A great and cost controlled way to spend an evening with friends would be to have a “Pizza Party” with your Raclette.
We all know what we like on our pizza and looking at the ingredients in what they now call “Artisan Pizza” we can get an idea of what other toppings we can use. From anchovies to ham, from pre-fried Italian sausage to loose hamburger, pineapple to spinach or just the basic pepperoni and cheese, also mushrooms, onions, olives and maybe even sour cherries, the ingredients you want to include is only limited by your imagination and what you and your guests are willing to try.
A 2 ½ minute YouTube video of a Swiss Raclette Pizza Party
With the Raclette you and your friends can experiment with taste combinations to your heart’s desire and as you only make a small portion at a time, if a particular set up does not taste the way you imagined, no big deal, just create a different one.
So, with a nice spread of ingredients your guests are not limited to what you ordered from the pizza joint, they create their own and thus are individual “Pizza Artisans”. Wow, you can even call this an “Artisan Pizza Party”, nobody else will be able to trump that!
As the “dough” we use a thinly sliced French baguette or flat bread and if you want just the toppings you can omit bread all together.
Many of the commercial pepperoni or pizza sausages are too high in fat content for our taste, so we prefer a lean Hard Salami from a good source. To “pepperoni-ize” it you can always add some cayenne pepper for heat and paprika for color.
“We” start with a slice of salami and/or ham on the grill top. Once grilled a bit, transfer to the raclette pan, spoon on some spaghetti or pizza sauce, add all other toppings you feel like and top it with your choice of cheese; mozzarella for the timid to Asiago and may be even Limburger (lol) for the adventuresome (The smell of a good ripe Limburger is not for the fainthearted and might chase your guests away early but is mentioned as an ingredient to show the wide variety of cheeses you could use).
Set the pan under the broiler, place your “dough” part on the grill to toast, sit back and have a drink till your concoction or let’s call it “Artisan Creation” is done. If you are really hungry, you could also work on your follow up “culinary experience” by getting your next pan ready.
When the cheese is melted to your desire, move the bread to your plate and slide the contents of the pan onto it, it is time to eat. Enjoy!
As everybody creates their own, they get exactly what they want. If they dare to try unusual combinations and like them, they might even change their choice of toppings on their future pizza orders.
We consider this a fun way to experience something common in a brand new way.