Post Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2020
DBP's very own Community Development & Membership Manager, Cindy Sepucha, virtually attended the "At Home with Frasca Hospitality Group" on Mother's Day - here's what she had to say about it...
This last Mothers Day weekend, I treated myself to a delicious meal as a part of “At Home with Frasca Hospitality Group” program recently launched by downtown’s Frasca and Pizzeria Locale. The meal was rigatoni with Bolognese sauce (aka “Bowl-of-Knees” in our household), a ridiculously amazing salad with greens from Esoterra Culinary Garden, and a perfectly paired bottle of Monte Bernardi 2018 Chianti Classico “Retromarcia”.
Pick-up was delightful - I got to pick up on Saturday, when many retail stores in downtown opened their doors to the public (with safer-at-home guidelines). It was so good to see people on East Pearl (wearing masks and observing social distancing, of course) on a beautiful sunny day. The bag of goodies I got from Frasca was beautifully and simply packaged for ease of preparation at home. 
Watching the wine talk with Bobby Stuckey (Master Sommelier at Frasca) and Michael Schmelzer (winemaker at Monte Barnardi Winery and CU alum), was so interesting. The most interesting part was the breathtaking scenery behind Schmelzer. As it got darker, I realized that the sun was setting where he was and, no, that’s not a virtual background on Zoom! That’s where he really is - in Chianti!
After the wine talk, I got down to business, cooking the food, along with Chef Eduardo Valle Lobo (one of Frasca’s co-Executive Chefs). When I saw that I was going to be making pasta, my initial thought was that I was going to get to roll out fresh pasta and cut it myself, but I guess I’ll need to take a class at Food Lab if I want that kind of involvement! Chef Eduardo made this meal supremely easy to prepare, simply add the container of bolognese (with the appropriately large amount of butter on top) in a hot pan, boil the pasta for 6 minutes, toss, add oil and parmesan, and serve. We tossed the salad with the included carrot and turmeric vinaigrette, with radishes and edible flowers on top. Super easy to make at home and super delicious, as is anything that comes from the people at Frasca.
Bolognese is a thing in our household. We are always trying to perfect our recipe and pretty much any time we see it on a menu when we go out, one of us orders it and shares with the whole family. It’s the perfect meal to bring up to the mountains for ski trip and is always better the day after it was cooked. So, we are pretty experienced when it comes to eating Ragu Bolognese. Not surprisingly, this might have been the best Bolognese we have ever eaten and definitely the best one we “made” at home. We’ll probably be striving to replicate that one for the rest of our lives.
My neighbor ordered the meal kit, too, and we texted afterwards - she agreed with me that the salad was shockingly amazing. (I mean, it’s a salad, right?) But the greens were so amazing, “I ordered a box from that farm before I took my second bite” is a direct text from her. When I visited their website, it looks like they only sell to restaurants (bummer for me), but she has connections, so maybe she DID get a box of their amazing greens. I’ll be knocking on her door soon, mask on, with an empty bowl, and good neighborly expectations!
I love cooking with my family, so preparing this with my husband was a fun way to spend my Mother’s Day, but really they make it so easy, anyone who has a couple pans could have easily prepared this amazing meal at home. If you’re looking for a special way to spend this Saturday evening, I highly encourage you to check out “At Home With...” from the Frasca Hospitality Group.
More information about each weekly offering and ordering information is available here.
Mentioned in this Post: Food Lab, Frasca Food & Wine, Pizzeria Alberico
Tagged: Dining