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.
O-M-G!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! It is blogs like this that make it so much easier to eat better. This dish was so delicious!!! Such a medley of flavors perfectly married by the zesty lemon vinaigrette. I had this for dinner last night and I was super happy when I tasted the end result. Bravoooo keep em coming! BTW typing this as I sip on one of your green smoothies… ummmm, yumm :)
Wow. I cook a lot of new recipes from Pinterest, and this is the first time that something has been just THAT good that I HAD to post a comment and tell you how delicious it is! Thanks!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was SO.GOOD!! This was my first time making quinoa and I was happily surprised at how good this was. I used mushrooms, zuchinni and tomatoes since I didn’t have corn. Ah-ma-zing. Great job :)
WOW! I added some sliced kale that I was gifted at the farmer’s market since there was so much leftover late in the day and this is an incredible way to utilize all the delicious flavors and produce the Iowa markets offer this time of year! Thank you!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and I plan on making it tomorrow night for dinner. From the looks of this, I’m going to be subscribing to your blog now!
Holy smokes this is good!
First of all… I absolutely love your honey lemon vinaigrette! I cut the honey back a little because of diabetes. I will definitely be making it again.
Secondly, I made this as a salad. As recommended, I cooked and cooled the veggies separately and tossed everything together at the end. I let it sit for an hour before I ate. I have another bowl in the fridge for tomorrow. I’m curious to see if the extra sitting time makes it even yummier.
I had fresh tomatoes and corn from the farmer’s stand. A yellow zucchini, chives and basil came from my own garden. Since I had chives rather than green onions I used them raw/fresh at the end with the tomato instead of sauteing them with the others. Also, I had just bought a small brick of feta from a local cheese factory for the first time. YUMMERS! So, when I read your recipe I had everything already! Fate and extremely good luck!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful dish. (and the salad option!)
This was heavenly! I making it for my family again this week!
This is the best recipe I’ve made all year! Extremely healthy and filling. This recipe has definitely made my favorites list.
This was AMAZING!!! Thanks for the recipe.
I love your blog. Your recipes are healthy, flavorful, and easy to make. I just made this recipe in under 30 minutes and it tastes awesome! I look forward to more recipes :)
I put the veggies on a grill brushed with a olive oil/red pepper oil (I soaked red pepper flakes & garlic in olive oil). It gave a great smokey flavor.
Looking forward to making this for dinner tonight :) We’ve got almost everything in the pantry already…just have to pick up the veggies!
One random suggestion that I just noticed: I don’t see anywhere on the “Recipes” page where you can just look at vegetarian recipes as a separate category. It may be on here and I’m not seeing it, but I looked a couple of places and couldn’t find. It would be super helpful to have a Vegetarian category for those nights when I want to go meat-free :)
Made this tonight with spring produce. Asparagus and peas. I t was delicious and quick. We belong to a CSA, so every week we get produce that we have to use up. This recipe will be great for tha\at.