#EggWeek recipe: quiche

Quiche is a very versatile dish, and one that is really quite simple to make. All you need is a basic crust, good quality eggs, some milk or cream, and your favourite fillings. There are so many variations using meat, cheese, seafood, or vegetables. We like to change up the recipe seasonally, based on what we have on hand or discover at the grocery store. In fact, quiche can be a great way to clean out the fridge and use up bits of cheese and veg.

Basic Quiche
For a quick option, start with store-bought pie crust to help save time.

1 store-bought pre-baked 9″ deep dish pie shell
Your favourite filling ingredients (see notes below)
4 Yorkshire Valley Farms organic eggs
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) cream you can use light cream or (5%) or half-and-half (10%)

Filling
How much you need depends on your specific ingredient choices, but here are some suggestions…

Cheese and herb quiche: If you have nothing but some cheese and fresh herbs, you can still make a great quiche. Take 1 cup shredded melty cheese like Swiss or Gruyère and add a few teaspoons each of fresh herbs like basil, chives, thyme, maybe some savory. A pinch of nutmeg helps to elevate the flavours. Season with salt and pepper.

Mushroom quiche: 1 1/2 cups mixed sliced mushrooms, 1 cup shredded cheese such as Gruyère, 2 tsp each fresh herbs like chives and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.

Bacon and onion quiche: 4 slices cooked bacon crumbled into pieces, 1/2 cup caramelized onions, 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese, 3 tsp fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper.

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Check the preparation instructions on the pie crust and follow directions to pre-bake.

Spread your filling ingredients around the bottom of the pre-baked pie shell, distributing evenly. In a mixing bowl, whisk the cream and eggs until combined. Season egg mixture with salt and pepper, then pour egg over filling to fill pie shell and cover your ingredients.

Place quiche in oven and bake until a knife inserted near centre comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand 10+ minutes before serving. You can make quiche ahead and serve warm or at room temperature. Cooked quiche can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

If you’d like to try making your own crust, the folks at Epicurious offer a basic crust recipe as part of their mushroom shallot quiche.

 

A look back at 2015

Like many of you, with the new year just around the corner, we’re looking back at 2015 and reminding ourselves of all the excitement that this year brought. Through our website, blog, and social media channels we are fortunate to share with you recipe ideas, product news, updates from our retail partners, and news from the farm. As 2015 draws to a close, here’s a quick recap of our most popular posts across our various channels.

MOST POPULAR RECIPE IDEAS

These 112 ideas for light, healthy meals helped get the year off to a fresh start. Then came the Super Bowl recipes, and everyone was thinking wings, wings, wings. By spring, you were curious to know how to get 5 meals from 1 rotisserie chicken. Then in June, this basic frittata recipe had you ready to #getcracking. By back to school time, it was all about tips for packing healthy lunches. For Thanksgiving, this creamy leftover turkey soup caught your eye. And by the time the holidays rolled around, everyone wanted to know how to make great gravy.

Creamy leftover turkey soup

NEWS FROM THE FARM

We took you on a video tour of the Ahrens Family Farm to show you how the Ahrens family raises organic chickens and grows organic crops for Yorkshire Valley Farms.

In February, we were proud to see organic chicken farmer Nick Ahrens profiled on Faces of Farming. And then in December, organic turkey farmer Tim deWit was featured in the Financial Post, talking about why growing organically is “…one of the best decisions we made.”

LEARNING MORE ABOUT ORGANICS

Thank you to all those who took our Organics 101 quiz and earned your Organics 101 Expert certificate. You can always email your questions to info@yorkshirevalley.com or check out our FAQs page.

WHAT YOU SHARED WITH US

Your comments, questions and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts kept us inspired. We can’t wait to see what you will create in 2016!

Images shared by our #FarmFans, including AmandaLird, ptbo_skeptic, FromSalWithLove, Schenker_J, SteveHancock, KennedyCatering, TrevorLui

From the Yorkshire Valley Farms family to all of our #FarmFans, we wish you all a very happy and healthy 2016!

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Culinary Showdown

Chef Lynn Crawford and last year’s Culinary Showdown winners.

Yorkshire Valley Farms is proud to be part of this year’s KitchenAid Cook for the Cure Culinary Showdown event, organized by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. On November 14th, the top fundraisers will gather with their Celebrity Chef Team Leaders to cook up delicious menus for the judges, all to raise funds for important research that is working towards a future without breast cancer. We spoke with the team at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation to learn more about the research they are supporting, to hear some inspiring fundraising stories, and to get a sneak peek as to what’s in store for this year’s event.

Can you give us a quick overview of the Culinary Showdown initiative?
The KitchenAid Cook for the Cure Culinary Showdown is one of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s Signature Events. The event, now its third year is the ultimate foodie experience. It gives fundraisers the opportunity to cook alongside one of five top FoodNetwork Celebrity Chefs in a cooking challenge normally reserved for TV! This year’s chefs include Lynn Crawford, Corbin Tomaszeski and three new additions: Quebec award-winning Celebrity Chef Ricardo, along with one of America’s Top 10 Pastry Chefs, Elizabeth Falkner and owner of New York City’s Red Rooster Harlem restaurant and resident judge on Chopped Chef Marcus Samuelsson. The event will be hosted by Noah Cappe of “Carnival Eats”. We are expecting this year’s extraordinary challenge to be better than ever!

The coveted Culinary Showdown trophy.

How much are you targeting to raise through this year’s Culinary Showdown event?
Over the last two years the event has been a tremendous success and has raised over $1,200,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) with participants from across Canada. This year through our incredible fundraisers, sponsors, and silent and live auction we are hoping to raise $766,000! From fundraising alone our hope is to reach $340,000.

How are funds raised through the Culinary Showdown applied?
Funds raised through Culinary Showdown will help the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation continue to fund high impact work at both the national and regional level which will lead to better detection and treatments, improved quality of life, and lead to significant increases in survival rates for Canadians diagnosed with breast cancer.

Check out these video to learn more about the research that CBCF is doing:
• CBCF-funded researcher Dr. Patrick Gunning speaks at the Culinary Showdown to discusses his research. Watch video
• A member of the Culinary Showdown staff visits Dr. Gunning and get an update on his work. Watch video 

Participants take it all in at Chef School.

Are there are any fundraising stories – examples of extraordinary creativity or community support – that really stand out?
Tina Walters is participating in the KitchenAid Cook for the Cure Culinary Showdown for her first time. This year Tina made a cookbook of family recipes to sell when her mother became sick with cancer again, and now sells them in memory of her.  With the proceeds from selling over 300 of these, baking lasagna, and collecting donations in her community of Millet, Alberta Tina has maintained the position of top fundraiser since May. Tina came to Toronto earlier this year to attend an event with Chef Corbin and shared her story. It was so compelling that a number of people registered on the spot. Additionally, another fundraiser purchased 50 cookbooks from her that night. Though Tina has been supported by the people in the community, her biggest support has been her husband, who has stood by her tirelessly through everything that she has done, from producing this cookbook, to speaking on local radio. Tina has been and continues to be an inspiration to many.

Why partner with companies like Yorkshire Valley Farms?
Without the support of our amazing sponsors, like Yorkshire Valley Farms, not only could we not put on incredible events like the Culinary Showdown, but we couldn’t afford to fund incredible, ground breaking research like Dr. Gunning’s. It is only through support from sponsors and fundraisers that we will get to our goal of creating a future without breast cancer. It is also important to the Foundation to partner with the right companies. We strive to ensure that anyone that the Foundation partners with shares or values our beliefs. We have a strict guideline for selecting our partners so that our stakeholders can be assured that we are practicing what we preach so to say.

Are there any new elements in store for this year’s event that you can share?
Guests of this year’s Culinary Showdown can look forward to a few new elements to this year’s event. You can look forward to more interaction for our guests in the audience as well as some incredible silent and live auction items. With 3 of the five chefs being new this year, I think you can also look forward to it getting a bit hot in the kitchen!! The competition is going to be fierce!!

To learn more about the event, visit culinaryshowdown.ca

†Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Cook for the Cure and pink ribbon ellipse are trademarks of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. KitchenAid is a trademark of KitchenAid U.S.A., use under license in Canada. All rights reserved.

All photos used with permission of Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Tips for prepping & cooking your Thanksgiving turkey

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the harvest and, a time to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for, and for many of us, a time to gather with family and friends to share a meal. While we may all have different traditions as to what should be on the Thanksgiving menu, many tables will feature a roasted whole turkey at the centre. Here are some tips to help you successfully prepare and cook your Thanksgiving turkey.

THAWING

If your turkey is frozen, leave the turkey in the original package and choose one of the following methods to thaw your turkey. Do not thaw turkey at room temperature.

REFRIGERATOR METHOD

This method is preferred, as it keeps the turkey meat cold until it is completely defrosted. Leave turkey in original plastic wrapper. Place turkey in refrigerator on a tray with sides (this is helpful to catch any liquid that escapes during defrosting). Allow 5 hours per pound (10 hours/kg) defrosting time.

COLD WATER METHOD

Cover the turkey completely with cold water (the sink is a good place for this). Change water at least every hour – we recommend refreshing water every 30 minutes. Allow 1 hour per pound (2 hours/kg) defrosting time. Turkey should be cooked as soon as it is thawed and held in the fresh state for the minimum time possible to discourage bacterial growth.

CLEANING

• Wash hands thoroughly in hot soapy water before handling raw meat
• Remove plastic wrap from thawed turkey
• Remove neck and giblets from body cavity
• Rinse turkey well inside and out with cold water (optional)
• Thoroughly pat dry with paper towels
• Do not let raw meat juices touch ready-to-eat foods, either in the refrigerator or during preparation
• Do not put cooked foods on the same plate that held raw product
• Wash and sanitize any utensils, dishes or surfaces used for cutting turkey
• Keep cutting board and utensils in good repair as they can harbour bacteria inside cracks and crevices

COOKING

There are different points of view on the best way to cook a whole turkey. To brine or not to brine (click here for brining tips)? To flip or not to flip? One of the most common methods is to place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in a roasting pan. Tent loosely with aluminum foil. Roast in 325ºF (160ºC) oven until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 180ºF (82ºC) for a stuffed turkey or 170ºF (77ºC) for an unstuffed turkey. For golden skin, remove foil tent for last hour of roasting.

You can find a helpful guide to cooking times depending on the size of your turkey on the Turkey Farmers of Ontario website.

When turkey is done, transfer to warm platter. Tent with foil and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes. This allows time for juices at the surface of the bird to distribute evenly throughout the meat. Remove all stuffing from cavity. Carve turkey. Enjoy!

Visit http://makesitsuper.ca/ for more tips and tasty recipe ideas from the Turkey Farmers of Ontario.

Tips for packing healthy school lunches

It’s that time of year…time to head back to school! We recognize that settling back into routine can be a challenge, but it’s also a fun opportunity to try new things and recommit to good habits. One of those both fun and challenging activities is packing school lunches. How do you keep things interesting? How can you encourage picky eaters to try new flavours? We turned to the nutrition experts at EatRight Ontario to get tips and tricks for packing lunches that are healthy and balanced. Here is what they recommend…

Ideas for packing a balanced, healthy lunch:

Step one: Think food groups. Aim to have at least three of the four food group represented in your child’s lunch. Check out Canada’s Food Guide if you would like to review the food groups.
Step two: Think outside the sandwich! Get creative when choosing items for your child’s lunch. Try changing something as simple as the type of grain. For example, using pita, flatbread, tortilla, or cereal instead of bread can make lunch more interesting for your little eater.

Ideas to keep lunch interesting and to encourage picky eaters to try new flavours:

Your child’s tastes may change from one day to the next. Try new foods regularly and don’t be afraid to try them more than once. You may have to offer new foods many times before your children learn to like them!

Children experience food using taste, touch and sight. Keep them interested with lunches that include a variety of shapes, colours and textures.

• Cut sandwiches into triangles or diamonds. Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes.
• Change the bread – try different kinds of grains (rye, pumpernickel, flax) as well as the type of bread like whole grain tortillas, bagels and pitas.
• Offer various types of cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, Jack, Swiss) in different forms (cubes, strings, slices and balls).
• Switch up the veggies and fruit. Give your kids something different to experience with each bite. Group foods according to: type (citrus, tropical.); color (green, red, orange, yellow, purple); shape (balls, strips, chunks, whole); or texture (soft, juicy, crunchy)
• Kids love to dip. Use cottage cheese, hummus, yogurt, or guacamole as healthy dips.

Tips on packing lunches and snacks that are safe to eat:

Keep these food safety tips in mind when packing your child’s school lunch and snacks.

• As with any meal, always wash your hands first.
• Prepare your child’s lunch on a clean surface using clean utensils.
• Wash all fruit and vegetables thoroughly (even if labeled “pre-washed”) before cutting them or placing them into your child’s lunch bag.
• Do not reuse perishable foods (meat, fish, poultry and milk products) that come home uneaten from your child’s lunch.
• Keep lunches in the fridge until your child is leaving for school.
• Use an insulated lunch bag with a small ice pack for foods that need to stay cool. A frozen juice box or bottle of water can also help keep foods cold.
• Put foods that need to stay hot in a thermos. A thermos is also good for smoothies and milk.
• Be sure to keep reusable containers clean by washing well with warm soapy water.

For more tips on packing healthy lunches, visit the EatRight Ontario website.
Looking for menu inspiration? Download this sample weekly menu plan.

 

Summer BBQ tips

Whether on a patio, at the beach, on a dock, in a tent, or simply sitting in the backyard watching the grass grow, summer is all about getting outside to savour the sunshine. What better way to enjoy the great outdoors than with a BBQ! As chicken fans, we’re keen to cook up chicken breasts, thighs or drumsticks as part of a mixed grill. If we have a little more time, we’ll go for a whole chicken cooked over a beer can. With so much fresh produce in season, we might make up some chicken skewers that incorporate seasonal vegetables. And of course there’s always room for wings on our grill.

To help you enjoy a season of tasty and safe al fresco dining, here are some BBQ food safety tips.

SAFE BARBECUE FOOD PREPARATION

Storing raw meat in the refrigerator
At home, store raw meat in the refrigerator immediately after you return from the grocery store. Freeze raw poultry or ground beef that won’t be used within one to two days. Freeze other raw meats if they won’t be used within four to five days.

Storing raw meat in a cooler
If you are storing your meat in a cooler before barbecuing, make sure that the cooler is kept cold with ice packs. Keep the cooler out of direct sunlight and avoid opening it too often, because it lets cold air out and warm air in. Ensure that your meat products are well sealed and that ice water doesn’t come in contact with stored meat products. This can lead to cross-contamination with others items in the cooler. You may also want to use two coolers, one for drinks (as it may get opened more often) and another one for food. Whether you are storing the meat in the refrigerator or a cooler, always remember to keep food out of the temperature danger zone of 4°C to 60°C (40°F to 140°F). Bacteria can grow in this temperature range. In as little as two hours in this range, your food can become dangerous.

Marinating
Marinate meat in the refrigerator, not on the counter. If you want to save some of the marinade to baste cooked meat or use as a dipping sauce, make sure to set some aside in the refrigerator that hasn’t touched uncooked meat. Don’t use leftover marinade that has been in contact with raw meat on cooked food.

SAFE BARBECUE SERVING TIPS

Keep hot food hot
Remember to keep hot food hot until served. Keep cooked meats hot by setting them to the side of the grill, not directly over coals where they can overcook.

Serving food
Use a clean plate when taking food off the grill. Remember not to put cooked food on the same plate that held raw meat. This prevents it from being re-contaminated by raw juices.

Leftovers
Cool food by using shallow containers, so that it cools quickly. Discard any food left out for more than two hours. On hot summer days, don’t keep food at room temperature for more than one hour.

For a guide to safe cooking temperatures for various meat cuts, and for other safe BBQ cooking tips, visit the Government of Canada’s website.

Need some BBQ inspiration? Check out this recipe for Sambal Glazed Chicken Wings. Or try our new fresh organic chicken burgers.

Partner profile: urbery

What happens when you cross “urban” with “grocery”? You get “Urbery”, the GTA’s newest grocery delivery service. Simply place your order online, Urbery’s team of Grocery Guru’s will shop on your behalf, and then deliver your groceries to your door in under two hours. Urbery is currently in phase I of its service roll out, and is rapidly expanding to serve an even greater geographic area. Yorkshire Valley Farms recently had the chance to speak with Urbery’s founder Mudit Rawat to learn more about the inspiration behind the Urbery concept, what has been the most surprising learning since launch, and what’s next for the Urbery team.

Can you give us a brief introduction to Urbery and what the service is all about?
Urbery is the ultimate in urban convenience – a delivery service that allows customers to order groceries online from their favourite grocery store and have them delivered within two hours. We offer a selection of over 4,000 grocery items through our user-friendly online platform. At Urbery, you can expect to find everything you would at your local grocery store, including fresh produce, meat and seafood products, baked goods, dairy items, and of course pantry must-haves.

Once a customer has placed an order, the request is routed to one of our knowledgeable and highly passionate personal shoppers, our Grocery Gurus. The Grocery Guru, who receives extensive training before shopping, will shop for the order and deliver it right to the customer’s door. We are currently operating in downtown Toronto and soon expanding our delivery zones to other parts of GTA.

Can you tell us a bit more about your background and why you decided to start Urbery?
The decision to start Urbery really came down to being in the right place at the right time. Seven years ago, I came to Canada to pursue my MBA at the Schulich School of Business. After graduation, I worked at several different corporate gigs including Oracle, CGI and finally Sobeys – Canada’s second largest grocery retailer. It was at Sobeys that I developed an interest and passion in the truly exciting world of food and groceries and started looking for ways the shopping process could be improved.

Back in India, where I’m from, no one ever went grocery shopping – you didn’t have to because everything was delivered right to your door within hours of ordering. I wondered why such a system hadn’t yet caught on in Canada and started studying available grocery delivery services. None of the available services really appealed to me for one of two reasons: lack of on-demand delivery options, or exorbitant delivery fees. I decided that I could provide a better service than what was currently available and, given the welcoming environment Canada has created for entrepreneurs, I decided to start Urbery.

What has been the biggest surprise since you started Urbery?
The biggest surprise has been the number of people we’ve had interested in becoming Grocery Gurus. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with some fantastic people who are so passionate about food and helping others.

I put a lot of time and effort into selecting the right people to become Grocery Gurus. It’s such an amazing feeling when I get feedback from customers telling me how impressed they were with their order and how much care the Grocery Guru took – and this happens a lot! When people actually take the time to contact you and let you know how amazing their experience was, you know you did a good job and hired the right people.

Why did you choose to work with Yorkshire Valley Farms?
At Urbery, we want to make sure that our customers have access to the healthy foods they need, including local food options. We chose to partner with Yorkshire Valley Farms because they uphold the values and business practices that are important to us and our customers, including working with local farmers, care of the environment, and respect for animal wellbeing.

We’re obviously big fans of chicken, so we have to ask…what’s your favourite chicken dish?
That’s a tough question as there are way too many dishes I absolutely love. I guess if I had to narrow it down to a favourite, I would say it’s my wife’s Chicken Parmesan – I’ve yet to taste anything better (but I may be biased)! Having been born and raised in India, I was lucky to have had the opportunity to sample a variety of exotic cuisines, and would say that chicken tikka masala with garlic naans would come in a very close second.

What’s next for Urbery? Any developments you are currently working on (and able to share) that we can look forward to?
A lot is happening in our business. Our delivery area continues to grow, as does our team. The biggest new development though is our upcoming mobile app. With our app, customers will have the vast selection of grocery store products right in their pocket.

We’re also ‘brewing’ up something very interesting, and this is the first time we’re talking about it – We recently received our alcohol delivery license and have already started testing out deliveries with existing customers. Our full alcohol delivery roll out is coming in July and we will be the only company in Canada that can get customers their favourite grocery products and alcoholic beverage in under 2 hours!

A SPECIAL OFFER FOR YORKSHIRE VALLEY FARMS FANS:
Use the promotional code WELOVECHICKEN to receive a $10 discount on your next Urbery order.

How to use the discount code: Enter the code during the checkout process and $10 will be taken off the final bill. Delivery is also free for orders over $65! The WELOVECHICKEN discount code expires on July 31, 2015.

Retailer profile: Soup Nutsy

Soup Nutsy’s Richmond-Adelaide location.

There’s nothing quite like a good bowl of soup. It’s a comforting, wholesome, and very portable meal that can be enjoyed year-round. Yorkshire Valley Farms recently sat down with soup enthusiast Domenic Gaudio of Soup Nutsy to chat about bone broth, the latest addition to his extensive soup menu. With three locations in Toronto, Soup Nutsy is one of the city’s premier soup destinations for the downtown office crowd. All the soups are made in-house, offering quality soups and broths that would make your grandma proud. Soup Nutsy’s new chicken bone broth is available at the Richmond-Adelaide location and is served as a sipping broth, to which you can add flavour enhancers (which are also made in-house), like ginger, turmeric, garlic, shiitake mushroom tea, or Calabrian chili oil. Below Domenic tells us more about the new bone broth, about the inspiration behind Soup Nutsy’s menu, and about his favourite soup.

How did Soup Nutsy get started? Can you tell us a bit more about your background and why you decided to open a soup shop? 
Soup Nutsy originated in New York City shortly after the Seinfeld “SOUP NAZI” episode was aired. The popularity of the show created so much hype that it spurred the opening of many soup operations. We were so impressed with the success of the concept that we purchased the rights and opened in Toronto in 1998, and Soup Nutsy became an instant success. I joined the company a few years later after spending many years in the food service business with various companies.

Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration for some of your most popular soups?
Our inspiration comes from many sources such as food trends, consumer eating habits, exotic flavours. We are constantly searching and developing soup recipes that will keep us current and on the frontline of our industry.

What has been the biggest surprise since you opened the shop?
I guess the biggest surprise was the success of our concept given that soup was always thought of as a side for many dishes. When we introduced it as the centrepiece of the meal, we had a lot of people doubt us that it could work.

Why did you choose to work with Yorkshire Valley Farms? What will you be making with our organic poultry?
We wanted to work with a company that produced high quality organic poultry that would enable us to create a healthy and nutritious product. We are currently using Yorkshire Valley Farms’ organic chicken bones to make chicken bone broth.

We have to ask…what’s your favourite chicken-based soup?
Old fashioned chunky chicken noodle.

What’s next for Soup Nutsy?
Our goal is to improve our business model and look towards expansion. We recently introduced a breakfast program featuring BREAKFAST SIPPING SOUPS AND BROTHS at our Richmond-Adelaide Centre location that is doing very well. We plan to further develop this as part of our business and implement it in our other two stores in the near future and heighten awareness for sipping soups and broths to “re-think your hot beverage”.

A cup of chicken bone broth, made with Yorkshire Valley Farms organic chicken bones.

To learn more about Soup Nutsy, and to see the daily soup menu, visit soupnutsy.ca

Sambal glazed chicken wings

This recipe for Sambal Glazed Chicken Wings comes to us from Chef Lucas Castle, Executive Chef with Compass Group at the Ontario Legislative Assembly, Queen’s Park. Yorkshire Valley Farms recently served up a batch of these wings at the Peterborough Day event at Queen’s Park, a wonderful affair designed to showcase local businesses and producers from the Peterborough area. The wings were most certainly a hit with the attendees – there was not one wing left to spare by the end of the event! Chef Lucas was kind enough to share his culinary secrets so that we can all enjoy these tasty wings at home.

sambal glazed chicken wings
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup sambal chili paste
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 tsp finely grated peeled ginger
1 kg Yorkshire Valley Farms organic chicken wings
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
1/4 cup crushed salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC). In a heavy bottom pot, whisk brown sugar, rice vinegar, chili paste, fish sauce, and ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until sauce has reduced by half (about 1 cup).

Toss chicken with 3/4 of sauce and roast in oven. After 10 minutes, turn the chicken and baste with remaining marinade.

Finish cooking through, approximately another 10 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 185ºF (85ºC). The glaze should caramelize and become a deep reddish-brown. If there is any remaining marinade, drizzle over top of the cooked wings.

Season with kosher salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro and crushed salted peanuts.

Product news: homestyle organic chicken stock

You may have seen our new homestyle organic chicken stock on shelf at retailers in Ontario. It’s been a few months since our organic stock started arriving in stores, and during that time we realized that some of you might have a few questions about the newest product from Yorkshire Valley Farms. We’ve provided more information about our organic stock below, but we’re always happy to hear from our Farm Fans, so if there is anything further you’d like to ask about our organic chicken stock, you can reach us at info@yorkshirevalley.com

If you haven’t had a chance to try our organic chicken stock, you can look for it at select Fortinos stores, The Big Carrot, Fiesta Farms, Nature’s Emporium, Highland Farms, and Yummy Market. And we’re hoping to add more retail locations soon.

Some YVF team members like to enjoy a mug of warm stock as an alternative to coffee or tea.

How do you make your organic chicken stock?
We make our stock the old-fashioned way, like you would at home. Only we have a much bigger pot so that we can make it in large batches. The recipe starts with our organic chicken bones, to which water is added. Then we layer in organic vegetables and seasoning and let the liquid simmer away.

It’s really a fairly simple process, but that simple act of simmering allows us to extract lots of flavour from the organic chicken bones, vegetables and seasoning. We don’t add any artificial colours or flavours, nor do we add any sugar or flavour enhancers.

What ingredients are in your stock?
The list of ingredients in our stock reads pretty much like your grandma’s recipe: water, organic chicken, organic onion, organic celery, salt, organic carrots. 

Because we make our stock using organic chicken bones, we’re able to extract all the goodness that is trapped inside the cartilage and connective tissue. As we simmer the bones, collagen is released, and that is what helps to give our stock ‘body’ or a silkier, thicker texture than plain water.

What ingredients are NOT in your stock?
You may see some of these ingredients in other organic chicken stock products:
• chicken flavour: flavour additive to enhance or create a desired flavour profile
• yeast extract: processed yeast added to create more savoury flavour
• cane sugar: made from evaporated juice of the sugar cane, used as a sweetener
• dextrose: also known as glucose or grape sugar, used as a sweetener

We don’t add any of these to our stock. All of our ingredients are organic and non-GMO. There are no artificial colours or flavours, no added sugar, and no flavour enhancers.

What’s the difference between “stock” and “broth”?
These two terms tend to be used interchangeably in modern kitchens and you’ll likely find different theories on the meaning of each. The most common explanation says that a “stock” is a liquid that is created by simmering bones in water, while a “broth” is a liquid made from cooking meat in water and is usually served with bits of meats and vegetables in it. Because stocks use bones, they tend to have more texture and a richer mouth feel than broths. In the home kitchen, the bones used to make a stock often have bits of meat attached, so the end product is a bit of a hybrid.

This is the case with our organic chicken stock. Because we start with organic chicken bones, we are following the traditional stock making process. But our bones do have small bits of meat attached, so you get the additional flavour that comes from the meat, plus the organic vegetables and seasoning that we add during the simmering process. Our stock is ready to use, so you can simply heat and serve, or replace it for water in your favourite recipes.

To find a Yorkshire Valley Farms retailer near you, visit our Where to Buy page.