for this fabulous recipe. It’s a delicious pastry filled with summer’s best ingredients – sweet cherry tomatoes, sweet corn and summer squash. A galette needs a rolled out pastry, but this dough is easy to work and …
If you’ve read any of our recipes here in the Farm Kitchen, you know we’re trying to make things easy but also authentic and delicious. In our search for a real taco with incredible flavor, this is our method.
This recipe produces tender, flavor infused braised chicken that’s perfect for folding into a taco or topping a southwestern inspired salad. It’s a great way to use all the fresh toppings of summer – tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro. And, when we have it available, Bushel & Pecks fermented Curtido – the absolute perfect topping.
We make our own flour and corn tortillas. We recommend Bob’s Red Mill organic Masa Harina if you want to give corn tortillas a try. We recently added a cast iron tortilla press to our kitchen and we give it a very enthusiastic thumbs up! Making torts is now a bit faster and easier.
Start with the Chicken
2 – BBF whole chickens, preferably small size or 1 regular size, frozen or thawed
1 pint favorite Salsa
2 peppers, large dice
1 medium onion, large dice
3 cloves garlic, preferably smashed or finely diced
Salt, pepper
We use a crock pot to braise the chicken, but you can use your oven or an Instant Pot, if preferred. Heat one pint salsa with 1 quart water until just simmering. Add to preheated crock pot. Add peppers, onions, garlic, 1-2 tsps salt and several grinds of fresh pepper.
Add chicken(s) and additional water if necessary to cover birds 3/4 of the way up. We’ve made this recipe with thawed or frozen chicken. If thawed, remove the liver. You can leave the neck and heart in the pot to cook with the chicken. If you’re using frozen, it won’t bother anything to braise the chickens with the giblets inside the bird cavity.
Cover and allow to cook for 2-3 hours or until the birds are fully cooked and tender but not falling apart. If you can catch the chicken before it’s completely falling apart, it makes picking the meat easier.
Once the birds are cooked, remove and allow to cool long enough so you can pick the meat. Place meat in a pan and ladle a bit of broth from the crock pot over the meat. Taste for seasoning and add salt, if necessary.
Leftover Broth Tip: The broth created from braising the chickens is delicious! Use for making soup, cooking rice, topping a creamy bowl of polenta or freeze for using in another braised chicken recipe.
Assembling the Taco or a Salad
Prepare all your favorite toppings and have flour or corn tortillas warmed and ready if you’re making tacos. If you’re making a salad, have your salad greens ready. Your braised chicken will be delicious any way you use it.
Diced Onion
Sliced Avocado or Guacamole
Greens – Swiss Chard, Lettuce, finely sliced
Pickled Jalapenos
Salsa
Sour Cream
Fresh Cilantro
Fresh Lime
Curtido – delicious raw ferment native to South America
Right when our fresh tomatoes are ripening by the arm loads, we’re in mid-season, busy as ever growing and selling. How do we have any time to preserve food? It’s actually such a high priority for our family, we make the time. Preserving tomatoes is …
This recipe was born out of necessity many years ago. The girls were young, our lives were so busy, but we wanted to eat delicious homemade food. Making our own pasta sauce with all our beautiful tomatoes was a no-brainer. But, all the time needed …
This recipe is great for using lots of vegetables from the garden. You could certainly include carrots, kohlrabi, finely diced cabbage, swiss chard, kale and more in the stuffing.
4-6 Sweet Peppers, cut in half, seeded
1 lb BBF Ground Meat – Breakfast Sausage, Ground Pork, Italian Sausage or Ground Beef
1 medium onion, finely diced
Zucchini, finely diced, about 1.5 cups
Garlic, finely diced or smashed into paste
Tomato, finely diced, about 1.5 cups
Balsamic Vinegar
Fresh Herbs – flat leaf parsley, oregano, thyme, basil or some combination
Rice, cooked, about 2 cups
Cheese – Feta, Parmesan or other favorite
Place peppers on roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil and rub peppers to coat well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in 400 degree oven and roast for 15-20 minutes. The peppers will become incredibly sweet and delicious after roasting!
In large skillet, saute ground meat of your choice breaking it up as it cooks so you have a fine crumble. Once almost cooked through, add diced onion and zucchini. Saute until veggies are tender and beginning to brown. Add garlic and saute for a minute or two. Add diced tomatoes and cook until tomatoes break down a little bit. Add a few dashes of balsamic vinegar and salt/pepper, if needed. Sausage will add some salt to your dish so be sure to sample before adding salt. Add any fresh herbs at this point – chopped flat leaf parsley, oregano, thyme and basil work well.
Add cooked rice and stir well.
Peppers will be roasted and waiting to be stuffed at this point. Spoon mixture into peppers and pop back into the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and top with your favorite cheese. We’ve used Feta, our favorite McCluskey flavor –Moinear Cais and Parmesan – just about anything works.
Serve with a few slices of sweet summer tomatoes and a green salad.
These hot summer days call for an ice cold glass of real lemonade. Not something made from a powder. Real lemons. Real local honey. Pure old fashioned lemonade goodness. Here’s how it goes: 4 organic lemons 1 T organic sugar 1 qt. water 4 T …
Inspired by a recipe from our favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen, here is a quick and easy fresh pickle that tastes delicious. We’ve tweaked the recipe just a little by adding garlic and/or garlic scapes for an extra kick. Fresh Cucumbers Sea Salt White vinegar …
2 teaspoons butter
1 cup organic pecan halves
1 tablespoon brown sugar OR pure maple syrup
Pinch of cayenne (optional)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup organic olive oil
2 medium firm, crisp organic apples, quartered, cored, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage, leaves and ribs are fine
Melt butter over medium-high heat and add pecans, stir 1 minute. Add sweetener of choice and cayenne; stir until nuts are coated, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Whisk both vinegars and mustard in small bowl. Gradually whisk in olive oil. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Toss apples with lemon juice in large bowl. Add cabbage and mix. Add dressing and toss. Stir in pecans and season salad with salt and pepper.
Optional toppings: Sharp cheeses such as blue or cheddar, sunflower meats, dried fruit, roasted beets.
Lucy is an excellent cook and has a wonderful way of taking what is available seasonally and turning it into something so delicious. This recipe will help you make use of the beautiful beet greens attached to the roots. They’re just too good to waste. …
This recipe was shared way back during our 2015 CSA season. It’s worth repeating because it’s so delicious. We make this often in the spring with the pretty red radishes and in the fall when we harvest daikon. It is definitely a keeper and one …
Brian created this recipe in just a few minutes using fresh dill and garlic scapes. Delicious! Not too heavy and very fresh tasting. Use it for a salad dressing, veggie dip or savory sauce. Excellent on a seasoned lamb burger.
1 – 16 oz container organic sour cream
1 or 2 green onions, coarsely chopped
3 or 4 garlic scapes, coarsely chopped
¼ cup coarsely chopped dill
2 T organic Organic Roots Olive Oil
1 T organic Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Combine onions, garlic scapes, dill, olive oil, vinegar and 2 T sour cream in food processor OR in deep bowl. Whirl up ingredients in food processor or use your stick blender and blend until finely chopped.
Add remaining sour cream and stir to combine. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Better the next day after flavors infuse the sour cream.