This past weekend, on what turned out to be the hottest day yet of summer, I trekked out to Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery in Champaign, Illinois, with Paul Virant and Tony Porreca. The point of the trip was twofold: Paul and Tony had been invited to cook dinner for 50 at the farm. Meanwhile, with Jeff, Susie, and Aaron—our crack photography team—we planned on shooting some of the dishes for the Vie Cookbook.
Did I mention it was hot? The kind of hot that makes your brow bead with sweat within five minutes. The kind of hot that makes chickens puff out their feathers and give you that inquiring “what are you looking at?” stare. (Though I did get to pick one up.) The kind of hot that makes you glad that it’s not your job to bale hay. That was up to Wess, a good-natured former academic who owns Prairie Fruits with his wife, Leslie. But enough with the whining. After a brisket sandwich at Black Dog Smoke and Ale House, we rolled up our city-slicker sleeves, chugged some water, and got to it.
There are challenges with shooting on location. Jeff could have done without the wind and the flies. Susie had to lay her fragile antique props in a hot, grassy patch by the car. But the benefits of photographing dishes at Prairie Fruits were many. Not only did we have plenty of just-picked ingredients to use—purple and green basil, tender wax and green beans, red and black currants (pictured above)—we also had incredible scenery. Shooting a jar of elderflowers soaking in simple syrup under a tree next to a barn isn’t just something you can do in the city or suburbs. Prairie Fruits is known for its farmstead cheeses, and we not only sampled the delicious bloomy-rind goat cheese Little Bloom on the Prairie, we also met the goats, a good-looking mixed herd. And those chickens? Turns out they loved to pose for the camera. Here, my amateur pictures of the day:
Highway foraging: We didn’t have elderflowers for simple syrup until we found a bush growing along the highway that wasn’t guarded by a high fence. Paul procured a few bunches.
True to its name, Prairie Fruits grows peaches and berries.
Susie Kauck brought an excellent collection of antique spoons.
A cool dish on a hot day: whitefish escabeche with green and wax beans and eggplant relish.
The barns where the goats (and ducklings and chickens) live.
These goats loved the attention.
Paul putting blueberry aigre doux over a grilled round of Little Bloom on the Prairie.
One of my favorite easy desserts: Raspberry brown butter cake. We served it with yogurt ice cream and raspberries glossed with elderflower syrup.
What you need after a hot day: a blueberry aigre-doux cocktail designed by Matty Eggleston.
An orange sunset over neighboring cornfields.
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SO BEAUTIFUL!! wish I could have been there to experience the farm!