Salads

Corn and Tomato Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

Makes 4 to 6 servings This salad is simple as summer, with the season’s biggest flavor powerhouse ingredients. Serve it as a side dish or as a main course topped with grilled shrimp or stewed  beans. We love it for lunch with a slice of crusty bread to soak up […]

Chef's Notes Plus

Creamy Corn, Hold the Cream

Corn: looks like a vegetable and tastes like dessert. Enjoying summer corn is probably the easiest thing you do all year. To date, we’ve never met a person who doesn’t like it. It can be eaten raw, but even if you cook it, it takes less than five minutes. It’s […]

Allergen Friendly, Soups and Stews

Gazpacho

Makes 8 servings This is a very simple, straightforward, no-frills gazpacho recipe. It is tangy and fresh, with a full-bodied texture thanks to a generous pour of olive oil. Experiment with proportions to find your perfect balance. Ingredients 4 lb tomatoes, cored and chopped 2 cups chopped green pepper 2 […]

Free Recipes, Salads

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Green Vinaigrette

Makes 4 to 6 servings The beauty of summer tomatoes is that they need virtually no accompaniment to be delicious. That’s why this salad, inspired by the menu at Savor, on our San Antonio campus, uses just a few of our favorite flavors to bring out the best in our […]

Chef's Notes Plus

How To: Cook Asparagus

When the local crop of asparagus first starts to trickle into the market, we can’t wait to get it home. Tender and sweet, asparagus is wildly versatile and easy to cook, making it a favorite for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Asparagus can be sold in several sizes, from pencil-thin and […]

Chef's Notes Plus

How To: Peel Tomatoes

As tomato season ramps up, you may encounter recipes that call for peeled tomatoes. Though this step is always optional (your relationship with tomato skin is your own business), removing the skin and the seeds will create a smooth, refined texture in soups and sauces. Peeling a tomato like a […]

Chef's Blog

How-To: How to Store Fresh Herbs

Adding fresh herbs to any dish adds that special touch that dried herbs or spices just cannot give. The color, aroma and flavor of fresh herbs is something everyone wants in their cooking but is sometimes hard to achieve when you are in a pinch and your last bit of […]

Chef's Notes Plus

Not-So-Mysterious Mushrooms

Though mushrooms grow throughout the year, they are widely regarded as seasonally fall (except morels, which are the best part of the spring!). White button and cremini mushrooms (often called baby bellas) are the old stand-by. They are inexpensive, sturdy, and neutral in flavor. But as much as we love […]

Chef's Notes Plus

Picking Apples for Baking

Over 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States, and of those, only about 100 are grown commercially. This means that the best apple for baking in your region might be different than the best apple halfway across the country. But there are some basic guidelines you can […]