The Forage Sisters: Catering Seasonal Farm Dinners For Colorado

Originally published in the Fall 2020 issue of SPOKE+BLOSSOM

Nicole Carrillo (L) and Mirasol Gomez. Photos by Jeff Fierberg.

For Mirasol Gomez and Nicole Carrillo, curating an exceptional field-to-table dining experience starts with one thing: intentionality.

From the land where the food is grown to the farmers who tend to it, each ingredient chosen by the Forage Sisters has a story and a purpose. 

The duo creates whole events from weddings and private parties to farm dinners in the greater Rocky Mountain west and beyond by creating delicious menus guided by the seasons. As the days get colder and brisk, they love to stand by the cook-fire all day. One of their favorite creations is their fall asado (South American-style barbecue) menu. 

“Maybe an heirloom corn arepa with roasted green chiles and a soft, fresh, local cheese with a drizzle of our favorite herb chimichurri,” says Gomez. “We love big salad courses, which, this time of year, would be made with sweet autumn greens, caramelized shaved fennel and roasted winter squash with fresh mint, pickled onions, chevre (goat’s cheese), toasted pumpkin seeds and drizzled with peach vinaigrette.” 

As a middle course, they would serve handmade beet gnocchi with brown sage butter, local pork sausage, raisins and wilted farm greens. 

“For the main dish we would do one of our friend’s pasture-raised slow-roasted lamb (asador), a red chile chimichurri over carrot puree, smashed on the chapa with garlic and herb potatoes,” says Carrillo. “For dessert, we would make alfajores (an Argentinian cookie) with dulce de leche and a grilled fruit of pears, peaches, some other stone fruit, or whatever we can get our hands on.” 

Connecting people to the origins of their food through the flavors and experiences they create is the mission for the Forage Sisters. 

“For us, eating is a full, sensory, learning experience,” explains Gomez. “[We want] to help people make that connection in a primal way. This happens through our food: how it’s cooked and the story of how it was grown and the people who grew it.” 

Bonded through a love of cooking and gathering people around food, Gomez and Carrillo met in 2014 and formed an instant friendship. Their kin-like bond made the creation of Forage Sisters in 2018 a seamless endeavor. 

“I was developing my farming and catering skills on the Western Slope and Mirasol was on the Front Range developing her hospitality and chef skills,” says Carrillo. “As friends, we talked for years about starting a business together and when Mirasol moved over to the Western Slope, the rest is history. We had already thought of ourselves as ‘soul sisters,’ but in our business, we want to make sure people who eat with us feel like they are eating at a family table.” 

Gomez is a California native who knew she wanted to focus on bringing people together in community, as well as cultivating wellness through food. 

“I didn’t always plan on having a career in the food industry,” she adds, “[But through dealing with] my own health problems, I began to move towards a career of holistic cooking that later led me to culinary school, hospitality and catering.” 

For Carrillo, a deep love for food was found on both sides of her family. They owned restaurants, loved food and loved to eat. At age 14, she moved to Colorado with her family from Rochester, New York.

“I learned [about cooking] from my Italian grandmother at an early age,” says Carrillo. “Then I took over most of the cooking for my big, extended family before I was even a teenager. 

I fell into professional catering while living in New York City and then continued it with my husband, AJ, after college.” 

Gomez and Carrillo also draw inspiration from their Italian and Argentinian backgrounds to bring earthen, simplistic food styles to Colorado. 

“The beautiful thing we’ve found in our different backgrounds is [actually] a common ground,” says Gomez. “A true connection to fresh, seasonal food, cooked in a homey and rustic way using simple methods and ingredient-forward recipes.” 

“Both Italian and Argentinian cultures have a strong spirit of family and hospitality,” adds Carrillo. “We love fire cooking — a technique Mirasol has learned from her father, as well as ‘deep scratch’ recipes from both of our families.” 

But, the two say they do not feel bound by Italian or Argentinian food, instead, they take a playful approach to ingredients and flavor choices from all regions of the world.

BUILDING CONNECTIONS AND SUPPORTING SUSTAINABILITY

The Forage Sisters also strive to elevate the “good-food-culture” of the Western Slope food shed. 

“We want people to realize that, ‘hey, your neighbors grew this food!’” explains Carrillo. “It’s fresh, delicious and it’s grown by great people who do their best to take care of the land, water and all of our natural resources. We want to share their stories and lift them up.” 

In 2016 when Carrillo and her husband bought land in Hotchkiss and started the Deer Tree Farm and Agroforest, it served as the perfect foundation for the Forage Sisters. Carrillo grew to know her neighbors, learned who was growing what and how they were growing it. 

“These connections made it super exciting and easy for us to support local producers,” says Carrillo. “For us, it doesn’t get much better than fresh food from down the road. It tastes good, feels good and you learn the story of who took care of it from soil to seed to harvest.” 

That is why knowing that their work is adding to the betterment of the land and people is so important to Gomez and Carrillo. 

“It is hard to remember the simple things that bring us together,” Gomez explains. “Ancient human traditions: food, fire, growing and family — these are important for us to highlight and to honor, especially in a disconnected world. Food is what we all need — it has always been something that gathered people, so we honor our age-old traditions of getting together and gathering around food.”

CONNECTION THROUGH UNCERTAINTY

Despite the strain that the pandemic put on typical events, gatherings and celebrations, the Forage Sisters have continued to think innovatively about how to continue bringing farm-to-table experiences to Coloradans. 

“We have gotten creative by partnering with friends to do socially-distanced farm dinners,” says Carrillo. “For example, we have been partnering with Storm Cellar vineyard to do ‘open-air’ restaurant experiences. This gives us the opportunity to share in a community experience while staying safe. We have even purchased matching masks with an embroidered beet on it for us and all of our staff to wear. We are trying to roll with the punches and to make each new move in a way that is considerate of our staff and clients and authentic to us.” 

Although they don’t know when to expect things to go back to normal, they are looking forward to the creative process of making it work each and every step along the way.

To learn more, visit foragesisters.com.