A few moons ago, my good friend Carl came up with a brilliant idea that redefined how our group hosts social gatherings and parties: make your own pizza, any way you like it. The odder the combination, the better. The more outrageous the ingredients, the more exciting the pizza gets. It was a fantastic set up: everyone came with their best original recipes and behaviour. We saw pizza combinations from all shapes and form: a Filipino combination of sisig (sizzling pork meat & innards) & chicharon (pork crackling), to marshmallows & sweet potato and the winner of all, a Japanese inspired pizza of unagi, tofu & bonito flakes.

Fast forward to our time, April 2010. One Saturday evening, 30 or so people made the trek back to pizza mecca (aka the Homebush crew’s humble abode) with a single goal: win the Best Pizza Award of the night. You see, Carl has upped the ante – the boys have perfected the Hugo’s Pizza dough base, and everyone had their game faces on. Secret ingredients abounded, with everyone having quirky grins on their faces as if their super secret pizza recipe was hidden in a secret box complete with a lock and key.

I will cut to the chase and get on with the show. You want to see pizza? I give you pizza. LOTS of them! You be the judge to see which one was the most outrageous and yet match made in heaven combo!

Firstly, the guys in Homebush kindly provided some award winning dough courtesy of Pete, Carl & Migs. Here’s a photo of the master dough maker that is Miguel:

Roast Pork Crackling with Caramelised Apples by Trish (me!)

Mixed cheeses (Parmesan, Mozzarella, Goat’s Cheese) with Tomatoes & Asparagus by Sandro

Lamb with Grilled Onions and Cream Cheese by Cat

Smoked Salmon with Chives

Taco Pizza – Minced Meat, Lettuce, Cheese, Tomatoes & the Special Ingredient: Red Rock Sweet Chilli Chips by Pete

Prosciutto and Spinach

Hungarian Salami and Sunny Side Up

Chilli Tuna with Mushrooms, Spinach & Mozzarella by Pia

Artichoke on a Bed of Chopped Spinach by Gutsy

Bacon, Onion, Potato, Barbecue Sauce, or aptly named Bacobarbecuetatonion by Ange

Stuffed Mushrooms (with celery, mushrooms, onions) by Ala

Mushrooms, Tomatoes, Spinach, Mozzarella by Len

Super Supreme Madness – Onions, Capsicums, Tomatoes, Sausages

Chorizo. Plain & Simple.

I have to admit I probably missed about 5 more pizzas as there were 2 ovens with 2 stone plates working overtime to accommodate the queue of pizzas waiting to be cooked. But at the end of the day, when everything’s been said and done (and eaten and digested), there could only be one winner.

One Best Pizza Winner.

And who reigned supreme?

ME!

Thank you, thank you! No need for applause, just send roses!

I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but this was fantastic!!!! There’s just one thing that I shall take home from this huge honour: food brings people together. Food is the language that everyone understands, and I can humbly say that some of the best times with these lovely people were spent in the kitchen, lovingly creating magnificent dishes to be shared by everyone.

And…. this will now become an annual pizza night for the gang and although I will be the reigning queen for a year, I’m sure alot are after my throne (ahem Pete ahem!). So, next year I vow it will be bigger, better & much much more outrageous. My friends are competitive like that. We’re cool like that!

…

Of course, there’s no birthday without cake. I was initially planning on making a chocolate brownie cake pizza complete with ganache and sprinkles and marshmallows and nuts, however decided to stick with good old fashioned brownies – simple, fudgy, nothing fancy. Just the traditional ones that even got the thumbs up from a certain American who knows his brownies (trust me, he knows his brownies).

Towards the end of the night, when everyone’s winding down (read: getting tired and drunk), Gutsy exclaimed what everyone had in mind: she wanted something sweet. Out went the savoury Trish and in came the sweet tooth in me again. I was in the mood for some baking too, and one quick look at their pantry revealed butter, sugar, eggs, flour and a muffin tray.

What do you do?

Make cupcakes, of course.

And so cupcakes I made.

So, what do you think I should make for the next year’s Pizza Awards Night? Fish and chips pizza? Coconut macaron pizza? Or maybe a pavlova pizza with lashings of passionfruit and whipped cream spiked with Kahlua (mmmm that sounds wonderful actually…)

We shall see, puppet. We shall see.