Latte love...

There is something that makes me indescribably happy about seeing the swirl of a flower in foam. While it might a fleeting moment of beauty, it is usually the stamp of a truly good latte, one made with the care of someone who understand the perfect mix of espresso and steamed milk. Thankfully Lux always delivers this little cup of happiness. As a connoisseur of espresso, I am never disappointed. Their lattes are always perfectly poured, and their little foam flowers always make me smile.

Family favorite...

On special occasions, mainly when I am too tired to cook, we will have pancakes for dinner. Not just any old pancakes... puffy pancakes! This recipe is incredibly easy, which makes it one of my favorites, and it's pretty tasty which makes it one of Sean and Aidan's favorites. Aidan loves that the pancakes rise up like a bowl in the oven. We usually cut up fresh fruit and sprinkle a little confectioner's sugar or honey over the top, but truthfully you could serve these with just about anything. I have even heard that some people eat them for breakfast.

Puffy Pancakes

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

4 eggs

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick of butter

Mix milk, flour, eggs, sugar and salt together and let sit for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Melt the 1/2 stick of butter and divide between two pie pans. Coat the sides and bottom of the pie pans well before pouring in the batter. Let cook for 12-15 minutes, or until pancakes rise.

With a cherry on top...

This weekend my family came together and had a send off dinner for my step-brother who is returning to college. At some point during the evening someone mentioned getting gelato afterwards, which wasn't so much a question as much as it was a proclamation. "Gelato" really translates to only one thing in our family... Arlecchino Gelateria.

Yes, there are a number of gelato places around town, in fact the restaurant where we were dining had it on the menu, but Arlecchino gelato is something entirely different. Everything at Arlecchino is handmade from scratch using only fresh, natural ingredients. The recipes are closely held secrets that Moreno Spangaro and his wife Marina studied and perfected while apprenticing under a gelato master in Italy. Over the years we have had long conversations with Moreno about his care and detail in making gelato. You will appreciate their dedication to authenticity. Their store is just like walking into a gelateria in Florence with seasonal fruit flavors, dark chocolates and espresso varieties, and Sean's personal favorite the Pistachio, made from roasted Sicilian pistachios. Sean and I once traveled through Italy with the goal of tasting every gelato flavor we could try and Arlecchino Gelateria takes us back to that memory every time.

Now... here is the secret when you go, order any flavor you want because they are all spectacular, but make sure you get the Amarena Fabbri on top. Amarena Fabbri is a wild cherry topping from Italy that puts our maraschino cherries to shame. These black cherries come in a thick syrup that is both a little sweet and a little sour and explodes with flavor. It is the perfect topping for the perfect gelato.

Arlecchino Gelateria

4410 N. 40th Street

Phoenix, AZ 85018

602-955-2448

SE Corner of 40th Street & Campbell

Marsha's Shrimp Gazpacho...

I love walking into Marsha's kitchen, because when I do she hands me something wonderful - a slice from one of the first ripe Early Girl tomatoes, bruschetta with an olive tapenade, a squash blossom stuffed with artichokes and parmesan, or sometimes just a glass of wine. Whatever she has waiting, it is always exactly what I was wanting. She has a knack for knowing what I am craving before I can even put a name to it.

Last night when I came into her kitchen, probably at breakneck speed chasing Aidan, she had bowls of chilled shrimp gazpacho waiting. It was filled with all of the flavors of the garden - zucchini, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and topped with shrimp. It was cool and flavorful and so refreshing after a hot summer day. As always, it was the perfect thing I didn't know I wanted. But she did.

Here is her recipe so you can make it yourself and surprise someone else who didn't know they needed Shrimp Gazpacho either, but will be so grateful that you knew.

Marsha's Shrimp Gazpacho

(Makes 4 servings)

1/2 small white or red onion

2-3 medium tomatoes

1 small cucumber

1/2 red or yellow bell pepper

1 small yellow or green zucchini

1 large stock of celery

1 large carrot

Handful finely chopped cilantro

Juice squeezed from 2 limes

5 drops of hot sauce

1/2 avocado (cubed)

1 dozen small cooked frozen shrimp

Chop all of the vegetables into small cubes. Mix together in a big bowl, adding the lime juice and hot sauce and half of the cilantro. Let refrigerate a few hours before serving to allow the flavors to meld. Add the shrimp, avocado and the rest of the cilantro right before serving. You can leave the shrimp frozen when you add to the gazpacho, to keep the rest of the soup very cold.

Optional:

If you have a fresh corn, you can add a handful of cut kernels too. Also, to spice it up a little more, add a few tablespoons of canned green chiles. Jicama is good too!

Oh honey...

(photo courtesy of Aidan McClendon)

Have you tried McClendon's Select Honey? We have a couple hundred thousand busy little workers who not only help pollinate all of our wonderful citrus and produce, but they also spend some time creating one of nature's best sweeteners.

Honey is as fascinating and complex as the bees that create it. Not only is honey a wonderful substitute for sugar, but it has amazing antibiotic, antioxidant and cleansing properties as well. Honey has been used for centuries for curing aliments, treating cuts and building immune systems. It also never goes bad, because despite how much bacteria loves sugar, bacteria simply can not grow in honey. The high acidic level and low water content in honey makes it impossible for bacteria or microorganisms to grow, meaning that it always stays fresh. Honey is truly a miracle food.

McClendon's Select sells two types of honey from bees kept on our farm: Desert Blossom Honey and Orange Blossom Honey. Our honey is available on our website or at our markets.

We also sell Raw Bee Pollen, which is both a wonderful source of protein (without the saturated fats of animal proteins), but also a concentrated source of the B vitamin complex. Bee Pollen has long been used by athletes because of it is a natural energy booster for speed and endurance, but it also helps in recovery after workouts.

I am working with Bob on writing a longer piece about the nature and benefits of both honey and bee pollen. He is a wealth of information on this subject and I continue to be amazed at this complex food made by this tiny creatures. Aidan is also fascinated and loves to help Bob when they are working the hives and extracting the honey. I am sure most mothers don't send their children towards bee hives, but the more I have learned about the bees the less I worry. He has never been stung while helping Bob work the honey, although he will tell you the tale of getting stung while we were on vacation in Scotland years ago. Aidan loves that story and it gets better every time he tells it. He has learned from Bob over the years how to respect bees and the work that they do and how to act around them. Too many people fear bees unnecessarily and without their contribution to farming, we would all be at a loss. McClendon's Select absolutely relies on these hard workers and we are grateful for their help.

Makes honey all the sweeter, doesn't it?

Happy Birthday Julia!!

Did you know that today is Julia Child's birthday? If you haven't seen Julie & Julia yet, today might be a good time to go and celebrate the gift Julia gave to all of us.

I hope she would be honored that the film seems to have reignited a passion for home-cooking. Her first cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, now in its 40th edition, sold out on Amazon after the release of the film. The publishers have ordered a reprinting of 750,000 copies, so you can still get one if you haven't already. I am currently reading her memoir My Life in France that she wrote with her nephew. It is a love story about falling in love with food and cooking. Her enthusiasm for everything is infectious. They have so beautifully captured life in Paris during this time and the smells and flavors of the dishes as she masters them, you are hungry for more with each page.

Bob and Marsha had a chance to meet Julia years ago at the Masters of Food & Wine dinner in Carmel. I sat at their kitchen table the other night and heard them recount their evening with her. She sounded as enchanting in person as she was on television.

We have dear friends who are also in love with Julia. Avid homecooks themselves, they have a collection of cookbooks that has to now number into the thousands. Tonight before the movie they are preparing some of the classics from Mastering the Art of French Cooking to honor the great Julia Child. How are you going to celebrate?

Zucchini with a side of squash?

Okay... so last night might have been a little bit of overkill, but with the bounty of summer squash right now I couldn't help myself. They come in such pretty colors and I love all the ways you can make them. Sean and I made these wonderful zucchini cakes, but then with a with a colander of green and yellow summer squashes still sitting there, we decided to go ahead and saute those as well. There can't be too much of a good thing, right?

Aidan helped too, but mostly by picking off the pine nuts as I was putting them on the bruschetta. He is very helpful like that.

Zucchini Parmesan Cakes

Makes about 12-14 patties

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

2 cups grated Zucchini

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup flour

1 egg, beaten

Dashes of cayenne pepper, sea salt and pepper

Heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Spoon a golf-ball sized amount of the mixture into the pan once hot. Gently flatten the balls into a 2-inch patty. Turn heat down to medium and let the patties brown on each side for 3-4 minutes. Flip patties over and brown on the other side for another 3-4 minutes.

Remove patties after thoroughly browned and set on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

We ate these last night with a sprinkling of O&Co's Premium Balsamic Vinegar. You know they were good if I was willing to break into my stash of expensive vinegars!!

Grilled Summer Peaches...

It may be hotter than a furnace, but one of the rewards of the summer is stone fruit. I love all of it - cherries, nectarines, plums, and peaches. Last night while we were fixing dinner to throw on the grill, I decided to add some peaches as well. Had I planned better I would have had some vanilla ice cream to serve with them, although we enjoyed them just the same. They turned out perfectly. I could do this every day. Well, not the 110-degrees, but the peaches definitely!

Grilled Summer Peaches

4 ripe peaches

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Mix the cinnamon, vanilla extract and brown sugar in a bowl. Coat the cut side of the peaches in vegetable oil and then place cut side down on the grill for 1-2 minutes until there are nice grill marks. Coat the sides of the peaches in vegetable oil and place back on the grill for 3-4 minutes. Spoon the brown sugar mixture over the top of the peaches and close the grill. Remove the peaches when the sugar has melted.

Food Inc.

Have you seen “Food Inc.” yet at the Camelview? Sean and I went the other night and left speechless. It is harrowing and incredibly informative. I feel like I have quite an education about the benefits of eating organic, but was stunned at how much I did not know. The films goes into depth about how food is produced at a mass scale and the effects of having become so removed from our food sources. It made me very grateful for the hard work my in-laws have done for years.

The film was very well done and worth the education. The audience even applauded at the end. The movie also interviewed two authors who have written on this subject Eric Schlosser of "Fast Food Nation" and Michael Pollan author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals". These books are now on my reading list.

Take a trip to the Camelview. I hope that with enough interest and attendance that this movie will be able to open wide and reach a broader audience.

Welcome!

If you are new to the McClendon's Select Blog... then welcome! We created this site to reach out to our customers. We wanted to keep you updated as to what is in season, information regarding the Farmers' Markets, recipes and ideas for preparing our produce and to talk about what the chefs and restaurants around town are doing with McClendon's Select organic fruits and vegetables. To begin, take a look at the introductory post, a link is along the right side.

And if you are not new to the McClendon's Select Blog... well, welcome anyway!

Bob answers your questions...

Since Bob gets asked many of the same questions over again at the Farmers’ Markets, we thought it would be a good idea to answer them all in one spot.

Here are some of the top questions he is asked. We will continue to post more of your questions and the answers moving forward.

Do you grow everything at the markets?

Depending on the season we bring in certified organic fruits and vegetables that do not grow in the Phoenix area such as apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, potatoes, and strawberries. We always try to use Arizona grown organic produce as first choice and turn to California grown organic as a backup. However, during our peak growing season more than 80% of the fruits and vegetables sold from McClendon’s Select are grown locally at our farm.

Where do you grow all of your produce?

The McClendon’s Select farm is on 25 acres located in Peoria in the Northwest Valley, about 20 miles from the Town & Country Farmers’ Market. We grow more than 150 kinds of produce and fruit.

Can we come and visit the farm?

Due to our seven day-a-week work schedule we are not open to the public; however, we plan to post a virtual tour of the farm on the website and blog for you to visit.

Do you sell from the farm?

No – we are not set up to sell to the public from our farm. We make our organic produce available to the public through the Town & Country Farmers’ Market and the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers’ Market during the season.

When do you start doing farmers markets every year?

Every year we start back at the Town and Country Farmer’s Market in October and the Old Town Scottsdale Farmer’s Market in November. The Town and Country Market runs until the end of June. The Old Town Scottsdale Market runs until the end of May. Please refer to the website for the exact dates and times for this year’s markets.

Do I need to wash my salad greens?

It is advisable to wash all types of produce before you eat them, but wash them only right before you eat them. Do not go home and wash your produce right away and then store them, because the washing will start the spoiling process.

All of our cut and washed greens like baby spinach, arugula, lettuce mixes are washed in a sophisticated Italian-made greens washer. This system provides a very clean, high quality product that removes excess water from the greens through centrifugal force (spinning). This equipment is designed to do minimal physical damage to the leaves.

Do you sell to local restaurants?

Yes – we sell to a number of local restaurants in the Phoenix, Flagstaff and Las Vegas areas. We plan to profile the chefs and restaurants we work with and show how they prepare our organic produce on the blog. If you are interested in the restaurants we sell to, ask Bob at the markets for a current list of restaurants that are serving McClendon’s Select organic produce.

How did you get your start in growing organic produce?

When I was a young child my grandmother put some squash seeds between two paper towels on a plate for a few days and showed me how seeds germinate. This sparked my curiosity as to how things grow. I was fascinated with how the combination of soil, water and light worked to nurture and grow plants.

Later while I attended the University of Arizona Pharmacy School, to become a Pharmacist, my education rekindled my interest in the study of plants. Pharmacognosy, the study of how medicines are derived from plants, was a required part of my education. I did greenhouse work to learn how to grow plants that were useful in the making of drugs. During school I also worked as a research lab assistant in the USDA Honeybee Research Lab in Tucson. This is where I learned about honeybees and their importance in agriculture.

When Marsha and I married and moved into our first home in the Phoenix area we had two acres. It was just big enough for a garden and some livestock. Gardening became a part of our lives and has remained ever since. Our gardens have grown exponentially throughout the years as we moved to homes with more land. We moved to our current home in 1975 where we now have 25 acres.

Over the years I have started and owned a number of medically related businesses. During this time, I would bring the abundant produce that we grew, and give it to our employees twice a week.

Around 2000, I saw a growing interest in organically grown fruit and vegetables. People were starting to become more aware of how their produce was grown and from where it was originating. The more I read about the benefits and the science of growing organic produce it seemed to marry my two passions of farming and the medical sciences. I started to study the microbiology of soil chemistry and the concept of nurturing the soil through using natural elements that were beneficial for the plants rather than adding harsh nitrogen and chemicals that would destroy the microbiology of the soil. What I learned was, that if I took proper care of the soil I wouldn’t have to worry about feeding the plants because the soil would do it properly for me.

We made the decision to transition to organic farming in 2001. In 2002, the United States Congress passed the National Organic Program. This legislation created a system for certifying and defining organic produce. The USDA oversees this program to regulate the standards for organic food production, processing, delivery and sales.

While I was learning about organic growing, the health benefits of eating organic started to emerge in scientific literature. I read time and again about the number of people with cancer who were seeing remarkable results in their prognosis due to a change in their diet. Eating organic foods was eliminating the chemicals from commercial growing from their diets. This raised a huge flag to me that said there was something significant and substantial about the link between diet and diseases. I saw through my own study and work with organic growing I could help promote the benefits of eating a sound, healthy diet. As both a pharmacist and now farmer, this drew on all areas of my life’s work.

Have you had Burrata?

A few years ago I was introduced to Burrata and I haven't been the same since.

Claudio Urciuoli of Prado at the MonteLucia InterContinental Hotel served us his version of the Caprese salad using Burrata instead of regular mozzarella years ago and I obsessed about it for days. Bob finally called Claudio on my behalf to inquire more about it. Since then we serve Burrata for special occasions in our home or use it to make ordinary occasions into something special.

Burrata is a hand-pulled mozzarella that comes filled with a ricotta-like cream. The outside of the Burrata is a thin layer of mozzarella curd that gives way to a soft, rich center. It is silky and slightly sweet and about as far from your normal pizza topping mozzarella as you can get. It comes in a large ball, packed in salty water and is quickly perishable once opened, so be prepared to enjoy it immediately. Since that first magical introduction, I have seen Burrata show up on a number of menus around town and I order it every time.

The best version I have had is from the Gioia Cheese Co. out of Los Angeles. This is the version that Claudio served. It is expensive and hard to find but worth the effort. The A.J.'s at 44th Street and Camelback is the only place I have found it. Trader Joe's recently started carrying their own version of Burrata, which is good and much more reasonably priced, but not quite as flavorful.

I have used Burrata many different ways, but Claudio had it right that first time, it is hard to beat when served with a few ripe heirloom tomatoes, some fresh basil and a little olive oil and salt. I am still obsessed, but I have learned that Burrata is best when shared.

Your own French love affair...

Chef Eugenia Theodosopoulos of Essence Bakery Café makes the most amazing Parisian Macarons. Do not confuse these with their stateside coconut cousins. These beautiful cookies hark back to 18th Century French courts. They come in a pastel rainbow of colors and are filled inside with flavors like Caramel Cream, French Chocolate, Hazelnut, Espresso and Pumpkin Spice. My favorite is Raspberry-Rose. Sean favors Chocolate Mint, but we will devour them all equally. She uses McClendon’s Select grapefruits for the Pink Grapefruit macaron, which all of us love.

Eugenia makes each cookie by hand at her bakery in Tempe. She learned her art while studying and living in Paris, and it truly is an art. If you have never tried an authentic Parisian Macaron, you are missing out. These meringue sandwich-like cookies are decadent. They are elegant enough to be a centerpiece all on their own or would make for the perfect hostess gift. But be warned, they are hard to share, so make sure you get enough to keep some for yourself.

The Essence Bakery Café serves both breakfast and lunch and has a pastry case filled with Eugenia’s Macarons, along with other wonderful French confections. I have also tried her Luscious Lemon Chiffon Cake, which I highly recommend.

You can also order her Macarons online at www.essencemacaron.com. They come in both large and small sizes and trust me it will be the perfect gift whatever the occasion. Go try one for yourself. It is quicker than a flight to Paris!

Essence Bakery Cafe

www.essencebakery.com

825 West University

Tempe, AZ 85281

480-966-2745