Cheyenne Celebrity Chef Puts Sprouts, Wyoming’s Newest Grocer, To The Test

CHEYENNE — Chef Petrina Peart is well-known as the Wyoming chef who almost beat Bobby Flay. 

She needed just one more vote to beat him on the celebrity chef’s famous “Beat Bobby Flay” Food Network show, something few chefs have been able to do during the show’s 37 seasons and 422 episodes.

Peart always brings her A game to her tables in Wyoming, whether she’s preparing food for a large party or small. So it’s no surprise that she’s willing to go well out of her way for the right ingredients.

Fort Collins farmers markets? No problem.

Trader Joe’s? Yes, please.

Peart will travel even if it’s just for microgreens or 200 grams of a particular kind of specialty flour or nut crucial to what she wants to make. She’s that dedicated to her culinary creations.

“Food has always been an art to me,” Peart said. “Food is the only art that incorporates all five senses, like you can smell it and feel it and taste it. And, unlike a musical note or photography you get to eat it.”

With the recent introduction of Sprouts Farmers Market to Cheyenne, Peart told Cowboy State Daily she’s found a store that can help her cut down on at least some of the driving.

All About Sprouts

Peart was among the first customers to shop at Sprouts when it turned up in Wyoming. She’s familiar with the brand and loves its strategy of bringing the freshest possible ingredients to market. 

“It pretty much started as a farmers market,” Peart said. “It was a family in San Diego who started with like, a fruit stand, and then turned into a farmers market.”

The concept became so popular, the family was able to open lots of new stores in California, and then started opening new stores in Arizona, Texas and many other Southwestern states. 

“Now they’re all over,” Peart said. 

Wyoming’s new Sprouts store is the first new state for Sprouts Farmers Market in a couple of years, and it appears to be part of an overall, ambitious growth strategy. 

The company announced plans to add 100 stores, beginning in 2023, when it opened 30 new stores. 

This year, the company has opened 33 new stores, including the one in Wyoming. 

The company did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s inquiry about its future plans in Wyoming.

Peart also loves the diversity, as well as the freshness, offered by Sprouts. There are new and different brands of yogurts and other probiotics. There are bulk nuts, chocolates and flours. And there are lots of different options for milk that suit her particular foodie focus.

“I shop for allergen-friendly things more than most,” Peart said. “I know that each store in town has a few different choices, but here you’re going to find, like, a selection.”

Fresh Is Another Word For Inspiration

Freshness is so important to Peart that she purposely doesn’t plan out every item on her holiday menus. 

She leaves room for inspiration — that one spectacular ingredient that’s going to bring a “wow” factor to her tables.

During a recent shopping trip at Sprouts with Cowboy State Daily, Peart found more than one “it” item to bring to upcoming foodie event; things that had her grinning from ear to ear.

Among the first things her eye was drawn to?

Neon orange persimmons, so bright they were all but glowing as they hung out on Sprouts’ produce row.

“I love the color of these,” Peart said, picking one up and smiling. “Persimmons are something that’s only available this time of the year, and then they’re gone.”

She grabbed a plastic produce bag for them and, giggling, said she likes to “overuse” the persimmons this time of year as much as possible until they’re all gone.

At first, Peart only placed a modest two persimmons in her produce bag. She was worried about whether they’re ripe enough.

“They have a kind of chalkiness to them when you bite into them if they’re not ripe,” she explained. 

That astringency of an unripe persimmon can feel like suddenly chewing on a cotton ball.

But two persimmons weren’t really enough for the idea growing in Peart’s mind — a holiday pie. So she started gently testing the persimmons. There were only three more ripe enough to add to her pile.

That wouldn’t be enough for a pie, she acknowledged, casting her eyes about, looking for something she’s found in Sprouts before, a root called ube. 

Finally, her eyes settled on a rather plain-looking root that looks a whole lot like a regular sweet potato. 

But there’s nothing regular about them. 

A mischievous grin played on her face. 

“Inside, these are purple,” she said, holding one up.

Peart snatched up two or three of the unassuming tubers, placing them beside the persimmons. 

She’ll use both to make a fun, purple pie with some traditional holiday flavors, but a decidedly nontraditional look. 

More Mushrooms Than Ever

Peart also couldn’t resist stopping by the mushrooms and eyeing the oyster and lion’s mane varieties. 

Lion’s mane are a white, brain-looking mushroom that have been correlated with good brain health, Peart said. They also have a very different texture than the regular bellas and buttons more commonly available at most grocery stores.

Peart recently used lion’s mane as a vegan substitute for bison Osso Bucco for a vegan guest who was a member of the party who won her annual dinner party auction item, which she donated as part of fundraising for the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra.

Peart sliced the lion’s mane into steaks, jazzing them up with the same spices as the bison. She browned the mushrooms, just as she did the carnivore version, getting everything all nice and brown.

That brown color is part of cooking chemistry called the Maillard reaction. It’s responsible for that deeply satisfying umami flavor of beef stew, and it’s a step no chef ever recommends skipping. 

Regular old bellas and buttons can also get this kind of flavor, without becoming slimy, if they’re pan-roasted until nice and dry and brown. After that, one could deglaze the pan with a little bit of cooking wine or sherry and cook the mushrooms until the alcohol is all gone.

“Add in some onions and garlic and you have mushroom duxelles and just get exciting from there,” Peart said, smiling.

Oh, Christmas Tree

Peart didn’t snatch up lion’s mane this week, given that she has already featured them recently. The chef is always on the hunt for something new, something different, something her clients haven’t seen yet, but that will knock their socks off.

She soon found it in an unlikely suspect — Brussels sprouts.

But not just any old pile of little green cabbages. These sprouts were still attached to their stem, looking for all the world like a little cabbage version of a lodgepole pine tree.

Peart has stunning plans for the little tree. It’s going to get a bath in whiskey-brown sugar marinade, and then it’s going to get roasted with more of the same, until it’s all good and browned and delicious.

Her show-stopper doesn’t stop there, though, of course. Peart plans to add garnishes to the Brussels sprout tree that will evoke Christmas ornaments. 

This also isn’t going to be a sad, lying-down tree, either. It’s going to stand up, tall and proud, like a real Christmas tree should.

Peart was already devising her strategy for presenting the tree, standing it upright in all its delicious glory, as she held the Brussel sprout tree up in Sprouts with a huge grin. 

It’s coming soon — hopefully to a table near this reporter, if not also you.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.