Apples, Onions, Cheddar & Miss Harry
I took one look at Stephen's apple, onion, and cheddar pizza and new I had to try it. Ever the generous chef, Stephen emailed me an alternative version of the recipe posted on Stephencooks.
"for extra decadence with that pizza, replace the walnuts with bacon, as follows: sauté three strips of lean thick-cut bacon until crisp before you sauté the apples...drain the bacon on paper towels and then cook the apples in the bacon grease instead of butter and drain well...then crumble the bacon and scatter over the finished pizza when it comes out of the oven (instead of the walnuts) ... I love the walnuts version but the bacon version is even better, it just happened that I was out of bacon the other night..."
As the pizza was baking, the pungent scent-combo of apples, onions, and cheddar caused the words, "Aussie Shiraz" to pop into my brain. Sadly, and embarassingly, I had no Shiraz in ye olde wine fridge. I decided to crack open Miss Harry. Ms. H. is a blend of Grenache, Shiraz, and Mourvèdre. The producer, Hewitson, touts its dry grown and ancient origins (hey, 80 year-old vines are fairly ancient!).
The Skinny
Stephen's pizza: fan-damn-tastic - I'll be riffing on this recipe again soon
Miss Harry:
Hewitson "Miss Harry" Dry Grown & Ancient 2003 Barossa Valley [$18 for the 2004 vintage here]
- Inky indigo in color fading to a garnet rim
- Scents of cherry cola, black cherry, blackberry, and pepper
- Fairly full-bodied in the mouth with black cherry-berry flavors, finishing off with meaty and woodsy notes. The tannins are round & soft. Ms. Harry is slightly flabby (low acidity), but is otherwise enjoyable
*** (3 stars)
Miss Harry was a fine match for the unique spicy-sweet flavor combos in the pizza.
Damn...that is sum good looking eats!
Stephen is the man...no doubt about it.
Posted by: Lenn | 23 October 2005 at 08:26 AM
Indeed. I wish I were 1/60th as culinarily creative as he.
Posted by: beau | 23 October 2005 at 02:21 PM
wow, that looks fabulous. i've never tried one of his recipes but i keep meaning to. I like fan-damn-tastic. I'm gonna start using that one :)
Posted by: mona | 23 October 2005 at 03:26 PM
wow, that looks fabulous. i've never tried one of his recipes but i keep meaning to. I like fan-damn-tastic. I'm gonna start using that one :)
Posted by: mona | 23 October 2005 at 03:28 PM
why does this always happen to me? sorry beau. my browser appeared to NOT be working so i sent the comment twice. sorry!
Posted by: mona | 23 October 2005 at 03:35 PM
No worries Mona. It just looks like you realllyy like the recipe! :)
Posted by: beau | 23 October 2005 at 05:21 PM