Bottoms Up

Lagunitas “Beer Weasel” Ron Lindenbusch explains the Lagunitas beer experience at a beer dinner featuring Lagunitas beers at the Pleasanton Hotel in Pleasanton, CA. (Ron’s official title is Marketing Director).

Photo: William Brand

As I promised in my column today, here are two recipes from Pleasanton (CA.) Hotel chef Chris Smith. These come from a Lagunitas Beer Dinner on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008 at the Pleasanton Hotel, 855 Main St.

The first one, Pepperoni Calzone, served on a bed of lettuce or greens with balsamic vinegar dressing, is a spectacular paired with Lagunitas Censored. A substitute would be any, strong, malty ale.

Pepperoni Calzones
Makes 6 small, or 2 large

• 1 Cup Water, just above body temp
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 PKG Instant Active Yeast
• 3 C A/P Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 3 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 T Water, or as needed

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the water, sugar and yeast. Stir to dissolve, then allow to rest for 10 minutes.
2. While the yeast is doing its magic, mix the flour and salt together.
3. With the mixer on low, add 1 cup of flour at a time, until all is incorporated.
4. Once the flour is added in, add the olive oil and allow the dough to form. If the dough needs more water, add it at this point. Turn speed to medium then allow to knead for 6 minutes.
5. Allow the dough to rest in an oiled bowl covered with plastic until it has doubled in size.
6. Punch the dough down, then roll out to ¼ inch thick and cut into rounds of your liking (for small calzones cut out 6 rounds, for large ones cut in half and made free formed rounds).
7. Place the filling, recipe follows, in the center of the rounds, fold in half, brush with egg wash and bake at 450° f. until golden brown.

Calzone Mixes:

As far as sauce goes, use your favorite canned variety or make your own. Mozzarella cheese works great, but so does Ricotta mixed with a little egg and Parmesan. Calozones allow you to use up leftovers in the house (Steak, Chicken, Sausage, Pepperoni, Pork Chops… whatever you want!) I mixed Mozzarella, Pepperoni & our Tomato Sauce together before filling to ensure a consistent product! Enjoy!
Molten Lave Cake

OK, this is one stony desert: Molten Lava Cake and Caramel Ice Cream.

It was paired with Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball, a surprisingly dry (for Lagunitas) 9 percent copper ale. You don’t want to pair a sweet, strong ale with this one. The ice cream and cake provide all the sweetness anyone needs. So go for dry. A Belgian Trappist tripel like Westmalle would do nicely as a substitute.

• Molten Lava Cake
  Makes about 15 cakes
• 14 OZ Unsalted Butter
  10 OZ Semi-Sweet Chocolate
  3 OZ Milk Chocolate
• 8 EA Eggs
  8 EA Egg Yolks
  ½ OZ Vanilla Extract
• 7 OZ Pastry Flour
  9 OZ Powdered Sugar

1. Over a double boiler, heat the butter and chocolates until just melted.
2. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla.
3. Sift together the flour and powdered sugar, then fold into the chocolate mix.
4. Place in a storage container and refrigerate,
5. Butter and sugar 4 OZ ramekins, then using an ice cream scoop, fill the molds ¾ to the top.
6. bake at 400 degrees for 7-9 minutes, or until just cooked through on the tops. The middles should still be gooey!

Photo note: The calzone photo is file art. It’s not the calzone in the recipe. wb