In honor of our World of Taste: Germany class next week (seats still available!), we’re dishing up some trivia and knowledge about the fabulous wines of Germany.

• Handmade Wine along the Rhine:  The Rhine river is synonymous with German wine…and for good reason.  This body of water doesn’t just host some of the best grape-growing terrain in Europe, it actually encourages handcrafted and hand-tended grapes because the steep vineyards don’t lend themselves to mechanization.  Meanwhile, the river’s microclimate effect creates striking varieties along the river.
• Riesling, please: Riesling is Germany’s most popular grape.  Aromatic and acidic, this grape constitutes over 21% of Germany’s grape crop.  There are records of Riesling wine production in Germany from the 1430s on, and this popular white wine loves pairings with white meats like fish, chicken, and pork.
• Old world:  Germany has the dubious/awesome distinction of housing the oldest-ever found bottle of uncorked wine…which was found along with a Roman sarcophagus and is thought to date from 325 AD!

Learn more about German wine (and how to cook some delicious food to go along with it) at our upcoming World of Taste: Germany course offered next week.  Click here for details and registration..Tschüß!

There’s a long weekend ahead, and of course that means that Denver is itching for a great foodie event or four.  Here’s what’s on our radar.  While you’re at it, check out our updated list of rec classes that focus on fall flavors, classic techniques, unforgettable wines and some international flair.

• A Taste of Colorado:  Yup, it’s already time for Denver’s greatest free food fair, featuring over 50 fine food vendors and much more.  City Park, downtown Denver, September 3-6.  Click here for details.
• Taste of Keystone:  Prefer to have your fine food sampling in a resort-style setting?  Keystone’s your destination this weekend, with demos, samples, and a good cause.  Lakeside Village at Keystone , September 4.  Click here for details.
• Denver Beer Fest:  It’s (almost) here…a week when beer mysteriously takes over the hearts and minds of all Denverites and gently threatens to overwhelm the world.  Yum.  September 10-19, various locations throughout Denver.  Click here for details.

Summer may be officially nearing its end, but that doesn’t mean we’re getting tired of grilled pizzas, one of our very favorite dishes.  Pizza isn’t just easy to make…it’s a great canvas for the explosion of summer flavor we’ve come to expect from the local producers we love.  Here are some tips for your next pizza party:

• Go simple.  A few vine-ripe tomatoes, a sprig or two of basil, some low-key mozzarella…you don’t need the fanciest ingredients to come up with the best flavors.
• Go seasonal.  Why not plunder the bounty of your nearest farmer’s market or CSA share for your next pizza?  Squash, potatoes, greens, and even peaches love pizzas (especially on the grill).
• Go sweet.  It’s easy to overlook the power of sweet pizza, but why not try some figs, berries, or even nectarines on your next pie?  Pears and brie make a great combo, too.
• Go for broke.  What’s the fun in making your own pizza if you’re hampered by fears or convention?  A blank pie means a blank canvas, ready and waiting for your creativity…and your mistakes.  If you’re not making a few gaffes over time, you’re not doing it right!
• Don’t go it alone.  Need to perfect your dough or come up with some fab flavor profiles?  We’re here to help with Pizza, Pizza, Pizza, a class that’s all about everyone’s favorite pie.  Prefer to have your pizza made for you?  You can’t go wrong with Cook Street alum David Bravdica’s amazing Brava Pizzeria, a wood-burning pizza oven on wheels that’s usually located at 16th and Arapahoe in downtown Denver.

As summer winds down, Colorado’s culinary events are heating up.  Here are a few we’re thrilled about (and while you’re at it, check out Cook Street’s long list of recreational classes by clicking here).

• Lafayette Peach Festival (Saturday, August 21):  Enjoy over 30,000 pounds of organic peaches in a festival that explores every facet of the fabled pitted fruit.  Click here for details.
• Justice League of Street Food Bash (Sunday, August 22):  Food carts are Denver’s new culinary trend…join their gourmet masterminds at a culinary bash that’s all about the cloak-and-dagger cool.  Click here for details.
• Denver Harvest Week (August 21-27):  Late summer means a bountiful harvest, and EatDenver is hosting its third annual Harvest Week to showcase local harvest-centered menus and the skills of some of Denver’s top restaurateurs.  Click here for details.
• Telluride Mushroom Festival (August 26-29):  Celebrate all things fungal at the 20th annual Telluride mushroom bash, which features education, demos, and plenty of samples.  Click here for details.

What’s on your culinary calendar?

This morning we tweeted about a new-to-us concept that sounds succulent…a late-summer zucchini party.  And it got us wondering…is it really possible to be sick of squash?  Only, we think, if you don’t know how to use it.  Here are a few quick tricks for thinking about squash that just might rekindle that late-summer love affair with this bounteous veggie.

Think…base. Mild squash makes a great base for dishes with sauces.  Think:  a savory torte (thin slices of squash layered with cheese and herbs and baked in the oven until tender), the base of a napoleon, the heft to a soup or a batch of muffins.

Think…substitute. As much as we love pasta, we’ve got to admit that julienned or thinly cut squash can make a great substitute.  Try yellow squash and zucchini slices instead of lasagna noodles, or scoop out spaghetti squash and use it in lieu of the venerable noodle.  While you’re at it, why not use squash as a substitute for bread (great base for a sandwich!) or wherever prosciutto likes to wrap itself?

Think…blank slate. Since most squash is so mild, it’s a great palate.  That means it’s time to step up your sauces, smears, dribbles, drizzles, and side ingredients.  Squash pushes you to summer’s edge, beckoning toward the strongest spices, the most succulent pairings, the simplest preparations.

So don’t just think about squash…eat some tonight!  (And remember…Cook Street specializes in creating confident home chefs!  Click here to explore our complete class calendar.)

Last week I took my first recreational class at Cook Street: Knife Skills. My wife is an amazing chef and she has so much fun cooking, I figured it was time to get serious and learn how to create meals both of us could make together.

I was a little nervous, as my cooking skills have not progressed much from my bachelor days. But the nerves subsided quickly as I settled in and started talking to the other students. Moms and daughters, work friends and a Dad who’d been given the class as a Father’s Day present…all of us were there to learn something new and have a little fun.

After quick overview, Chef John welcomed us all to the huge island where we’d get most of our instruction and work under his and Chef Erin’s watchful eyes. It was clear this was, in fact, a classroom, not just a place where we’d fiddle around for a couple of hours and have some wine. With a quick wit and dry sense of humor, Chef John had us immediately engaged.

After our debriefing, it was time to start practicing and preparing our meal for the evening — a lovely minestrone, followed by Chicken Madeira. At each step, Chef Erin would demonstrate the proper technique for cutting, slicing and chopping each vegetable. Then we’d each grab our allotment of veggies and return to our stations to try it ourselves. Chef Erin moved about the class, offering tips to each student as we progressed. The same routine followed for partitioning a whole chicken, which I’d never done before.

Among the best skills I picked up that night was how to make a nice garlic paste with nothing more than uncooked garlic, a little salt and a chef’s knife. Chef Erin explained what a versatile ingredient garlic is to work with and that no serious chef would be caught dead with a garlic press. As an owner of said device, my eyes rose to look around the group. I could see I wasn’t the only person who had one. “So…” I asked “what is a garlic press good for?” Chef Erin’s response: “It makes a good ice pick.”

Jeff Cornelius – Denver

Ready to take your first recreational class? There’s no time like the present! We have classes for every skill level and interest…click here to view a complete calendar.

Summer at Cook Street means many things.

Grilling classes with plenty of patio-pounder wine selections and local microbrews…

The hustle and bustle of Rockies games and throngs of people getting to know our LoDo digs by sight and eventually by smell…

Fresh vegetable drop-offs from the Grant Farms CSA that has designated Cook Street as a drop-off location this year…

And tender cooking demonstrations, like this one on pork tenderloin thanks to Executive Chef Instructor Chef Peter Ryan…

What’s more fun than cooking?  Cooking something new, of course…and our upcoming Sushi and Sake classes fit the bill.  Think:  delicious, fresh sushi you prepare yourself, then enjoy with hand-picked sakes that perfectly compliment the flavors, textures, and palate-pleasers you’ve just created.  Click here to register.

We’ve told you about the awesome history of sushi before…now eat up some fun facts about one of our favorite foods:

• Bluefin tuna, today, the priciest sushi ingredient out there, used to be considered unfit for human consumption by the Japanese.
• Sushi can be great for your health…seaweed alone provides tons of vitamins and minerals like magnesium, calcium, iron, iodine, and folic acid.
• Your sushi might be prepared differently depending on the season (and the resulting fat levels of the fish).
• Legend has it that women are unfit for sushi-making because of their warmer hands. We call shenanigans and encourage women to get their hands in some rice and fish and give sushi-making a try!

Join us for Sushi and Sake July 14, July 30, or August 20 and enjoy an evening of food and fun…perfect for date night or an excursion with friends!

As we look forward to next week’s Vegetarian Feast course (panzanella!  portabello burgers!  slots still available!), our thoughts are turning to some of our favorite resources for vegetarian recipes and cooking techniques online.  Whether you’re a committed veghead or you’re trying to incorporate more seasonal fruits and veggies into your life, dig into these blogs and websites:

• Smitten Kitchen:  Entirely vegetarian?  No, but Deb’s fearless style and mouthwatering food photography is worth checking out anyway, especially her recipe sections that feature seasonal dishes and salads/veggie sides that are the stuff of fantasy.
• Vegan YumYum:  Vegan.  Yum, yum!  This blog is all about healthy food that still tastes delectable.
• The Post-Punk Kitchen: Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Romero, and the entire veggie/vegan crew behind Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World and The Veganomicon aren’t messing around…and their approach to everything from comfort foods to simple sides rates a second, third, and fourth glance.
• Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen: Who knew that healthy could taste (and look) so good?
• Karate Kitchen: These Portland, Oregon vegetarians are all about farm-to-table and crazy deliciousness.

What about you?  What are your favorite vegetarian websites and blogs?

This hot weather means one thing…BBQ!!!  And Cook Street is hastening to serve up a handful of hot grilling classes perfect for summery days.  As we prep for our upcoming BBQ Classics class, we’re thinking of why grilling is the way to go…so let’s count to seven:

• It’s basic.  BBQed meats are a great basic staple…and is there anything simpler than meat plus fire?  That’s not to say BBQ can’t be gourmet.
• It’s dangerous.  Yeah, we admit it…we love the fear factor that accompanies flames.
• It’s not just for men.  We love it when women defy stereotype and rock the grill!
• It’s nutritious.  Did you know you can grill things like lettuce leaves and even peaches?
• It’s all about the great outdoors.  ‘Nuff said.
• It goes great with beer.  We recommend something by our neighbor, Great Divide Brewery!
• It’s delicious.  Chipotle glazed chicken…pulled pork sandwiches…grilled corn on the cob…what’s not to love?  Click here to view our BBQ Classics class or to your left for a full class calendar!