Nobuo at Noca...

I was distraught when I heard that Nobuo Fukuda was closing his restaurant SeaSaw earlier this year. For seven years Nobuo created dishes that surpassed description and won a James Beard award in the process. The dinners we enjoyed at SeaSaw were an adventure. Nobuo created his dishes in the tradition of a Japanese Omakase menu. Omakase leaves the selection to the chef and is presented in a series of inventive and imaginative plates. Sitting at the bar watching Nobuo at work was like an artist during the moment of creation. Dinners at SeaSaw were a special event and I feel fortunate to have dined there.

Nobuo has teamed with Eliot Wexler and is presenting a dinner series at Eliots’s Noca on 32^nd Street and Camelback. Last night was the second dinner in this series. He prepared the menu in the Omakase style once again. For those of you who are also mourning SeaSaw this series is not to be missed.

The next dinner of the Nobuo Dinner Series at Noca will be on Thursday, August 27^th. The Omakase menu will change, but to get an idea, here is what Nobuo presented last night. I would call for reservations soon, I am sure fans of Nobuo and Noca will be flocking for a seat.

First Course – Sashimi Tuna-Marinated in Fermented Soybean Sauce Kanpachi-Jasmine Tea Poached, Sea Salt Fluke-Wrapped in Cucumber / Kelp Cured, Ayu Fish Sauce-Torched Sara’s Salmon-Wrapped in Pickled Daikon, Salmon Roe paired with Ginga Shizuku “Divine Droplets” Junmai Daiginjo

Second Course – Karei Fried Baby Black Sole-McClendon’s Blood Orange Vinaigrette, Red Pepper, Red Onion, Crispy Bones paired with Messmer Burrweiler Altenforst Gewurztraminer 2005

Third Course - Foie Gras Duo Chawan Mushi-Organic Duck Yolk, Foie Gras Seared-Cherry Compote, Black Cherry Gastrique, Brioche Crouton paired with Grande Maison “Cuvée des Anges” Monbazillac 2004

Fourth Course - Four Story Hill Farms Sweetbreads Port Poached Fig, Mache, Pickled Shallots paired with Lucia Vineyards “Lucy” Rose 2008

Fifth Course – Duck Seared Breast, Nectarine & Arugula Salad, Maple Gastrique paired with Hirsch Vineyards “Bohan Dillon” Pinot Noir 2007

Dessert - Cherry Bombe Cherry Semifreddo, Chocolate Cremuex, Tapioca in Young Coconut Water, Guava Coulis paired with Bisol Brut Rosé NV

Dates to remember...

Starting October 7th McClendon's Select will be at the following Farmer's Markets for the season:

Town & Country Shopping Center

October 7th, 2009 - June 23rd, 2010

Wednesdays from 8:30am to 2:00pm

4881 North 20th Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85016

Old Town Scottsdale Farmers' Market

November 7th, 2009 - May 22nd, 2010

Saturdays from 8:30am to 1:00pm

Located on the Southwest corner of 1st Street and Brown in Scottsdale. Brown is one block East of Scottsdale Road. 1st Street is two blocks South of Indian School Road.

A new pizza Parlor...

Have you been to The Parlor yet? It is a new pizza place in town and it's wonderful. Located on Camelback west of 20th Street, it is in the old Salon de Venus building. It has the same 60's retro bricks of the salon, but a beautiful modern interior. Our favorite pizza is the Smokey. There are several great pizzas to choose from or you can build your own.

The best news is that they are across from Town & Country... which will be fun for lunch once McClendon's Select starts with the Farmer's Markets again.

View from the top...

Do you know where your food comes from? Here is a view of McClendon's Select from up above. Yes - in case you were wondering, one of the fields used to be a race track for horses. It doesn't get more locally grown than this.

I heart New York...

Sean and I love New York. More to the point, we love eating in New York. We decided to introduce New York to Aidan this summer. We wanted him to experience everything we love about the city. Sean asked one of his favorite New Yorkers for some thoughts on dining in one of the world’s greatest restaurant cities.

Charlene from Scottsdale’s Rancho Pinot offered some wonderful suggestions. She had a great list that offered a mix fine dining and fun food. We weren’t able to try everything, but we are keeping her list for future trips.

Lupa

170 Thompson Street

One of her top picks was Lupa, a Mario Batali creation in the spirit of Roman trattoria food. When Chris Bianco seconded this suggestion we knew we had to go. You don’t get a better endorsement than that!

Lupa surpassed our hopes. Warm and intimate from the moment we walked through the door, we were taken immediately from Greenwich Village to Italy. I ordered the Lamb Shortribs after spying them on the table next to ours. Sean went with the Linguine Clams with Fennel and Sopressatta. Both of us were in heaven, although it was Aidan’s Spaghetti con Pomodoro that stole the night. It was a simple and yet incredible. Fortunately Aidan couldn’t finish it, so Sean and I were more than happy to help.

Balthazar

80 Spring Street

From the Roman trattoria to the French bistro, our next dinner was at Balthazar. Again we left the city behind, this time for a 1930’s Parisian world complete with distressed mirrors, tiled floors, a pressed tin ceiling with tufted booths. We worried about how receptive they would be to our bringing Aidan, but they could not have been more welcoming. He even charmed the waitress into sitting with him and helping color the butcher-block paper on the table.

Without so much as scanning the menu, Sean immediately ordered the Le Grand Plateaux de Fruits de Mer which is a tower of seafood that took up most of our table. Aidan’s only request was that it came heavy with crab legs. We took this picture to make Bob jealous back in Arizona.

Reservations are a must, and we were grateful we had called ahead. Although I wouldn’t have complained about the wait once I saw (and smelled) the Balthazar Bakery next door.

Charlene’s New York Dining Suggestions:

Here are some of the other places we are hoping to hit next time. If you are planning a trip to New York soon, take this list along and bring your appetite.

Pearl Oyster Bar - 18 Cornelia (Between Bleecker & West 4^th Street)

August - 359 Bleeker Street (Between Charles and West 10^th)

2^nd Avenue Deli - 162 East 33^rd Street

Veloce Pizzeria - 103 First Avenue/Seventh Street

Rice to Riches - 37 Spring Street

Inoteca - 98 Rivington Street

Porchetta - 110 East 7^th Street

Doughnut Planet - 379 Grand Street

To market, to market...

Sean took this time lapse video at one of the last Town & Country Farmers' Markets. It is actually a series of photos taken one every 15 seconds during their time there. Good things go fast!

Cafe Bink

Kevin and Amy Binkley invited us to a special evening at Café Bink. It was a dinner to highlight McClendon’s Select produce and to toast the end of the heirloom tomato season. Once again the talented Binkleys created an amazing menu and a wonderful evening.

P.S. If you haven't had Amy's Bolognese before point your car toward Carefree and go now. Really!

Grilled Lemon Chicken with Flatbread and Pesto

When Aidan was a toddler he would refuse to eat anything with “stuff” on it. “Stuff” usually referred to chopped basil on the top of pizzas or pasta dishes. Sean and I became expert at either hiding evidence of basil or preparing his food without it. It was a shame, since I love to use basil in everything.

He still scrunches his nose from time to time at the site of tiny bits of basil, although he has learned not to ask that it be removed anymore. Unbeknownst to him, Aidan’s new favorite meal doesn’t just contain chopped basil – it mostly IS chopped basil. Bob grows the most amazing Italian Large Leaf Basil. The leaves are as large as a dollar and their fragrance will fill up your kitchen. It has been my mission to introduce this wonderful ingredient to my little boy and I have finally found success. This is one of our summer favorites.

GRILLED LEMON CHICKEN

1 package of chicken breasts

1/2 lemon

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup chopped basil

Dash of salt and ground black pepper

Use the juice from the half lemon and combine with other ingredients to marinate the chicken for ten minutes. Grill over medium-high heat.

PESTO

1 cup fresh basil leaves

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup toasted pine nuts

½ cup olive oil

¼ teaspoon salt

Dash of ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend. For those who like garlic, a tablespoon of minced garlic added before blending is also good.

This also freezes nicely. To freeze the pesto, cut the amount of olive oil by half. Spoon into a ziplock baggie and squeeze the air out. Lay it flat in your freezer. When you are ready to use it, let it thaw at room temperature and then put it in a pan at low heat for a few minutes and add the remaining amount of olive oil.

GRILLED FLATBREAD

It you have the time, there is a wonderful recipe for Mario Batali’s flatbread on the blog Goop.com. It takes only minutes to prepare, but needs about an hour and a half to rise.

Nothing beats homemade, but in a pinch, I also like to use Trader’s Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough. I let it rise briefly while covered in olive oil and then break off golf-ball sized chunks and roll out in flour. One package of pizza dough can make about eight palm-sized flatbreads. We then throw it on the grill on medium-high heat and coat with Olive Oil again. Cook thoroughly until slightly charred on each side.

P.S. This combination makes for a killer sandwich for the next day’s lunch as well!!

Oil & Vinegar

Normally for cooking I will use any regular balsamic vinegar that you can find at the grocery store. I haven’t found a real difference in flavor once it is combined with other ingredients in a pan. I save the really thick, expensive ones to use for dipping or to lightly sprinkle over salads.

One of my favorite vinegars is from O&Co. Unfortunately, Arizona does not yet have an O&Co, but you can order from them online www.oliviersandco.com. If you are in New York, they have a lovely store in Grand Central Station. Sean and I were in New York in early June and I made sure to ship a few bottles home.

We do have something that Grand Central Station does not. While O&Co. does also carry wonderful Olive Oils, my favorite is local and comes from Queen Creek Olive Mill (www.queencreekolivemill.com). Their Mexican Lime Olive Oil is truly the best. I go through it way too quickly. I am hoping that Sean and I can take a trip out to their farm at some point this summer and get to see how they do it.

A dash of the Mexican Lime with a splash of O&Co.’s vinegar is all I use as salad dressing anymore. The flavors are incredible!

Heirloom Tomato Sauce

I have yet to meet anyone with the natural talent my mother-in-law has in the kitchen. Eating at her home is a gift. She seems to float through the kitchen mixing, chopping, stirring and tasting, as if it was all second nature. I have rarely seen her consult a recipe, although she can tell you exactly how to prepare any ingredient or meal by heart.

For her birthday this year, we wanted to cook for her. Sean came home with a box of the most beautiful heirloom tomatoes from the farm. My measurements are not exact with the tomatoes, since I kept dicing and throwing them in. With so many beautiful colors and flavors, the more the merrier. I did try to squeeze out some of the water and seeds before cooking, so that the sauce would be a little thicker. When they were all diced, it measured to about six cups of tomatoes. You can blend all of the tomatoes too in a good processor for a smoother consistency.

The sauce was so beautiful that Sean took a video of it. Marsha and Bob loved it.

Heirloom Tomato Sauce

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Spanish onion, diced

1 medium shallot, diced

3 medium carrots, shredded

6 cups fresh heirloom tomatoes, diced

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

¼ cup of basil, chopped

Dash of salt and ground black pepper

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, carrots and shallots and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and stir occasionally. Add half of the basil and keep at low heat for 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add remaining basil at the end. The sauce can be refrigerated for a week.

Binkley's

Kevin Binkley of Binkley’s restaurant called Bob a few months ago wanting to plan an Heirloom Tomato dinner. He wanted to do a special evening to celebrate the different varieties of heirloom tomatoes available in the summer. Bob asked if we would be free to join them, and we agreed before ever looking at a calendar. If you have ever eaten at Binkley’s you know why. If you haven’t, then you are missing a truly incredible culinary treasure.

Kevin’s food is adventurous and genius. He honed his craft at the French Laundry and words fail to describe his talent. Sean and I sat with Bob and Marsha and Kevin’s mother, Nancy, and his stepfather, Julian. The dinner was six courses in all, each one highlighted the flavor and possibilities for the different varieties of tomatoes that Bob brought to the dinner. Talking with Nancy also made me feel a little relief. My own son has dreamt of being a chef someday, but his vision seems set on the executive chef position at Red Lobster. Nancy confessed that Kevin had been a fan of the “Lobster” in college. Thankfully for all of us he has risen to such culinary heights. I have hope now that Aidan will too.

The photographer in Sean had to capture each one before I could take a bite. With Julian’s help, he and I lighted the shots with our iPhones. It was well worth the combined effort, because I wanted to remember every course.

Here are some of the photos from that amazing evening:

Thank you Kevin!

I love dough...

Sean and I fell in love with Pizzeria Bianco ten years ago. We had heard for some time about the magic Chris Bianco was creating downtown, but had both felt it was a long drive from Peoria for pizza. Let it be said, we no longer pass up a good meal because of distance.

Pizzeria Bianco’s truly is the best. I didn’t need the New York Times, Oprah or Good Morning America to tell me what a treasure we had right here in Phoenix, although I was a little mad they let the rest of America in on it. However, let it also be said, we no longer pass up a good meal because of a long wait either.

For our combined birthdays Sean and I celebrated with our favorite people at one of our favorite places. With pizza like this… who needs birthday cake??

A little introduction...

The markets have closed for the summer. After nine months of meeting and feeding so many people from all over, McClendon’s Select has said good-bye to the Town & Country Farmer’s Market for the season and are now preparing the land, the plants and everyone to do it all over again this fall.

Until then, I have cooked up this little blog in hopes of feeding you another way.

To be honest, I don’t grow anything. I can barely keep basil alive in my own kitchen. It is usually done in by an overabundance of attention, rather than neglect, but either way the outcome is the same.

Bob and Marsha McClendon, my lovely in-laws, are the ones who have so carefully grown and cultivated McClendon’s Select. They have created a masterpiece with their land. They hand select every seed. They research and experiment to make sure every fruit and vegetable is grown with the perfect combination of nutrients, water and sun. They pick and inspect and taste every variety, finding those that are beautiful inside and out. Their schedule is backbreaking, but their bounty is breathtaking.

My husband Sean helps as well. Many of you have met him at the Scottsdale and Town & Country Farmers’ Markets. He comes home with new facts about produce or ideas on how to prepare something, along with a big boxes of beautiful treasures for us to enjoy for dinner. He has enjoyed the collaboration his father has created with so many talented chefs across the valley and upwards in Flagstaff, Winslow and Las Vegas.

Even our son, Aidan, has his role on the farm. At seven his attention span is short and ever changing, but he loves to be there helping out. He has sold coloring books about what it means to eat organic at the markets, he has helped plant garlic and in the winter pick citrus, and has eaten more sweet corn than any of us. He doesn’t think it at all unusual to eat a purple carrot, yellow tomato or blood red orange. He loves to run around the farm, usually with his soccer ball bouncing ahead of him, and is happy to introduce Papa’s bees to visitors. It is a joy to see him learn about the food he eats and to feel good about what I put in front of him.

The farm does not just nourish my family, it is also the reason Sean and I first met. Our first introduction was because of box of citrus. While I am limited with my green thumb, I am happy to offer the talents I do have to our family’s endeavor. I certainly have developed an aptitude for appreciating and consuming organic fruits and vegetables.

Sean and I wanted to create a place online to keep you updated as the farm changes through the seasons. We wanted to offer ideas and recipes to help you make the most of what is available and to share our own adventures in the kitchen and the fields. We also love to visit the chefs that use McClendon’s Select produce in their menus and are happy to go visit and report back on the wonderful meals that are being prepared. We would love to hear on what you are preparing with McClendon’s Select organic produce.

So, while the farm is being worked and prepped during these hot summer months to bring you all sorts of wonderful goodies in the fall, I am embarking on providing some food for thought in the meantime.

Enjoy!

Kate McClendon