Pizza Cook-Off Adventure!
Yesterday, KEB and I conspired to create a "Grown-Up Pizza Party"! I found a blog post from What You Make It on Pinterest quite a while ago, and we finally made it a real event!
To be fair, we weren't quite as organized or on top of things as she was, but we made it our own! KEB and I are hoping that this is the first of many annual pizza cook-offs!
Here was the method to our madness:
1.) Devise a list of "free" ingredients -- these are the ingredients which are for sharing. Here's our list:
We (KEB, JB, NES and I) supplied store bought pizza dough (I wasn't quite ambitious enough to make pizza dough for everyone even if I've made it . . . once . . . for just us!),
tomato pizza sauce,
pesto,
mozzarella cheese,
salt and pepper,
olive oil,
dried oregano,
and dried basil.
We asked our guests to bring diced onions (but never used any . . . oops),
mushrooms,
bell peppers (we didn't end up with any of these, and no one asked for them),
olives
pepperoni (again, none got used),
bacon,
chicken,
and garlic.
2.) Tell each pizza-maker or group to bring as many as two "secret" ingredients. These were ingredients that were for exclusively for their pizza and could be anything! They ranged from the fairy typical pizza ingredients (feta cheese) to the unusual (potatoes and chicken meatballs!). Next year, we may limit our list of "free" ingredients and up the "secret" ingredients to 4 or 5.
3.) Plan an event and get friends to come as pizza-makers and taste-testers!
KEB spread most of the pizza dough (since she's good at it) while we waited for all the guests and the oven to preheat. It just streamlined the process a bit.
Then, working two groups at a time, we assembled the pizzas! We split it up that way because our kitchen and oven were about filled to capacity with two pizzas at a time.
While the first two pizzas went in the oven, the next two teams set up shop in the kitchen. KEB and I were in charge of the oven, just to make things go smoother.
Then the third set went in! That included ours.
Yes, that means 6 pizzas. For 10 people. We ate a lot of pizza! We went through 10 cups of shredded mozzarella. Yeah. That.
I cut each pizza into 12 pieces, to make sure everyone got to try each. There were leftovers, but it was easier than trying to cut the pizza into 10 pieces! And they were big enough slices as it was!
Just to get your creative juices flowing, here are the combinations our groups came up with (at least as far as I know):
JAB and RB: red sauce, mozzarella cheese, chicken meatballs, sliced jalapenos, mushrooms, bacon
JB and KEB's "lasagna pizza": red sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic
AB (with assistant LBMS): pesto, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, olives, chicken, garlic
ZNS (with assistant BM): red sauce, spinach, mushrooms, bacon, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, chicken
NES and LBMS's "baked potato pizza": olive oil, mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced red potato, bacon, sour cream, roasted garlic, dried basil, dried oregano
KEB (a second veggie pizza!): alfredo sauce, roasted mushrooms, thyme, mozzarella cheese, roasted garlic
(And we missed you JB and LB!)
All the pizzas were awesome. There were so many good options, it was hard to vote for just one!
We instated the rule that you could not vote for your own pizza. JAB and RB were the eventual winners, but it was a close race!
And then, as if we weren't full enough, we ate cake for a belated birthday!
Somehow, it always seems like I make heavy, heavy cakes. I couldn't even finish my small piece. I could barely finish it in two sittings. I'm sure all that pizza helped!
But the origin of the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownie layer cake is another story for another day!
To be fair, we weren't quite as organized or on top of things as she was, but we made it our own! KEB and I are hoping that this is the first of many annual pizza cook-offs!
Here was the method to our madness:
1.) Devise a list of "free" ingredients -- these are the ingredients which are for sharing. Here's our list:
We (KEB, JB, NES and I) supplied store bought pizza dough (I wasn't quite ambitious enough to make pizza dough for everyone even if I've made it . . . once . . . for just us!),
tomato pizza sauce,
pesto,
mozzarella cheese,
salt and pepper,
olive oil,
dried oregano,
and dried basil.
We asked our guests to bring diced onions (but never used any . . . oops),
mushrooms,
bell peppers (we didn't end up with any of these, and no one asked for them),
olives
pepperoni (again, none got used),
bacon,
chicken,
and garlic.
2.) Tell each pizza-maker or group to bring as many as two "secret" ingredients. These were ingredients that were for exclusively for their pizza and could be anything! They ranged from the fairy typical pizza ingredients (feta cheese) to the unusual (potatoes and chicken meatballs!). Next year, we may limit our list of "free" ingredients and up the "secret" ingredients to 4 or 5.
3.) Plan an event and get friends to come as pizza-makers and taste-testers!
KEB spread most of the pizza dough (since she's good at it) while we waited for all the guests and the oven to preheat. It just streamlined the process a bit.
While the first two pizzas went in the oven, the next two teams set up shop in the kitchen. KEB and I were in charge of the oven, just to make things go smoother.
Then the third set went in! That included ours.
Yes, that means 6 pizzas. For 10 people. We ate a lot of pizza! We went through 10 cups of shredded mozzarella. Yeah. That.
I cut each pizza into 12 pieces, to make sure everyone got to try each. There were leftovers, but it was easier than trying to cut the pizza into 10 pieces! And they were big enough slices as it was!
Just to get your creative juices flowing, here are the combinations our groups came up with (at least as far as I know):
JAB and RB: red sauce, mozzarella cheese, chicken meatballs, sliced jalapenos, mushrooms, bacon
JB and KEB's "lasagna pizza": red sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic
AB (with assistant LBMS): pesto, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, olives, chicken, garlic
ZNS (with assistant BM): red sauce, spinach, mushrooms, bacon, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, chicken
NES and LBMS's "baked potato pizza": olive oil, mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced red potato, bacon, sour cream, roasted garlic, dried basil, dried oregano
KEB (a second veggie pizza!): alfredo sauce, roasted mushrooms, thyme, mozzarella cheese, roasted garlic
(And we missed you JB and LB!)
All the pizzas were awesome. There were so many good options, it was hard to vote for just one!
We instated the rule that you could not vote for your own pizza. JAB and RB were the eventual winners, but it was a close race!
And then, as if we weren't full enough, we ate cake for a belated birthday!
Somehow, it always seems like I make heavy, heavy cakes. I couldn't even finish my small piece. I could barely finish it in two sittings. I'm sure all that pizza helped!
But the origin of the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownie layer cake is another story for another day!
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