Rolling in Dough

A Gastravaganza of Beautiful Beer & Splendid Street Food

Even if you are planning to come to Denver to attend foamy wonderfulness that is the Great American Beer Festival, you may not know about all of the other fun, delicious beer oriented events that are going on around town. 

Colorado has recently become known as the "Napa Valley of Beer", sporting more than 100 breweries, cooking up some of the country's finest craft brews. And in celebration of our outstanding brewing heritage, the city of Denver will be hosting the Denver Beer Fest.

Running from September 10-19, the Denver Beer Fest is a 10-day celebration of all things beer -  beer tastings, tours, pairing dinners, "meet the brewer" events, Oktoberfest street parties and of course, the Great American Beer Festival.  

In honor of the local beer-related festivities, I have partnered with Ginger Johnson of Women Enjoying Beer, to create the ultimate food and craft beer pairing event, The Gastravaganza of Beautiful Beer and Splendid Street Food, where we will explore the intricate world of craft beer and food pairing at a 6-course all Colorado beer and street food event. 

We've invited Avery, Left Hand, Odell's, Breckenridge, Wynkoop, Del Norte and Ska to bring us their favorite beer, and we've challenged the best of Denver's cool new gourmet street food trucks to come up with the ultimate food pairings.       

Make plans to join us for this fun night of craft beer pairing and street food. It will be a delicious time!

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  Come join us on Saturday, September 18th from 7-9 pm at the Breckenridge Brewery, 471 Kalamath in Denver for a unique and fun all Colorado Beer & Food experience. 

An exclusive 6-course Craft Beer & Gourmet Street Food 

pairing and tasting event brought to you by 

Denver Gourmet Tours & Women Enjoying Beer.

We will be pouring up delicious, high quality, Colorado craft beers from 

        

              

   

       

Paired with the best of Denver's 

Gourmet Street Food from:

Tickets are only $65 per person for this gastronomically wonderful event. Come enjoy Denver's great late summer weather while you discover just how amazing Colorado's artisanal craft brew and gourmet food scene really is.

Get some friends together and purchase your tickets here.

   

For more information, call Chelly at 303-775-5038 or 

Ginger at 515-450-7757. 

This event is for adults (21+) only. Tickets are non-refundable, but are transferable, so if you are unable to attend, please feel free to pass them along to a beer and food loving friend of your choice.  

Get Ready, Denver! GABF is Pouring into Town

 The Great American Beer Festival is rapidly approaching and more than 49,000 craft brewers and beer lovers from around the country are preparing to descend upon Denver for the annual sudsfest.

In this, the Great American Beer Festival’s 29th year, the party will be bigger than ever with 522 breweries participating, pouring the largest selection of American craft beers ever served - more than 2,200 different ales, pilsners, lagers, saisons, wheats and stouts.

New to this year’s festivities will be seminars in the Beer and Food Pavilion featuring Top Chef Season 5 winner and Jax Fish House Chef Hosea Rosenberg discussing pairing trends in craft beer and street food; the Short Pour Film Festival: the first-ever film festival with music videos, animated and live-action shorts, and original commercials, all dedicated entirely to beer; and the Support Your Local Brewery Pavilion where attendees can sample rare beers unavailable anywhere else at the festival.

 

The Great American Beer Festival, listed in 1000 Things to See Before You Die, will be at the Colorado Convention Center, September 16-18, 2010. Tickets are still available for the evening sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5:30-10:00 pm, but are selling quickly and are anticipated to be sold out before the end of August.

Each Great American Beer Festival ticket includes a commemorative tasting glass, festival program, and unlimited one-ounce beer samples, as well the chance to be among the first to try some of the 235 beers that will win medals in this year’s prestigious Great American Beer Festival competition.

Tickets and information are available at www.GreatAmericanBeerFestival.com        

New! Happy Hour at Parisi

 

 

In a city packed with pizza joints, great pies aren’t hard to come by. But Parisi’s are a standout. Hot from the wood-fired over, the pizzas are thin and crispy with a blistered crust, topped with just enough cheese to soften the middle - truly something to behold. Don’t let the line at the register scare you - it moves quickly and once you’ve ordered, your delicious pizza will be on the table in minutes.

Plus, starting in June, Parisi is adding a Happy Hour from 3-6pm daily, so those lucky enough to arrive early can skip the line and indulge themselves in a pizza and glass of wine (or two...) straight out of Florence. 

Parisi 4401 Tennyson, Denver- 303-561-0234

EVOO Marketplace's Butter Olive Oil

The EVOO Marketplace might be the most unusual culinary destination in town. For anyone whose experience with balsamic vinegar is limited to the small bottle of sour, burgundy liquid languishing on restaurant tables, the EVOO Marketplace will be a revelation. Offering more than 40 olive oils and balsamic vinegars, these are gems that go far beyond the salad plate. Use them as dips, marinades, sauces, in recipes and mixed drinks. They are even delicious over fruit and ice cream. Mix and match flavors to become known as a culinary genius in your own right.  

In addition to their first press olive oils, they have a number of fused oils, where fruits and spices have been pressed with the olives. Some favorites are garlic, Tuscan herb, walnut, blood orange, and wild mushroom and sage. Their admirable list of Italian balsamic vinegars include a sweet 18 year- old and tangy 12 year- old from Modena, Italy, and flavored varieties like cinnamon pear, strawberry, honey ginger and dark chocolate.  

Their newest addition is Butter Olive Oil. It's heavenly, with a rich and luxurious taste. With all of the health benefits and anti-oxidants of olive oil, it still has all of the depth and flavor of butter, plus it's dairy-free for you lactose-adverse folks. 

Butter Olive Oil would be amazing on pasta with a good dose of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. You could pop popcorn in it. Spread it on pancakes or English muffins. Dip roasted corn on the cob in it. You could even freeze it to make it solid and use it just like butter. Just imagine the possibilities.  

EVOO Marketplace 1338 15^th Street, Denver – 303-974-5784

Fuel Cafe's House-Made Limoncello

In Sorrento along the Amalfi Coast, Italians have long been concluding shady patio lunches with a chilled shot of Limoncello. In Denver, house-made versions of this crisp and refreshing aperitif can be found at Gaetano's, Rjoja, Lala's Wine Bar and Marco's Coal Fired Pizza, mixed into gelato, margaritas, even over chicken wings. My favorite is at Fuel Café, a quirky off-the-beaten-path-but-totally-worth-the-trip place in the RiNo Arts district. Chef Bob Blair learned the art of making Limoncello at an Italian cooking school, and he uses crates of seasonal fresh fruit to create his secret recipes, using not only lemons, but also grapefruit, clementines and blood oranges. The fresh, sunny flavors are tangy, sweet and achingly good. Try their signature Limoncello martinis or order yours straight up in a chilled glass and enjoy it on their cool, tree-filled patio.         

Fuel Cafe 3455 Ringsby Court #105 Denver - just three blocks off of the Platte River bike path. 303-296-4642

Spice & Easy, Compliments of the Savory Spice Shop

It's no secret how much I love the Savory Spice Shop. It is, in fact, the reason that I thought a gourmet tour business was viable. I knew what an amazing experience it was and I ran into people all the time who had never heard of it. (What!!! You've never been to Savory??? Get in the car right now and let's go!!!) I also knew that there had to be a bunch of other great culinary destinations around, just waiting for food lovers to discover them. Hence, my new career as "Your Colorado Culinary Concierge". 

Turns out, I'm not the only one who thinks that Savory is awesome. The Food Network has come-a-callin'. Mike and Janet Johnston, owners of the Savory Spice Shop, have appeared on Paula Deen's show and Down Home with the Neely's. It seems that they caught the eye of the Food Network brass, who decided that Savory could spice up their line-up, too.  

Filming began in earnest last month, both at the shop on Platte Street and in kitchen, and now six episodes of Spice & Easy, starring Janet Johnston are in the can and ready to roll.

 The show premieres on The Food Network this Saturday, April 24 at 7:30 am MDT.  Check it out and see the difference that freshly ground spices can make in your own recipes.   

For more details about the show and Janet Johnston, click here to go to the official show website on The Food Network.  

Project Angel Heart's Dining Out for Life Needs Your Help!

As anyone with an Italian Grandma knows, cooking  and feeding people is a way to show your love. It'is also the most basic, but noble way to care for someone. Because of this, Project Angel Heart is an organization close to my heart. They cook and deliver nutritious meals to people who have life threatening illnesses. Feeding people to help them be as healthy as possible, but also nourishing their souls to keep them happy. 

I've been volunteering in the kitchen since October, and am amazed at the care, devotion and love that goes into creating these fantastic meals. Project Angel Heart serves more than 800 clients every week, and each client receives a variety of gourmet meals, soup, bread and dessert. And these aren't TV dinners. The clients eat better than I do. While I pack bags, I wonder why I don't think to make Posole, or Eggplant Strata or Sausage and Fennel Soup occasionally, and get out of my Beans and Rice rut. 

Dining Out for Life is Project Angel Heart's biggest fundraiser and this year more than 300 Denver area restaurants are participating by giving 25% of their food sales back to PAH to help feed critically ill people. You can see the list of participating restaurants by clicking here. Project Angel Heart sends an Ambassador to each restaurant to tell diners about PAH's mission and answer questions. This year, we still need volunteer Ambassadors. So if you agree that feeding people is a noble cause, please consider spending a few hours that can make a huge difference.   

 

 

Dining Out for Life® 2010 Volunteer Opportunities

On Thursday, April 29, over 300 restaurants in the Denver Metro Area will donate 25% of their food and non-alcohol proceeds to Project Angel Heart, which will allow us to fulfill our mission to provide nutritious meals to improve the quality of life – at no cost – for people coping with life-threatening illness.

We need YOUR help to help make Dining Out for Life® a success!  Below are the ways in which you can help:

Ambassadors
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner April 29, 2010 (3 – 4 hour shifts)
Ambassadors are our number one volunteer need for Dining Out for Life®.  Our goal is to have 330 Ambassadors placed in our restaurants.  We still need 95 Ambassadors to reach that goal!  Ambassadors represent Project Angel Heart in an assigned restaurant, greeting diners and talking to them about the mission of Project Angel Heart. Through volunteer Ambassadors, diners might become clients, volunteers, or donors!  If you’re a social butterfly – or just like to talk and are friendly – this is the opportunity for you!!  All you have to do is greet restaurant customers, tell them about Project Angel Heart and the work we do, and let them know about the opportunity to donate in addition to their food bill – that’s it!!  Being an Ambassador is an incredibly easy way to make a big impact in a little bit of time, and we’ll give you all the tools and information you need to be successful.

Street Team
Monday-Saturday, March 29-April 27, flexible hours
Get out in your neighborhood and get the word out about Dining Out for Life® and Project Angel Heart!  Members of our street team go to businesses and other public places where they hang posters and leave dining guides.  The more people who learn about us, the more people who dine out and join our community!  Great for individuals and groups of all sizes.

 

Please visit www.projectangelheart.org/dol for more information and to sign up for any of these volunteer opportunities.  If you have any questions, please call Kyle at 303.830.0202, ext. 28.

 

Cinnamon & Aleppo Chile Mole' Cookies

The Savory Spice Shop is one of my favorite tour destinations. Kate and Cory welcome us in and wax poetically about Himalayan Pink Salt, Tahitian vanilla pods and the differences between true cinnamon and cassia (what we think is cinnamon, but it's really not). The aroma of freshly ground spices greets you at the door and one trip through the store is enough to make you rush home and clean out your spice cabinet (I'm looking at you, vat of paprika).  It is a gourmet stop that engages all of your senses, with brilliant aromas, exotic flavors, and gorgeous colors and textures.

I've been serving Mole' cookies during this stop, especially on the Chocolate Tour. It's a great way to demonstrate how well chocolate plays with cinnamon and chiles. I've used the mild Aleppo chiles from Syria in this recipe, but you could substitute a hotter chile or up the amount if you wanted more warmth. 

For the best results, mix up the dough and leave it tightly covered in the fridge, baking them as you need them. Fresh, they are a small, moist, spicy cake, a few days later, they are hard, crunchy, bland mounds. Also, pull them out a minute or two before you think they are done. 

Enjoy!

Mole’ Cookies

Adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon Kahlua
6 ounces 70 percent cacao bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (3 ounces) Almond meal
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
½-1 teaspoon Aleppo chiles

For Rolling:

3/4 cup (3 ounces) confectioners' sugar

½ cup sugar

Directions:

1. Bring 2 inches of water to a gentle boil in the bottom of the double boiler. Place the butter, liqueur, and chocolate in the top of the double boiler, reducing heat to a simmer. Stir occasionally with a spatula until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove and let cool slightly while you whip the eggs.

2. Place the eggs and granulated sugar in the bowl of the mixer and whip on high speed until very light in color and thick, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the melted chocolate mixture into the eggs and whip until blended, about 1 minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

3. Add the flour, almond meal, cinnamon, baking powder, and Aleppo chiles to the egg mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Stir gently a few times with the spatula to ensure all of the flour is incorporated. Cover the dough with plastic and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours, until firm.

4. Preheat the oven to 325°F and position an oven rack in the center. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

5. Scoop the chilled dough into tablespoon-size balls (12 grams). Pour the granulated sugar and confectioner’s sugar into small bowls. Roll each dough ball in the granulated sugar and then in the confectioners' sugar, being sure to coat the ball completely. Space the cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

6. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time, rotating the sheet halfway through the baking time, for about 12 minutes, until the cookies are puffed and cracked. If you nudge a cookie, it should slide on the sheet rather than stick. It is better to under bake these cookies, when they are over baked they are dry and crunchy. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

- makes about 45 cookies -
Storing tips: These cookies are best the same day they are baked. Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.

Snow and Ice Cream with the Little Man

This is Colorado and there a few things more magical than being in the city with huge, fluffy snowflakes swirling all around you. It was against this wondrous backdrop that I had the opportunity to spend some time with Kristin, the ice cream genius behind the Little Man Ice Cream Shop, housed in Denver's most distinctive building, learning how to make ice cream.

I remember watching the Little Man's building go up. In a former life, I was a product rep and called on the business next door a couple of times a week. From a humble hole in the ground arose a large, round galvanized milk can, towering over the neighboring buildings. People were fascinated by it and were constantly stopping to talk to the crew, leading them to erect a sign stating that they were deaf and mute and were unable to field any more questions.   

When the milk can finally opened for business on July th, 2008, it quickly became the neighborhood hangout. Classic porch gliders and soda fountain seating gave the place a homey, nostalgic feel that just made people want to hang out, enjoying their ice cream cones and nodding along to Elvis tunes on the loudspeaker, while their children played on the slide installed behind the building.

But the cool atmosphere isn't the only story here. Little Man excels on many levels - beginning with their ice cream, gelato and sorbets. On any given trip there, you might encounter Mexican Chocolate, Root Beer or Apple Caramel Pie Ice Cream; Grapefruit or Lemon Sorbet; and Fig or Blueberry Cinnamon Gelato.

And while the unique flavors sound like they might be over the top, they work beautifully - with crisp, clean flavors. Kristin makes all of the the luscious flavors in a kitchen just up the street, where I joined her for a lesson in the finer points of ice cream production.

On the day of my visit, Kristin was making chocolate ice cream. Using a base of 14% butterfat and egg yolks, she adds three kinds of chocolate for a surprising depth of flavor and color, using freshly ground spices and cocoa powders sourced from the local Savory Spice Shop. 

As the freezer worked it's magic, Kristin explained that the difference between commercial and artisanal ice creams, other than the ingredients, is the air that is incorporated during the freezing process. Some grocery store ice cream contains as much as 100% air (equal parts air and good stuff!). Artisanal ice creams contain around 25%.   

I asked what made gelato and ice cream different. "In Italy, by law, gelato must contain no added air. Unfortunately, we don't have the same restrictions", Kristin said, "but gelato has a lower butterfat content, which gives it a different mouth feel." 

After the ice cream comes out of the freezer, it is spooned into buckets and put into a hardening freezer (-40 degrees) for 2 days, then allowed to "warm up" to zero degrees, before being scooped into your cone.

And lest you think that winter in Denver doesn't lend itself to ice cream, the Little Man has other plans. In addition to their remarkable flavors of ice cream and gelato, they are whiling away the cooler days serving gourmet soup and grilled cheese. 

The other truly remarkable thing about the Little Man is their "Scoop for Scoop" program. Little Man's owner, Paul Tamburello, donates a scoop of rice to developing countries for every scoop of ice cream sold - now well over 123,000 scoops. What's more, instead of simply sending a check, Paul delivers the rice himself. With this amazing show of hands-on giving, Paul is truly walking the walk.

On a side note, the Little Man has an annual Christmas Tree sale starting soon. For a throwback to A Christmas Story, stop by some December evening. Choosing a tree in their cozy courtyard dotted with cafe lights and warmed by patio heaters, while eating an ice cream cone in the snow is soooo much more fun than picking up your tree at the grocery store.

Denver's Little Man Ice Cream is an experience to be had. Particularly if you can make it while it's snowing.

Little Man Ice Cream

2620 16th Street, Denver, CO 80211

303-455-3811 

Goodbye Gourmet...

I saw the news earlier today on Serious Eats - Gourmet is ceasing operations after 70 years of publication. Not to be overly dramatic, but I felt a little bit like someone had died, and spent an hour or so combing the web for details, wondering what would happen to Ruth Reichl and Gourmet's savvy staff of writers. 

I love the day when Gourmet arrives in my mailbox. The cover always has an amazing photo and even when I don't get around to reading it right away, Gourmet sits on my coffee table, silently luring me into the soft chair to spend an hour or two reading the recipes, living the stories and admiring the "obsessions". This is almost always followed by a lazy afternoon in the kitchen recreating my favorite of the month's offerings.

Saveur was once my favorite food mag, but I fell out of love after Colman Andrews left and it was overhauled. Shorter with fewer stories and less depth, I began to lose interest and let my subscription run out. 

Gourmet took Saveur's place in my heart. Classier than Bon Appetit, less restaurant oriented than F&W, Gourmet is like Julia Child to me - they wrote the rules and never forgot how things ought to be done.

Gourmet - I'm going to miss you. This is for me the most painful example yet of the earthshaking changes the world of publishing is facing - today it hit home.

I'm wishing all of the Gourmet staff and writers well and will say a little prayer that you find jobs you love.

Go out and have a drink, you deserve it. Cheers, Gourmet, I'll miss you.