- Tonight on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.

a simple pick your own apple orchard has blossomed into a much bigger destination for families looking to make memories that last far beyond the harvest.

And Johnny Spezzano is back in the kitchen with returning guest Lisa Dietrich to fire up some chicken riggies with a side of focaccia bread.

Your story is your region coming up right now on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.

- Funding for WPBS Weekly inside the stories is provided by the statewide Community Regrant Program, a REGRANT program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State legislature, and administered by the St.

Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories, I'm Michael Riecke.

From apples to sunflowers, the Wynn family has turned their farm in Napanee, Ontario, into a place where every season tells a story and every visitor becomes part of it.

What began as a simple pick your own apple orchard has blossomed into a destination for families, friends, and anyone looking to make memories that last far beyond the harvest.

We continue our Fresh Look at Farming series with producer Gail Paquette, - Nestled in the countryside Near Napanee, Ontario is a farm where every season brings a new reason together.

What began as a pick your own orchard has grown into something far greater.

From fields of sunflowers to rows of apple trees, it has become more than a place to pick produce.

It's a place to make memories, and at the center of it all is a family, continuing the work of generations.

- I grew up on the farm my whole life and helping out and things like that, learning different trades.

My father and grandfather started a small vegetable farm out on 33 highway on the lake here, and yeah, started from there and grew.

Ended up growing tomatoes that were canned over in Prince Edward County, but that closed down and they pivoted to cash crop farming and in the eighties planted the apple orchard that Sarah and I look after now.

My grandfather actually came to us one day and asked if we wanted to look after the orchard, and so we kind of took it on as like, for fun, see how it goes, but really fell in love with it.

- Apples were just the beginning.

Today Wynn Farms has embraced a agritourism, welcoming families to wander sunflower fields, pick pumpkins, and get lost in a corn maze that celebrates the best of each season.

Much of that creativity came from Sarah, who brought a fresh perspective to the farm's future.

- But, and the interesting thing, Sarah, being from Peterborough from the city, she came with a lot of new ideas, which we thought some of 'em were a little crazy, but in the end they proved out really good like a corn maze that, you know, as farmers, you wouldn't think, why would somebody wanna go get lost in the cornfield?

So we started at the orchard.

There's a property there and yeah, I think first came the corn maze and it was a big change 'cause the public really, really liked it.

And then she had this idea of doing night mazes, which again, none of us would've thought of, but people love being lost in the dark in corn.

So yeah, that's even better.

- From getting lost in the dark to picking your own bouquet of flowers.

Wynn Farms has continued to evolve.

Together, Jim and Sarah have brought diversity to the farm, extending the season and opening their fields to people who might not otherwise have the chance to enjoy a true breath of fresh air.

- So when we ended up turning into apple growers back in 2012, we fell in love with not just the farming aspect of it, but but the tourism aspect and being able to work with people.

So we really enjoyed it and then we just wanted to keep kind of adding on to it.

I've always loved flowers and sunflowers are beautiful.

And again, when dreaming and thinking about how can you keep staff longer and employed, you look at summer months, 'cause we already full-time with Fall, so Spring and Summer.

So the Summer was, it was seemed like a good idea for flowers in the summertime.

Yeah, so it lengthens the season and just gives other people different opportunities to enjoy different aspects of the farm.

- Extending the season also means extending the hours.

And on a family farm work-life balance usually means work on the farm, and then more work on the farm.

- There are a lot of parts of the year that there is not a lot of work-life balance.

It's a lot of work, work, work and go, go, go.

But that's just the way it is with farming realistically.

And then there's gonna be, you know, a short season in the off season that we can kind of have our family time and enjoy it.

But we, the idea is we do our best when we can.

'cause you never know when you're gonna have a drought or frost or things like that.

So, so you work hard when you have to.

- And then there are other kids who've grown up right alongside the apples and sunflowers.

Their chores look a little different than most, but the rewards do too.

- That's an interesting part of farming.

The kids, it's a different lifestyle.

They see what their friends are doing, what they're doing.

Sometimes it seems unfair, sometimes it seems great.

It depends on the day, but they get a lot of responsibility early and not much time for some of the stuff that might be not so good for mental health.

And we try to, we reward them, you know, we believe that in trying to reward them for what they do, they really, you know, getting to experience the public too at a young age, like difficult people, but also really nice people and kind of like balancing that out.

Yeah, they do a great job.

- For the Wynn family.

It isn't just about the work they share today, it's about the legacy of tomorrow with three kids already pitching in on the farm.

Succession planning feels less like a question of if and more like a matter of when.

- I think one of the biggest challenges with all farmers these days is the succession planning.

So trying to figure out how do you incorporate your kids?

How do you... like, they're young now, but Abigail, who's, she's just starting high school, we're trying to figure out like, what's her heart in?

'cause we might need to pivot.

Like maybe she doesn't like growing strawberries.

And my son, Thomas, he's 11 and he seems to like livestock.

So we've got a couple horses, we've got a few chickens at home and yeah, so I think it's trying to learn what they're into, and then trying to see how we can incorporate that so that the farm can be passed on.

- At the end of the day, Wynn Farms is about family, community and the joy of opening their fields so others can share in it too.

That's why they do what they do, because the harvest isn't just theirs, it belongs to everyone who walks through these rows.

- What I really enjoy is, is some people will come and they've moved to the city or something, but they grew up on a farm.

So it's kinda like they're circling back.

- I hope they remember, you know, the people they were with, the experience, the, you know, hopefully sunshine and rainbows out here.

But like, I just hope that they remember how good of a time it was and just how enjoyable the outdoors can be.

Especially in a world where, you know, there's a lot of often indoor time with office work and school and things like that.

Just being able to under like, really get used to being in, in a fresh air.

Right?

- For WPBS Weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.

- You can visit Wynnfarms@windfarms.ca to learn more.

Well, there is truly only one place where chicken riggies call home, and that's right here in Upstate New York.

And tonight it's what's on the menu in Johnny Spezzano's kitchen.

He's joined tonight by returning guest Lisa Dietrich to fire up some riggies with an added side of Focaccia bread.

A local favorite you certainly will want to bite into.

- Hey, - Welcome my friends.

This is my kitchen.

This is Lisa Dietrich and this is Johnny on Fire.

We're ready for a fun day.

We're gonna make some amazing food.

What are we cooking today, Lisa?

- Today we are cooking some hot cherry pepper focaccia.

This is an overnight recipe and we're also cooking my famous chicken riggies.

- Ooo!

Everybody at home has always wanted to know how to make chicken riggies.

This is the episode to watch.

All right, so we're gonna get started.

First of all, let's talk about our ingredients.

What do we got for the focaccia bread?

- So for the focaccia, we have a bread flour.

Okay, we've got instant yeast, water, salt, and then olive oil, honey.

And then for the topping, some everything.

Bagel seasoning, fresh herbs and asiago cheese and hot cherry pepper.

Okay, this is how this is do my chicken riggies.

Okay, so I've got some fresh organic chicken.

This is imported pasta from Italy, rigatoni, red sauce, panchetta, mozzarella cheese, hot cherry peppers, onions, green peppers, some chicken broth and spices - And lots of love.

Get ready for this.

All right.

We're gonna move our chicken riggies ingredients out of the way so we can roll out some bread dough.

All right, so what are we gonna start with?

How do you want to do this?

- Okay, so this is very easy.

This is the hardest part of this bread.

So we're gonna start off with 450 milliliters of water.

- Okay?

Warm water too.

Right?

Warm water, Correct.

- All right.

And that's so our yeast can activate?

- Yes.

Okay.

Ideally 104 degrees is probably about the best.

- Okay.

So it doesn't burn you when - You put your finger.

Yeah.

I mean, you don't need to take out your thermometer.

No.

Okay.

So then we do about a teaspoon of honey and one tablespoon of olive oil.

And I don't measure anything.

That's how I do it, too.

I usually count to four.

- Yeah.

- All right, so then we're gonna take our active yeast.

Okay.

So this is instant yeast.

Okay.

This you're gonna measure.

Yes.

So one teaspoon, toss it down.

- I've always been afraid of yeast.

- I Don't know, I have, at some point.

- I think I messed it up once.

- Messed it up once.

Yeah.

All.

So then we're just gonna mix all this together till it's well combined.

And so you might notice that you might need extra water.

- Okay.

- But I just start out at 450 milliliters.

But you might need a splash or two more.

So now we're gonna add in 500 grams of bread flour.

- Okay?

And you said this, you prefer this, obviously the word bread in the name yes.

- Makes better - Bread.

- You can use regular all purpose, but I just prefer this.

Okay.

Alright.

So then you are gonna mix this all together.

- Guys, I want you to know Lisa, she is a private chef and she often goes like, do you bring the food to people's houses?

Do you cook it in their kitchen?

How does it work?

- So for my weekly clients, I bring all the food to their homes.

I cook inside their homes.

And then when I'm hired to do private chef things, especially on the St.

Lawrence River, I also bring everything there - by boat.

By boat.

Yeah, it's a little wild.

So you can see right now my dough is a little dry, so this is an easy fix.

- Okay.

- You can easily just pop a tablespoon.

I usually do a tablespoon at a time.

- Okay?

- Get right in here.

See, - The reason I love when Lisa comes on, - She does all the cooking.

I just get to sit back and watch, which is - Great.

We just got a, so it's got a nice tacky, - That looks good.

So keep in mind, salt, yeast, water, oil, honey, that's it.

- Correct.

- Okay.

- Easy Okay.

So the first thing that we need to do is we're going to set a timer for 10 minutes.

Okay.

And we're gonna do something called a stretch and fold.

- Okay.

Okay.

And it sounds good.

Let's do that.

- All right.

So our dough is nice and proofed.

It usually takes around an hour and a half to two hours.

And I like to just set it in my oven with the light on in the oven.

That seems to be enough to get your dough to proof.

So the next thing... - Proofing makes it, it, it kind of rises a little.

- Yeah.

Relax comes together a little bit.

Relaxes.

Yeah.

- Alright.

- It looks very relaxed.

- It is, just like me.

- What are we gonna do?

What are we do in this thing?

- So we're gonna top it.

And a lot of everyone does this different.

Some people like to dimple first.

Okay?

I like to dimple last.

Okay?

Because then I can press the ingredients down into the dough.

- Does it go hoo-hoo, like the Pillsbury Doughboy - Or not?

- Yes.

When you dimple it, - If you wanna make that noise, I would love that.

- Okay.

- So we're gonna start with everything.

Bagel seasoning.

- That's garlic, it's onion, I'm guessing.

- Poppy seeds.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then we're gonna do some fresh herbs today.

I just have rosemary, thyme, and sage.

But you can use whatever fresh herb you want.

I'm just gonna sprinkle it on top.

And I love to get the ends of it too, because I want fresh herbs in every bite.

All right.

- Okay.

- Next is our hot cherry peppers, and we're gonna sprinkle these all over as well.

- God, it looks amazing already.

- Oh, okay.

Last but not least, do you wanna shred some asiago cheese on there?

- Sure.

Wow.

What a fancy cheese grater.

Am I even doing it right?

Let's see.

- Yeah, that'll work.

- Okay, let me know how much - Beautiful.

- That good?

- You can never have too much cheese.

- Is that good?

- That looks perfect.

Okay.

All right.

So the last thing we're gonna do is we're gonna get our hands wet with some olive oil.

And then we're gonna dimple - Hoo-hoo.

Hee, hee.

- All right.

If - You do it afterwards, you're actually kind of infusing the flavors - Into the dough.

Yes.

Right inside.

Yep.

All right.

Now we're gonna get - Our pizza oven ready back here.

Oh, thank you so much.

I'm gonna clean my hands off.

We're gonna top this with some olive oil.

Do a heavy drizzle of olive oil, and now it's ready to go in the oven.

- All right.

Chicken riggie time.

- All right.

So the first thing that we're gonna do is season our chicken.

So it has some fresh organic chicken here, - Okay.

- And what I like to do is over season now, that way I don't have to season a whole lot while I'm building it.

So this is some kosher salt.

We're gonna do a very heavy pinch of that.

- That's the good stuff.

- It is.

Look at that.

And some nice, fresh cracked black pepper.

All right.

Garlic powder.

Yes.

That much.

- Again, the base of your chicken riggies.

- If you're not sneezing, you're not seasoning enough.

- Okay, - Good.

And then a little bit of olive oil.

And now we're gonna mix it up.

- Amazing Chef.

Let me help.

Go ahead.

I wanna do something.

So good.

So a lot of you at home have had chicken riggies, maybe at your favorite restaurant.

Now you can make this at home.

I, we believe the origin of chicken riggies.

The dish itself is from Utica, New York, which is real close by.

Yeah.

So I've been to a number of restaurants down there.

Yes.

I can't wait to try your recipe though, Lisa.

- I feel like everyone has their own recipe.

A lot of people use white wine or vodka or, you know, something like that.

I love the way that I cook it.

- All right, what's next?

- All right, so the next thing we're gonna do is get the cast iron outta the oven.

Because we had to cook this panchetta.

- We've been heating up some olive oil in here.

- All right.

Now we're gonna, - Now Panchetta is like Italian ham, basically high fat content.

- Yes.

We wanna render out this fat from the Panchetta.

So once the panchetta is nice and golden, then we're gonna add our chicken to it.

All right.

So now we've added the chicken to the panchetta, and we're going to essentially fry our chicken and the Panchetta fat.

- So obviously it's all that taste is gonna infuse into that chicken.

- Yes, absolutely.

I think we should pop it back in the oven real quick.

Put - It back in the wood fire.

Ah, let's bring it out.

- That's perfect.

- Looks good to me.

- All right.

So the next thing that we're gonna do is remove the chicken from the pan.

So - Keep in mind we got chicken and panchetta.

So - It's like chicken and Italian ham.

- Yeah.

- All the fat as well.

Or you leave it, some of the juice in there No, we wanna leave some of the juice in there.

And it's okay if you don't get all of the panchetta out.

- Okay.

- There.

I think this looks great, - Because again, that'll be crispy with all Right.

- All right.

Next, we are gonna do some onions and green pepper.

And then once the onions are translucent, we are going to put our garlic in last so that it doesn't burn.

- Okay.

This isn't garlic.

This is cherry peppers.

- Yes.

The garlic's gonna go last.

- Okay.

You're gonna be making this on the stove top at home, but we just happen to have a wood fired oven in the back, so it's - More fun that way back in.

- So again, chicken riggies, a delicious dish.

Next time you come back, we're making Utica greens.

I would love to do that.

I'll give - You my recipe.

- Okay.

For - That one.

Okay.

- I made some this year for a hundred person wedding that I catered in September.

- Of course.

- So that was a lot.

- Yeah.

By the way, did anybody get a chance to this focaccia bread that came out?

Take a look.

Ooh, I'm gonna bring this around here.

Look at this.

Unbelievable.

All right.

So let's see how our onions are doing.

- All right, these are cooking up very nicely.

So we're gonna go ahead and add the garlic to it.

- Okay.

- Now this is fresh garlic, but I have a little trick.

I buy a big giant bag of organic garlic.

I put it in my food processor, I put it in a bag, and then I put it in the freezer.

All right.

You wanna put this, - Oh, it smells so good right - Now.

Right now, don't take a deep breath out.

Almost took my birthday.

- That garlic.

So good.

Alright, back in again.

You're doing this all on your stove top.

So you do this at home.

All right, let's take it out again.

Again.

This oven is super quick.

Gave it a good shake.

And don't let me drop the pan on anyone's foot.

Okay.

- Alright.

So I don't ever measure anything.

- Guys, if you could smell how amazing this is right now.

So we're just gonna do a few swirls so that it covers the bottom of the pan.

And then for an extra little bit of flavor, I like to do a little of this better than boullon.

It's organic chicken because it a good chicken boullon.

Yeah, just, just good umami flavor.

Gives it a little kick.

So you, when you're cooking this at home, you wanna make sure that it's cooking for about five to eight minutes?

I would say.

So now we're gonna add some red sauce in there.

Again, I don't measure.

Til my grandmother tells me to stop.

- Okay.

So what they told me, some people in Utica, they said a good chicken riggiess, it's gotta be pink.

- Yes.

- So we'll see.

That's - Coming.

- We'll, we'll, we'll measure to see how accurate your recipe is.

Pink.

All right, so again, you're on the stove top.

You're bringing this all together.

- Yes.

- Right?

It's, it's heating.

It's all becoming one flavor.

Yes.

What is your example?

You said?

- I said everybody needs to get married.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- So like, like what?

Like you get to know each other.

- Yeah, no, I like to simmer this down for a good 20 minutes before I'm adding anything else in.

Okay.

Yeah.

- Alright.

Alright.

- Pop her back in the oven.

- We'll put it back in the oven, then.

To the chapel we go.

- And then we are going to do our heavy cream.

- Okay.

- And then we're gonna add the chicken back in.

- Okay.

So let's get ready.

Let's pull it out here.

Get everything ready.

- Alright.

Again, we have our organic heavy whipping cream.

You don't need to use organic, but that is, you like to use organic.

A lot of what my business is is fresh, organic ingredients.

Perfect.

- Okay.

- Now, cream.

- Again, we're not measuring and we're gonna stir this up and watch it.

Change colors.

Yep.

- Oh, the pink.

Okay, so I got, I know.

What's next?

The chicken?

- You're dying to put that chicken in.

Go ahead.

- You would, you would put this all together again.

You're simmering it together.

- Yep.

- These are your ingredients.

Now we pre-cook some pasta.

Normally you would cook this a little longer.

Again, having it all do it, but for the sake of television, - Toss it right in there.

There we go.

- And again, we're cooking this in a wood fire oven, so we're gonna put it all in and it's all gonna work together and it's gonna create a very smoky flavor.

It is.

Well, so we got your chicken, your panchetta, your garlic, your chicken broth, - Hot cherry peppers, hot - Cherry pepper.

Gotta have hot cherry peppers.

Or it's not riggies.

To be authentic, you want to use hot cherry peppers.

I've had friends who've made it with those jalapenos, jalapenos and stuff like that.

Then it turns into a Mexican dish.

Yep.

So you can't do that.

All right.

So one more big ingredient in the riggies.

- Lots of Parmesan cheese.

Yeah.

Stack it in there.

Go ahead.

- And again, you're doing this all on the stove top, bringing this together for your family.

They're gonna love it.

Okay, we ready for the oven?

- We are gonna top it with mozzarella cheese first.

Okay, - I'll let you do that.

- Yep.

- Ooh.

- A nice... - I can't wait.

- I like to throw a little parsley on before and after.

- Okay.

- There you go.

- Okay.

Back into the oven to do its thing.

We'll let it bake.

It's getting heavier, bubbling hot chicken riggies.

Wow.

Gorgeous.

Unbelievable.

Great job, Lisa.

I'm so glad.

- Thank you.

You're the first ever guest too.

That's been, that's appeared twice on this, so thank you for coming.

- Call me.

- What are you gonna do?

- We're just gonna top it a little bit with some extra parmesan.

- Okay.

- And a little extra fresh parsley.

- Okay.

Chicken riggies, folks.

Make 'em at home.

Make 'em for your family.

And why not go the extra step like Lisa and make focaccia.

Alright, I'll let you cut this bread.

Alright, let's see how this goes.

This was right in the wood oven.

- All right.

Let's see what it looks like in the middle.

Oh, it's beautiful.

What I love about this focaccia is it is nice and light and fluffy and airy.

- It's beautiful.

Cut us a slice or two.

And while you're doing that, I'll start dishing up our riggies.

- Okay.

- Beautiful.

- You are hungry.

- I mean, all right, next.

And you know what?

There you go.

They're nice and pink.

Just like my friend told me they have to be.

One more scoop.

Okay.

Beautiful.

I've tasted chicken rigs all over the place.

So this is the test, Lisa.

Let's see how we do.

- Mm, - Well done.

Mm - Mm.

Delicious.

- Fabulous.

It's got that smokiness from the wood fire, all the garlic, a little spice, little spice for the peppers.

Not too much.

A little creamy.

Just amazing.

Thank you so much.

Those of you watching at home, you can find this recipe at wpbstv.org.

Go there now, watch all the episodes.

You should.

We have like 25 of them or something.

Yeah, all different kinds.

And you can always catch me on the border 106.7 weekdays.

And you can also check out the Dinner at Johnny's podcast.

Well, it's been great hanging out with you, Lisa.

Thank you so much.

- You're very welcome.

Thank you, Johnny.

- Everybody check out.

Lisa, do you have a website?

- I do have a website, and I also am more active on Facebook.

Okay.

It is 44 North Boutique Catering.

- Oh wait, we didn't try the focaccia.

Holy cow.

Look at this.

Delicious.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

Another episode of Johnny On Fire.

Hmm.

If you're looking for more great fire grilled recipes from Johnny, just visit wpbstv.org and scroll through our library.

And if you'd like to be a guest on the segment, all you need to do is send us an email at WPBSweekly@wpbstv.org.

Make sure you include your name and of course, your fire grilled recipe idea.

Well, that does it for this Tuesday night.

If you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we would love to learn more.

Send us an email at WPBSweekly@wpbstv.org, and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now.

Everyone join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories.

Have a safe night.

We'll see you next time.

Take care.

- Funding for WPBS Weekly inside the stories is provided by the statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State legislature, and administered by the St.

Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Moved to the city or something, but they grew up on a farm, so it's kinda like they're circling back.

- I hope they remember, you know, the people they were with, the experience, the, you know, hopefully sunshine and rainbows out here.