Cooking with Tagge’s CSA Produce Box
This summer, I’m excited to be partnering with Tagge’s Farm to experience their 15-week CSA produce box, and to share how I’m cooking, eating, or preserving their farm-fresh seasonal produce all summer long.
You can visit my ‘CSA Cooking Journal’ to learn more about Tagge’s CSA, see what comes in the box each week, and find weekly recipes and updates on how we use the produce.
Tagge’s CSA services Logan to Santaquin in Northern Utah. It runs from early July through mid-October. (However, you can still sign up to join after the start date if they still have room.)
Featured Seasonal Ingredient: Apricot
Every recipe here at Together We Bloom is based around a ‘featured’ seasonal ingredient.
This week, after opening the CSA box, I selected apricots as the featured ingredient for the week. Apricots are only available early in the season. While they are not my favorite stone fruit to eat raw, I do love cooking and baking with them!
Explore all apricot recipes here.
When are Apricots in season in Utah?
In northern Utah, apricots are typically available mid-June to late July.
This recipe is tagged as both a spring & summer seasonal recipe. Explore all of the spring seasonal recipes and summer seasonal recipes here
Other Local, Seasonal Ingredients Used in This Recipe / Meal
- Zucchini / Yellow Squash– Also in this week’s Tagge’s CSA Produce Box
- Rainbow Carrots– Also in this week’s Tagge’s CSA Produce Box
- Thyme– dried & preserved from my home herb garden (see more recipes that cook with preserved foods here)
- Honey– I like to source mine from my friend Sheraya at Fulton Family Farm
About This Recipe
I love sheet pan style meals because most of the cooking time is hands off and in the oven. This means that I can do some dishes, clean the kitchen, prep sides, or even sit and relax while dinner is cooking.
My favorite way to cook chicken is get bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs and roast them in the oven to get a crispy browned skin. Cooking the chicken with veggies (and in this case, the apricots) together in one pan allows for an easy, delicious dinner.
I chose to use a casserole dish instead of a sheet pan- but you can really use either. Start with a layer of veggies on the bottom of the pan, place your seasoned chicken thighs and apriots on top and roast.
Adjusting the recipe to your palate and what’s in season
The recipes that I share here are meant to be a starting point or an inspiration for you in your own kitchen.
I enjoy creatively exploring seasonal ingredients and finding new ways to use what’s abundant, rather than trying to create one final “perfect” recipe.
Here you can really use any vegetables that you have on hand or are available to you. From your garden, pantry, fridge, or from your local farmer- so feel free to get creative.
Seasonal cooking is flexible, and experimenting is part of the fun!
Option: Adding Pesto as a Finishing Sauce
If you have pesto that you have made or preserved, you could also use it as a drizzle on top of the meats and vegetables in this dish.
Pesto is a great item to make in bulk and freeze to pull out for occasions like this. This is the perfect example of ways that you can use / cook with your home preserved foods.
Here you can view all of the pesto recipes on the blog.
Serving Suggestions
For this dinner, I chose to use more ingredients from the Tagge’s CSA box (lettuce & cucumbers) to make a simple side salad.
When lettuce is local and fresh, I love a simple side salad, tossed with salt, pepper, olive oil, and a small amount of acid (white balsamic vinegar is my current favorite.) This allows the texture and flavor of the greens to really shine through! Topped with slices of cucumber and crispy onions, it was simple and perfect.
I also used a simple box of flavored rice that I had in my pantry to make it more filling and allow it to stretch further into the week. I think any grain could be delicious paired with this meal!
Suggested Supplies:
The items below are Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase from the link, a very small amount of that purchase goes toward supporting this blog. This is at no additional cost to you.
Internal Thermometer:
If you cook meat, I feel that an internal meat thermometer is a non-negotiable in the kitchen. It is my personal opinion that you should always be temping meat. Not only to prevent undercooking but also to prevent overcooking. This is the one that we have, and I like it because it has the meat temps listed on the thermometer. Of course, you can use it on more than just meat, but for cooking meat, a necessity.
Disposable Gloves:
Again, if you work with raw meat in your kitchen, disposable gloves are great to keep around. We use them for all sorts of things in the kitchen, especially when cooking for gatherings (and sometimes even for cleaning.) I always wear a glove on the hand that is touching raw meat.
The Recipe:
Apricot Sheet Pan Chicken
Ingredients
Vegetables
- 1 bunch rainbow carrots trimmed and halved lengthwise if large
- 2 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash cut into 1-inch thick half moons
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Chicken
- 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1½ teaspoons smoked paprika
Finish the Pan
- 5 apricots halved and pitted
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 tablespoon honey
- Pinch of red pepper flakes optional
To Serve
- Lemon wedges optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. If your oven has a Roast setting, use it.
- Drizzle the olive oil into a sheet pan or a 9×13-inch baking dish. Add the carrots and zucchini in an even layer on the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle the vegetables with the salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon juice, and dried thyme.
- Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels. Season both sides with the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika.
- Arrange the chicken skin-side up over the vegetables. Nestle the apricot halves around the chicken.
- Drizzle the honey over the chicken and apricots. Sprinkle with the dried thyme and red pepper flakes, if using.
- Roast at 425°F for 25–30 minutes, until the chicken skin begins to brown and crisp.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F (switch to Bake, if applicable) and continue cooking for 15–20 minutes, or until the thickest part of the chicken reaches 175–185°F.** see notes below
- Serve warm with fresh lemon wedges.
Notes
- ** Although chicken is safe to eat when cooked to 165°F, bone-in chicken thighs are at their best when cooked between 175°F and 185°F. At this higher temperature, the connective tissue and fat have time to fully render, making the meat much more tender, juicy, and flavorful without drying it out. This is one of the few cuts of chicken that actually benefits from cooking beyond the minimum safe temperature.
- Feel free to substitute vegetables with what you have in season.
- If you have pesto that you have made or preserved, drizzling pesto over the meat and veggies at the end would be delicious! Find pesto recipes on the blog
- Visit Together We Bloom for more apricot recipes & other seasonal recipes from farmer/foodie Taylor.
Do you love Pinterest too?
Click the image below to see this pin on Pinterest and save it for later. Or you can visit my Apricot Recipe Pinterest Board for more ideas and inspiration.
