Amaranth, barley, farro, quinoa, and other ancient grains are making a comeback these days, finding favor with chefs who appreciate their earthy flavors, chewy textures, nutritional benefits, and novelty value. On the local scene, chefs are dreaming up new preparations, seeking out rare varieties, and even helping to resurrect grains that have become almost extinct.
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Enyart also uses quinoa, wild rice, and Chinese black rice, but Iroquois white corn has a special place on the roster: the Frontera Farmer Foundation is helping Spence Farm in downstate Livingston County rescue it from near extinction. Enyart uses the stone-ground corn lots of ways, including in the tortas that accompany entrees like rock hen in sesame sauce with arbol and guajillo chiles or borrego en salsa borracha, lamb in a “drunken” sauce of black pasillas, tequila, beer, and roasted garlic.
Mike Sheerin, chef de cuisine at Blackbird (619 W. Randolph, 312-715-0708, blackbirdrestaurant.com), has been excited about sorghum since late September, when Tim Burton of Burton’s Maplewood Farm in Indiana brought him a sugarcanelike stalk with a cluster of grains attached. He’s showcasing both the grains and the stalk in an entree of turbot with spaghetti squash, pickled ramps, mandarin orange, and popped sorghum. To make the sauce he purees mandarin orange rinds with Burton’s sorghum molasses—made from the stalk. He dries the grains before popping them, an idea he says he got from “the Ethiopia episode” of Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. “I did it like kettle popcorn in a skillet at first,” he says, “but the results are more consistent with a microwave.”
Harrison also makes rye spaetzle, serving it with kraut, smoked caramelized onion, caraway, and stout foam. After poaching the spaetzle, she pan sears it with caramelized onions, raw cabbage, and caraway seeds, then plates it atop smoked onion puree and piles on Savoy cabbage that’s been braised in sour beer broth and seared so the outside is crispy. Finally, she dollops stout foam around the plate. “Rye flour changes the texture of the spaetzle, and the key is not to stir the batter too much, or it will become tough,” she says.
Purple sticky rice, or the”wild rice of Thailand,” as he calls it, is a frequent choice of Troy Graves, executive chef at Eve (840 N. Wabash, 312-266-3383, evechicago.com), who’s currently serving it alongside seared wahoo with mango, cucumber, and a lemongrass-orange jus. “The rice is brown like wild rice,” he says, “but when you cook it, it turns purple and the starch on the outside makes it sticky.” Graves, who originally found the rice at an Asian market, says it’s a little sweet and mates well with the fattiness of the wahoo.
