Valley Bounty: Chicken

For those who eat meat, chicken is an all-purpose food, associated with summer barbecues and winter comfort meals alike. Roasting a whole chicken can provide several meals, including leftovers for use in chicken salad or burritos, and a soup. I’m planning a chicken pot pie variation that uses lots of winter vegetables and is topped with biscuits made with local pastry flour. Make a white sauce using milk and chicken stock to hold all the meat and vegetables together.

Valley Bounty is written by Margaret Christie

Sources:

Find CISA’s list of chicken producers here and our list of winter farmers’ markets here. Don’t forget all of the great Winter Fare activities happening at farmers’ markets over the next three weeks—find the details on workshops, bartering, and more here!

Locally grown chickens are generally available as whole birds. If you are more familiar with boneless breasts, find lots of information about how to use a whole chicken here.

Recipe:

My neighbor Jonathan Kohrman talked up this biscuit-topped variation on a chicken pot pie. He uses a recipe from the Joy of Cooking, adding a little bit of wine or vermouth along with chicken stock or broth to the white sauce. I like my pot pie heavy on the vegetables, and plan to use some combination of winter squash, sweet potato, turnip, parsnip, and celeriac, in addition to carrots and onions. I’ll probably throw in green beans or garlic scapes frozen last summer. I’ll top the meat, vegetables, and sauce with the Joy of Cooking’s buttermilk biscuits (probably subbing yogurt for the buttermilk).