Chef in Garden series continues in Vail

VAIL, Colorado – Vail’s Betty Ford Alpine Gardens will host its final Chefs in the Garden event Thursday. Headlining this week is Chef Richard A Bailey, executive chef of The Lord Gore Restaurant at the Manor Vail Lodge. Bailey will lead an hour-long cooking demonstration in the beautiful Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. The focus of this series is on locally grown and produced Colorado ingredients. The event will be held on Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. in the Children’s Garden, near the Schoolhouse gift shop and museum in Vail’s Ford Park. The event is free and open to the public.

Chef Bailey will prepare a summer-themed menu including his popular compressed watermelon salad with pickled sweet red onions, fresh berries and balsamic sauce and sauteed Scottish salmon with warm basil cream and corn-roasted pepper salsa. For dessert, the chef will prepare a Colorado favorite of palisade peaches with blueberry, vanilla creme anglaise with a sugar lace cookie. Attendees can taste each of the dishes and take home recipes for each one.

Chef Bailey is a Calif. native who earned his culinary stripes around the globe including: Napa Valley, Sausalito, Bad Griesbach Germany, Dallas and Nantucket.

“People underestimate the variety of fresh, sustainable ingredients available here in Colorado – there are few states that offer tree fruits and greens, herbs, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. It makes cooking all that more fun,” Bailey said.

For a complete events schedule or more information about Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, call 970-476-0103, ext. 3, or visit http://www.bettyfordalpinegardens.org. For reservations at Lord Gore restaurant, call 970-476-4959.