Farmer's Market Skillet puts fresh farmer's market finds to good use in a creamy, wholesome skillet.
I’m creating a summer’s worth of Farmer’s Market friendly recipes to keep on hand after coming home with your Farmer’s Market haul.
The first recipe in the collection is Farmer’s Market Skillet!
This protein-packed, quinoa-based dish features in-season, local produce including zucchini, sweet corn, and tomatoes, stirred together with melty feta cheese and herby, fresh basil. Plus it’s made in just one skillet!
I use what’s available to me here locally in the Midwest, but use whatever produce you’ve got available in your area to make this a Farmer’s Market friendly meal wherever you live.
Start the Farmer’s Market Skillet by cooking 1 cup quinoa in 1-3/4 cups chicken broth. You could make this dish completely vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead.
Cook the quinoa until the broth is absorbed, then fluff it with a fork, and let it cool slightly.
While the quinoa’s simmering, whip up the Honey Lemon Vinaigrette for the skillet. It adds the best light, bright flavor to the dish!
Honey, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper swirl together to create the most magnificent flavor combo. I just love it!
If you don’t feel like going to the trouble of making homemade dressing, a good olive-oil based Italian dressing would be divine as well.
Next heat 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet then add 2 cloves minced garlic and saute until golden brown, about 30 seconds.
Next, add in the veggies!
Like I said, my Farmer’s Market has a plethora of sweet corn, zucchini, and green onions, but you can use whatever is in season and available locally to you. That’s the whole point!
Add the veggies to the skillet, season liberally with salt and pepper, then saute until they’re crisp-tender, 4-5 minutes.
Next, add in the cooked and slightly cooled quinoa, then drizzle in half the Honey Lemon Vinaigrette and let that cook for about another minute.
I love the sweet-tart flavor contrast of raw lemon juice vs cooked lemon juice, so I add half now, then the other half when the skillet is off the heat.
Now add 1 chopped tomato,
(another classic Farmer’s Market find!)
and 1/2 cup feta cheese.
Finish up with 2 Tablespoons chopped basil then give everything a good stir, taste and add more salta and pepper if you need to.
Let the skillet cool for about 10 minutes, then dig on in!
Fresh and ultra flavorful! The crispy, chewy, poppy textures are too fun, while the sweet, herby, tangy flavors are totally mouthwatering.
I include a mandatory 10 minute resting period before eating this skillet, simply because it tastes so much better when it’s not piping hot. You can really pick out each individual ingredient when it’s come down a bit in temp. Enjoy enjoy!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1-3/4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small zucchini, chopped
- 2 ears sweet corn, kernels cut off the cob, ~1-1/2 cups
- 2 green onions
- salt and pepper
- 1 vine-ripened tomato, chopped
- 1/2 cup feta
- 2 Tablespoons chopped basil
For the Honey Lemon Vinaigrette:
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons honey
- 1 garlic clove, microplaned or finely minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions
- Bring chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan. Add rinsed quinoa and place a lid on top, turn the heat down to medium-low, then cook until the broth is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 25 minutes. Fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork and let cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for the Honey Lemon Vinaigrette in a jar or bowl, then shake or whisk to combine and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute until golden brown, about 30 seconds. Add zucchini, sweet corn, and green onions, season with salt and pepper, then saute until barely tender, about 4 minutes. Add cooked quinoa and half the Honey Lemon Vinaigrette, then stir and cook for 1 more minute.*
- Add remaining vinaigrette, tomatoes, feta cheese, and basil to the skillet. Stir well, taste, and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- If you want to make this a cold salad, cool cooked quinoa and veggies separately, then mix with the remaining vinaigrette, tomatoes, feta cheese, and basil, and chill completely.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
Hey Kristin. This looks scrumptious! I have made skillet dishes before and people really liked the idea when I blogged it.
I can come up with dishes on a whim but it helps if there’s a lot of food in the house. If we’re getting down to bare bones the only thing I can come up with is take out! Lol.
Have a great day
Yummmmmmm!
I want to hire you as my Chef please!!! that looks so yummy!!Cant wait to try it!
That looks wonderful and so healthy!
BTW, not sure if you and Ben ever go to any Triple A Baseball games in Iowa, but a friend of mine and I went to one in Sacramento last night. They were playing the Iowa Cubs and Iowa won. I guess the Cubs are owned by the Chicago Cubs and they are based in Des moines, Iowa. Great times!!
Kristin,
1st I’m happy to hear you’re going to be buying locally this season! 2nd, being that I’m a midwestern girl living in California (but only for 1 1/2 more weeks!) farmer’s markets here are year round. I took a cooking course last semester at the community college and we had a guest speaker come talk about a book she wrote and about buying locally/growing locally. The book she wrote is called Real Food and she basically got a group of her friends together every monday night and they prepared whatever was in season for that week and wrote a recipe for it. It’s 52 weeks of recipes.
Obviously the growing season is not 52 weeks long in the midwest, but I bet there are a ton of recipe ideas you could use from that book to help with your farmer’s market trips on Saturday mornings! Here’s the link to her website where you can purchase it and view some recipes.
http://www.placercountyrealfood.com/
Enjoy!!
Okay, okay – I will give quinoa one more try – but truthfully? – our family all kind of looked at each other and said – ummm – bitter? And yet – you always make it look so good!
And – my fave thing to do is go to the Farmer’s mkt on Saturday mornings, and then make Sunday sit down supper out of it – love buying directly from local small time guys, and the organic meats – yum.
Make sure you rinse it really well before cooking it, as there is a bitter coating on the outside of the quinoa!
I’m totally that girl too who basically only buys corn and tomatoes at the farmer’s market because I KNOW I can always eat them, but I rarely take advantage of all the other great stuff because I just don’t knowwwww what I’m going to make that week!
Our markets don’t open up until June, and I am patiently (well, trying to) waiting. I buy my quinoa at the markets, we have a great local farmer who harvests organic quinoa. I found out that during the winter months, my favorite deli carries it!
Sometimes I can throw stuff together, but I do like to have a plan beforehand! :) I’m starting to LOVE menu planning and really buying only what we need and saving money too :) You inspired me!
I really love this idea. One-skillet meals are my favorite. Plus, being able to use the bounty at the farmer’s market is awesome. My only conundrum: I have to get groceries tonight (Like, HAVE TO. we are bone dry in the cupboards, yo.) but the farmer’s market isn’t until Saturday. what to do?? :)
what gorgeous produce! the corn in particular- love it :)
I just wanted to let you know that I LOVE your blog. Thanks to you, I have become a bit obsessed by quinoa (better late, than never). The Farmer’s Market Skillet will definitely be in my future!