Week of February 17th

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California’s extreme rain has led to very wet conditions, perfect for mushrooms. We are bringing orchard morels into the market several weeks earlier than we did a year ago. So-named because they are found in olive orchards and grape vineyards due to their mutual affinity for alkaline soil, these smaller morels are gorgeous.

Your mouth-watering photos are pouring in! Here’s the latest from “What’s Cooking?“!

Chimi Chimi Ya Burger

Sugarfire 44




B.O.L.O.G.N.A. Burger

Sugarfire Winghaven





Scallop & Caviar

The Crossing





Avocado Tomato Toast

Vito’s In The Valley




Smoked Brisket Poorboy

Peacemaker Tulsa



Our MightyVine tomatoes have caught the eyes and tastes of the local food blogger community and we will be featuring their recipes in our new blog, “The Sauce.” Check out our first one from Marie Cook!

Week of February 10th

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New this week – wild black trumpet mushrooms from Oregon! Hot this week – vibrant red amaranth and beet microgreens!

Make this Valentine’s Day memorable for your guests and their loved ones by serving the city’s best-tasting tomatoes from MightyVine’s glasshouse, including yellow heirloom tomatoes, grown exclusively for my St. Louis chefs. Then, give your dishes a pop of festive red with our vibrant amaranth and beet microgreens.

This holiday isn’t just on the 14th anymore – it’s a weeklong celebration. Be sure to call us early with any special menu needs.

WE’D LOVE TO FEATURE YOU!
Send us the names of dishes you’ve made with our produce and a little blurb about it and we’ll post it on a new page of our site “What’s Cooking?”! Our Marketing Manager, EngageTaste, offers 3 Critical Steps For Taking Gorgeous Food Photos With Your Phone:

LIGHTING
Indirect natural daylight is the best lighting for capturing the highest resolution and the most vibrant color. (Restaurant lighting is often very dim, leading to a pixelated, fuzzy image. Kitchen lighting is often very harsh but will do in a pinch, but see Setting!) If you can time your photo for a daytime photo, DO IT. It often works best to pick a table in the restaurant near a window – indirect is best, but direct sun can sometimes be lovely.

BACKGROUND
One of the hallmarks of a professional photograph is the focus on the subject matter with the rest of the world blurred out. These days, it’s easy to achieve this with a smartphone. On an iPhone using the Portrait feature, follow the instruction to step back enough to engage the feature. Contrasting background colors work best. With a Samsung, install the Google Camera app and use the Lens Blur option – this blurs after the photo is taken and you can adjust the settings in preview.

SETTING
Obviously, your food is the star, but you might not realize what else is taking the stage in your photos. After your dish is plated, set it on an interesting surface, such as a table in the restaurant, the bar top, even the grass or a gorgeous sidewalk outside. If you must take the photo in the kitchen, make sure the surface is clean. Then, keep waste, trash cans, signs, people, light sockets – any clutter – out of the photo.

Squatter’s Cafe (now closed and we’re anxiously awaiting Bulrush!)





Nudo House





Turn





Turn





Week of February 3rd

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Congratulations to Kounter Kulture for making the cover of St. Louis Magazine! with their amazing bibimbap! “Tony’s Family Farms grows vegetables year-round, including these large fire-red hothouse cherry tomatoes.”





This tomato bruschetta from Fiddlehead Fern Cafe was captioned as “our kinda comfort food.”







Nixta punctuated their shrimp ceviche with radish, tomato, cucumber and aguachile of passion fruit and habanero.







Twisted Tree Steakhouse plated their pan-sauteed Sablefish over butternut squash gnocchi in brown butter cream and topped it winter chanterelles and wilted arugula.





We were thrilled to partner with Mighty Vine to headline last week’s Chicago Supper Club dinner!







VALENTINE’S DAY PREP
We’ve officially entered “Valentine’s Day season” – our tomatoes are the color of love and introduce vibrant summer flavor to the dead of winter!

SAVORING WINTER CROPS
Enjoy those winter crops while you still can! Our extra large butternut squash are ideal for high-volume baking and make a stunning soup presentation. We’ll have them through the end of February.

WE’D LOVE TO FEATURE YOU!
Send us the names of dishes you’ve made with our produce and a little blurb about it and we’ll post it on a new page of our site “What Our Chefs Are Cooking Now” (not live yet)! A high-quality photo would also be great, but not necessary (we can post a photo of the vegetable instead). We would also love to update the “Our Chefs” page – send us any new high-quality photos you have of you at work in the kitchen!

Week of January 27th

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I am thrilled to announce that I am one of six newly elected to the 2019 Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce Executive Board as Vice Chairman of Fundraising. I look forward to supporting the growth and promotion of our community by creating new opportunities for our businesses to reach consumers and supporting professional development opportunities for young entrepreneurs. Read the full press release here.

One of the first events I am assisting with is the 7th annual Casino Night and, while the turnaround is tight, I’d love to invite you to participate. Get your fare in front of area residents and business professionals on Friday, February 1. Participating restaurants will be recognized in the evening’s program, on the Chamber website and in “The Vision”, the Chamber’s weekly newsletter. If you’d like to donate food (serving and networking is also very welcomed, but not required), please contact me or the Chamber Office at 636-532-3399 or info@chesterfieldmochamber.com.

We are also proud to represent our farmers at Fresh Rx: Nourishing Healthy Starts – an innovative program from Operation Food Search that provides fresh local food for strong moms and healthy babies.

FROM THE FIELD
Our chefs are loving this “second season” for Midwest tomatoes with our flavorful Mighty Vine hydroponic tomatoes and we’re still supporting our local farmers with winter produce sales!

SUMMER WISH LIST!
This is our Christmas! Seeds and catalogs are coming in and we’re well underway for planning for the Spring growing season! Make sure we know what you want – what’s on your wish list?

WE’D LOVE TO FEATURE YOU!
Send us the names of dishes you’ve made with our produce and a little blurb about it and we’ll post it on a new page of our site “What Our Chefs Are Cooking Now” (not live yet)! A high-quality photo would also be great, but not necessary (we can post a photo of the vegetable instead). We would also love to update the “Our Chefs” page – send us any new high-quality photos you have of you at work in the kitchen!