Forage
ASPEN, COLORADO | JUNE 2024
Presented by Flor de Cańa
Thirty miles up the winding valley road from the resorts of Aspen, nestled at the base of Mt. Sopris and the Elk Mountains, horses wander sage green pastures during the day and canvas tents glow warmly under vast, starry skies at night.
The day before Aspen Food & Wine, when the bustle of the festival had already overtaken the town, we invited a group of guests to the serene pastures of Cedar Ridge Ranch to get away from it all, to gather slowly, and to connect a little deeper to each other and the amazing Colorado landscape. On a ninety-degree summer day, slow was the only pace we could imagine, anyway!
We started by saying hello to the ranch’s beautiful equine residents at cocktail hour by the barn. The refreshments from Flor de Cańa rum and crisp appetizers featuring La Fermière dips were all perfectly designed to cut the heat of the day. Together, we then walked through the pasture and a small gate into the field where the table was set and waiting, chairs growing out of the grass like wildflowers. In every direction, mountains towered in the distance, piercing the blue skies above. The Forage Sisters designed a locally-focused feast for us with ingredients fresh from the ground that day, each bite perfectly paired with Rodney Strong wines.
As the evening deepened, the big sky turned technicolor with an incredible sunset. The night ended in the kind of wild darkness that makes you feel small in the vast landscape, without any light pollution to dilute the immensity of the stars. After an evening of amazing connection, no one felt alone in the endless night as they left the pastures together, kicking dirt off their boots on the way back to the bustle of reality in the valley below.
WELCOME
We welcomed everyone into the fields with a Spicy Watermelon Daquiri for those looking for something to cut the day’s heat and a Flor Fashioned for anyone wanting to really experience Flor de Cańa’s 12 year rum.
While appetizers passed through the arriving crowd, everyone grazed on farm-fresh crudités with La Fermière yogurt dips from a table stationed with a view of the mountains in the distance.
A MENU BY THE FORAGE SISTERS
The Forage Sisters are two best friends, Marisol Gomez and Nicole Carrillo, who specialize in farm-to-table cooking guided by the seasons and inspired by the land. They cultivate a network of responsible farmers, source the best ingredients possible, and craft them into menus that bring people together around the table and closer to the land.
This particular Supper was a bit of a homecoming to the Sisters’ farming roots just down the road, at a farm right outside of Aspen. They pulled vegetables straight from the ground from nearby farms for Supper, bringing seasonality to a new level for our guests.
MENU
WELCOME
Pea + Feta Fritter preserved Meyer lemon creme, lemon zest, pea shoots
Spring Grilled Vegetable Tartlet edible flowers
LA FERMIÉRE YOGURT DIPS + CRUDITE
Orange Blossom Honey olive oil, lime, smoked paprika, cumin
Yuzu Ginger garlic, ginger, lemon zest
Cocktails:
Spicy Watermelon Daiquiri Flor de Caña 12 year, watermelon, lime, jalapeño
Flor Fashioned Flor de Caña 12 year, aromatic bitters, simple syrup, soda, orange
AMUSE-BOUCHE
Blue Cornbread porcini caviar, walnut butter, salted creme, popped sorghum
FIRST
Early Summer Greens beets, citrus, ricotta salata, pistachios, honey-lemon mint dressing, olive oil
Wine: 2022 Rodney Strong Vineyards Charlotte’s Home Sauvignon Blanc
SECOND
Asparagus Risotto radish, dill, parmesan, spring flowers
Wine: 2021 Rodney Strong Vineyards Chalk Hill Chardonnay
MAIN
Roasted Chicken butter bean puree, charred spring peas, cowboy butter, microgreens
Charred Potatoes fennel, spring onions, La Fermière yogurt with dill
Wine: 2021 Rodney Strong Reserve Pinot Noir
DESSERT
Pavlova cardamon, blackberry, La Fermière orange blossom honey yogurt, pistachio
Cocktail: Flor de Caña 25 year
WINE PAIRINGS
Wines from Rodney Strong elevated each dish, starting with crisp, cold Charlotte’s Home Sauvignon Blanc, then 2021 Chalk Hill Chardonnay to bring out the creaminess in the asparagus risotto, and finally the 2021 Reserve Pinot Noir with the main course, playing with the the spring peas and onions in the roasted chicken and charred potatoes.
NIGHTCAP
The night ended with a special pour of Flor de Cańa 25 year rum to finish off a perfect meal.
Guests were also given Lumitory conversation cards to take home. The Supper experience always starts unexpectedly great conversations, so we wanted to offer everyone the chance to bring a bit of that magic back into real life with a deck of great conversation starters!
SECRET LOCATION: CEDAR RIDGE RANCH
The sage-green pastures of Cedar Ridge Ranch are ringed with panoramic views of the Elk Mountains, making it feel far away from the rest of the world, even though it’s just outside of Aspen.
Randy and Pam Johnson were not farmers, and didn’t have any generational ties to agriculture when they bought the land of Cedar Ridge Ranch. The closest they got to farming was through their daughter, Merrill, a championship equestrian with a deep passion for horses.
The whole family fell in love with the land during a visit to The Roaring Fork Valley, so they decided to change their life and move there from Chicago. Now, they not only offer luxury glamping on the Ranch, but youth-based horse riding programs and alpaca yoga. Their goal is to bring people back to nature and cultivate their relationship to the land. We were honored to be welcomed into the pastures to create our own connections to this special place over the course of the evening.
