Chef’s are our Best Friends

Let’s be honest. Thank God for Chefs! Equinox counts on the chefs and restaurants we do business with to lead the way. To discover amazing things to do with all the greens and vegetables we grow. First it’s the enjoyment we get from an extraordinary meal at one of our areas’ wonderful restaurants. But there’s more. Chefs give us ideas and inspiration. They challenge us to take a dish from their kitchen we experienced and loved and recreate it in our own. Sometimes what’s revealed is simple – the chef’s imaginative paring of a few common ingredients that just wouldn’t occur to us.

Take, for example, the roast chicken and bread salad from Judy Rogers at Zuni Cafe in San Francisco – one of the of the highlights in a city that adores food. It’s simple and delicious . . . a warm mix of crispy, tender. and chewy chunks of bread, a little slivered garlic and scallion. a scatter of currants and pine nuts and a handful of mustard greens, all moistened with vinaigrette and chicken drippings. “Damn that’s good. Why didn’t I think of it,” you ask yourself? It’s okay, you’re not a chef.

Chef’s are demanding . . . in a good way

I hear a lot of great stories from chefs. Stories of discovery, new inspiration. To be honest, it’s catching. For example, a chef just back from an Asian adventure say something like . . . Ted, I’m telling you, it was unbelievable. I was at this funky little food stall on a side street by the Ben Thanh market in Ho Chi Minh City. There was this astounding . . . of course, followed by, You’ve really gotta grow that for me!

Nothing gets a chef more excited than a culinary reconnoiter to some fairly out of the way place. As soon as they’re back I can pretty much count on a call demanding we immediately start supplying something I may never have heard of. But I have to say, if we’re able to accommodate and I’ve had a chance to sample the resulting dish, I get it. I understand what they were waving their arms and shouting about.

All in all, it’s a very good thing the world has a group of people who obsess about food and then know what to do about it. So like I said, God bless chefs.

Chefs and Their Recipes

We thought it would be fun to ask some of the chefs we work with to help us – and you – broaden our options on how to prepare the fresh greens and vegetables we grow Busy as they are, they liked the idea agreed to help out. They’ve generously donated some wonderful recipes and we’ve organized them so you can explore ideas either by chef or by a specific vegetable or green.

Check the lists on the right side of the page. Click on a chef to link to their page and see the recipes they’ve contributed. You can easily download recipes you like to your desktop as PDF files. We’ll be continually adding, so visit often for delicious new ideas for preparing your favorite vegetables and greens.