Last week’s YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLE still dealt with Spring fruits and vegetables: What Spring Mushroom has a larger crop following a forest fire? Watch the news. Forest fires do indeed produce a crop of mushrooms. A big crop. You see, the heat from the fire on the forest floor will cause fungus spores to burst and regrow. These spores have been there for years, but need heat in order to burst. So the following Spring, you will find a huge crop…of Morel Mushrooms. This week's YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLE deals with Spring fruits and vegetables: What vegetable looks like a wild and crazy Celery, but is actually related to the Artichoke? See next week's "Fresh Tips" for the answer.

Horseradish Root, used as one of the Bitter Herbs during Passover.

Horseradish Root, used as one of the Bitter Herbs during Passover.

ICEBERG LETTUCE (Monday, May 2): Joining Your Produce Man all this week will be the Executive Chef from BJ’s Brewhouse Restaurant. He’ll give us a peak into how restaurant chains choose new menu items and how they choose what produce items to use. We start the week with the humblest of all lettuce, the Iceberg Lettuce. BJ’s Brewhouse uses the wrapper leaves in their cool Chicken Lettuce Wrap menu item. The filling may be the easy part of this item. Marinated chicken breast, diced and sautéed with mushrooms, water chestnuts, celery, green onions, garlic and topped with crispy wontons. It’s served with a tangy sesame soy sauce and spicy mustard. The tough part is turning Iceberg Lettuce leaves…into cups. How in the world do they carefully get the leaves apart on an Iceberg Lettuce?

The simple elegance of an Iceberg Wedge.

ICEBERG LETTUCE (Tuesday, May 3): Most people think that Iceberg Lettuce is nutritionally useless Lettuce. Not so. It’s full of fiber. It fills you up with very few calories. Also, Iceberg is loaded with Vitamin K, an especially important vitamin in the health of women’s bones. There is more Vitamin K found in lowly Iceberg Lettuce than just about any other fruit or vegetable. Besides, no other lettuce has the “crunch” of Iceberg Lettuce. There’s just something about that crunch. It even sounds healthy. Yesterday, Executive Chef Ray Martin, from BJ’s Brewhouse Restaurant, used the Iceberg Lettuce in their cool Lettuce Wrap. Today, we’re turning the simple Iceberg into an elegant salad. At BJ’s, it’s simply called “The Wedge.” Wedges of Iceberg Lettuce and Tomatoes, drizzled with Bleu Cheese dressing, then topped with crisp bacon bits, Bleu Cheese crumbles, red onions and fresh chopped parsley. It’s a little retro as BJ’s takes you back to the 50s.

Let’s turn this head of Napa Cabbage into BJ’s Sesame Chicken Asian Salad.

NAPA CABBAGE (Wednesday, May 4): When lettuce prices get expensive, turn to Napa. No, not the car parts place. Napa Cabbage. When Iceberg lettuce prices start rocketing into high prices, usually Napa Cabbage will be much cheaper per pound…and have more nutrition to it as well. Today, BJ’s Brewhouse Restaurant Executive Chef Ray Martin takes a head of Napa and turns it into BJ’s Sesame Chicken Salad. It’s an unforgettable salad of thin-sliced Napa cabbage with grilled marinated breast of chicken, toasted almonds, crisp wontons, red bell peppers, green onions, mandarin oranges, sesame seeds, served with BJ’s own sweet sesame dressing.

At BJ’s Brewhouse Restaurant, Red Cabbage is the ornament on the plate…the garnish.

RED CABBAGE (Thursday, May 5): One of the key elements of any restaurant chain…is how the plate looks when it’s set in front of the customer. It’s called “plate presentation.” Chefs spend a lot of time rotating foods on a plate, rearranging them, stacking them, making sure the final plate presentation is easy to replicate for kitchen staff. Part of plate presentation is the garnish. It’s the fine art of food. Garnishing is a beautifying detail to the plate, an embellishment to add extra flavor, texture or color. It’s an ornament for your dinner plate. At many restaurants, it’s a sprig of parsley. Today, BJ’s Brewhouse Restaurant Executive Chef Ray Martin uses Red Cabbage as a garnish. He shows us how to slice it and place it on the plate.

It’s one of the largest Baked Potatoes you’ll find…and you’ll find it at BJ’s, with all kinds of cool toppings.

RUSSET POTATO (Friday, May 6): You’ve got to dig this. It’s the land of giants today. You’ve never seen a giant quite like this…unless you have already had one of these giants at BJ’s Brewhouse Restaurant. It’s a Giant Stuffed Potato, and it’s one of the coolest ways to get your kids to eat something other than French Fries. Now BJ’s is talking big. BJ’s giant baked potatoes weigh in at 24 – 30 ounces. That’s right, almost 2 pounds of a russet potato. And that’s before they’re stuffed. That’s where the fun comes in. You can top your giant spud with just about anything. Assorted garden fresh vegetables. Add some steamed broccoli and grilled chicken. How about a ladle full of Chili? I guess you could go classic. A little butter, sour cream and chives. Whatever the topping, you’ve got one powerhouse of nutrition in front of you. Think about it. The lowly potato, all by itself, helped many civilizations survive during times of famine. Potatoes contain many of the essential nutrients that the dietary guidelines recommend Americans increase in their diet. Potatoes eaten with the skin provide nearly half of the Daily Value for vitamin C and are one of the best sources of potassium and fiber. One medium-sized potato has 100 calories and provides complex carbohydrates needed to fuel our brains and bodies, giving us the energy we need for a busy lifestyle.

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