Pizza New Years Eve - best one ever

12 years ago

We've been hosting New Years Eve Pizza Parties now for more than 10 years. There's a local Italian deli that makes dough fresh daily. I bought 12 pounds (yes, that's the maximum we can make in a night - 24 pizzas - one on the grill, one in the oven, starting at about 6 pm!)

I make a simple tomato sauce, and have on hand a few basics - garlic, olive oil, etc. Then guests bring toppings and they make the pizzas. The first couple of years, people brought the usual toppings, lots of jars of ragu, canned mushrooms, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni...

But little by little, my "foodie-ness" is rubbing off, even on our non-cooking friends. Last night's combinations were out of this world. Here are some of the topping combination highlights.

- arugula, emmentaler, burrata, grated pecorino romano, roasted garlic, carmelized onions and tiny super sweet tomatoes

- asparagus, prosciutto and gorgonzola

- duck and hoisin sauce

- tomato sauce, fresh garlic, anchovies and fresh mozzarella

- roasted butternut squash, brie and other unknown cheeses

- roasted veggies - red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, garlic, tomatoes (total non-dairy with gluten-free crust)

- bacon, dates, brie and just a touch of maytag blue (this one was perfect at midnight with the champagne)

- a classic margherita

- homemade Italian sausage with fresh basil and black olives

It was so much fun to listen to my (non-foodie) friends talk about going to Chinatown to get duck, making sausage, carmelizing onions, searching online for topping combinations, tasting cheeses, comparing olives - A great way to end and begin a year.

Comments (6)

ann_t
12 years ago
Wow! That is a lot of pizza. Sounds like a wonderful party.

I love how your pizza party has evolved and your "foodieness" is rubbing off on your non-cooking friends.

Happy New Year Ann.
John Liu
12 years ago
I love it. I'd like to be your pizza friend!
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I made these last year and although it sounds like an unusual combination of ingredients, after people tried them, they didn't last long. SAVORY DATE RUGELACH Â makes 4 dozen 1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups walnuts, divided 4 oz. blue cheese, cut into cubes 48 pitted dates (about 12 oz.) 1 large egg white 1 tsp. water Dough: In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Stir in flour and salt just until blended (or use mixer on low speed). Divide dough into 4 equal pieces; flatten each into a disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Filling: In food processor with knife blade attached, pulse Â½ cup walnuts until finely chopped; reserve in small bowl. In same food processor, pulse blue cheese and remaining 1 cup of walnuts 7 to 8 times or until a coarse mixture forms. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large cookie sheets with foil; grease foil. (I used parchment paper.) On floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll 1 disk of dough into a 10-inch round. Cut into 12 equal wedges. Beginning 1 inch from outside edge, sprinkle 1/2 cup blue cheese mixture in 2 Âinch wide ring on dough, leaving dough exposed in center. Place one whole date crosswise on wide end of each wedge. Starting at wide end, roll up each wedge, jelly-roll fashion. Place rugelach, 1 inch apart, on cookie sheets, point side down. Repeat with remaining four dough disks. In small bowl, beat egg white and water. Brush rolls with egg white and sprinkle with reserved walnuts. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden, rotating sheets between upper and lower racks halfway through baking. Let stand for a minute or two and then transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature up to 3 days. To make ahead: Arrange unbaked rugelach in single layer in jelly roll pan; cover and freeze until firm. Remove from pan and place in freezer containers with waxed paper in between each layer. Seal and freeze up to 3 months. About 45 minutes before serving, preheat oven to 350. Line 2 large cookie sheets with foil; grease foil. Arrange frozen rugelach on prepared cookie sheets and bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden.
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bob_cville
12 years ago
My brother-in-law in Vermont has hosted the family for New Years for about 12 years. Most years one of the highlights is pizza night. He has an homebuilt, outdoor, wood-fired pizza oven, which he fires up a day ahead to get it nice and hot. He has a professional-chef friend who makes and tosses the dough, and a veritable crew to prepare the toppings, top the pizzas, and slice and serve them.

This year I was topping master, planning and organizing the toppings, designing the toppings combos, and topping most of the pizzas that were made. It is a fairly foodie group, so as with spacific there were some fairly unusual toppings and/or fairly unusual combos.

Sauces: Red, white, pesto

Cheeses: Mozerella, asiago, chedder, blue, goat

Meats: Pepperoni, italian sausage, pesto chicken sausage, bacon, hamburger, meatballs, ham, roast chicken, shrimp, procuitto,

Vegs: Diced tomatoes, roast red peppers, artichoke hearts, fried eggplant, sauted red onion, carmelized yellow onion, crushed garlic, roast garlic, sauted spinach, pineapple, arugula, kalamata olives,

Other: white mushrooms, baby portabello mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, wild-picked black trumpet mushrooms, spinach and cheese ravoli.

After the first few standards of Plain Cheese, or Pepperoni, or Sausage and mushroom to satisfy the some of the kids, I started on the more unusual pizzas. Some notables successes are:

Carnesaurus Maximus: Every meat but the shrimp.
Philly Cheese Steak: Ground beef, red peppers, sauted onions, Moz and Cheddar
Procuitto, Kalamata Olives, blue cheese, carmelized onion, arugula, Moz
Eggplant parmesan: Eggplant, tomato, spinach, olives, mushroom, Moz

The best one IMHO was the Quatro Fungi Pizza: White sauce, All four mushrooms, roast garlic, Moz

After about 42 pizzas, we switched to different crusts and started making dessert pizzas, with sweetened Ricotta, Mascarpone, pineapples, berries, chocolate, reeses cups, crushed oreos, candied ginger, and/or marshmallows.

Counting the desert pizzas we ended up at around 52 total pizzas, not quite up to previous years' records but substantial nonetheless.

I'll be noting some of the combos Spacific listed above for future years.
annie1992
12 years ago
Wow, a lot of pizza making going on. I don't even like pizza, but I'd eat a couple of those, especially that first one of spacific's and bob's Fungi pizza, no red stuff, thanks.

Annie
unorthodoxepicure
12 years ago
I'm sorry I read this thread for two reasons:

1. I now want to build my own outdoor brick pizza oven (and wife will probably say no).
2. I need pizza, even though my endocrinologist has already told me no.

Outstanding stuff here! Wow!
ajh
sally2_gw
12 years ago
I love your idea, Ann, to have people bring their own toppings. It sounds like a fun, fun party, and a good way to spread foodie cooties around! lol

Bob, your party sounds outstanding, also. I have trouble making 3 or 4 pizzas in an evening. I can't imagine over 50 pizzas. Wow.

Sally

Pizza New Years Eve - best one ever

Comments (6)

ann_t

John Liu

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