In 2007, he published a cookbook with Harper Collins, Mantra: The Rules of Indulgence. In 2009, he was the runner-up in the Next Iron Chef competition show. In 2012, he participated in Food Network’s Next Iron Chef Redemption, and he has also been a guest on Martha Stewart Living.

Right now, you can’t enjoy a special culinary experience at his restaurants because of COVID-19, but he plans to open back up at 25 percent capacity in October. In the meantime, Chef Jehangir has created uniquely delicious recipes using our farm-fresh ingredients that you can make at home:

• Persian Potato Eggs
• Tomato Bell Pepper Rice
• Sesame Cilantro Chili Eggplant

So, why did he agree to do this? Here’s what he had to say.

“The Chef’s Garden produce is so fantastic,” Jehangir says, “so amazing that you can even smell the difference. Picture walking down a vegetable aisle in a grocery store with virtually no smell. Open a box of The Chef’s Garden vegetables, and you can breathe in the earthy scent. It’s like vegetable perfume.”

You know what else is sweet? According to Jehangir, Farmer Lee Jones—and Jamie Simpson of the Culinary Vegetable Institute. “The whole time you’re at the farm with them, you’re surrounded by a feeling of kindness and a sense of Zen.”

Lee, in return, is grateful for all that Jehangir has contributed to the farm and Culinary Vegetable Institute—and their friendship. “Food is the common denominator that brought us together,” Lee says, “and then, as we both have gone through some challenging times, that has made the friendship even more solid.”

Lee greatly appreciates Jehangir’s delicious recipe contributions to the blog. “Before COVID,” he shares, “over 50 percent of meals weren’t eaten at home. But, at least for now, we’re back to 1950s numbers. So, people are looking for new ways to keep their food exciting and to stay entertained at home—and Jehangir’s recipes provide a unique take on food while still being ones that people can make at home.”

He also notes how “Jehangir is such a deep thinker that even a conversation about a recipe with him goes way deeper than which ingredients to use or what techniques. Although food fulfills a crucial physical need, it also plays a huge role in our lives, emotionally and socially, and Jehangir gets that. He obviously recognizes, for example, that an artichoke it beautiful, but you need to peel it back to see the heart—but then he applies what he intuitively knows about food to life in general.”

Going Back in Time: Roots 2018

This was a very hard year for Jehangir, one in which his father died, his mother had a bad fall, and his wife was diagnosed with a serious disease. “Then,” he adds, “my sister died, as well. When I lost my sister, I lost my soul mate. I was grieving then, and I’m still grieving now.”

Jehangir seriously considered canceling his participation in Roots panels that year, held at the Culinary Vegetable Institute, but then he remembered the sense of peace he’d gotten while participating at a previous Roots conference. “And, when I arrived and talked to Lee, his willingness to let me be open about my grief only deepened our personal connection.”

Had you listened to Jehangir share his points of view that year as part of panel discussions, you never would have known that he was struggling with grief. He was professional, insightful, even humorous. This may be one of life’s paradoxes. By being open about his grief, he was able to keep moving forward.

If you weren’t able to attend that conference, here is one of the panels he was on during Roots 2018: Food as Medicine: Healing Yourself.

(And, if you think his outfit looks remarkably like one of Farmer Lee’s, that’s because it is. Jehangir asked to borrow one, and then he hid in what looked like a big box of vegetables, sitting on the stage where panelists sat. When the box was opened, Jehangir sprung up to surprise and delight attendees.)

After Roots 2018 was over, it was clear to Jehangir that he’d made the right decision about going to the conference. “Lee and Jamie, the entire farm team, they are such genuine people,” Jehangir says, “truly as sweet as the vegetables they grow and prepare. They welcome everyone to their place, not because of who those people are or what they can do for them, but because that’s just who they are, as human beings.”

Farm-Fresh Vegetables for Jehangir’s Recipes

You can order our Best of the Season vegetable box here.

You may well be envisioning a vegetable that’s green—or perhaps red. Shape? Round, of course! Now, picture taking a bite of this cabbage, freshly harvested from our field. You’re probably thinking, “No way! I need to cook my cabbage.” If so, we’d like to introduce you to a different kind of cabbage, a type that’s:

• A white variety
• Pointy in shape
• Slightly sweet

This pointed cabbage is sweet enough in flavor to also be called “sugarloaf” or “sweetheart cabbage.” Seriously!

Now, if you’re wondering if we’ve planted pointed white cabbage at The Chef’s Garden before, the answer is “no.” At least not in a long time (Farmer Lee Jones does have a faint memory of planting it many decades ago).

As the title notes, though, we’re planting differently this year. Or, more accurately, we’re planting even more differently this year than in years past. The reality is that we are always experimenting, always trying to provide fresh vegetables that provide uniquely delicious flavor and nutrition—always wanting to gift our customers with an element of wonderous surprise and delight. Think of that as one of our bonus ingredients!

Because of the changes in the world today, we’re now planting for our treasured chefs and home cooks alike, the latter of whom want more heft and volume in their home delivery boxes to feed their families. That’s why, for example, we planted sweet corn for the first time in about 35 years—and we believe that our customers will love our pointed cabbage.

Why the pointed cabbage? “Well, for one thing, it’s beautiful,” Chef Jamie Simpson says. “It’s delicious—and a bit different while also being quite relatable. People can use this cabbage in ways they always have, but it can also be eaten raw, something I wouldn’t suggest with other varieties. It’s much sweeter and more tender.”

Jamie remembers a pointed white cabbage recipe served at Nashville’s The Butcher and Bee, one where the chef charred it very hard on a very hot grill and then removed the cabbage. “It wasn’t actually cooked,” Jamie says, “but it was blackened on the cut side and then dressed as a Caesar salad. It was so unexpected, yet so wonderful. This chef allowed the ingredient to shine while also providing comfort and nostalgia, a concept that anyone could get behind.”

Jamie will share cabbage recipes in the months to come. He and his team also intend to preserve some of this unique pointed cabbage this fall. Because it’s one of the most easily digestible kinds of cabbage available today, plenty of possibilities exist.

Health Benefits of Cabbage

“Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. It is also a very good source of manganese, dietary fiber, potassium, vitamin B1, folate, and copper. Additionally, cabbage is a good source of choline, phosphorus, vitamin B2, magnesium, calcium, selenium, iron, pantothenic acid, protein, and niacin.” (World’s Healthiest Foods)

As Healthline.com notes, cabbage is low in calories and fat, and just one cup of raw green cabbage contains a gram of protein, two grams of fiber, and:

• Vitamin K: 85% of the recommended daily allowance
• Vitamin C: 54% of the recommended daily allowance

Just one cup of red cabbage, meanwhile, contains about 85% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C—about the same as what you can get in a small orange. Studies have shown that including cabbage in a healthy diet may help fight against cancer, heart disease, inflammation, and more, lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

Stay tuned for more information about the health benefits of cabbage from the farm’s R&D department. Results show that our cabbage is a true nutritional powerhouse.

Food Trends 2020: Comfort Foods

According to Insider.com, one of the food trends that we can expect to see “everywhere in 2020” is the use of “healthy substitutes for comfort foods like cauliflower pizza.” Pointed cabbage pizza, anyone? Jamie, get busy!

Forbes.com, meanwhile, shares how people are gravitating towards comfort foods, with many of them “opting for plant-based alternatives instead.” In fact, the number of consumers who are seeking healthy fruits and vegetables is about the same as those who share a craving for comfort foods—so delicious cabbage recipes can fit both bills.

Another food trend being noted is quarantine and cooking fatigue, where people are looking for “simpler and easier options.” To help, here are streamlined ways to enjoy fresh vegetables, provided by Chef Jamie.

Now, Farmer Lee Reminisces

As we mentioned, the Chef’s Garden team hasn’t grown cabbage for years. But,” Lee says, “if there’s a year that cries out for comfort food, it’s this one. And, as the season for tomatoes, peppers, corn, beans, and peas is transitioning into fall, we’re focusing on cabbage, kale, radishes, beets, potatoes, and carrots—foods that can handle more cold temperatures.”

He recalls how, as a youngster, he’d have the job of picking up harvested cabbages. He’d stand in the middle of the field, with four rows on one side and four on the other. As they were harvested, they were placed in the center—and it was Lee’s job to collect them and put them in bins.

“In my memory,” he says,” the days of picking cabbage were always wet. They were always cold. Now, that couldn’t literally be true, but there were plenty of days when I’d take along two pairs of gloves. I’d wear one and keep the other on the manifold of our tractor to keep them warm. Steam would rise from them as they were heated up. When my hands got too cold, I’d switch to the other pair.”

Then, his mother would make pigs in blankets with hamburger, rice, and onion wrapped in the freshest cabbage.

“This is a vegetable,” Lee adds, “that signals the changing of the seasons. It’s one that welcomes in cooler nights of September, a signal that it’s time for autumn leaves to begin to change hues.”

Farm-Fresh Cabbage

Here are varieties of delicious and nutritious cabbage to choose from at The Chef’s Garden.

Extreme Microbial Technologies is the first company to have independent empirical evidence validating that its system effectively tackles COVID.

According to the University of Florida, this system provides the following results when fighting against COVID:

• 73% reduction after 15 minutes
• 94% reduction after 60 minutes
• 98% reduction after 4 hours
• Undetectable after 24 hours   

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Our contact at the company just told us the following: “We are very pleased with the results and have been waiting for this to be completed for many months. This is a game-changing technology, and I felt I should send this to you today since COVID-19 continues to have such a tremendous impact on the U.S. and other countries.”

We don’t need to tell you that’s huge—but we’ll say it anyhow.

That’s huge news.

Here’s what else Extreme Microbial Technologies told us: “The scientific effectiveness and safety of this technology are the extent of what exists today to reduce and prevent microbial contamination and transmission within indoor environments in ‘real-time.’ Our primary purpose is to help our society by leveraging scientific efficacy. We are the top-tier technology in this field, which is now more important than ever, as we know.”

High-Level Look at the Technology

What makes Extreme Microbial Technologies’ proprietary technology so effective? Here are the points they emphasize:

• They use photocatalytic oxidation to ionize “high energy clusters” and hydrogen peroxide in indoor spaces.
• Plasma used in the system is transported through water vapor, miming the process by which COVID-19 spreads.
• The ionized plasma in the air purification system pierces the lipid/protein wall of COVID-19’s cell membranes.
• When that happens, the COVID-19 pathogen is immediately deactivated.

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The technology is active 24/7/365, “ubiquitous on all types of surfaces, in all orientations, under counters, around objects, in crevices, and behind walls.”

The Chef’s Garden Goes Above and Beyond—For You

We’ve always taken food safety very seriously and stepped it up even further because of COVID. The reality is that our produce is being consumed by our partners, and by that, we mean our families, our friends, and our loyal customers.

We mean you.

Our farm team takes rigorous food safety measures because we feel a keen sense of responsibility to help you maintain and improve your health by eating farm-fresh vegetables that are regeneratively farmed, packed, and shipped in revolutionary conditions in their safety protocols.

Home Delivery Boxes Available

You can enjoy farm-fresh, delicious, and nutritious vegetables shipped directly to your home or business. You can benefit from vegetables grown in love, in harmony with Mother Nature, and packed and shipped in areas protected by our air purification system. These are the same high-quality vegetables that world-class chefs use daily in their kitchens.
Here are the current options (some are seasonal):

• Introduction Box
• Just Add Barilla
• Best of the Season
• Tomato Box
• Leafy Green Box
• Summer Vegetable Box
• Summer Squash Box
• Signature Blends of Farm-Fresh Herbs and Greens:
  • Asian Signature Blend
  • French Signature Blend
  • Italian Signature Blend
  • Latin Signature Blend
  • Mediterranean Signature Blend

We also offer delicious honey harvested from the 40+ hives on Culinary Vegetable Institute grounds. Options include silky smooth creamed honey and fresh honey still in a waxy honeycomb.

Enjoy! Thanks for allowing us to be your personal farmer.

We invite you to check out the food safety section of our website. We are happy to share information to maintain transparency and assure you that we take our commitment to food safety very seriously. To read more about our food safety practices and procedures, please check out our blog “Food safety: 112 SOPs, 3 cleaning cycles and 2 bonus procedures” here.

“I’ve got a hundred, chef. How are you doing?” Skrovan asks.

“Sixty-two. Not quite as good as you,” the chef answers.

“That’s all right,” Skrovan says. “I’ve had a little practice.”

For the next few days, Chef Blake will split his time between the farm and The Culinary Vegetable Institute for a stage (rhymes with dodge) ─ an opportunity to learn new culinary techniques and forms of cuisine under the guidance of another chef and staff ─ in this case, CVI chefs Jamie Simpson, Dario Torres, and Tristan Acevedo.

But Chef Blake’s stage goes a step further with an opportunity to get up close and personal with where and how The Chef’s Garden’s farm-fresh vegetables are grown. “I wish all chefs could go through this in-depth,” Skrovan says. “It gives them a different appreciation for where these things come from.”

“And it’s nice to get out of the kitchen,” Chef Blake added.
Eager to Learn

Chef Blake’s usual kitchen is inside the contemporary Japanese restaurant Uchi Austin, where he is the sous chef. “I work at the best sushi restaurant,” he said. Ambitious chefs get Uchi’s blessing to travel and expand their culinary knowledge and experience thanks to the restaurant’s stage program.

“Jack (Yoss), our main corporate chef, he really is passionate, and has a lot of drive, especially in teaching,” Chef Blake said. “During our leadership conference in Austin, with all the restaurants there, he brought it up. I perked up the moment he said ‘Chef’s Garden stage,’ and we just sat down and, after that, talked and got the ball rolling from there.”

“This was for me a great opportunity to get out of my culture, jump into a whole new culture, and experience something new and learn a different side of the industry, something I think most chefs and most cooks will never get to experience. To be able to come out to God’s country and be out in the heartland and experience this has been kind of a dream for me, for sure.”

Numb and Number

Rather than simply tour the farm, Chef Blake sought an immersive experience from start to finish, which included time in the 34-degree packing facility.

“I got over into the edible flower room first,” he said. “I got to see the care that the packers have, just double-checking everything. Making sure it was pristine. Then I moved over to sorting carrots, cleaning carrots.” Despite his sharp knife skills in the kitchen, Chef Blake said the deft hands of petite carrot packer Anabel Negrete made him look “pathetic and slow.” “She’s just whippin’ away at them, and her pile is twice as big as mine.”

Chef Blake moved from carrots to squash and then headed over to lettuce.

“That was really cold,” he said. “It was really hard to just clean them and make sure they looked really great, and then pack them into the box, making sure the product wasn’t mishandled or just crammed in there. So, a lot of respect for the ladies in there, and the gentlemen who can handle it with such care, but so quickly, too.”

Chef Blake’s final assignment was filling boxes with Deborah Stacy. “She’s been here for ten years,” he said. “And she knows the whole thing from start to finish. At that very last moment, she’s the last line of defense. She’s double-checking everything.”

Spending half a day in the cold gave Chef Blake a new appreciation for the people who package the fresh vegetables that arrive in a chef’s kitchen.

“My hands were numb after three hours. They’re there for eight hours,” he said. “But, from the very moment they get there, you can tell they put a lot of love and passion into what they do to make sure the product is as pristine as it can be.”

Learning at the Micro Level

Greenhouse product manager Brandon Magyar ushered Chef Blake to a greenhouse and left him under the tutelage of grower David Hartwig. “David’s going to let him harvest, do some seeding, and get some dirt under his nails,” Magyar said.

The chef harvested red ribbon sorrel, red shiso, and chives. “Cut it just like you’re out trimming your lawn,” Hartwig said, handing scissors to the chef. “Go ahead and take a shot.”

While Hartwig shared his skills, Chef Blake shared ways he’s used shiso in the kitchen. “I’ve done seared fois gras nigiri with candied quinoa and shiso on top,” he said. “It’s a nice refresher for the whole dish.”

He harvested Oxalis blooms in another greenhouse with grower Volodymyr “Volo” Kibets. “I like trimming these,” Chef Blake said. “It’s a lot easier than sorrel.”

He toured the research lab and talked extensively with botanist Nick Walters and microbiologist Deanna Forbush. “Talking to the research team, and their passion for just getting down to the basis of what the plant is, and what makes it delicious or not, is really cool,” he said. “And I think that’ll help me, you know, kind of open my eyes to it more and try to pick out more nuances.”

Food for Thought 

Back at the CVI, Chef Blake was especially inspired by the root cellar, particularly the fermented items.

“At Uchi, we’ve been kind of kickstarting our fermentation program, and it’s been a challenge, and it’s been wonderful,” he said. “And now I feel like I have more resources at hand to be able to reach out and communicate with Chef Jamie and the team and learn from what they’re doing here.”

“Nothing goes to waste, so they find a good process, whether it’s fermenting it, turning it into kombucha,” he said. “Can you turn it into a fish sauce? Can you dehydrate it and turn it into a powder that we can use later? Or is it going to the animals? Nothing was going to waste. Industry-wide, we’re really bad about that. So it was cool and really refreshing to see that here.”

The personal connections left an impression on him, as well. “Working with Chef Jamie, Tristan, Dario ─ you could see the passion. Especially Dario. He has such a passion for food, where it comes from, and the agricultural side of it. Just talking to him about it, you see the smile on his face. He just lights up.”

Chef Blake said it is a high priority to carry that enthusiasm back to Austin and encourage his team to visit the farm.

“I think they would fit right in here,” he said. “They would love to experience something like this, too. I’m hoping I’m not the only one there who likes to go out to the farms. So I’m going to encourage everybody. I’m going to force them if I have to. But I don’t think I’ll have to force anybody. They’re all very willing to step out of their box to experience something new. I think most of them would really want to have this kind of experience.”

“Hopefully, I can incorporate some of my passion for this and what I’ve learned to my team down in Texas. That’s ultimately the end goal,” he said. “It’s sharing the culture and imparting the knowledge and the respect for the product. That’s what I hope to see come out of it.”