What’s springing up at The Chef’s Garden?

In this springtime, on the cusp of summer, a bunch of beloved seasonal crops become available. The Chef’s Garden is always on the cutting edge of what’s good now. You can order them sent to your front door. I was happy to be hosted to experience them!

Though Farmer Lee Jones doesn’t grow fruit, he does collaborate with preferred area farmers and in this box was rhubarb! I’ve always seen rhubarb paired with strawberries, but I didn’t have any. I had never cooked with it and was shocked at how easy it is. I had a recipe that said to stew it for 15 minutes, but I say 10 is plenty. Chop it up, add a touch of water and sugar. I always keep citrus peels in my freezer from the winter time. I added them and garnished with The Chef’s Garden edible micro flowers. Such a simple treat!

I learned from The Chef’s Garden suggestions a while back that squash blossoms are good stuffed with cheese, battered with flour and club soda, then quick-fried. I realized that I forgot to get club soda, so I looked up on the interwebs for a sub. Just like with subs for buttermilk, a little lemon in water did the trick. I also incorporated The Chef’s Garden micro herbs. This is super tasty: make more than you think you will need.

Roasted multi-color beets are terrific and terrifically easy. I roast them punctured, but with the skins on! As a little accompaniment, I fluffed up some cream cheese, whipping cream and micro-herbs.

Farmer Lee Jones says as to asparagus: “When it’s in season, eat it 3 times a day, then don’t eat it.” Did you know that white asparagus is not a separate variety, it’s just grown without sunlight? This makes it more tender. At the time, purple, green and white asparagus were available. I made my own Hollandaise sauce! That’s a sauce that’s easy to make in a kinda wrecked way, but very tough to get perfect. Life is short, I did take some shortcuts. I like my sauce with lots of lemon and hot sauce. One time, I was in Trier, Germany and they not only sauced the white asparagus, but sent out a whole boat of Hollandaise. They were upset that I didn’t drink up the whole boat.

So, did you make Coronation Quiche in honor of the new King Charles? I did. They suggest spinach and beans as the combo. I have tried that, but I’d also add that the real concept is to have a leafy veggie and a more stalky one. So, I used a combination of The Chef’s Garden’s high brix, extra sweet spinach, some turnip greens and sliced mini zucchini and yellow squash.

Sometimes, you don’t feel like cooking. The Chef’s Garden has many kinds of lettuce. For salad ideas, I rely on my vintage copy of the Edgewater Beach Hotel Salad Book. It has about a billion zillion ways to serve it! I was born pretty much there, plus my grandmother and dad later lived next door to where it was. I feel this salad book is in my DNA! One comment I will never forget is that the book claims that a salad without onion might not really be salad. They do have hundreds of salads, including fruit salads, that don’t include onion, so take it with a grain of sea salt. But you get the idea.

The Chef’s Garden has started offering its flowering herbs to we mere mortals. I think, flavor-wise, that I had flowering peas and pea shoots. They have that richer, more carby flavor, but they aren’t starchy! I liked them with a sprinkle of salt as a side!

I steamed some “bunch spinach” to use the same as broccoli rabe on some pasta with vodka sauce.

So, I was looking for a tasty way to use baby turnips and potatoes. I saw a recipe for the two to be prepared au gratin! It’s decadent, with heavy cream, butter, some cheese and herbs. I like to add a little blade mace in recipes with cream and cheese.