This is a favorite fall meal, when we’re in the mood for roast chicken but it’s still nice enough outside to grill. The only problem is that we rarely have cans of beer in the house, but I improvised by pouring beer into an empty coke can instead. The beer steams the chicken from within resulting in an incredibly moist chicken. I also stuff the can with fresh herbs (green onions, parsley and garlic chives here) to add even more flavor. And, as with an oven-roasted chicken, the leftovers and bones can be used for several more meals during the week.

Recipe: Beer Can Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 can beer
• several stems green onions
• fresh parsley
• ¼ c butter
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 T cumin
• 1 t cayenne pepper
• salt & pepper
• 1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs.

Instructions: Preheat the grill to medium (350*). Open the beer can and pour out (drink) about half. Poke several holes around the top, and stick herbs in the can’s mouth. Place on a large plate or stand. (If you don’t have a stand, you can balance the chicken on the grill using the can and its legs to form a tripod.) Soften the butter and stir in the sugar and seasonings. Rub the mixture under the chicken’s skin and all over the exterior. Place the chicken over the can and carefully transfer onto the grill. Grill over indirect medium heat for 1 hr. to 1 ¼ hrs. Remove from grill (very carefully!) and let stand for 5 minutes before carving. Serves 4.

Recipe: Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 T butter, softened
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1/2 t cumin

Instructions: Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Spread butter over cut sides, sprinkle sugar and cumin over the top. Wrap in foil and place on grill, away from the flame, for 40 minutes. Serves 2-4. Enjoy!

Farms of Origin

• free-range chicken, Smith Meadows, Va.
• butter, South Mountain Creamery, Md.
• white sweet potatoes, a Virginia farm, Del Ray Farmers Market, Va.
• herbs, Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, Va.
• beer, Starr Hill Jomo lager, Va.

To close out the summer, we savored the best of local foods from coast to coast. I’ll write more about our Oregon finds later this week, but for the official last post of One Local Summer I wanted to detail the family barbeque we had this weekend for the toddler’s 2nd birthday.

On the menu:

• Heirloom vegetable crudite with Italian “Little Tree of Sarzano” zucchini, lemon cucumbers, yellow and purple peppers, purple cherokee cherry tomatoes
• Corn chips with fresh peach salsa
• Watermelon gazpacho
• Grilled corn-on-the-cob with South Mountain Creamery butter
  
• Virginia beef hamburgers (freshly ground by the butcher) on Va.-made buns with Tom’s cave-aged smethe cheese & Amish pickles (PA), Bigg Rigg’s ramp mustard (WV) and Mr. Ugly tomatoes (MD)
• Beverages: Peach Sangria, with Barboursville sparkling wine (VA); Fordham (MD), Dominion (VA) and Dogfish Head (DE) beer.
• Dessert: birthday cake & cupcake from Buzz Bakery.

The produce came from our Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA; Mt. Olympus Farm, Reid’s Orchard and a Northern Neck VA farmer at the McLean market; and Tom the Cheese Guy, D&S Farms and the plant stand at the Del Ray market.

Only non-local ingredients: tortilla chips (though Snyders were from PA), jicama, seltzer, Gulden’s mustard and organic ketchup. One lesson learned – don’t ask a butcher how much beef you’ll need unless you want some giant burgers! But they were oh so very good.