A Change of Seasons

As a frequent shopper at farmers markets, one can't help but noticing the change in seasons by the veggies that are for sale. On the Saturday before Easter, this was my experience.




Spring is in the air here in the Southwest. Flowers have been blooming and the desert is alive right now. The birds and bunnies are active around my house. My little garden has been growing as well, especially the heirloom tomato plants.

Tomatoes taking over

Lots of tourists and locals

A fresh green juice because of Poker Night the night before

Flowers anyone?

 
















The changes in seasonal veggies can be subtle in a sea of organic local veggies. The farmers I shop at must have huge fields of beets, radishes, carrots and all other types of veggies as these seem to always be available. There are an amazing amount of different fruits and veggies all grown locally. Must be the mild winter weather here in Phoenix.





It started a few weeks ago with the first asparagus for sale. Then sweet snap peas and artichokes.





Today these fava beans seemed brand new. If you have never had fresh young fava beans I suggest that you do. They won't be around for long. Yes they are labor intensive to prepare, but the reward is well worth it.











And these little strawberries are so sweet... Yum!



Looks like I will be making lots of spring veggie dishes in the very near future.

I got a little glimpse of the next season when I heard a farmer saying how the last few weeks have been ideal for the lettuces but that will change soon as the weather heats up.

So enjoy the fresh produce that spring brings and Happy Easter!






Note:  I ended up making an Easter salad similar to this with snap peas, fava beans and English peas.

Weekly Ramblings...

This blogging is certainly new to me. I am trying to keep something new out here for my few readers.
So this will be my rambling blog report from the last few days.

Last Tuesday I received a text from a friend asking if we would like to be in on their reservation at Restaurant FnB. Well I said yes not even caring what my wife said. This small restaurant is probably my favorite right now. They were even donating a portion of proceeds going to the Kidney Foundation of AZ that night. I jokingly texted that I would donate a kidney if needed.  I even had people on Instagram giving me ideas on what I needed to order.

Here is the menu. Most diners might need to google up what some of these things are, but my thought is just go and eat some of the best veggie-centric dishes you will ever have. We started with the Fried Cauliflower with Fish Sauce Vin, peanuts and mint. Shut the door! So Good! Also we had the Swiss chard falafel and their famous braised leeks with mozzarella and a fried egg on top.








I even took a bite with the egg! Here is a blurry pic, but I did it. I don't eat eggs by the way. My entree here was the pasta with hedgehog mushrooms, dill, roasted lemon and creme fraiche.

I have read peoples comments that say "I am a situational vegetarian. That is as long as Chef Charleen is in charge of the veggie situation". It is so true.

We also had this swiss chard with polenta croutons, parmesan and rosemary, and an order of the spicy grilled broccoli. The friendly gals at the table next to us even gave me a taste of their rutabaga dish! Finished up with this Blood Orange cake. So good! It is a must go if you live here or a plan ahead if you are visiting. I will be back soon FnB.

Jump ahead to The Day of the Purple Brussels Sprout Stalk. Here is my 9" chef knife next to it.

I came home and the Mrs had bought this beauty at a grocery store. I went into food geek mode for a bit and had to take pics and think of what to do with all these sprouts.

I came up with this salad of shaved purple brussels sprouts with lightly marinated kale and beet greens, shaved carrots and small radishes with a Meyer lemon/green garlic vinaigrette. Too strong on the green garlic was the answer from the Mrs. but I thought it was tasty even if this pic looks a little too foofy. Maybe if I was at the beach...





I even had a local chef suggest a different way to cook these sprouts. This is so cool because I have like 2 ways I cook them. Looks like I will be trying my hand at deep frying these very soon!









Forward again to Saturday and I am at the farmers market, like usual. I bought a lot of veggies and fruit (big surprise) and I also found these hidden metallic kachinas I'm guessing. #publicart

But I have a friend who brought up the idea a week or so back that I ought to start a garden.
Now I've got a bit of room in the back yard and I started thinking this was a great idea. No matter what color thumb I may have. I only grow a few herbs now.

So at the farmers market I decided to talk with Carl Seacat of Seacat Gardens. If you haven't met Carl you should. He grows some of the best tomatoes I have ever eaten. He only was selling plants at the market today because his crops are busy growing right now. 

                                                                                                                                                                  

So I now own 3 heirloom tomato plants and 2 sweet pepper plants plus I have a project going on. 

                     

I picked out a spot and assembled this small raised bed and noticed the sunset on one of my trees. How will this all turn out?






I don't know, but I do know this will give me plenty of things to blog about.

Coming soon...

The Blog Begins...

Hi I'm Jeff aka El Hefe. I guess Hefe is the nickname I gave myself years ago and it has just stuck. I have an intense love of cooking and food of all types but I am not a chef. My cooking began when I was away at college and eating way too much Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, and Mrs. Stouffer's fantastic frozen entrees. Ugh! I remember asking for a wok as a birthday present one year and I bought a Chinese Cookbook to go along with. I still have it with pages that fall out. This forced me to get into the store and cooking with meats and veggies as well as learning to cook in general. I also had a small hibachi that I would use to grill with. I've been a subscriber to Food & Wine Magazine for many years as well as Cooking Light. I have a large cookbook collection that I love but more recently it's all about Google. All one must do is search and anything you might want to try is just a few clicks away.

I love hitting farmers markets and picking up super fresh, organically grown fruits and veggies. I know that these are much better than supermarket varieties but if needed I will use those as well. It's just a lot of fun going each week and even getting to know the farmers as well as other vendors. Healthy is my key I guess as I have gotten into blending green smoothies as well as juicing over the last 6 months or so. I am sure this has increased my health and wellness many times over as I feel fabulous lately (personal moment).

I guess that I have been heading this way for a while now. I have received varying interest in my instagram posts instagram.com/theelhefe from people I know as well as online folks that I may or may not ever meet. Several people have commented that I should start a blog, so this is for you.

Disclaimers: I am not a chef. I follow instructions well and I think I have a talent for finding interesting recipes out of a vast sea of so many. Tweaking these recipes and changing up ingredients is fun for me.

Also I am not a writer. I may have been on twitter for over 3 years twitter.com/theelhefe but that doesn't count and I may revert to 140 spaces at times...

I follow many food bloggers and really respect what they do and I can only try my best so bear with me. I am sure I will plug those that i like. So let's have a little fun and maybe I can help you learn a thing or two that I have picked up.