On Adventureteering + Fiddlehead Pizza with Bacon and Garlic

Channel swimming, sketch cooking, and The Comfort Crisis

In July 2014, a dear reader, Salty Meatball, called me and asked if I’d be interested in swimming the English Channel with him as part of a relay. At that point in my life, I was two years out of college, and, despite spending thousands of hours staring at a little black line in a swimming pool over the previous two decades, had not touched the water for fitness purposes since. The question came, quite literally, out of the blue.

I thought about Salty’s bananas proposition for all of about two minutes before deciding I was in¹. For the next year, as far as my training was concerned, I was laser focused on two things: 1) swimming enough to be able to complete the 3-4 hours I’d be in the water with no issues, and 2) eating enough pasta² to gain enough weight not to freeze in the +/- 55(F) water.

We flew to the UK in September the following year, settled down in Folkestone, and a few days later completed the swim³⁴. The swim and ensuing trip, while whirlwind fast⁵, is indelibly marked in my memory, and, I think, shifted my mindset on adventure and what is possible. It also made me aware of an acute itch for adventure. Also, right around this time, I read this article in Outside Magazine about misogis — and never had anything resonated more⁶.

The Channel Swim was followed by a slew of other events — a Tough Mudder, multiple SwimRuns⁷, a couple 4K foot summits with Ha and Brothers CWD, a GORUCK Heavy, a 5K tire flip with

Sam Sager

and Freidaddy (and then a 20-mile ruck a year later) — culminating in 2019 with another relay swim, this time across the North Channel⁸ (joined, amazingly, but not surprisingly, by Mrs. CWD⁹!). Each of these reiterated my want, my desire, my enthusiasm for doing hard stuff.

Mrs. CWD and I call this “adventureteering.¹⁰”

Michael Easter, in his terrific book The Comfort Crisis writes how our modern society has become so far removed from discomfort. We go from air-conditioned houses to air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned offices and back, ad nauseum, never pushing ourselves much past baseline¹¹. He challenges us, much like one of my favorite fitness instructors¹², to “get comfortable being uncomfortable” — to do things you aren’t sure you’ll be able to finish, to ruck right up to the boundaries of your capabilities, and then go a little further¹³.

I think this is such an important thing to do. Discomfort for discomfort’s sake is never a good thing — but, if that discomfort is pushing you towards a goal, well that’s how you grow, how you stretch. And while I’d push you to try something outside your physical comfort zone, adventureteering doesn’t need to be a feat of strength or endurance. It can be something else — it can be building a raised bed and gardening for the first time, it can be having kids¹⁴, it can be learning photography, taking cold showers or skipping breakfast for a week¹⁵ — it can be anything that gets you a little uncomfortable. Doing so, whether you succeed or not, forces you practice doing things that feel hard, stretches your internal capacity for discomfort, and, at the end of the day, makes life feel a little less stressful. If you know you’re not going to die after pushing yourself to your limit, it makes dealing with a deadline or a crying baby a little easier. That’s good stress!

This recipe is an attempt to help push you do a little adventureteering in the kitchen. It’s sketch cooking, true winging it, and a look at how you can walk into the grocery store, or a farmer’s market, or pantry and cook a meal with what you find, with zero expectations. That’s what I did here — we picked up our farm share at Powisset Farm store last week and made a meal of it¹⁶. Some wild gathered fiddleheads, bacon from the farm, some arugula and garlic — thrown on top of a pizza made with locally grown and milled flour and Uncle Steady’s sourdough starter.

Turned out terrific, if I do say so myself.

---

Start by thoroughly rinsing and washing the fiddleheads¹⁷ and then bring a pot of salted water to boil. Drop in the fiddleheads and let them cook at a boil for 10-15 minutes until tender. While that’s happening, dice up a bunch of bacon and cook it down. Discard some of the excess bacon fat¹⁸ and add the garlic and fiddleheads — cooking until the garlic is translucent and the fiddleheads are starting to brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.

At this point you’re going to want to heat your pizza cooking device and begin to prep your dough. If you’re using pre-made, that’s easy. If you’re making your own, well, you should really have started a few hours ago.¹⁹

After the dough is rolled out, prep the pizza with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of shredded cheese, the bacon, garlic, and fiddlehead mix, and some chunks of mozzarella. Cook either in the oven, on the grill, or in a pizza oven until the crust is golden and crispy, cheese bubbling.

You can serve this topped with arugula salad and a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, grated parmagiano reggiano and red pepper flakes.

---

There you go — fiddlehead pizza. Nothing quite says spring like cooking with super seasonal ingredients, making a meal outside, and eating lightly.²⁰

This one was especially fun since the whole meal came together as we were shopping for ingredients. Fiddleheads with garlic sounds great. I bet we can add bacon to that. What if we did it on a pizza! I'd encourage you to try at least one meal this weekend that involves zero foresight, and comes together in your mind as you go. It’s just another way to adventureteer.

If you’re not cooking dynamically this weekend, at least do something outside your comfort zone. Run a little farther, swim a little longer, get lost in the woods²¹. Spring is a time for growth — make the most of it!

1. I do think I let Salty stew for a day or two before formally committing. Sorry!

2. More or less a pound a night several times a week. I also indulged in some meals which, in retrospect, seem downright absurd — rib meat, egg, cheese, and a crab cake sandwiched between two pancakes being one of them. I think Mrs. CWD’s family is still reeling at that memory!

3. In world record time, no less!

4. Clearly my training plan worked.

5. Pun! Since we set a world record for fastest 3-person relay. #HumbleBrag

6. I still read that article at least once a year — it never gets old.

7. Two with Mrs. CWD, which we trained for, and one I committed to <30 days before with no training leading up to it and having never met my partner. (We still did pretty okay.)

8. Where the water was colder, the tides stronger, and the stay in Donaghadee never ending!

9. Who, let the record stand, is the ultimate gamer — who never ceases to amaze me.

10. And I’m forever grateful to have her as my adventureteering partner.

11. If we even get there.

12. Shout out to Alex!

13. He also is a huge proponent of the misogi, which I love — but also feel conflicted about. Much like anything exclusive, it loses its allure when you start bragging about your misogis. This is also why I’ve been so hesitant in the past to write about any of my adventureteering in the past.

14. Seriously, this is the best way to stretch your comfort zone!

15. Or fasting for 72 hours if you’re really hip.

16. I’m hoping to do a whole lot more of this soon. Stay tuned.

17. A dirty fiddlehead can lead to some gastronomic distress.

18. Save it, if that’s what you like to do.

19. We did make our own, using this recipe, roughly, but subbing out the flour. We also made a levain and let that sit the night prior to proofing. They turned out spectacularly, if I do say so myself.

20. Insofar as eating an entire pizza by yourself can be considered “eating lightly.”

21. Or don’t, Grandfather CWD!