The Chef's Garden: A Modern Guide to Common and Unusual Vegetables—with Recipes

This is the title of the new book by The Chef’s Garden and, in it, Farmer Lee Jones shares the knowledge they’ve gained over the years on how to select, prepare, and cook vegetables. It’s a guidebook with more than 500 entries, ideal for home cooks who love to include fresh vegetables in their family’s meals—and it also contains 100 recipes created by the head chef at the Culinary Vegetable Institute of The Chef’s Garden. 

Entries range the gamut of commonly known veggies to unusual ones, and from herbs to edible flowers. Recipes include the following: Beet Marshmallows, Cornbread-Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms, Onion Caramel, Ramp Top Pasta, and Seared Rack of Brussels Sprouts. 

The tone of this comprehensive guidebook is approachable and friendly, just like Farmer Lee Jones himself, and it shares innovative techniques to transform vegetables in your kitchen. The book captures the essence of the farm, one that grows and harvests with the belief that every part of a plant offers something unique on the plate. 

Vegetables are at the forefront of cuisine in this increasingly plant-forward world, and this book will transform the way you think about, eat, and cook them. 

This book (one you’ll reach for, again and again!) will be available on April 20, 2021. Although A Modern Guide to Common and Unusual Vegetables—with Recipes is big news, that’s not all that’s happening on the farm. Farmer Lee and his team are busy with their home deliveries of fresh vegetables and they’re excited about nutritional information about those vegetables being confirmed by an independent lab.

The Soil is the Heart of The Chef’s Garden.

Farmer Lee and his family have long believed that, if they nurture their soil and treat it like its own crop, the added flavor this provides would also result in fresh vegetables that burst with nutrition. This was confirmed in their own agricultural research lab—and now has been independently verified: vegetables from The Chef’s Garden actually have 300 to 600 percent more in nutrients than the USDA baseline.

Vegetables grown at The Chef’s Garden are especially nutrient rich because they use regenerative farming techniques that allow them to naturally enrich the soil. At a high level, this means they strategically use diverse cover crops to build up the soil; till, only as needed, and gently at that; and allow two thirds of their fields to lay fallow each year so that the soil can rest and be appropriated, fed and watered. 

This is in direct contrast to today’s conventional farming techniques where crops are grown for maximum yield—rather than for optimal flavor and nutrition—and where chemicals are used. At The Chef’s Garden, the team farms in harmony with Mother Nature for healthy soil, healthy crops, healthy people, and a healthy planet. 

This is in direct contrast to today’s conventional farming techniques where crops are grown for maximum yield—rather than for optimal flavor and nutrition—and where chemicals are used. At The Chef’s Garden, the team farms in harmony with Mother Nature for healthy soil, healthy crops, healthy people, and a healthy planet. 

So: new book, home deliveries, and powerful nutritional verifications! With all of this good news, you can understand why Farmer Lee is smiling on the new book’s cover. 

Story by Kelly Boyer Sagert