Chef in Season: Carl Schroeder
From the trained chef to the home cook, preparing meals with fresh, local ingredients over shipped, shrink-wrapped food seems an obvious choice. Shopping locally may have a growing appeal among those wanting to lessen their carbon footprint, but its true attraction lies in simple flavors that sing for themselves.
“The quality of [fresh] ingredients is so good that you don’t have to do a lot,” says Carl Schroeder, executive chef and owner of Market Restaurant in Del Mar, Calif. “If you’ve got some great summer squash, sautée it … with some garlic, olive oil, and season it up … [with] some fresh chopped herbs, and you are done. That’s the beauty of it.”
Mr. Schroeder, California’s 2005 restaurant chef of the year and this year’s San Diego chef of the year, lives this philosophy. Every day he handpicks his ingredients from Chino Farms, a farm stand a short drive from his restaurant. At Market, Schroeder works with his team of talented cooks to conjure up a new menu almost every night.
Creative simplicity in the kitchen is a panache home cooks can easily emulate, but make sure you start with the best produce.
“Buying a great tomato is so much better than trying to make a bad tomato taste good,” says Schroeder. “All it takes is a good salt and a good vinaigrette, and you are ready to roll.”
So pay a visit to your local farmers’ market and load up. Then play chef with these recipes for chilled vegetable soups – a cool delight for a warm summer evening.
To hear an interview with Carl Schroeder and see recipes for Chilled Corn and Lobster Soup and Chilled Avocado and Tomato Soup and Chilled Heirloom Tomato and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Soup, click here.
Kitchen Report 
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