Telluride Festival of the Arts

Started the weekend off with appetizers for 100 for the Celebrity Chef Dinner. Whipped up Halibut Cheeks with Chanterelles, Smoked Bacon and Olathe Sweet Corn Sauce. After a short nights sleep, started preparing for the cooking demo of Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Colorado Peaches and Ginger Syrup, click here for the recipe. A bit of mingling and enjoying the festivities, then back to Boulder.

For more information about the Telluride Festival of the Arts: http://www.telluridefest.com/

Steamboat Wine Festival

Another Road trip.
Heading to Steamboat for the 6th Annual Wine Festival with 3,000 attendees, 800 wines, spirits and beers and of course the food. I headed up Wednesday night to "catch" a 7am Fly Fishing Event. Caught some trout and then got cleaned up for a TV Demo. Cooked up some Pan Roasted Halibut with Fresh Summer Vegetables and Bacon, what a great time, they didn’t even mind my ‘chops’!

Nighttime meant a gorgeous ride on the Gondola up to Thunderhead for the Wine on Mountain Kickoff.

Friday was demo day. I headed to the Grand Tent to prepare Smooth Tomato Gazpacho with Watermelon-Mint Salsa, Poached Shrimp, and Croutons for the crowd. Had a great time getting to hang out with the guests after the demo.

On Saturday I headed to some Spanish and Italian wine seminars to brush up on my skills. That afternoon was the SteelChef Competition. Goose Sorrenson (Solera) and Tyler Wiard (Elway's) cooked against me and Matt Jansen (Radda and Mateo). We got our basket of secret ingredients and had 20 minutes. We made White Cornmeal Crusted Catfish with Louisiana Dirty Rice, Grilled Eggplant, and Peach Liquor Butter Sauce and Stella Marinated Pork Loin with Anaheim Chile-Potato Hash with Blackberry-Coconut Milk Sauce and Toasted Almonds.

For more information about the Steamboat Wine Festival: http://www.steamboatwinefestival.com/