Taste The Valley

On Saturday, August 22nd I had the pleasure of attending the second annual Taste The Valley event with my mom in my hometown of Hotchkiss, Colorado. It was a beautiful day with temperatures of nearly 95 degrees and clear blue skies. Perfect for a day outside enjoying good food and wine. The event was sponsored by the Black Canyon Land Trust and Leroux Creek Vineyards. There were many professional chefs in attendance as well as the author of Well-Preserved, Gena Bone. You can read about her canning and preserving techniques on her blog by clicking here.

We pulled into the parking area, near the large adobe building which is a Bed and Breakfast on the vineyard. There weren't many people in attendance, maybe 30 or 35 total. There was a live video feed as well as a local radio station documenting the event.We walked around a bit, exploring the vineyard, garden and the rest of the property before taking a seat in the large white tent for the presentations.

My mom posing and saying "I heard it through the grapevine...."

The first presentation was by Chef Jerry Comar on how to prepare brioche. According to Wikipedia, "brioche is a highly enriched French bread whose high egg and butter content give it what is seen as a rich and tender crumb. It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust from an egg wash applied before and after proofing."

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Here are a few shots of Chef Jerry and my mom, who volunteered to assist him in rolling the brioche dough into muffin-sized rolls. The entire process is amazingly complex, I can guarantee you I will never be attempting to make brioche in my own kitchen. I don't have the patience.

The second presentation was by author Gena Bone on preserving and canning tomatoes. I guess I didn't get any pictures of her but she discussed the two best methods for canning: water-bath and pressure canning. She demonstrated water-bath canning for the group while discussing how PH levels and altitude can affect your canning techniques. The word botulism was thrown around a bit, that will sure get your attention! I actually discovered that the way Dave and I have canned salsa was quite dangerous because it does not kill all the bacteria in the jar. Whoops.

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The third presenter was Chef Heath Stone on knife skills. He demonstrated how to best use a sharpening steel which I was thankful for since we just got new knives for a wedding gift. He also demonstrated proper ways of holding a knife while dicing onions, chopping garlic and how best to cut a bell pepper.

At this point it was around 12:30 or 1:00 and I was getting extremely hungry after my light breakfast. Thank god we broke for lunch. Instead of a buffet set-up they had pre-portioned plates with samples of everything at each table setting.My mom and I sat under the bright yellow tent - hence the crappy lighting! Sorry. Let me review and describe what all the foods were:

Soup and Salads

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  Gazpacho - with tomatoes, cucumbers and garlic peppers and onions. Served in a cucumber boat (this was my mom's favorite)
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  Roger's Mesa Potato Salad - with locally grown potatoes and onions (I loved this!)
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  Barrow Mesa Tomato Salad - with tomatoes, fresh cheese (made the day before!!) and fresh basil
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  Stewart Mesa Cucumber Salad - with local cucumbers and dill
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  Green Salad - with local greens and a freshly prepared mustard vinaigrette (Not pictured here but I had some)

Entrees

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  Stewart Mesa Smoked Turkey - using free range turkey and a mustard sauce (this might have been my favorite)
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  Garvin Mesa Roasted Lamb - Boneless leg of lamb with a mint sauce
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  Brioche - this was incredible, I would liken it to a tightly packed croissant. Very buttery and rich.
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  "Closer to Heaven" Deviled egg

Dessert

• Peach Cobbler with Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream - peaches provided from a local orchard of course! (I had the gluten-free version of the cobbler and I chose to eat it without caramel sauce.)
• Assorted Wines - from Leroux Creek Vineyards

I also bought a glass of wine to share with my mom. The name is escaping me at the moment but this was made here at Leroux Creek Vineyards.While everyone was getting back into their seats, Chef Heath Stone started up his chainsaw and began the ice sculpture while Chef Yvon Gros (the owner of the vineyard) showed us a few summer wine recipes. Here is the finished product after an hour or so of work. Amazing isn't it? It's actually an ice luge and you pour wine into that yellow funnel on top there where it trickles down into a tube that runs through the ice. And no, I didn't get to try it... :(
The final presentation was by Chef Johannes Busch who made fresh caramel and let us taste some swiss dark chocolate caramels that he made the day before.

So good. I was completely stuffed to say the least and in less than 3 hours we had our own party with all of that wonderful food you saw in my last post. Suffice it to say, I definitely pigged out all day! No wonder I had a food hangover...

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Here is a final shot of the whole panel. We were able to ask them questions about their work and I made sure to get Gena's blog address.

It was a great time and I was so impressed with all the wonderful food. With the exception of the chocolate, all the other ingredients used were from the North Fork Valley and all the surrounding mesas. My mom and I were discussing making this an annual tradition so hopefully I get to go again next year. Thank you, Mom for taking me and I can't wait to do it again! :)

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