Colorado Game Chowder
This dish, more reminiscent of chili than a creamy chowder, is nonetheless delicious. The recipe is adapted from one provided by the Charles Court restaurant at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. Note: Crème frâiche can be found in some grocery stores and most specialty stores. Makes about 8 2-cup servings.
Ingredients
Directions
In a hot saucepan, melt butter, and sauté onions and celery until translucent and tender. Add carrots and garlic, cook one minute. Add meat and cook until done. Add flour and stir until a nutty aroma comes from the pan. Add tomatoes and cook 2-3 more minutes. Slowly add stock, stirring continuously until all ingredients are incorporated. Bring to a simmer and add cilantro, thyme, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, paprika, celery seed, Worcestershire sauce, chiles, tomatillos and beans, and simmer 30-45 minutes. Check seasonings and correct if necessary. Serve chowder with a dollop of crème frâiche or sour cream and a cilantro sprig.
Wine ideas: A stick-to-your-ribs dish like this needs an equally lusty, full-flavored wine. Some of the best buys in the world of big reds come from Argentina, where meat, and lots of it, is a way of life. Look especially for malbec, a red grape renowned for its rich, licorice-black flavors. Check out names like Graffigna, Canale and Alto Las Hormigas for great juice under $15.
-Tara Q. Thomas
Braised Buffalo Ravioli
This recipe, courtesy of the Charles Court restaurant at the Broadmoor Hotel, is adapted for home cooks. Still, this dish is labor-intensive and time consuming – something a group of friends could do together. Since this recipe provides enough filling for several more ravioli, they could make a lovely appetizer for a grilled trout dinner. Otherwise, the filling can be frozen for up to a month. Makes 8 ravioli to serve 4.
Ingredients
GREEN CHILE-RICOTTA FILLING:
BUFFALO:
RAVIOLI:
Directions
For green chile-ricotta filling: Combine all ingredients and set aside, covered in the refrigerator until ready for use.
For buffalo filling: In a plastic bag or large, shallow dish, combine flour, salt and pepper. Cover ribs in flour mixture.
Heat oil in a roasting pan or wide and deep sauté pan on medium-high heat. Sear all sides of the short ribs until they are nicely browned.
Remove short ribs from heat and set aside. Remove excess fat from pan and reserve. Pour in half red wine, simmer 10 minutes. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
Wipe out pan and reheat reserved fat to medium-high heat. Sauté carrot, celery and onion until golden brown.
Preheat oven to 300.
Pour in remaining wine, reserved wine mixture and beef stock. Bring to a simmer. Place seared short ribs in the pan. Add herb bundle and cover. Place in oven and bake 2 hours, or until short ribs are fork-tender.
Remove the short ribs and place in a clean bowl, allow to cool.
Strain pan juices into a saucepan and reduce over low heat until thick. If sauce doesn’t thicken by reduction, remove 1/4 cup sauce, allow to cool, and stir in 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Return mixture to saucepan, stirring slowly.
Add barbecue sauce to pan, and season with salt and pepper.
Once the short ribs have cooled, remove from the bone and shred with a fork or by hand.
Add enough sauce to the short ribs to acquire a thick, stew-like consistency. Save reserved buffalo sauce for serving.
For ravioli: Lay out the two sheets of pasta next to each other on a table. Cut out four 2-by-2-inch squares from each sheet. You should be able to get eight squares from the two sheets (two large ravioli per person).
Mound an equal amount of short rib mixture and cheese mixture into the middle of four of the eight squares.
Moisten area around the centered filling with water, and press a pasta square over each filled one. Crimp around all four sides with a fork or pasta crimper.
Boil pasta in salted water for 2-4 minutes, until al dente.
Meanwhile, warm creamed corn in a saucepan.
Using a slotted spoon or spatula, remove ravioli and place in a bowl with melted butter. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve: Pool reserved buffalo sauce in the center of two small plates. Place 2 ravioli on top with a dollop of creamed corn on each side. Garnish with tomato and cilantro.
Wine ideas: These ravioli might be Italian in concept but they are entirely American in constitution, so instead of reaching for a chianti, try Italian varieties grown in California, like Atlas Peak, La Famiglia di Robert Mondavi, Flora Springs or Luna.
– Tara Q. Thomas
Mexican Vanilla Creme Brulee
Randy Mikulas, executive pastry chef, Broadmoor Hotel, serves this recipe in a pastry cup, right. Makes 12 6-ounce portions.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 325.
Combine cream, vanilla bean, and 1/2 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Combine egg yolks and remaining sugar, add 1/2 cup hot cream and stir. Return to pan and cook, stirring, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain through a fine sieve. Fill 12 ramekins seven-eighths full and place in a water bath. Bake until just barely set, about 45 minutes. Remove from water bath when cool. Wipe bottom of ramekins and refrigerate overnight.
Cover surface of each custard lightly with sugar and quickly caramelize under broiler or with hand-held kitchen torch. Serve with fresh fruit if desired.
Wine ideas: Caramel through and through, this sumptuous dessert would go well with a small glass of Oloroso sherry. Not only will the wine’s brown sugar-fig flavors complement the dessert, but it’ll have the acidity to counter the richness.
-Tara Q. Thomas
Elk Medallions with Cranberry Cream Sauce
This recipe is adapted from “The Fort Cookbook,” by Samuel P. Arnold, who notes that if cranberry chutney isn’t available, a half-cup of cranberry relish combined with 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger, 1 chopped serrano chile and 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion makes a good substitute. Serves 4.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat a cast-iron skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Combine the sea salt, lemon juice and pepper and rub each steak on both sides with the mixture.
Melt the butter in the skillet and add 4-6 medallions without crowding them. Sear them on both sides to medium-rare (about 3 minutes on each side) and set aside while the next batch is cooking. When medallions have been cooked and set aside, add chutney, Cointreau and broth to the pan, scraping the skillet to deglaze and incorporate drippings on the pan bottom into the sauce. Simmer for about 3 minutes to reduce slightly. Add cream and simmer another 5 minutes to create a medium-thick sauce that will cling to the meat. Return all the medallions and their accumulated juices to the skillet and rewarm briefly. Serve with rice pilaf.
Wine ideas: When you want to accentuate the gaminess of game, look for a red with a similarly gamey flavor. South Africa’s pinotage offers flavors Italians might describe as animale, along with smoky, jammy plum fruit. Nederburg, Simonsig, and Fairview are just a few of the producers with good examples at less than $15.
-Tara Q. Thomas
Grilled Bacon-Wrapped Mountain Trout
From “The Gift of Southern Cooking,” by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock. In this adapted recipe, fresh basil leaves are tucked inside the fish. The trout are wrapped in bacon, then grilled, yielding a crisp skin and moist, sweet flesh. The mayonnaise-
based sauce, which can be made a day ahead, is a delicate touch, drizzled over the trout as they come off the grill, so the heat of the fish releases the flavor and aroma of green onions. Serves 6.
Ingredients
Directions
Stir sliced onions into mayonnaise and season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. If sauce is too thick to drizzle, thin with 1-2 tablespoons of hot water.
Gently rinse fish under cool running water, then pat dry with paper towels. Lightly brush the inside of each fish with bacon fat. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground pepper, and lay 2 basil leaves in the cavity of each fish. Close the fish and brush the outsides with more bacon fat, then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Starting at the head, wrap a slice of bacon around each fish, and secure with a toothpick.
Grill fish over medium-hot coals or under the broiler for about 5 minutes, then gently turn and cook the other side. After 8 minutes total, check fish for doneness by gently using a knife to pry the cavity open to see if the flesh is opaque, indicating that it is cooked through. Do not overcook.
When the fish are done, drizzle with green-onion sauce and serve.
Wine ideas: Trout is a lean, delicate fish, but wrap it with smoky bacon and it’s a whole different ballgame. Now it needs a white wine rich enough to stand up to the smoke and salt, yet gentle enough not to obliterate the fish’s flesh. It’s a job for a German riesling like the Friedrich-Wilhelm-
Gymnasium 2004 Mosel Bernkastler Badstube Kabinett halbtrocken (a bargain at $15). Its clear mineral flavors let the fish shine, while its citrusy brightness cuts through the richness. Most any other Kabinett-level German Riesling from 2004 would do the trick too.
–Tara Q. Thomas
Quail Stuffed with Wild Rice
This recipe, adapted from “Seasonal Southwest Cooking” by Barbara Pool Fenzl, incorporates a few shortcuts, but is otherwise as she designed it, down to whole quail, not partially boned ones. Serves 4.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Stuff each quail with about 1/3 cup of the rice pilaf: tie the quail’s legs together with kitchen string so the bird keeps it shape and rice doesn’t spill out. Rub quail all over with olive oil. In a small bowl, thoroughly combine cumin, sage, salt and pepper and rub each quail with some of the mixture.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add corn oil. Add quail in batches, if necessary, and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes total. Transfer browned quail to a baking sheet and cook until juices run clear when a thigh is pierced with a knife – about 30 minutes.
Wine ideas: Quail is gamey but delicate – like many pinot noir. The best in a delicate style tend to come from Burgundy, but they also demand high prices. If you’re not ready to shell out $20 or more, then look to California for examples that run $10 to $15: These tend to be lighter and less heavily oaked than more expensive bottlings, and therefore better suited to drinking now with lighter dishes. -Tara Q. Thomas
