Every summer, chefs and experts from far afield travel to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen to highlight national tastes and trends. Luckily for us, we can sample many of them right in our own backyard.
Cheesemaster Laura Werlin
F&W Seminar: Dumplings & Noodles
“Supereasy, 100,000 percent authentic, but most importantly delicious” is how Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern describes the dishes prepared in this sure-to-be-entertaining seminar. They’ll likely also fall in line with those on the menu at Lucky Cricket, the restaurant he’s opened near his hometown of Minneapolis, Minn.
Local Takes: Grab a counter stool at Bamboo Bear and spoon (or slurp) up Grandpa Ha’s Pho, made with homemade bone broth and chock-full of rice noodles. At Jing’s, Shanghai-trained chef Frank Lu’s pork and ginger Shanghai soup dumplings and curried Singapore rice noodles satisfy cravings.
Andrew Zimmern will teach Food & Wine Classic attendees about dishes like this soy sauce noodle plate.
F&W Seminar: Summer Herbs: Maximizing Flavor
Chef, restaurateur, author and TV personality Alex Guarnaschelli is in sync with the season, sharing recipes including poached salmon with paprika and fresh dill, and a wheat berry and herb salad. “More delicate herbs, like cilantro or basil, are such great finishing touches to add freshness,” she shares.
Local Take: The Little Nell’s executive chef, Matt Zubrod, picks fresh herbs and edible flowers from the hotel’s poolside planters, as well as sourcing them from Rock Bottom Ranch, to flavor or garnish dishes at the hotel’s restaraunts. At Ajax Tavern, for instance, fresh basil both flavors and garnishes refreshing white-almond gazpacho.
The edible garden at The Little Nell
F&W Seminar: U.S. Cheese & Wine Revolution
In this lively seminar, cheese expert Laura Werlin celebrates the new American cheeses—innovative, sophisticated and delicious—paired with small-batch wines.
Local Takes: The artisanal cheeses in the seminar, including a cow-sheep blend from Vermont’s Grafton Village Cheese Co., will be featured at Meat & Cheese during the Classic (maybe longer). Wines such as Le P’tit Paysan Jacks Hill Chardonnay 2017 may be harder to source. Find a cheese you like and head to Of Grape & Grain for help with an appropriate wine pairing.
Crispy skirt pan-fried dumplings by Zimmern
Photography by: noodles photo by madeline hill | dumplings photo by andrew zimmern | garden photo courtesy of the little nell
