St. Patrick's Day Menus
My personal favorite updated traditional Irish dish is shredded short rib Shepherd’s pie. I like to braise boneless short ribs overnight, shred them and add demi-glace instead of gravy, with finely chopped celery, carrots, and onions as well as peas. Then I like to top this dish with very cheesy mashed potatoes, baking it until the cheese has formed a yummy, crispy topping. I think these small changes take this very traditional comfort food and transforms it into a dish that will impress.
Seasonal Spring Items
I really enjoy working with radishes. The radish has a large variety of flavor profiles from mild to spicy and I think using fresh radish as a garnish for salad or tacos is the best way to brighten a spring dish.
MFC Broccoli Crowns
I really enjoy working with MFC Broccoli Crowns. I like to roast them for deep color and flavor. I also like to make Gruyere cheesy broccoli gratins—bake them in large ramekins until golden and crispy. This recipe is a profitable side to add to your menu for sure!
Pump Up the Protein
Utilize beans and legumes in purees and sauces. When incorporating protein in produce-based dishes, it’s important to provide the nine essential amino acids. This is achieved by combining a mix of ingredients: beans, lentils, grains, and plenty of produce.
Breakfast Anytime
When it comes to breakfast later in the day, I suggest using the traditional egg ingredient, but not as in the classic ways, like omelets or scrambles. Instead, I serve eggs roasted with asparagus, bread crumbs, and cheese as appetizers, poached eggs atop burgers, yolks over pizza, and a special bacon and eggs using pork belly in place of bacon.
Valentine's Day Dessert
A great Valentine’s Day dessert would be a fresh-baked strawberry tart with pistachio gelato on top.
Pasta with Produce
I love shrimp sautéed in olive oil with Sambal chile peppers and plenty of MFC Basil. Toss these ingredients with angel hair or fettucine and you have a flavor-packed dish.
RSS Better Burger Leaf Lettuce
I love RSS Better Burger Leaf Lettuce—it’s a time saver as well as a money saver. It’s a very consistent product that delivers strong positive results.
Winter Citrus
Try grilling or charring your grapefruit or orange segments. This intensifies the flavor and adds smoky layers to the dish. Pair these with beets, goat cheese, and RSS Urban Blend for a unique salad twist.
Healthy Dishes in the New Year
I always suggest serving simple roasted chicken with winter vegetables, vegetable casseroles like roasted cauliflower and red peppers with smoked gruyere cheese, farro with roasted squash and pickled onions, and “rice” bowls with couscous or quinoa. I also like to substitute farro for oatmeal with coconut milk and cran-raisins.
Hard Squashes
I love the flavor and textures of them all: Butternut, Kabocha, Acorn, Blue Hokkaido, Delicata, Hubbard, and more. I chop and slice them. I roast, saute, grill, and turn them into spaghetti. I smoke and puree them…the applications are truly infinite and they are so crave-worthy!
Cauliflower Crumbles
Because they are already chopped or crumbled finely, I like to use them like a bread crumb to coat different types of meat, which I then roast in butter and finally finish in the oven. This golden-brown crust adds incredible flavor—delicious!
Late Fall Leafy Greens
My absolute favorite is red chard. It has the texture of kale, but with more vibrant colors. I chop it and roast with autumn herbs and spices.
Holiday Side Dishes
I frequently use root vegetables such as winter squashes and beets. They can be grilled, roasted, or cooked sous vide. They work for the holidays because they are vibrant in color and rich in flavor—elevating your plate to a new level. I suggest putting these types of dishes in your regular winter menu rotation.
Using RSS Green Beans On the Menu
During the holidays, customers expect traditional applications like green bean casseroles, green beans almondine, and bundles with bacon. I serve these, but also offer fresh ideas such as blistered beans with red bell-almond pesto or sautéed beans tossed in black garlic.
Cold-Weather Soup Ideas
Ancient grains and legumes are healthy and on-trend. I use them in soups as often as I can to give them a hearty texture and more fiber. I add broccolini and house-made croutons to my mushroom-lentil soups—then top with a fried or soft-poached egg. Ramen is another easy-to-customize, popular menu item—I mix it up with different toppings such as Kabocha squash, black radishes, kimchi, enoki mushrooms, and piles of fresh herbs. Kale is a great addition to chilis and meat stews, while coconut milk adds a subtle difference to vegetable purees.
Fall Pumpkin Dishes
The sugary, sweet pumpkin-spiced coffee drinks that kicked off this massive trend have little to do with the healthy, delicious recipes I like to offer in the fall, but they do share the craveable ingredient, pumpkin. Once the weather cools, I like to add roasted chunks to a variety of menu items, such as oatmeal, chili, beef stews, potato gratins, tamales, mac & cheese, ravioli, quesadillas, and veggie tacos
Incorporating Produce Into Pasta Dishes
Pasta is an easy platform for creativity because the noodles (or shapes) themselves serve as a blank canvas for sauce, toppings, and cheeses. Although most Americans think Italian when craving pasta, it could also mean Asian noodles, or even fusion dishes. I like to cook regional specialties like pasta alla Norma with eggplant, tomatoes, and ricotta salata from Sicily or Cacio e pepe highlighted with asparagus or broccolini like they serve in Rome. I also like to add color to my homemade pasta recipes with vegetables such as beets, spinach, mushrooms, and carrots.
Grain-Based Salad Ideas
Farro is a grain that works well in many salads. It has a great texture and a nutty flavor. Farro pairs with roasted butternut squash cubes, cranberries, pomegranate arils, and toasted pumpkin seeds. Toss with some baby arugula and crumbled goat cheese, then dress with a honey-sherry vinaigrette for a delicious fall salad.
Ingredients with Complementary Textures
Brussels sprouts have great texture and can be used in many ways. They can be shredded into a salad, quartered and roasted then served with aioli as an appetizer, or roasted with cippolini onions and balsamic vinegar for a side dish. The crunchiness of the Brussels sprout contrasts well with the creamy soft texture of the roasted cippolini onions.
Savory Fall Apples
I like to mix diced apples in with large diced sweet potatoes and sweet onion. Toss it all with some olive oil and season with garlic, salt, and pepper. Place all in a cast iron skillet and roast until everything is cooked and slightly caramelized. This is a great accompaniment to pork or just as is.
Favorite Fall Vegetable
Fall is my favorite season—the time of year for earthy flavors. Braising and roasting are good ways to prepare cold-weather foods. Parsnips taste great cut into chunks and roasted with other root vegetables, sliced and mixed with au gratin potatoes, or added to mashed potatoes for a uniqueness most people just can’t put their finger on. I also like to boil, then puree parsnips very smooth in a high-power blender with some cream, butter, salt, and pepper. That silky-smooth richness adds great dimension to the plate.
Gluten-Free Vegetable Dishes
Shepherd’s pie is a great fall dish that is full of vegetables and warms customers on chilly fall days. Not only is it gluten-free but you can also make it low carb by replacing the mashed potatoes with mashed cauliflower. It’s amazing how well the cauliflower mash replaces the potato. You can use ground beef, ground lamb, or make a vegetarian version by replacing the meat with beans and diced mushrooms.
Summer Melons
Melons are ideal for healthy desserts like granitas and sorbets—sometimes I add spirits to make frozen beverages for the summer months. I also like to wrap slices of cantaloupe and honeydew with salty meats like Serrano ham and prosciutto. Watermelon works great in mock caprese salads or on kebabs.
Healthy Kids' Menu Items
Processed chicken nuggets and cheesy pastas are so 20th century! I prefer to upgrade the quality of my kids’ offerings by making healthy foods taste delicious. I include tacos made with plenty of produce and lean meats, creating in-house baked flatbreads loaded with chicken and broccoli, and rice bowls topped with avocados, grilled shrimp, and chopped mango.
Summer Corn
First, I like to grill whole ears of corn to get a nice char on the kernels. Sometimes I slather spicy mayo on the ears and sprinkle with grated Mexican cheeses (like Cotija) and cilantro—great with steaks and burgers. Other times I cut the kernels off and toss them with leafy greens or ancient grains to add a bite of summer to my salads.
Using Veggies in Burgers
The James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project has brought awareness to how easy it is to add flavor and decrease fat and calories by mixing minced mushrooms into ground meat. I’ve had success in using other produce items in this way, including grated beets, carrots, and zucchini.
Summer Salad Recipe
My favorite is to mix farro with kale, mint, parsley, and dill. Who says the only greens you can put in salads are lettuces? I love adding fresh herbs to my salads. Toss it all together with a simple Champagne vinaigrette and top with pomegranate seeds.
Floral Flavors
Honestly my favorite is lavender. It’s both fragrant and beautiful. However, my newest floral friends are chive blossoms. Just one tiny bite of their flavor can really elevate a bowl of sugar snap peas or edamame.
Brightly Colored Recipes
Regardless of your favorite flavors, these five words are the key to increasing color in your dish: DO NOT OVERCOOK YOUR VEGETABLES. As far as my favorite way to bring color to the plate, it has to be pomegranate seeds. More than their beautiful hue and gorgeous luster, they add excitement with little bursts of acidity. They’re versatile enough to be used in either sweet or savory dishes. BONUS TIP: A lightly wilted baby spinach and butternut puree makes a wonderful base for scallops or chicken to sit on.
Veg-Centric Father's Day Dishes
One of my favorites is sautéed Morel mushrooms and grilled asparagus. I like to finish the morels in the pan with Madeira wine and then drizzle the whole dish with a harissa sauce. It makes great Father’s Day meal, because that is one of the last weekends that those ingredients are in their seasonal prime.
Embracing Carbs
The variety of textures and flavors in ancient grains makes them interesting to eat and versatile for every meal period. Cook grains like kamut in the low & slow heat method, then mix in caramelized MFC Apples, strained yogurt, salt & pepper, toasted pecans, and rosemary-infused honey. Prepare an ancient grain salad with red quinoa, charred MFC Zucchini Squash, pickled raisins, pumpkin seeds, goat cheese, coriander, and harissa vinaigrette. Put a spin on risotto by using bulgur wheat with sugar snap peas, preserved lemon butter, wilted sweet pea tendrils, and shaved Parmesan cheese.
Mother's Day Dishes
Serve a lobster mushroom benny with poached eggs, buttermilk fingerling potato cakes, burnt butter hollandaise, and parsley salad. Create a summer squash noodle bowl with marinated heirloom tomatoes, fresh MFC Basil, garlic confit, white balsamic, and extra virgin olive oil. Drizzle grilled cabbage wedges and rainbow carrots with ginger dressing, mint yogurt, and garam masala bread crumbs. Offer a fingerling potato salad made with candied onions and sweet & sour mustard sauce.
Alcohol-Free Beverages
Hybrid Dishes
Sushi tacos are trending; I fill seaweed shells with sticky rice, tempura vegetables, sliced RSS Avocado Halves, pickled ginger, and red onions. The squashleekotao. a.k.a a Vegducken combines MFC Zucchini Squash, leeks, and sweet potatoes rolled into a vegetarian masterpiece. A phoritto is a house-made tortilla filled with pho beef, rice noodles, MFC Basil, bean sprouts, chile peppers, and MFC Limes. Don’t forget the dipping sauce!
Root to Stem Cooking
Using Cilantro
I love cilantro. Not because it is used so commonly in Texas, but because it works in so many cuisines throughout the world. Try simmering coconut milk broth with cilantro, an Indian spice blend, cooked red potatoes, yellow lentils, ginger, Serrano chiles, and green peas. Top with chopped cilantro to brighten this comforting dish.
Korean Foods
Vegetarian Dishes
I suggest a savory bowl of lo mein noodles with bok choy, roasted portabella mushroom slices, sautéed onions, fresh jalapenos, and cooked farro in a complex vegetarian broth topped with fresh herbs.
MFC Strawberries
I like tossing MFC Strawberries in sugar and strawberry vinegar, then slow roasting on a silpat. This allows all the flavors to concentrate and creates unique texture. Use as a topping for desserts ranging from mousse to cakes to ice cream.
Fermented Produce Items
Fermented foods are highly underestimated. They can be used to create a vibrant palate, something deliciously unfamiliar. My favorite fermented produce item is black garlic. It brings a sweet element to the garlic that we never knew was there before the fermentation.
Using Turmeric
I like to use turmeric in a similar fashion to ginger. Like ginger, it’s very versatile, which allows it to complement many culinary applications. I personally like it best in tiny candied pieces—makes an excellent garnish!
Featuring Citrus on Winter Menus
Our palates need sour more than we think! As long as the citrus balances the dish, I think it is a great addition to winter menus. I would suggest using citrus in the winter to combat bitter flavors like in an orange cranberry glaze for brussels sprouts or a lemon gelee on a mocha flourless torte.
Winter 2018 Trendiest Items
I really think that this year we are going to see an increased use of Brussels sprouts. I believe people have become less intimidated by their bitter umami flavor. The cores can be braised while the leaves can be fried, creating a very texturally appealing vegetable for many types of cuisines.
Holiday Side Dishes
Sweet potatoes store well and are available all year, but the fall is when flavors and freshness peak. I love the finished texture of roasted sweet potato. One of my go-to dishes is roasted sweet potato with chunks of fresh pineapple in a hot oven, allowing some charring. This goes great with pork loin or a nice rack of Colorado lamb. When it comes to fruit, nothing beats an autumn pear. There are many varieties and textures to use. Pears are great in fall salads comprised of kale, Parmesan cheese, sliced pears, and honey-lemon dressing.
Good eating!
Late Fall Leafy Greens
Healthy Dessert Options
Fresh peaches are my go to fruit in the fall. One of my favorite dishes is a healthy version of peach cobbler. Simply grilled peach halves, rubbed with vanilla bean, topped with house made granola and frozen lemon yogurt.
Good eating!
Winter Menus: Cinnamon and Citrus
As we get ready to entertain family and friends, our beverage selections change as much as our menus do. Blood Oranges are a great choice for making drinks. One I like is a blood orange margarita. I infuse simple syrup with cinnamon sticks to add fall-like flavors to this “out of the ordinary” cocktail.
Good eating!
Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs!
Eggs have been everywhere on menus this year and I don’t see this trend abating. They lend supple texture to trendy toasts and brothy soups like ramen and udon. Scotch eggs—soft-boiled and wrapped in sausage, then fried in panko—are delicious on top of green salads.
Good eating!
Fall Brussels Sprouts
Brussels sprouts went from dreaded vegetable to the hottest side dish on the menu. I like to saute them with cranberries and Indian or Middle Eastern spices to balance their earthiness and lend some pleasant bitterness.
Good eating!