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Current Hours:
Saturday: Closed
(reopens 1/4/25)
Wednesday: Closed
(reopens 1/8/25)
Current Hours:
Saturday: Closed
(reopens 1/4/25)
Wednesday: Closed
(reopens 1/8/25)
Current Hours:
Saturday: Closed
reopens 1/4/25)
Wednesday: Closed
(reopens 1/8/25)
Uptown has joined forces with local restaurants, chefs and C-CAP Arizona to host a Fall Chef Series at the market each Saturday through October. Every week we will feature a different chef from the valley. These chefs inspire and educate by transforming seasonal Arizona products, many of which can be found right here at Uptown Farmers Market, into delicious, simple tastes for the community. We begin our Fall Series with Chef Jeffery Moore of Flower Child Uptown.
Chef Moore has been working in the kitchen since the age of 15, but discovered his passion for food way back when he was a little kid helping out at his Grandmother’s Greek restaurant. He now serves as Executive Chef of Flower Child’s Uptown location which is located right down the street from Uptown Farmers Market in the newly restored Uptown Plaza! Chef arrived at Uptown prepared, with the help of C-CAP Arizona, to make a salad that is ideal for transitioning in to Fall: Heirloom Tomato + Watermelon Salad with basil, mint and a wonderful smokey flavor.
First, the students of C-CAP and chef cubed the Watermelon provided by McClendon’s Select, sliced the Heirloom Tomatoes provided by Abby Lee Farms, and tore the basil leaves, and mint leaves provided by Mika Ceballos of The Community Exchange Table and Janet Green (an Uptown neighbor). Fun fact about the tomatoes used from Abby Lee Farms: Owner, Neal, donated 30 pounds of tomatoes for this demo! The tomatoes had 1/8 inch of blossom rot on each end, so while they were delicious to taste — they could not be sold — Chef Moore took the tomatoes, trimmed them, and turned what would have been food waste into a delicious community meal!
Once all produce was sliced and torn, Chef introduced Saba to the dish — an ancient condiment known since the time of the Romans, which is the result of cooking grapes over fire. Saba is the main ingredient in the production of traditional Balsamic Vinegar and is similar in flavor. He arranged the watermelon and tomatoes on a plate, and drizzled the entire dish with Saba, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and topped with the torn basil and mint leaves.
To finish the dish, Chef sprinkled Smoked Sea Salt and fresh ground Black Pepper.
Uptown would like to extend a special thank you to Chef Jeffery Moore for joining us at Uptown Saturday and sharing a delicious dish that can be replicated in our kitchens this Fall. Chef also purchased market items including fresh produce and quail eggs to take back to the restaurant to cook a meal for his crew — thanks for shopping local, Chef Moore! We also extend our thanks to the students from C-CAP for helping slice, dice, and assemble and to McClendon’s Select, Abby Lee Farms, The Community Exchange Table and Janet Green for contributing fresh, seasonal ingredients. Congratulations to all of the Uptown-goers who won gift cards to Flower Child (enjoy!) — it’s our favorite way to say thank you for shopping local and supporting the valley’s local chefs. We hope you will join us for our upcoming demonstrations in our Fall Chef Series — view full schedule here.
Stay in the know about upcoming demonstrations and events at Uptown by subscribing to our weekly e-mail newsletter and following us on social media (find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).
