Local chef prepares a new farm fresh menu

In this week’s Home Grown we get an exclusive look inside the kitchen of one local restaurant. Their chef shows us how he cooks up the freshest ingredients straight from the farm.

You might think living in the Winter Lettuce Capital of the world it wouldn’t be too hard to eat produce straight from the fields in our own backyard.But, the truth is most of our produce goes to a processing plant before coming back to the Yuma area and onto our plates.

Some local restaurants are able to partner with local farms to get the freshest ingredients.

Chef Garrett McKeeman, Executive Chef at Quechan Resort and Casinos explains what’s unique about the ingredients he uses in is dishes.

“The ingredients are fresh, they are freshly picked, they come right off the vine,” he said. “We are buying produce from a local farm, Hillside Farms, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for a chef to be totally involved with this freshness that we get here in the Yuma area,” he added.

Chef Garrett chops up some Baby Iceberg, Red Frisee and Boston lettuce to add to one of the new salads on their menu. He also dices up some juicy Heirloom tomatoes all grown here locally.

“There you have it, a locally grown wasabi cream toss salad with beautiful heirloom tomatoes and local lettuces,” he said.

Mckeeman has been a chef for over 40 years. He explains how much he appreciates being able to do what he loves in a farming community.

“To live in Yuma, in our market basket for this great country we live in is a wonderful thing,” he said.

Next week in our Home Grown segment, McKeeman takes us to Hillside Farms where we see just how his ingredients come from one of our local farms.

Chef would like you to know that you can also order his food to go! Now that sounds fresh!