Wine and Cheese – Page 2 – Peacock Orchard

Best ever pizza crust recipe and Wine Review: Colimoro Montepulciano D’abruzzo

Years ago, 11 to be exact, I married my amazing husband and began my experimentation in the kitchen. I have developed a large variety of go-to recipes over the years but none surpass my amazing pizza crust recipe. I experimented with SO MANY recipes before settling on this particular one. It’s so versatile and so forgiving. Plus it didn’t need to rise in the fridge, which is great since I once forgot I had a crust rising in the fridge and it kind of became it’s own entity that took forever to clean out. I don’t remember where I discovered this recipe. I haven’t used an actual recipe in years and years. I go by look now. I have a basic recipe that I change depending on our mood. We’ve added honey and different seasonings and it’s still been an amazingly well put together crust. So, without further ado, here is the recipe:

Easy Pizza Crust

2 ¼ tsps yeast
1 tb sugar
1 cup warm water
3 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
3-5 cups flour
Your choice of seasonings to taste (I use Italian seasoning, paprika, garlic and onion)

Pre-heat the oven to 420 degrees. In a medium sized bowl mix the yeast, sugar and water. Add seasonings to taste. Then add the salt and olive oil. Next add the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Set aside to rise while the oven is pre-heating.

When the dough has risen spray your hands with cooking oil and shape the dough as desired, add toppings and cook for 20 minutes.

Note: I live in high altitude. A longer cooking time may be necessary in lower altitudes. Just keep an eye on it.

Our usual toppings are pepperoni (deli pepperoni and the regular old bagged kind you find in the store), olives, onion, bell pepper, meunster cheese and mozerella cheese. The taste is sublime. Love it!

A pizza baking experience would not be complete without at least one child demanding ingredients. Daughter demanded cheese, cheese and more cheese. Then, when all the cheese was gone she moved on to demanding pepperoni. I also have a few very loyal “please drop something tasty” dogs waiting in the wings.

Now, I usually just use a plain pizza sauce, no seasonings, on top. I figure the crust is seasoned well enough it doesn’t need added flavor. However, we had an amazing tomato harvest this year which has led to a LOT of canning. So, we made our own pizza sauce while the dough was rising. It was pretty amazing. I am going to share that recipe next week.

We usually sample a wine on Friday nights. It’s an enjoyable, relaxing time for us as a couple. But…I really wanted to fine a great wine to go with our pizza. So off to the liqour store where I asked the amazing wine guy what wine would go best with pizza.

That is how we ended up with this wine:

Colimoro Montepulciano D’abruzzo

Description: [from the wine makers website] Colimoro Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is bursting with aromas of dried cherries accented by a hint of spice. Medium in body, this is a fruit-forward wine balanced by moderate acidity and soft tannins. Aged in large Slavonian oak casks for 6 months, this is an easy-drinking wine best enjoyed young with everyday meals.

The back of the bottle explicitly says it pairs well with pizza.

Wine Review:

This wine has a really strong flavor in my opinion. It has a nice scent, very “winey” for lack of a better term. It is rather dry, and thus, bitter, but not bad. I enjoyed my first few sips. However, even though it is specifically to be paired with pizza and pasta I thought it over powered every flavor. We tried this first with the pizza and again, later, with some home made spaghetti. Still, too strong.

I did start out thinking this wine was pretty great. I had a few sips before I started eating and thought it had a pleasant flavor and that it was going to be a “whole bottle” kind of wine tasting. It wasn’t. I just had the one glass. I like to taste my pizza and this just didn’t afford me that luxury. Also, I felt it grew more bitter when paired with the food. So I had my 1 glass and was done, both times we tried this wine.

I think I’m going to find a nice chianti and try that with the pizza.

Home Made Spaghetti Sauce- my first time

It has been an amazing tomato harvest for us this year. I’m very happy. I am also learning how to preserve tomatoes now. Sauce, salsa and diced tomatoes are what I’m after. I haven’t canned before though, well aside from the salsa. I’d never made my own spaghetti sauce and so I took to the internet to figure it out. Two recipes really stood out to me. This one and This one. The first is a Sicilian style sauce with wine. As you may know, we love wine. I grabbed my favorite Merlot, as can be seen in This post, for it. The other was slow roasted in the oven. I had to try both. So I divided my tomatoes up and set to work. I mostly followed both recipes. I must admit, I have a hard time following recipes to the T. I have my own style.

First I went out and hunted down all the necessary herbs from the yard.

Oregano

Basil

Sage and Thyme

Washing and shredding herbs

Washed and shredded herbs

Next, I chopped my onions and garlic, for both versions. The kids were eager to help, as usual. Son was very excited about helping “skin” the garlic. Daughter washed the tomatoes. For the record, while I love the kids helping I do rewash stuff. Their version of washing is just spraying water all over my kitchen. GAH!

I added bell pepper to the roasted tomato sauce. I happen to love roasted bell peppers so it was an obvious addition for me!

And now, the tomatoes! I did not skin any of them. I was going to blend them anyway and was cool with the skin remaining. I harvested the seeds from the best tomatoes while I was cutting them up for the sauce. I simply put them in the strainer, washed them off and then left them to dry in a labeled coffee filter.

I did enjoy a good glass of Merlot, while also adding some Merlot to the Sicilian sauce. If you are interested in our review of this Merlot see Here.

I cooked the Sicilian sauce down a bit and then crushed everything up a bit. Well, the kids did, enthusiastically.

While the sauces were cooking low and slow the kids and I made fish and chips for dinner. Turns out Son is all talk about his love for fish as he refused to eat any until I convinced him it was chicken. This in spite of him helping me with the fish…. I did tell him after he’d eaten that it was fish. He’s caught onto me and when he asked if the pork I offered him at a later meal was chicken I asked him if he’d prefer I lie. He stated yes and ate the pork. It’s all good.

As an aside, doesn’t my kitchen remodel look amazing so far!

The kids were in bed before the sauces were ready to be blended and jarred. That was fine with me. I didn’t want to have to explain 9 million times to Son that I would not allow him to put the jars in the hot water because he’d likely burn his arm off. Oh how many times I’ve had that conversation already. If you are wondering why I simply don’t let him learn the hard way, I have. He just likes to ask the same question over and over and over and over and…………………..

So I added some lemon juice and sugar, popped the sauces in the blender, jarred them and put them in the hot water until they were ready. A LONG process but a satisfying one. The sauce from both is amazing!

Review: Dark Horse Sauvignon Blanc 2014 and Lobster

Wine:

Dark Horse 2014 Sauvignon Blanc $

[Description from the Wine Makers Website] The most refreshing wine from Dark Horse, our Sauvignon Blanc offers bright aromas of grapefruit and gooseberry lined with fresh green notes. Layers of citrus and melon flavors create a crisp taste with medium viscosity and a long, refreshing finish.

Cheese:

None. We ate Lobster. The kids ate crab. The Red Lobster website suggested that Lobster paired well with sauvignon and we happened to already have the Dark Horse wine so…..yay!

Lobster was cooked according to the recipe on the Red Lobster website.

Wine Review-

The wine was very enjoyable. Certainly something I’d have a glass of alone. However, it paired so well with the lobster that I was simply in heaven. Obviously lobster is an expensive but enjoyable meal no matter what. Pairing it with this wine simply brought out the best flavors in this exquisite crustacean and made the meal a real pleasure to have.

Of course, I was cracking crab open non-stop for our children. I swear our Daughter can eat a pound of crab without blinking an eye. Son is not quite as voracious and prefers to crack the claws and then talk non-stop about it. Daughter did not like the lobster. Son claimed he did but refused seconds. That is his usual way of pretending he enjoyed something. He usually reserves that for eggs and cheese.

Review: 2012 Oveja Negra Carbenet Franc Carmenere and Gruyere Cheese

Wine:

2012 Oveja Negra Carbenet Franc Carmenere $8.99

[From Winemakers Web Page] Wine Makers Notes: Deep fruit characters dominate, with red cherries and soft touches of raspberries against a black fruit background complemented with some tabacco and cassis notes. Firm yet smooth on the palate, this wine displays a juicy, refreshing mouthfeel that reveal elegant hints of cedar and bitter chocolate that lead to more fruity characters that appear on the finish. Cellaring potential: drink now through 2+ years

Cheese:

Gruyere Quarter Wheel $12.47

[From Wikipedia] Gruyère is sweet but slightly salty, with a flavor that varies widely with age. It is often described as creamy and nutty when young, becoming with age more assertive, earthy and complex. When fully aged (five months to a year) it tends to have small cracks which impart a slightly grainy texture.

Wine Review-

Well this was not a good wine. In fact I had less than half a glass. I couldn’t stomach it at all. The flavor was not at all to my liking. I thought it was too bitter (and this from a girl who likes dry wine) and it caused my gag reflex to act up. Of course that is with the addition of the cheese which was grainy and nasty. More on that in the cheese review.

So that’s me. My husband, however, liked it. He thought it paired splendidly with the cheese and he found the flavor pleasing and not bitter at all. He couldn’t understand my issue with the wine. Husband gives it thumbs up. I give it thumbs down. I suppose it is up to you to decide.

We will both agree that this wine didn’t have any of the tasting notes the wine maker says it does. We didn’t get that at all.

Cheese Review-

What is there to say, it’s Gruyere. I find I’m not overly found of gruyere anything. I don’t usually eat much of the cheese but I do try them. So I tried it and it’s just as disgusting as I remember from our last red wine and gruyere experience.

Husband, of course, disagrees. He ate the cheese up. He does tend to like cheese. He said the flavor improved as he got closer to the center of the cheese hunk. I declined to test his theory

Bonterra Merlot 2012 and Merlot Bellavitano cheese

Wine:

Bonterra Merlot 2012- Organic $14.99

[from back of bottle] Our merlot is barrel aged to accentuate the distinctive cherry-berry flavors and subtle aromas of cranberry and chocolate.

Cheese:

Merlot Bellavitano $5.25

[from their website] By wedding this rich, creamy cheese to the berry and plum notes of Merlot, we’ve created a marriage of flavors destined to make your taste buds say, “I do.”

Wine Review-

This wine is fantastic. It matches its description pretty well. We think you can taste the cherry accents in the wine. The wine obviously pairs well with the cheese. We think this wine would go really well with bold flavored dinner. I want to try it with beef borginoun this winter. I think that would pair fantastically. All around great wine. Drink it casually while watching the sun set or with a good meal, just drink it!

Cheese Review–

The cheese is grainy, salty and has a strong taste. I didn’t like it alone but it does go well with the wine. My husband’s exact words were, “good, yummy, very good cheese but I wouldn’t eat it alone.” So grab this cheese with some bread or crackers and the suggested wine for the best experience.

Ambiance Pinot Grigio 2013 and Courenne Double Cream

Wine:

Ambiance Pinot Grigio 2013 $9.99

[Sourced from Wine Express] Fruit for the Belle Ambiance Pinot Grigio was harvested in the cool hours of the night, delivered to the winery and then immediately pressed into fermenters. A slow, low-temperature fermentation on very low grape solids and aging that took place entirely in stainless steel allowed us to capture all of the delicate fruit and floral aromas that a Pinot Grigio can deliver. Delicate aromas of lemon blossoms, honeysuckle, tropical fruits, white peaches and jasmine flowers. It shows luscious flavors of white nectarines, tart lemons and sweet honeydew melon. This medium-bodied wine is crisp and bright, with a tangy and lingering finish. It scored 92 points in the Critics Challenge Wine Competition.

Cheese:

Courenne Double Cream $6.99/lb

Ah now this is a tough one. I Googled this cheese to see how it is described and found quite a few descriptions of Brie Courenne. We bought this cheese at a local cheese shop in Ft Collins, CO.

Wine Review-

This wine was nice. Crisp. Enjoyable. Not my favorite white wine but certainly lovely all the same. I thought the cheese went well with it (but the cheese was awesome). I think this would be a great bottle of wine to bring to a dinner of fish or chicken. All around good wine.

Cheese Review-

This cheese was amazing. Seriously delicious. It was like a flavorful butter. We ate it with a hot baguette and we ate ALL of it. I don’t usually eat the cheeses, I leave that to Husband. However, even I loved this cheese. We are most certainly going to get this cheese again.