Garden Chef Series Cooks with Garden Fresh Ingredients CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN Garden Chef Series Cooks with Garden Fresh Ingredients
Event Date:
Saturday, May 26, 2012 - Sunday, October 7, 2012
BigNews.Biz - Apr 29,2012 - Garden Chef Series Cooks with Garden Fresh Ingredients
Event Date:
Saturday, May 26, 2012 - Sunday, October 7, 2012
– Forty of Chicago's top chefs share their culinary expertise, preparing a signature dish with garden-fresh ingredients during the Chicago Botanic Garden's Garden Chef Series. Thousands of visitors enjoy watching the chefs work their magic in the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden Demonstration Kitchen from the open-air amphitheatre each year. The free demonstrations take place at 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from May 26 through Oct. 7.
The Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden is the Midwest's headquarters for fruit and vegetable gardening information, exhibiting the best edible plants to grow in the Chicago area. Also, the garden is dotted with helpful hand-lettered signs with timely gardening tips and the how-to's of organic growing techniques.
Summer plant giveaways are an added bonus from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Volunteers share information about the featured plant, which changes monthly, and encourage visitors to plant seeds or seedlings (while supplies last) to take home to their own gardens. A flyer with care information and a recipe is available. In May, the featured plant is Jimmy Nardello heirloom pepper; in June, Blondkopfchen heirloom tomato; in July, Mrs. Burns' lemon basil; in August, dwarf blue curled Scotch kale, and in September, Grandpa Admire's heirloom lettuce.
Celebrate herbs during the all-new Herb Garden Weekend on Saturday, July 28, and Sunday, July 29, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden. Learn how to grow herbs in containers during special herb growing demonstrations at noon, 1 and 2 p.m. on both days. Herb "Discovery Carts" will highlight a number of herbs and edible flowers you can grow in your home garden. Chefs giving demonstrations will feature fresh garden herbs in their recipes.
Visitors can learn all about growing and using heirloom tomatoes — from Paul Robeson to Yellow Brandywine — at the Heirloom Tomato Weekend from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 25, and Sunday, August 26, in the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden. Tomato tours, seed-saving demonstrations, shopping for tomato products from select vendors, and specially themed family activities are all part of the fun.
The 2012 Garden Chef Series schedule (subject to change):
Saturday, May 26 Roger Waysok of South Water Kitchen in Chicago
Sunday, May 27 Armando Gonzalez of Libertad in Skokie
Saturday, June 2 Cleetus Friedman of City Provisions in Chicago
Sunday, June 3 Juan Carlos Median Vazquez of Café Central in Highland Park
Saturday, June 9 Victor DeLeon of O'Donovan's Pub & Restaurant in Chicago
Sunday, June 10 Andy Novak of Tapas Gitans in Northfield
Saturday, June 16 A Taste of Mexico/Margarita Challenger of Guanajuato in Glencoe
Sunday, June 17 A Taste of Mexico/Alvaro Chavez of Masa Azul in Chicago
Saturday, June 23 TBD/Uncommon Ground in Chicago
Sunday, June 24 Gale Gand of Tru in Chicago and Elawa
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