Freedom Dark Lager

Interesting stuff, this. I was drawn to it simply because I had never heard of it, which I often find a great tactic to use when buying beer. Turns out that Freedom have been around for a while - since 1995 - and seem to have the vegan/organic lager market cornered, producing only three brews - Lager, Dark Lager, and a Pils. I opted for the Dark Lager, given that's where my tastes lie.
...And it wasn't bad at all. The label said it had an underlying toffee note lurking within, and it did; a distinctly American burnt-caramel sweetness. Despite being fairly thin body-wise, it was a nice, rounded beer that belied a 4.7% abv. There was nothing outstanding happening here, but when teamed with a home-made pizza it sang a little higher and held up the beer end, so to speak.


The pizza was made with a simple dough (Strong Flour, Yeast, a dash of Olive Oil, tepid water and some salt), topped with a plain sauce of chopped peppers, a tin of cushed tomatoes, a generous hit of tomato puree, some black pepper,sugar and Basil - with a load of garlic going in when reduced. I find that putting the Garlic in any sauce at the end rather than the start gives a stronger but more balanced Garlic hit. I then topped this with some Mozzarella, some ends of cheddar I had left over (which gave a nice, sharp contrast to the Moz), some Parma Ham and a couple of slices of peppery, zingy Salami. A good Pizza makes a good partner to beer - a lot of the time.

http://www.freedombeer.com/welcome.asp

Easy Calzone

Calzones, contrary to popular belief, are easy to make (with a little forward planning), and don't have to be the bloated, over-filled monstrosities you often get from restaurants that require the next day off work simply to digest. At their best they can be filled with anything, slammed in the oven and, when drizzled with some catch-all tomato sauce, an easy dinner. So here's what to do:

First, make your tomato sauce. I prefer mine as garlicky as possible: Simply drop some tomatoes with their tops scored (about a pound of small ones, or four or five large ones) into some boiling water and leave for five minutes. The skin will then peel off easily. Split, take out the seeds, and then dice. Chop five large garlic cloves and dice an onion. Put the tomatoes and onion into some warm olive oil in a pan, and gently simmer. When broken down, add the garlic, along with loads of black pepper, a good pinch of salt, sugar and some fresh herbs - I like Oregano, Thyme and Basil. Rosemary works well too. Simmer gently, and then leave for a as long as you like. This sauce is just my basic one - you can add chilli, roasted vegetables or anything you like. I make this a day in advance - trust me, it's worth it. You can leave it chunky or blend it to make it a little smoother - the latter works best for this dish.

Right, onto the Calzones: To start, a pizza dough can be made by sifting 500g of strong plain flour, 2 teaspoons of easy-blend yeast and 1 teaspoon of salt into a bowl. add about 300g of lukewarm water and a good glug of olive oil - about 3 teaspoons. Using your hands, mix it up gently, then turn onto a floured surface and knead for about five minutes. Once its looking good, return the the bowl (greased with olive oil) and leave somewhere warm to rise for about an hour.

I made two, with different fillings in each - one had some sauteed Squid and Anchovies with Mozzarella cheese, the other with Prosciutto, Parma Ham, Salami and a little smoked cheese along with the mozzarella. I actually find that most cheeses work here - just match the flavours with what you like. To assemble, just roll your dough into any shape you like (Don't worry about that classic half-moon shape - as long as it tastes good, that's all that counts. Life's too short.)

Pre-heat the oven to pizza-blasting temperature, about 200-220c, and, using a spatula, slide your Calzones onto a greased baking tray (I've started using Polenta instead of oil on baking trays - it's great - give it a whirl), and bake until golden.

To serve, warm through some of that tomato sauce and drizzle over those awesome, split Calzones.

I washed the good stuff down with a bottle of Eggenberg's HopfenKonig Pils - a sweet, light Austrian Pils that refreshed after the powerful garlic and smoked meat flavours of my Calzone. Nothing spectacular, but a good alternative to the slew of Italian lagers one might find to accompany Italian.