Ladies we Love: Hip Chick Farms Chef Jennifer Johnson

October 12th, 2015 • BY Morgan Tilton

Chef Jennifer Johnson undoubtedly holds the recipe for success. Her career began with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Waters, who was just awarded the 2014 National Humanities Medal by President Obama, helped lay the roots of Johnson’s culinary philosophy: Find the finest, freshest local and seasonal ingredients that are produced sustainably and fairly, and bring those to the table.

And for someone whose talents have served thousands of students and guests in the Getty’s home, including the President himself, Johnson’s humbleness is palpable.

Now, she’s also the creative visionary for her own business, Hip Chick Farms, a small-batch company that creates chicken fingers, meatballs, nuggets and wings from happy, responsibly raised chickens. Then flash-frozen, the meals are a healthy, convenient option for busy households. Named one of Food and Wine’s Most Innovative Women In Food & Drink, Johnson and her wife and co-founder Serafina Palandech are helping to transform the food world. Almost three years ago the couple launched their business, then moved from San Francisco to Sebastopol with their now 3-year-old daughter, Rubyrose, to embrace the farm life.

Basically, what you eat needs to make you happy, and before that’s possible, what you eat needs to be happy. That’s the message I gather from Johnson, who is compassionate, straightforward, and sarcastic—anything but preachy. From Hip Chick Farms to the Getty home, we caught up with Johnson to get a bigger taste of what’s stirring:

Morgan Tilton: What has been the most exciting part of launching Hip Chick Farms for you?

Jennifer Johnson: The most exciting part was seeing Jennifer Johnson, Vice President, of my own company on paper—I mean, talk about the American dream!—and doing it with someone I adore and love and who is my life partner and the mother of my child. That’s been the most thrilling part of this all coming to fruition.

MT: What’s been the greatest challenge?

JJ: We literally were about to put our house on the market two years ago. It’s been financially stressful. Serafina has been knocking on doors trying to raise money and it’s been super challenging to fundraise. But, we’ve met a ton of great people and mentors along the way; and made a lot of mistakes but a lot of successes, too. It’s still such a new company.

MT: Are you still a full-time chef, as well? What does your day-to-day look like?

JJ: I do research and development [for Hip Chicks] and also work full-time as the Executive Private Chef for Ann and Gordon Getty in San Francisco. For my day-to-day: Serafina got an office five minutes from home, so I run into the office in the morning, if I have time—I have a 3-hour commute everyday from where we live—then I do my daytime lunch and dinner job.

MT: What’s it like cooking at the Getty’s home?

JJ: There is a Montessori school in the home, so I go shopping and cook lunch for the teachers and kids everyday. That’s where the chicken fingers started, and other recipes that the kids liked—they were my taste testers for 15 years! I also cook for my clients, principals and friends. I’ve cooked for the president three times. It’s a very high profile house and they are very involved in the arts and politics. There are dinner parties with anywhere from 10 to 800 people in house at a time, and I coordinate the whole thing and bring in all of the chefs to help me. For the menus, the food is all local and organic, but everyone likes something a little different.

MT: What are your favorite things to cook as a family at home?

JJ: I get home when everyone is in bed, but on the weekends, I love to grill out. I made a Tuscan grill on a knoll on our property. I love making sweet potatoes, steak and veggies: healthy and simple. Chez Panisse is about real simple cooking, getting the best ingredients, making sure [the food] is raised healthy and properly, and then bring it all to the table. You can definitely taste the difference between happy animals and tortured animals. I have to stick to my guns about using really well treated, humanely raised animals.

MT: Does Rubyrose show any interest yet in sustainable farming or cooking?

JJ: Oh, yes! She’s my number one taste tester. For breakfast, she wants the meatballs or chicken fingers. She loves to help in the kitchen. And, we have quite the menagerie of animals. Her and her friends give carrots to the horses—we have some that are 16 hands high—and donkeys. She gets the eggs for us and holds the rabbits and chickens.

MT: What is life like on the farm like? Are you able to raise and process all of your chickens for Hip Chick Farms products?

JJ: I wanted to have my own facility, and it would be millions of dollars. So, we have co-packers that make our products, which we’re on top of 24-7. I have to take quite a bit of time off at work and check in on our people. They are free-range raised chickens, PETA-approved, from Mary’s Pitman Family Farms, which has been doing it for three generations.

MT: What is your largest culinary inspiration?

JJ: Alice Waters. Tried and true. Basically, she was the one who brought in farmer’s markets and is also trying to change how the entire nation eats, especially kids. She is a very influential pioneer and revolutionary woman. She really practices what she preaches and it shows in her restaurant, where I worked for many years. I really truly believe in what she’s doing, and I think that people are starting to listen.

MT: What is your next goal for Hip Chick?

JJ: I’ve got a little gluten-free potpie, and a naked nugget with a sauce that I’m working on. We just want to keep throwing stuff out there that’s delicious, simple and easy to eat, yet super good for you and well made. It’s mostly about being with my family and raising my daughter and spending more time with her. We see the continued success of Hip Chicks as giving the big boys a run for their money—when you compare our products to other products that aren’t made in small batches you’ll notice the different immediately.

MT: How do you and your wife support one another as busy parents, and as business partners?

JJ: Oh, working together has absolutely been seamless. We totally have the best yin-yang working relationship, home life relationship, and parent relationship. You know the relay race where you hand off the baton? That’s us. We just love being together and you can tell that in our product and our story. It’s great chemistry and what you see is what you get. She’s got the smarts and is business savvy and I have [creativity], and it balances out really well. And our daughter is the perfect combination of those things.

Whip up one of Chef Jennifer Johnson’s recipes at home:

Gazpacho with Hip Chick Ginger Sliders

Hip Chick Chicken Finger Sliders

6 baked Hip Chick chicken fingers

6 soft rolls

1/2 thinly sliced purple and green cabbage

1 Tbsp sliced scallions

1 Tsp of red wine vinegar

1 Tsp of sugar

2 Tbsp of mayonnaise

salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl combine and toss together all of your sliced cabbage, scallion, sugar, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Split soft rolls and add 1 baked chicken finger to each roll. Top with a generous amount of coleslaw and enjoy your slider!

Gazpacho

6 ripe early girl tomatoes/peeled and seeded

1 sliced and seeded cucumber

1/2 sliced red onion soaked

3 Tbsp of Banyuls vinegar

1 sliced red pepper

8 whole basil leaves

2 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper top taste

In hot water, quickly add your tomatoes for 1 min, remove and add to ice water. Peel skins immediately. Cut in 1/2 and squeeze seeds from each half.

In a bowl combine all of your ingredients and let macerate for 1 hour in fridge. Then in a blender, blend all of your ingredients together until soup consistency. Always taste test to make sure you are comfortable with your seasoning.

Keep chilled and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and maybe some small crunchy croutons and a dash of black pepper. Perfect accompaniment for your slider.