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Chicken Spinach Salad with Butternut Squash

By

Recipe by The Roasted Root, shared by My Saratoga Kitchen Table

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the Vinaigrette:

  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 3 Tablespoons cider vinegar*
  • 1 Tablespoon honey*
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the chicken and butternut squash:

  • 1 pound boneless chicken tenders or breasts*
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 2 cups butternut squash*, peeled and chopped
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Salad:

  • 5 ounces of fresh baby spinach*
  • ½ cup raw pecan halves
  • ¼ cup golden raisins
  • 1 large green apple*, cored and sliced

Instructions

  1. For the vinaigrette: Whisk all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a small bowl until smooth.
  2. For the chicken and butternut squash: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.Place chicken in a casserole dish. Drizzle with 1 Tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with oregano, and paprika. Place the squash on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 teaspoons olive oil and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Roast the squash and chicken in the oven for 25 minutes or until the squash is tender and golden brown. Continue to cook the chicken until cooked through.
  3. For the Salad: Place spinach in a bowl or on individual plates. Top with pecans, raisins, squash, chicken, and apples. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad.

 

*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

New farmer provides eggs and more

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By Himanee Gupta

 

In the Christian Bible, Jireh is a referent to “God provides.” In the Bible, Abraham describes a place as Jehovah Jireh, where it states that the “Lord will provide.”

Lou Russell worked for more than four decades in supply chain management. He spent 32 of those years in the Navy. In civilian life, he has worked with a pharmaceutical firm, Global Foundries, and Kellogg. Now, with his farm Jireh Organic Farms & Livestock, his goal also is to provide.

Jireh Farm at High Rock Park

Lou started his farm in 2021. Now, as one of the Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s newer vendors, he sells eggs and chicken raised on his 26-acre farm in Galway and a site he owns in Fultonville. His philosophy is rooted in self-sufficiency, regenerative agricultural practices, and face-to-face interactions.

“As I think about what a farming community is, I think of it as a way that people look after each other, help one another out.”

Feeding the chickens, Jireh Farm

Working with supply chains helped him understand the importance of efficiency within corporate food and other systems and the danger of what might result if the chain broke down. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as shortages of food and such basic essential items as toilet paper in grocery stores occurred, he decided to move forward.

Lou bought his land, established a flock of chickens, and began selling eggs out of a cooler. Neighbors and others purchased the items on an honor system. When he joined the Saratoga Farmers Market last spring, he did so in a quiet way. He set up a simple stall consisting of a table, banner, informational materials, and a cooler filled with eggs. People found him, bought his eggs, and came back.

Angus crosses, Jireh Farm

Lou lives at his farm with two dogs, a few cats, his flock of chickens, and a herd of cows. The herd began with two Angus crosses that he purchased in 2021. One of them soon produced a calf, said Lou, adding, “I was so green I didn’t even realize she was pregnant.” The calf turned out to be a male. He bought two more Angus crosses last spring, one of which came with a calf. The other one produced a calf a few months later, giving him a herd of seven, and plans to offer beef to Saratoga marketgoers sometime in mid-2023.

 

**Unfortunately, Lou will not be at this week’s 11/12/22 Saturday market but he will be there every following week through April.

 

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market will be open on Saturdays from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. from November through April. The market is held in the Wilton Mall Food Court, accessible from the TrustCo mall entrance, across from BJs, or the mall interior. Find us online at www.saratogafarmersmarket.org, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

 

Yogurt-Marinated Chicken with a Summer Vegetable and Kamut Salad

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Recipe by Marisa Kerkvliet of lemonthymekitchen.com

Prep Time: 35 minutes, plus four hours of marinating time 

Cook Time: 1 hour 

Servings: 4 servings 

Ingredients:

*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

 

For the chicken: 

1 cup plain Greek yogurt * 

½ lemon, juiced 

2 cloves garlic* 

1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves* 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast* 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

 

For the salad:

1 cup kamut 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

1-pint cherry tomatoes*, cut in half

1 small cucumber*, thinly sliced

½ red bell pepper*, thinly sliced

½ green bell pepper*, thinly sliced

½ small red onion*, thinly sliced

½ cup crumbled feta cheese* 

¼ cup chopped fresh dill* 

 

For the vinaigrette:

1 lemon, juiced 

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 

½ teaspoon kosher salt 

1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves*, minced

1 clove garlic*, minced 

1 teaspoon honey*

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 

Savoring the flavors of summer

By

By Marisa Kerkvliet

 

Let’s celebrate the flavors of the end of summer with a recipe packed with herbs, peppers, and tomatoes. Chicken can be cooked on the stovetop on cooler days or on the grill for some of your last outdoor entertaining.

Kamut is an ancient grain and is closely related to wheat. It has a hearty toothsome texture and holds up very well in salads. If you have trouble finding kamut, spelt, farro, or wheat berries may be used.

Marisa Kerkvliet is a freelance recipe developer and food photographer with a background in Nutrition and Culinary Arts. Her recipes are centered around seasonal ingredients for the whole family to enjoy. She can be found on Instagram @lemon.thyme.kitchen.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. at High Rock Park. Find us online at www.saratogafarmersmarket.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Beneath a Small Farm Lies a Big Dream

By

By Himanee Gupta

 

Bursts of tiny pink, white, and blue hepatica wildflowers signify spring.

For Arthur Kraamwinkel and Melanie Seserman, spring is their farm, Hepatica Farm, a new Saratoga Farmers’ Market vendor. Kraamwinkel and Seserman are in their 50s; the farm is a vision they plan to build in what they call their “third spring” – after earlier careers, after children became adults.

They raise chickens and turkeys on land in Greenwich protected by a conservation easement. The chicken meat they bring each week to market is certified organic, as are the grains the birds eat and the pastures where they roam. The turkey they’ll offer during the holiday season is being produced in a similar way.

This is only the beginning.

“We are trying to make a biodynamic farm,” Seserman says. “In a biodynamic farm, everything is harmonious. So you don’t just have one product.”

“Right now, we have chickens because chickens are a way that you can bring money into your farm and start to build infrastructure.”

As the infrastructure is built, they plan to raise pigs, then cows, and perhaps goats as well as sheep.

The cows eat grass, and the milk from the cows with the fat skimmed off feeds the pigs. Manure from all animals helps nourish the fields, making way for beneficial flowers, grasses, bees, butterflies, and other living beings to thrive.

“It’s about more than raising all these different animals for meat to make money,” Seserman says. “We have a vision. It’s a little ecosystem we’re creating.”

As we talked, Kraamwinkel drove us up the hills to where the chickens and turkeys are pastured. We stepped over low electrified fencing and greeted the birds.

“Why, hello,” Seserman exclaimed. The chickens clucked in excitement.

The birds reside in several large, airy, open coops. They run about, feast on organic grains and water, and forage in lush grasses below them. 

Each day Kraamwinkel hitches each coop to a tractor and moves them to fresh grass. This practice gives them clean grasses daily and helps the full pasture get the beneficial effects of foraging.

The couple sells their meat at farmers’ markets and small farm stores. They also make it available to those who are food insecure through Capital Roots and the Saratoga Farmers’ Market contributions to the Franklin Community Center and Comfort Food Community. 

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. at High Rock Park in downtown Saratoga Springs. Find us online at saratogafarmersmarket.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Chicken Spinach Salad with Butternut Squash

By

Recipe by The Roasted Root, shared by My Saratoga Kitchen Table

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the Vinaigrette:

  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 3 Tablespoons cider vinegar*
  • 1 Tablespoon maple syrup*
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the chicken and butternut squash:

  • 1 pound boneless chicken tenders or breasts*
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 2 cups butternut squash*, peeled and chopped
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Salad:

  • 5 ounces of fresh baby spinach*
  • ½ cup raw pecan halves
  • ¼ cup golden raisins
  • 1 large green apple*, cored and sliced

Instructions

  1. For the vinaigrette: Whisk all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a small bowl until smooth.
  2. For the chicken and butternut squash: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.Place chicken in a casserole dish. Drizzle with 1 Tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle with oregano, and paprika. Place the squash on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 teaspoons olive oil and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Roast the squash and chicken in the oven for 25 minutes or until the squash is tender and golden brown. Continue to cook the chicken until cooked through.
  3. For the Salad: Place spinach in a bowl or on individual plates. Top with pecans, raisins, squash, chicken, and apples. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad.

*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market