Chef Beau of Wild Things Catering
Looking for a cool venue to host your holiday party? Look no further! Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has several unique venue options on site including the Mountaineer Sky Ride Summit, Safari Lodge and Lodge at Moose Lake.
Wildthings Catering, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's official caterer, can do all the planning for you! An expert catering staff can create the perfect menu and arrange any rentals you may need.
For more information, please call our Catering Manager at 719.314.0970 or e-mail Wildthings Catering at catering@cmzoo.org
Here’s just one of Chef Beau’s fantastic recipes to get you thinking about creative holiday menus. This delicacy was prepared two weeks ago at the March of Dimes fundraising event:
Petite Duck BLT with Roasted Yellow Bell Pepper Aoli
Makes 20 bite size appetizers
2 duck breasts boneless skin on
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
4-6 cloves of garlic peeled
6 slices of bread of your choice (I like to use old school white bread) crust removed
Heirloom plum tomatoes, red plum tomatoes or tomato of your liking
Olive Oil
Sprouts of micro-greens of your choice
Salt/pepper
Duck Bacon
Mix brown sugar & salt, put ½ mixture into small sealable container. Put duck breasts on top of mix with remaining ½ mix coating duck breasts completely. Seal & store overnight in refrigeration for 12 -24 hours.
Remove from salt & sugar mix …rinse. Air dry at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pepper both sides of breasts.
Smoke with hickory chips at 200 for 1.5-3 hours. If you cannot smoke on grill outside, put in oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour.
Let cool, slice thinly widthwise.
Aoli
Roast one whole yellow bell pepper in oven at 500 degrees until skin is blistered and black. Remove pepper from oven & place in small bowl with a couple ice cubes and cover with plastic wrap for three minutes. Peel skin from pepper, rise & remove seeds, stem and veins from pepper, slice thinly & reserve.
In small sauté pan dry roast 4-6 cloves of garlic at medium –high heat until dark brown or blackened and tender. Let cool & reserve.
In a food processor or blender add 1 cup mayo, the sliced roasted bell pepper & sautéed garlic. Puree, add salt & pepper to taste.
Toast
Cut desired sandwich bread with crust removed into fourths, brush baking sheet with olive oil, place slices on sheet then drizzle tops of bread with olive oil.
Bake at 400 until desired color. Let cool to room temperature.
To assemble BLT’s
Place 1-2 slices of duck bacon on baked toast bites, three thin slices tomato fanned out on top of bacon then add a small amount of sprouts or micro-greens to top it all off. We like to serve our appetizers off simple white platters to make a beautiful presentation. Take it up a notch by serving on sheets of thick glass or framed glass raised with vases filled with your choice of creative ideas! Enjoy!
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