SOS BBQ

Saturday was my featured BBQ dinner at Steve Strawbridge's house.  The dinner was won by Steve at the annual Share Our Strength's "Chefs Up Front" dinner.  He generously bid over $4000 for the dinner.
SOS is an amazing foundation that helps to fight child hunger in the United States.  We found out during the dinner that Colorado has the highest number of hungry or malnourished children of any state.  It's a great cause and I have been a proud chef for SOS for the past 10 years.
Knowing Steve paid so much to have me feed 12 people at his house, I wanted to make sure they ate well.  Six racks of slow-cooked baby back ribs, six pounds of braised chicken thighs, marinated and grilled chicken breasts, an assortment of brats, coleslaw, cornbread, potato salad, greens, grilled veggies, and grilled figs with cormeal cakes and lavender syrup did the trick.  William Snowden supplied all of the wine and the pairings were perfect.  I believe everyone was more than stuffed and more than a little buzzed once the event was through.  Max helped me big time throughout and dinner was a success....

Whole Foods Video Shoot

I'm a good cook.  I'm a good conversationalist.  I'm good at giving instruction.  What I'm apparently not good at is memorizing lines.

This past Thursday I filmed a series of instructional videos with Whole Foods Market for the holiday season.  We showed people how to roast the perfect turkey, make gravy, etc....  I think those segments went well.  What I didn't excel at was memorizing lines about lip balms and soaps.

Thank god Melynda, Ben, Nancy, Brent, and all of the guys working the cameras were so patient.  It was pathetic and funny at the same time.  But I think we got everything by the end of the (14+ hour) day and the videos will be awesome. And instructional.  And will live forever....

Vegas

Well, well. How to blog about sin city without being cliche or obvious.  Let's just start by saying I had the best food and the best luck...

I had my (early) birthday dinner at Joel Robuchon in the MGM Grand.  It was absolutely amazing.  The food and the service were everything you would expect and more.  The experience is somehthing I cannot describe, other than to say it is well beyond the norm.  We had a five course tasting menu and wines that my good friend picked out.
Chef Clauce Le Tohic came to our table and described the daunting task of creating great cuisine in the middle of the dessert.  It doesn't hurt when you have a staff that would crawl over broken glass just to tourne one more turnip for you....

My luck at the tables was grand.  I pretty much ruled the poker table, the craps table and the blackjack table.  I think the gambling gods finally took pity on all of my losses and gave me a little birthday love.
Finally it probably goes without saying that I got sleep after the trip was over.....

Jax Harvest Dinner

Let's talk about beer. Beer is the everyman's drink. From shotgunning at keggers to sipping with monks, beer can be found everywhere. It is simple, delicious, and can easily be made at home.

But there is a stunning difference between cheap Wisconsin swill and crafted small batch brews made with imported yeasts and heirloom hops. As wine may be the prefered libation served with fine food, beer can certainly hold it's own with pairings. And this is exactly what we proved with Peter and Adam of Avery Brewing Company.

The menu was eclectic with late summer harvest being the only real guide. We started with beautiful oysters on the half shell, turned to a deconstructed tomato salad, warmed up with Louisiana-influenced trout, followed up with bass and homemade bacon with peaches, killed it with mushroomy local lamb, and ended the powerhouse food train with some good ol' chocolate cake. All of the produce and proteins were from Colorado - most from Boulder County. It was fun, enjoyed by all, and will certainly be repeated again soon.

Tomato Love

One plane ride and two car rides down and I had arrived in Sonoma. First destination: The Kendall Jackson estate http://www.kj.com.

I was given the full tour of the grounds by Executive Chef Justin Wrangler and his fantastic crew of chefs. The first and most exciting thing I saw was their garden, or should I say Culinary Gardens. They have acres of land dedicated to growing every type of produce you can imagine. The entire estate is on an old walnut grove, so the tomatoes, corn, herbs, lettuces, and thousands of other plants are interspersed among giant old walnut trees.

But, the thing I was really drooling over were the TOMATOES. 170 plus varieties of heirlooms, with a wide variety on the estate and another 5 acres off site. I had no idea there were so many tomato varieties out there and there were definitely mouth gaping moments looking at the lineup of all those tomatoes in all colors and sizes.

On to Saturday, the big event. The local restaurants all had booths sampling tomato creations. There was live music, tons of wine and sunshine. The main stage held the Chefs Challenge. I had to cook against my old friend Jamie from Top Chef Season Five. We had 20 minutes to cook three dishes with heirlooms and two secret ingredients. The ingredients turned out to be scallops (surprise Jamie!) and kobe ribeye.

The end product was mouthwatering with all that FRESH produce: My dishes: Scallop, Melon and Tomato Ceviche with thai vinaigrette; Ricotta Ravioli with tomato cream sauce and pine nuts; Grilled Kobe Ribeye "Sandwich" with wild mushrooms and charred tomato salsa were loved by the celebrity judges, but alas, Jamie prevailed. She went on to face off against Justin Wrangler (who won his first heat) and eventually was named the Heirloom Tomato Champion.

What a weekend... and what tomatoes!

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/