I have had the fun opportunity to sample some of New Belgium Brewing Company's beer as a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker's program. I received $50 from New Belgium to create a dish using their beer. Seeing as how New Belgium makes some of my husband's favorite beer, I certainly couldn't pass on this opportunity and we both had an enjoyable time pairing beer with different recipes, as well as, experimenting in the kitchen.
I decided to start my New Belgium experience by purchasing their Spring Folly Pack; which included, Fat Tire, Ranger IPA, Mighty Arrow and 1554 Black Ale. Then I headed home and enjoyed a mini beer tasting with dinner that night. Fresh homemade pizza was on the menu and since it wasn't planned ahead of time, I didn't have all the ingredients for the standard red sauce pizza, so it was time to experiment and improvise. Oh how glad I am we went this route because the pizza turned out fabulous and just might be a new favorite in our house and one beer in particular was a perfect accompaniment. What did we have? Well, first I made a white sauce with onion, cream, salt, a bit of flour and about a cup of random cheeses we had in the cheese drawer. We slathered that all over the unbaked pizza crust, then topped it with small pieces of fresh cauliflower and a sprinkling of oregano and thyme. We slid our pizza onto our pizza stone in our preheated 550° oven (key here, preheat your oven & pizza stone for at least an hour before trying to bake a pizza). While the pizza baked, we boiled 4 eggs to slice on top of the pizza, table side. As we sat down to enjoy our meal, took a bite of pizza and tasted some of the beers we knew that first we made an excellent meal choice and second the perfect beer to accompany each delectable bite was the smooth Fat Tire Amber Ale.
I decided to start my New Belgium experience by purchasing their Spring Folly Pack; which included, Fat Tire, Ranger IPA, Mighty Arrow and 1554 Black Ale. Then I headed home and enjoyed a mini beer tasting with dinner that night. Fresh homemade pizza was on the menu and since it wasn't planned ahead of time, I didn't have all the ingredients for the standard red sauce pizza, so it was time to experiment and improvise. Oh how glad I am we went this route because the pizza turned out fabulous and just might be a new favorite in our house and one beer in particular was a perfect accompaniment. What did we have? Well, first I made a white sauce with onion, cream, salt, a bit of flour and about a cup of random cheeses we had in the cheese drawer. We slathered that all over the unbaked pizza crust, then topped it with small pieces of fresh cauliflower and a sprinkling of oregano and thyme. We slid our pizza onto our pizza stone in our preheated 550° oven (key here, preheat your oven & pizza stone for at least an hour before trying to bake a pizza). While the pizza baked, we boiled 4 eggs to slice on top of the pizza, table side. As we sat down to enjoy our meal, took a bite of pizza and tasted some of the beers we knew that first we made an excellent meal choice and second the perfect beer to accompany each delectable bite was the smooth Fat Tire Amber Ale.
