Springtime Adventures in Local Dining
By Christina Whiteus 
May 27, 2010 
19 Comments
May 12th kicked off Green City’s first outdoor farmer’s market of 2010. Haunted as I was by ghosts of fresh ingredients past, it wasn’t long before I was propelled into the crowds of Saturday shoppers in search of a seasonal meal. The Green City Market is perhaps Chicago’s most famous farmer’s market. Inspired by local food markets in Europe, the chef and founder of Green City, Abby Mandel, decided to organize one in her own city. Green City Market supports local farmers who use sustainable methods by connecting them directly to urban Chicago customers and to restaurateurs. During the warm months the market opens outdoors in the south end of Lincoln Park and when the weather turns cold, the vendors move into the Peggy Nortebaert Nature Museum.
For those accustomed to the variety of the grocery store, the selection of foods at a farmer’s market can at first seem a bit paltry. In May, Midwestern farms are harvesting a limited set of produce: asparagus, rhubarb, spinach, and a few other greens like chard and mustard leaf. Stalls piled high with these seasonal vegetables are interspersed with vendors selling grass-fed beef, organic pork loins and ribs, and free-range chickens and their eggs. There are several nurseries selling pan-seasonal herbs and lovely collections of begonias, lilies, and daisies. A sprinkling of stalls feature artisanal cheeses or hawk freshly made smoothies and crepes. Snacking on delicious honey crisp apples, my boyfriend and I scoured the market in pursuit of our goal to create an (almost) entirely local Midwest meal.
We collected the followings items:
- 1 whole organic free-range chicken (5 lbs!)
- 1 head of spinach
- 1 lb. of asparagus
- 1 lb. of rhubarb
Along with a few ingredients from the grocery: butter, salt, brown and white sugar, oats, and lemons, as well as herbs from our window herb garden, we were ready to get started.
The resulting menu description would read:
Mature Illinois spinach with olive oil balsamic vinaigrette and chevre
Organic rosemary and thyme roasted chicken served with fresh asparagus
Baked rhubarb and pecan-oat crisp
At home, we immediately put the chicken in the sink, where it took its sweet time defrosting. A few hours later, it could be disemboweled and using paper towels, we patted it dry, inside and out. Next the chicken needed to be trussed to keep the legs and wings close and ensure more even cooking. I’ll be honest, trussing a chicken goes well beyond my culinary skills (I almost burned my apartment building down the day before making popcorn), but my boyfriend, with a little help of unscented dental floss, was able to do it in no time. Next we applied salt and pepper and our main course was ready to pop in the oven (450 degrees for an hour).
In the meantime we enjoyed a strawberry-lemon cocktail and cleaned the spinach and asparagus. At O minus 10 minutes, the chicken was giving off a delectable aroma and it was time to prepare the sides. The asparagus was snapped at its breaking point and steamed for a few minutes and the spinach was ripped into bite-size pieces, topped with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a little creamy Basque sheep cheese.
When the chicken came out, we used a brush to baste it in its juices and massaged a half tablespoon each of chopped rosemary and thyme into the chicken’s beautifully browned skin. After it was allowed to cool for 15 minutes, it was time to dig in.
The result was mouthwatering. Literally. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about that meal. The chicken was tender, juicy, and rich. The skin was crispy without being fatty. In their 15 minute debut, the rosemary and thyme had permeated not only the skin but the meat of the chicken. The flavor had more depth and complexity than I have ever tasted in chicken. It’s hard to imagine that this was made from the same animal that provides the ubiquitous breast at the grocery and comprises the nugget at the fast food counter. Why the difference in taste? One possibility is that cooking a chicken as a whole allows its own fats and juices to creep through the meat. To test this theory, we recreated our recipe the following weekend, only this time using a grocery store bought, non-organic chicken. Chicken number two was much tastier than a pre-cut piece of meat, but it didn’t hold a candle to the farmer’s market chicken. Although substantially cheaper, the store bought chicken was blander and lacked the variety of textures and tastes in the organic chicken. Perhaps what we tasted in our first attempt was the result of a chicken that had lived a happy life, able to move around freely and eat a varied diet. Eating a chicken whole is certainly a more primal experience than the average meal. Though we had begun the meal civilly enough, with a fork and carving knife, we found ourselves at the end of the meal with greasy hands and rotund bellies sitting around the clean carcass of the chicken, feeling like the carnivores we always were.
While the chicken was certainly the star of the show, the spinach and asparagus shone in their own way. The mature spinach had an interesting taste, that was less bitter than its better known baby form and it was crunchier, crinkled, and of an appetizing deep green color. It was so flavorful that it would have been a shame to dress in anything more complex than oil and vinegar. The asparagus was tender and lovely, but truth be told, not substantially tastier than the kind you can buy at the store.
After gorging ourselves on all 5 lbs. of that lovely chicken, we decided to wait until the next morning for the rhubarb crisp. My boyfriend found a recipe on the New York Times website, created by one of our favorite chefs, Mark Bittman. Like most of Bittman’s recipes, this was quick and easy. He cut up our pound of the rhubarb into small pieces and added ¼ cup of white sugar, a tablespoon each of lemon juice and zest, all into a greased baking dish. For the crisp, he mixed up 6 tablespoons of butter, ¾ cups brown sugar, ½ cup of flour, and a little cinnamon and salt into the food processor, then added ½ cup each of oats and pecans. This was crumbled over the rhubarb mix and stuck into the oven for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.
The crisp was wonderful. The lovely red rhubarb was deliciously tart. It made your mouth feel like it was eating a bag of sourpatch kids in one chew. But the earthy sweetness of the caramelized oat and pecan perfectly balanced the taste. The rhubarb was delightfully soft and gooey, and slightly stringy and the crisp was sticky but still crunchy. We ate the entire thing in one sitting and this weekend, I begged my boyfriend to make me another.
Eating locally is certainly easier said than done, but meals like these remind you that there are more reasons than a good conscience for choosing sustainable ingredients and they all have to do with your taste buds.
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Wow, I love all the pictures in this post.
Everything looks so fresh and tasty– the beauty of farmers markets. I know what you mean about the weather too. For four years I went to Penn State’s Friday farmer’s market but they were only May until October. The rest of the year there was no market (or sunshine) in sight!
Jessie
http://www.themessiekitchen.com/
I just tried to comment but I think I deleted it somehow. I love this post! All the food looks so fresh and yummy… the beauty of farmer’s markets. I know what you mean about the weather. Four years at Penn State really cramped the farmer’s market style. It was a May-October thing, and even then, you can’t rely on the Pennsylvania weather!!
Jessie
http://www.themessiekitchen.com/
Hi Jessie!
thanks for the comments! It was picked up as spam
I think it might have been because of the link. Love the site 
I cannot wait every weekend for the farmers market. It is such a treat and, while I agree the selection is daunting if you expect to get toilet paper or watermelon in March, I love love love the seasonal fare, the grassfed meats, and the bright orange-yolk eggs. Is it Saturday yet?
Yes, and its times like these I curse myself for having chosen to live in a city where fresh local food is only available for half the year.
That’s a real tasty looking chicken you made, I might have to go for chicken no. 3 and go a little heavier on the salt next time.
Welcome summer! I love this too – especially the bright orange yolk eggs!
Yup. Those kind of obvious differences really make you think about what the animals you eat have been eating.
I know right? the weathers finally nice in NYC! Looking forward to the nice farmers market in Union Square. Hopefully some awesome stuff is in season
But this one that Christina went to in Chicago looks HUGE!!! so jealous
Happy National Hamburger Day!
Your markets haven’t opened yet? I always knew Chicago was legions ahead of the so-called Big City.
haha wel… theyre open all yr round
just limited in choices for being cold and all! dont worry NYC > chicago 
hehe jk
however i will have to admit
Chicago pizza > BY FAR greater than NYC pizza
NYC pizza can not even COMPARE to chicago pizza. o0o0o0o next adventure by Christina? deep dish chicago pizza? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
It’s always exciting to go to the farmer’s market. I never know what I’m going to come home with. Thanks for sharing your lovely meal.
I know! I keep checking out the Illinois growing seasons for what’s coming next! Peas are coming up- maybe I’ll try that split pea soup you posted about…
Farmers markets are the greatest. Everything looks wonderful and so fresh!
That rhubarb crisp looks so yummy!!
I’ll make it for you if you come and visit
I came out there twice — you owe me 2 NYC visits!
Do yall want to share an umbrella again?
Shut up, Patrick. :-p
I love your article! There are plenty of markets and farm shops in Amsterdam, but sadly Holland has horrible factory farming practices. Do I get rhubarb crisp when I come to visit?