Taste a bit of the Piedmont right here in Denver. Marczyk Fine Foods carries a variety of foods from the region: cheese, long flat-bread crackers called “Le lingue piemontesi,” porcini rub and white truffle honey. The region’s famed white truffles are out of season now, but look for them in late fall through early winter. Look for Piedmontese foods at specialty stores or online: italiancookingandliving.com, igourmet.com and italianfoodforever.com.
Classes:
Cook Street School of Fine Cooking
Classic Techniques: Italian Menus
Explore Italian cooking through its regional cuisines. Learn to make Tuscan and Piedmont dishes – fonduta and grissini wrapped with proscuitto, duck with polenta and fig sauce, and hazelnut cake.
Two-day class, 6-9 p.m. April 27 and 28, $189. 1937 Market St. 303-308-9300; cookstreet.com.
The Seasoned Chef
Italian Cuisine Workshops
Scott Hybbeneth, a chef at Barolo Grill, will teach a hands-on class that includes prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, Tuscan white bean dip with crostini, potato gnocchi with pesto, porcini mushroom ravioli with browned butter and sage, osso bucco alla piemontese, and lemon-poppy seed biscotti.
Two-day class, 6:30-9:30 p.m. March 13 and 14, $110. 999 Jasmine St., Suite 100, 303-377-3222; seasonedchef.com.
City of Aurora
Italiano Rustico & Vino
Northern Italian meal served with wines, bagna caoda vegetable dip, chicken cacciatore with polenta, almond cookies and gelato. Ages 21 and older.
6:30-9:30 p.m. March 17, $48 Aurora residents/$62 nonresidents (single) or $92 Aurora residents/$112 nonresidents (couple)
Expo Recreation Center, 10955 E. Exposition Ave., Aurora, 303-326-8630; auroragov.org/rec reation
Books:
“Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking,” by Marcella Hazan (Knopf, $30)
“Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian,” by the editors of Saveur magazine (Chronicle Books, $40)
“Italy for the Gourmet Traveler,” by Fred Plotkin (Little, Brown, $24.95)
Links:
Piedmont’s Langhe, Land of Wine and Truffles: epicurious.com/features/news/dailydish/021006
Recipes, ingredients, wine: Search for “Piedmont” on gourmetsleuth.com.
Extensive list of regional recipes: cookaround.com/cook/italia/piemonte/
-Kristen Browning-Blas
