Great Pizza Wines

winePizzaClassic wine pairings for pizza are usually fruity wines with high acidity to balance the natural acidity in tomato sauce and to help cut the fat in the melted cheese. Barbera, the varietal traditionally grown in the Piedmont region of Italy is a nearly perfect traditional pizza wine. Its low tannin structure is also key, as a highly tannic wine can combine with tomato to create an off-putting metallic taste. There are some fantastic Barberas being produced in the Shenandoah Valley in the Sierra foothills of California. The Shenandoah Vineyards ReZerve 2013 Barbera and the Helwig 2013 Barbera are great choices, AND they both just won Double Gold medals at the San Francisco International Wine Competition where I recently worked as a volunteer!

Sangiovese and Chianti are great for spicier meat pies as are fruity Syrahs made in the Rhone style with nice peppery flavors. It’s also fun to break from the red wine with pizza mold by trying a full-bodied white such as Grüner Veltliner.  I love the Grüner made by Zocker from the Edna Valley in California. It has nice acidity as well as a steely minerality; a great call on pizza night.

And don’t forget bubbles! Prosecco and other sparkling wines would be delicious paired with our new White Clam and Garlic Pizza as well as other white pies. My go-to Prosecco is from La Marca, and for good value domestic sparklers I always love Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs from Sonoma and Roederer Estate Brut from the Anderson Valley in California.

-Chef Ann

Father’s Day S’mores

Another successful Father’s Day BBQ is in the books!  This year, we hosted our family for a day of swimming and eating, courtesy of Wood Stone Home.  There were ribs, burgers, salmon, dogs, brats, and a myriad of salads; I could feed a small army with my leftovers alone! 

However, you know what I don’t have leftovers of?  The s’mores!  Chef Ann gave me the idea of making these in my Wood Stone Home oven, and now it will be a Bedell BBQ staple.  I just arranged some graham crackers with marshmallows on a sheet tray, put them in the oven for around 30 seconds, and then placed chocolate and another cracker on top of each one.  They were eaten almost as quickly as they cooked!  Well, by everyone but my son who doesn’t like marshmallows.  He had a popsicle.  But that is for a different blog post…

p.s. If you enjoy these s’mores, be sure to check out the S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pizza and S’mores Calzone for a fun spin on the old camping favorite!

-Chef Lindasmores

Cornbread and a backyard BBQ

cornbreadThis weekend we had some friends over for a Wood Stone BBQ. They had never seen our Wood Stone Home oven in action, and after hearing me singing its praises, wanted to see what it could do. While they were impressed by the pizza and proteins it produced, they were amazed by the simple skillet cornbread that was done in minutes. 

With basic ingredients already in my refrigerator and pantry, I was able to whip this up in about 5 minutes, and it was baked and ready to serve in around 15. Though I like it with corn kernels baked in, my kids prefer it “plain” with a little added sugar; they won this time, but it’s my turn next!

Want to try your own skillet cornbread at home? Use your favorite recipe or branch out and try our Apple Cheddar Cornbread Cobbler.

 

-Chef Linda Bedell