As our tenth anniversary celebrations continue, we’re excited to see a great response to our Foodie Photo Scavenger Hunt.  Participants are going all around the Front Range and taking pictures in front of foodie locales like Steuben’s, Vesta Dipping Grill, The Squeaky Bean, Pacific Mercantile, Oskar Blues, and more.

Here’s a slideshow of pics from the hunt so far.  There’s still time to join, or follow Lori Midson of Westword as she hunts for Denver’s best food!  Click here to see all pics on Flickr.

Our heartfelt thanks to our sponsors:

• Brewery Bar
• Carmine’s on Penn
• Creekside Cellars
• D-Bar
• Duo Restaurant
• EVOO
• Hammond’s Candies
• Haystack Mountain Creamery
• Jonesy’s Eatbar
• Kaladi Brothers Coffee
• Lamar’s Donuts
• Little Man Ice Cream
• Lucille’s
• Marczyk Fine Foods
• Mona’s Restaurant
• Museum of Contemporary Art
• Oskar Blues
• Pacific Mercantile
• Project Angel Heart
• Savory Spice Shop
• Solera
• Steuben’s
• The Berkshire
• The Squeaky Bean
• Tony’s Market
• Truffle Cheese Shop
• Wen Chocolates
• Yelp
• Z Cuisine
• Zengo

Last week’s Colorado Cheese class was one of the best we’ve ever had, thanks to Meg and Arden of Windsor Dairy as part of our Local Bounty class series.  The duo brought in 5 gallons of morning-fresh milk and proceeded to instruct us on everything artisan cheese, from selection of cows to the trial and error of the cheesemaking process to issues of flavor, selection, aging, and equipment.

Then they moved on to a hands-on demo featuring a simple farm cheese, fresh cottage cheese, and a soft-form cheese.  Of course there were tons of delicious samples from the dairy, too!

What a wealth of knowledge from two excellent dairy farmers.  Here a few tidbits we gleaned:

• Windsor washes the rind of some cheeses in fresh-produced, preservative-free cider they make on their own farm.  The natural yeast from the apples creates a flavorful cider and the cheese picks up a delicious taste.
• Raw milk has some fascinating properties.  You simply don’t need as much rennet to form curds when you’ve gone raw…in fact, the milk doesn’t even have to be on heat the entire time the curds are forming!
• Windsor cheeses are dipped in cream wax instead of traditional wax.  This allows a natural rind and aging process.
• Redmond salt is rubbed on Windsor cheeses to prevent bacteria from forming.

Meg recomended a documentary called “The Cheese Nun” about cheesemaking.  We’ll have to check it out!

Many thanks, Meg and Arden, for a fabulous class!

The Recipe 10 finalists duked it out last night in a fast-paced cookoff that was nothing but fun.  Congrats to Jason Yee, whose innovative chocolate cake earned him a $1000 cash prize and a Foodie Weekend in NYC!

Here are the winning recipes.  Visit our Facebook site at facebook.com/cookstreet for photos and more information!

Chocolate Cake – Jason Yee

90g Nutella + 25g for frosting
30g Sugar
30g Milk (nonfat) + 5g for frosting
30g AP Flour
3 Eggs

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour into a 1L whip cream siphon and charge with 2 nitrous charges. Siphon mixture into molds (paper cups, mugs, whatever) and microwave on high for 40 seconds.  Mix reserved 25g of Nutella and 5g Milk to frost the cake.

Strawberry Ice Cream (makes about 1 cup)
173g Half and Half
45g Sugar
45g Strawberries (about 2 med sized)
37g Dry Milk (nonfat)
Liquid Nitrogen (N2) or Dry Ice (CO2)

Blend all ingredients until smooth. In a metal mixing bowl, whisk the blended ingredients while slowly adding Nitrogen in a smooth stream, until mixture reaches the desired ice cream texture. Alternatively, if using dry ice, crush the dry ice to a fine powder. Sift the dry ice into the mixture while whisking to ensure that no large pieces of dry ice are added.

Sea Scallop Burger with Fennel – Patricia Bellaire
Yield: 2 Servings

1 grapefruit, peeled and segmented, reserving juice and zest
1 pinch saffron threads
2 eggs (separate yolks & whites)
1 cup oil
1 large fennel bulb – trimmed tops, cored, and finely sliced- reserve fronds for   garnishing
10 large scallops (approximately 1 lb)
1 tablespoon toasted and ground fennel seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
4 slices pancetta
4 slices French bread – toasted
Salt – Pepper

Zest the grapefruit. Peel and segment. Reserve juice.

Place saffron threads in 2 tablespoons grapefruit juice for about 10 minutes.

Trim the tops of the fennel, core, and remove the outer layer. Slice thinly with a mandoline.

Prepare mayonnaise for the slaw. Place the egg yolks, a pinch of salt, and the saffron-grapefruit juice mix in a food processor.  With processor running add the oil slowly in a thin stream until completely emulsified. Adjust salt and grapefruit juice if necessary.  Add 3/4 cup mayonnaise, salt, and pepper to the fennel.  Mix well and refrigerate. Reserve other ¼ cup mayonnaise for the burgers.

Rinse scallops and dry well. Place into the food processor and grind coarsely (do not over process). Add 1 oz. egg white lightly whisked, shredded coconut, ¾ tablespoon ground fennel seeds, ½ tablespoon grapefruit zest, salt and pepper. Shape patties (the mix can be also poured on the pan with a ladle)

Place pancetta on a skillet over medium heat and render the fat. Once crispy remove and place on paper towels. Dip the pancetta edges into the ground fennel seed coating evenly.
Dispose excess fat from pan (leave a thin layer to coat the pan) and turn heat high.  Once the pan is hot add the burgers and cook for about 3 minutes on each side.  Slice bread into ¾ inch slices. Toast or grill.

Spread saffron mayonnaise on the bread generously. Add the burger and top with the pancetta.  Place slaw on the side and top with fennel fronds, grapefruit segments and zest.

Black sesame-crusted salmon with Asian succotash – David Klute
(serves 4)

1 pound fresh salmon filet, pin bones removed and cut into 4-ounce portions
1/3 cup black sesame seeds
1 red bell pepper, cut in 1/4-inch dice
1/2 red onion, cut in 1/4 inch dice
12 oz edamame, shelled
2 ears corn, cleaned and kernels removed from cob
2 T grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 serano chile, minced
4 T sesame oil, divided; plus more for rubbing salmon

Rub salmon filets with sesame oil and dredge top of each filet in sesame seeds.
Heat 2 T sesame oil on medium-high in a non-stick pan.  Place salmon filets, seeded side down, in hot oil.  Cool 3-4 minutes and turn.  Cook 4-5 minutes more, skin side down.
Meanwhile, heat a wok on high heat.  Add 2 T sesame oil and immediately add bell pepper, red onion, edamame, and corn.  Stir-fry for 5-6 minutes.  Add garlic, ginger, and serano chile and stir-fry an additional 1 minute.

Spoon succotash on center of plate and top with salmon filet.

The Rossini Burger – Brad Thompson

Serves 6
2 pounds of 80/20 ground beef
2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of fresh ground black pepper
8 T of butter (one stick) at room temperature
1 tsp of White Truffle Oil
6 Large Egg Rolls/Buns
½ cup of Madeira Wine
4 T of Safflower Mayonnaise
6 slices of Goose Liver Pate, about 1/8” thick each
6 thin slices of Black Forest Ham, each one cut slightly larger than the size of the burger
6 thin slices of Gruyere Cheese, each one cut slightly larger than the size of the burger 2 T olive oil

Combine the beef, salt and pepper and form six patties of equal size.
With a fork, blend butter and truffle oil in a bowl, then spread evenly on split buns       Heat a 12” sauté pan over medium heat and then pour the olive oil in a sauté pan and bring to just a slight smoke point. Heat a grill pan over medium heat awhile the sauté pan is heating up to toast the buttered buns upon.

In a hot sauce pan, reduce the Madeira to about to ¼ cup, let cool and whisk together with the mayonnaise. Add the burgers to the sauté pan and cook for 4 minutes then flip.  While the burgers are cooking, place the buns on the grill pan and toast until golden brown.

Place the pate, then the ham and top with the cheese on top of each burger after they have been flipped and cook, covered, for an additional 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the burgers are done to your likeness.

Spread the Madera/Mayo mixture on each toasted bun. Place the cooked burgers with melted cheese on the toasted buns and enjoy!