An Autumn Feast with Roasted Chicken at Terra Spice
Here at Terra Spice, we locate our work in the rhythm of the kitchen with our practice of family meal. Some days this means a quick lunch for our staff with subs and cold cuts, others I spend hours in the kitchen preparing a feast.
In this spirit, we invited some guests to the shop for lunch a few weeks ago, and I have to confess, it was not a convenient time to prepare a meal. A combination of kids’ soccer practices, out of town guests, and a wave of new orders at the shop had me running ragged. But cooking for others rarely is convenient, is it?
Much more than efficiency, at Terra Spice we are driven by a regard for the art of gastronomy and the togetherness that happens when we sit around a table. In the everyday chaos of running this business it’s easy to forget the reason we do what we do, so my practice of cooking serves to reorient me to what matters.
One of our guests at the table that day was Dr. Mark Richter, a friend who started baking sourdough during the pandemic with incredible results, so I designed a menu to pair with his bread:
Roasted Chicken
The night before, I halved a few chickens from Bennett Farms and prepared a marinade of fresh citrus, verjus, herbs, olive oil, and a medley of Terra Spice spices and blends. The chicken marinated overnight before roasting at 350° for about an hour.
Roasted Autumn Vegetables with Crème Fraîche
I cubed acorn squash, sweet potato, and butternut squash to roast and prepared crème fraîche infused with our Autumn Spice Mix for topping.
Coffee Barbecue and Blood Orange Pepper Condiments
A simple way I add flavor to the table is with a quick condiment combining one of our spice blends and olive oil. This time I made two—one using our Coffee Barbecue blend and the other using our Blood Orange Pepper blend—and let them sit on top of the oven for about a half hour for the flavors to meld. The result is a rich, crunchy condiment bursting with flavor—excellent on the chicken or vegetables.
Mole Ice Cream with Cajeta
For dessert, I prepared one of our shop favorites: ice cream combining a crème anglaise base with our Mole with Ancient Peppers and Vanilla Blend, a fusion of sun-dried chiles, roasted seeds, and cacao, with the delicate sweetness of demerara and organic cane sugars, and a hint of pure vanilla. The warm spices are the perfect flavor for autumn.
At noon, our guests arrived bringing more delicacies to fill the table: Matt with a rare Black Iberia Pork and Dr. Richter with a perfect loaf of Parmesan Pepper Sourdough. Together we sat down to enjoy the meal. By the end of our time together, I was reminded that, though Terra Spice operates in a warehouse, everything we do is in service of beautiful moments like this happening around the table in the homes of our customers and in the dining rooms of the chefs we supply.
