Another Day in Paradise - Chef John's news from the edge!

Another Day in Paradise – Chef John’s news from the edge!

Its summer time in Arizona! How do I know? I have squash blossoms for you to enjoy.

The first of the season from Bob and Marsha McClendon’s farm. I drove to pick them up this morning. Along with squash, salad greens, arugula, beets, radishes and some delicious micro green sprouts.

All will be available for you to enjoy over this coming Mother’s Day weekend.

We are open all day for dinner on Sunday.  The menu is a la carte so it is just like a regular dinner menu only with some different special dishes for you to enjoy.

The blossoms are always my biggest seller every year as an appetizer. The recipe for them is in the cookbook.

I stuff the flowers with a mixture of sweet corn tamale and Oaxaca cheese. They are then dipped in a beer batter and fried till they are crisp and a golden brown. They are then served on a bed of our green Chile tomatillo salsa with roasted squash salsa. I will have fresh Chinook salmon from the Columbia River caught by the Nez Perce tribal fisherman. Served with wild ramps and fiddlehead ferns foraged from the forests of Washington State.

In honor of Mother’s Day we will have Rhubarb and Strawberry pie a la mode. Rhubarb is very special to me as we always had a rhubarb patch in our garden in England when I was a young boy. My Mother loved to make Rhubarb and Ginger Jam. I can still smell it to this day.

Special days are always about sharing times with the people we care about. Remembering the wonderful times when things seemed so simple, family was all that mattered and the days were full of sunshine and the smell of flowers. I remember many days like that from my childhood in the north east of England. I was very lucky to have a Father that loved to garden. We spent a lot of our time together in the garden; we grew a lot of our own food. But my Dad loved his flowers that he grew so proudly for my Mother. So on this Mother’s Day I remember them both. I spent some time in my garden this week planting seeds and pottering around. I love to be in the garden. It keeps me centered and focused on what is important.

I hope you all have a safe and happy summer this year. May your travels bring you closer to the people you care about. May your dreams bring you closer to the goals you strive to achieve?

May you reach the top of every mountain, not forgetting to stop along the way the smell the wild flowers and the forest as you tread lightly through its domain!

We will be here in the high desert of Arizona, trains streaking by the hotel, our staff cooking up a storm for all of you that pays us a visit. Our wonderful service staff will always strive to make your stay with us a memorable one. We have some new staff members for you to meet. I am confident you will find them all helpful and friendly. Bob has now been our General Manager for over three months and he is settling in very well. Ezra and Jesus are hard at work in the kitchen with some really talented new cooks so I am very excited about the summer ahead.

Patricia and I sincerely hope to see you here in the Turquoise Room over the months ahead.

Yes, it’s another day in Paradise- with thoughts from the edge!

~ Chef John

March 15th, 70 degrees and not a cloud in sight, the daffodils are blooming and I am wondering; is this going to be a long hot summer in the high desert?

After glancing at the weather page in my ever present iPhone I see a storm is approaching with the promise of rain and snow. Hurray is all I can say. Bring on the rain. We are already well into the Hopi bean dances, signifying the return of the Kachinas. They have spent the winter sequestered on the San Francisco Peaks, high above the bustle of Flagstaff, no doubt eagerly awaiting their day to arise from the Kiva and bring joy, hope and celebration to the people of their village. Rain and snow will be a most welcome sight on the Mesas after this dry winter.

The produce coming from McClendon’s is spectacular, asparagus, salad greens and herbs are a plenty. I have completed my Easter and Mother’s day menu plans. We are celebrating 100 years of statehood so I have combined that along with some food tributes with The Fred Harvey Company, The White Star Shipping Line and La Posada.

If you would like to know more as to how all of this fits together with my new dishes, you will have to proceed to my Blog where you can read the story and see the menus.

Progress is being made for the upcoming changes to the hotel. Our new offices are almost finished so we can vacate the “Spam Room” that we have been occupying for so many years. This is so it can be demolished to make room for the patio and adjoining chef’s garden.

All of the rooms will be completed very soon so we will have 53 to offer. If this winter in anything to go by I do expect we are in for a busy year. The spring break is well under way up here so we are already seeing an increase in traffic.

I do hope to see you soon. Safe travels.

Another day in paradise, thoughts from the edge!

John

http://www.jamesbeard.org/files/2012_JBF_SEMIFINALISTS.pdf

In addition to the nomination we are enjoying very warm weather so who knows if the winter will ever return to Winslow.

I will be finalizing Easter and Mothers Day menus this coming week so you can make your reservations early. We will be serving an a la carte menu each day with respective specials. NO fixed price menu. NO buffet.

Open from 11.30 to 8.00pm each day all day long. No lunch menu will be served on those days. Only the a la carte dinner menu. There will be three brunch items to choose from available 11.30 to 2.00pm.

Bob Carr, the General Manager is settling in and has already met quite a few of you so when next you visit make sure you make yourselves know to him. I am sharing the hosting duties with him for the next few weeks along with Linda who many of you already know.

Kitchen staffing is improving. I will release all the details about that when I post the holiday menus.

I will be at the Home and Garden Show in Flagstaff for three days at noon each day. This will take place in the Dome at NAU and the dates are March 22^nd to the 24^th. So stop by and say hello. I will give a different demo each day followed by samples.

From here on the edge, where it is another day in paradise!

I had a really nice visit to the Farmers Market in Phoenix this week. Picked up some delicious produce. Salad greens, Tuscan kale, arugula, edible calendula flowers,   Cheddar cauliflower, purple cauliflower as well as the unique Romanesco variety. Meyer lemons, Moro blood oranges, cosmic carrots and lots more. Fresh basil, tarragon, mint and sage.

Great to see Bob, Sean and Kate McClendon. Kate took some photos of the three of us. It was also nice to see some of our loyal customers at the market. We hope to see you in Winslow soon.

All of this will be on the Valentines Week Menus.  Angels on horseback at the oysters wrapped in jalapeno bacon and served over arugula. Columbia River smoked salmon served with the asparagus that has been grilled, tossed in Meyer lemon vinaigrette that is served over the smoked salmon.

A lovely salad made with fresh Moro Blood Orange vinaigrette with beets, pomegranate seeds and petals from the calendulas.

We have the Fresh Columbia River White Sturgeon served over a slaw of fennel, carrot, Asian pear, snow peas and mild Japanese turnips tossed in a light broth of carrot juice and blood oranges.

I have a new Lamb dish that includes the roast leg seasoned with fresh mint and garlic, a grilled green chile lamb sausage all served with a sauté of brown tepary beans with winter squash, beets, Watermelon radish and baby green beans tossed in a lamb broth with mint and garlic.

The asparagus is served with Main Lobster Raviolis. Tarragon scented Lobster sauce.

Lots of chocolate dessert to finish off the meal.

This menu will run through next Thursday so if you miss Valentine’s Day you can still enjoy some of the special dishes.

The hotel is now adding the outside staircase for the east wing. This will allow for the completion of the last 4 rooms. Looks like we will have all of this ready by spring.

We are still awaiting our winter snow and rain, it was the Hopi Bean Dance today so that may trigger the weather gods to send us the moisture we need not only to help get the bean plants off to a good start but also our own gardens.

Till next time, stay off the edge and enjoy your days in paradise!

~ Chef John

No i am not in school! Working on learning how to blog and set up my social media information.

Stay in touch, lots of news, tips, photos and more on the way soon.I will keep you posted on my trip to McClendons this week.

Chef John