The Chef's Garden

Chef Dan Peretta is back on the farm to visit his friend and longtime collaborator, Farmer Lee Jones. Chef Peretta has chosen to work with peppers and Farmer couldn’t be more pleased to get to the test kitchen where Chef is making two dishes that highlight a variety of peppers from the fields, but he’s really blowing Farmer’s mind by showing that peppers don’t have to always be seen as savory.

Rachael Ray is excited to be back at her home away from home in Huron, Ohio to visit her good friend Farmer Lee Jones on the farm. In the test kitchen, they are working alongside one another to make a delicious and hearty casserole with freshly picked Arrowhead, savoy cabbage, and eggplant.

Executive Chef and owner of Michelin-starred Esme in Chicago, Chef Jenner Tomaska is visiting the farm for the first time. He and Farmer Lee are strolling the fields talking about the importance of knowing where your food comes from and extolling the virtues of serving food at its ripest stage. Then they head to the test kitchen where Chef Tomaska is playing a riff off of burrata, roasting watermelon and intensifying the tomato in a new and exciting way.

Chef Bradley Kilgore is a Miami-based chef and long-time friend of the Chef’s Garden. He is back on the farm to see his friend Farmer Lee and find the best cucumbers growing on the farm. Chef Kilgore loves to use modern techniques to highlight the quality of the produce from the farm. Back at the test kitchen, he is doing his take on sashimi and martinis.

Chef Jamie Simpson is the Chef Liaison at the Culinary Vegetable Institute and The Chef’s Garden. He works with chefs, restaurants, and brands to menu and recipe test items, putting vegetables at the forefront. The Chef’s Garden is his backyard and his inspiration. He and Farmer Lee walk the property picking edible flowers and bring them to the test kitchen to make a dish that showcases edible flowers in a savory space that looks like a work of art and tastes delicious.