Merry Christmas! Welcome to this Christmas Eve Pizza and a Movie! Today’s pizza is a deliciously savory mix of bright red Spanish chorizo, green olives, ricotta, fresh oregano and a snowy dusting of Parmesan – a festive color palette for Christmas Eve. While we don’t tend to watch a ton of Christmas movies, our holiday season wouldn’t be complete without at least one watch of Bad Santa; the 2003 movie starring Billy Bob Thornton as a conman working as a mall Santa. This movie’s dry comedy gets me every time. So let’s get right to it!
Building the Christmas Pizza
I am using store bought dough today, because it’s Christmas Eve and I want to take it easy! Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Our main ingredients are Spanish chorizo (you can use pepperoni with the same effect), low moisture mozzarella (a block torn into pieces yielding about 1 cup of cheese), and chopped green olives. To top the pie before the bake, I have ricotta cheese. And to top the pie after the bake, we have Parmesan and fresh oregano leaves.
Lightly oil a sheet tray and roll, stretch or pull your dough out to roughly fill the sheet tray. Lay the dough in the oiled sheet tray and brush the perimeter of the stretched dough with olive oil.
Stretch the dough to roughly fit the pan. 
Brush the outer edges with olive oil. 
Ready to add toppings.
The first layer will be the mozzarella cheese. Spread the cheese evenly on the dough. Then, top the cheese with the slices of chorizo or pepperoni. I like to tuck a few of the chorizo slices under pieces of mozzarella.
Mozzarella cheese first. 
Then chorizo slices.
Follow the chorizo with the chopped green olives.
Then use a spoon to dollop scoops of ricotta evenly around the top of the pizza. And we are ready for the oven!
Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes, until the crust is puffed and golden, and the cheese is melted and begins to develop brown spots.
When the pizza comes out of the oven, use a micro-plane grater, and generously grate Parmesan cheese over the whole pizza – don’t forget the crust! And then sprinkle the fresh oregano leaves over the pizza. And there we have a gorgeous white, red and green pizza!
Ease the Christmas Pizza out of the pan with a fish spatula onto a cutting board, slice and serve!
Movie Night: Bad Santa
We have our Christmas Pizza ready, so let’s get to that Christmas Movie! As I mentioned at the top, this movie is about a conman who work as a mall Santa to gain access to the mall and rob the shops after hours. While the premise of this movie is super predictable: a drunken, loser guy meets a needy kid who needs his help; and the kid ends up giving the loser-guy hope. But, none of this premise is executed in a way that says “feel-good Christmas Movie”. This is a “take no prisoners” kamikaze-type of film that is relentlessly funny from start to finish. If Bad Santa is not already in your Christmas Movie rotation, I highly recommend you give it a watch! Bad Santa is available to rent on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play and YouTube.
Thank you all so much for spending some of your Christmas Eve with me today! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. If you want to see last year’s Christmas Movie and a Pizza posts, check out The Gourmet Pizza and Christmas Vacation and French Bread Pizza and Trading Places. I will see you again Sunday. Take care and be well. xo Kelly
Christmas Pizza
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Loading...Today we are making a chorizo, olive and ricotta pizza, finished with fresh oregano and a snowy dusting of Parmesan. It's a Christmas Pizza!
Ingredients
- 1 Prepared Pizza Dough
- Olive Oil
- 8 oz. Low Moisture Mozzarella, torn into pieces
- 4 oz. Spanish Chorizo Slices
- 1/2 cup Chopped Green Olives
- 1/4-1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese, grated for topping baked pizza
- 2 tbsp. Fresh Oregano Leaves, garnish
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Lightly oil a sheet tray with olive oil.
Pull, stretch or roll dough out to roughly fill sheet pan.
Brush olive oil on the dough's crust.
Top first with mozzarella cheese, then top the cheese with the chorizo slices.
Evenly sprinkle the chopped olives over the chorizo, then dollop scoops of ricotta evenly around pizza.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, until crust is puffed and golden and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
When pizza comes out of the oven, generously grate Parmesan cheese over the whole pizza, including the crust.
Top with fresh oregano leaves.
Debbie
December 24, 2021 at 10:33 amMerry Christmas, Kelly! I love your holiday decor.
Kelly Djalali
December 24, 2021 at 11:16 amMerry Christmas, Debbie! Thank you so much! Have a wonderful Holiday, xo Kelly
Mari
December 24, 2021 at 10:36 amWhen most people talk about pairings, they are referencing the wine they are going to serve with cheeses or meats, or whatever. When I hear pairings, I think of pizza and a movie! With the great recipes that are posted here, who can blame me? I love Bad Santa and I love chorizo and I love pizza. Because of an annoying inability to tolerate dairy, my pizzas that I make for me don’t turn out quite the same. The ones I make for the family do. I did find a Vegan cheese that melts beautifully and tastes delicious, and that is a major accomplishment. Don’t get me started on their cream cheese and Breton crackers, I beg you. Anyway, Christmas Eve at my house is always pizza and a movie, so this wonderful blog makes it Christmas 52 times a year. Fifty three when Christmas Eve isn’t a Friday. I absolutely love Billy Bob’s expressions in this movie. He has a wonderfully elastic face, and he does a lot with his face. Well it may be Christmas Eve, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a pizza challenge. Actually it does mean there won’t be a pizza challenge. Since it’s Christmas Eve, it’s the Santa cookies and whatever challenge. He could have a pizza, but he has a ferocious sweet tooth after centuries of milk and cookies, and you don’t want him tearing the chimney apart because he didn’t get something sugary . He probably will need a drink to wash the sweets and sandwiches and canapés, and whatever down with. Santa says he isn’t down with milk, so he needs something wet, but not necessarily milk. He will never turn down chocolate milk, so he’s a tricky guy.
Stump The Chef’s Christmas edition begins with one of my favorite movies, “Love, Actually.” Emma Thompson’s impassioned speech to her cheating husband, Alan Rickman, always reduces me to tears. Since it’s an English movie, mincemeat tarts could be one of Santa’s treats. So could a few pints of beer, or maybe not, since he would be drinking and driving. We can’t have that. Next we have the ultimate vintage Christmas movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life”, with the incomparable Jimmy Stewart. I love this movie, and I watch it every time I see it in the TV listings. It was not a success when it was released, but as time passed, it became the huge hit it always should have been. “Miracle On 34th Street” is another classic. It featured Natalie Wood before she became Natalie Wood, and it is fabulous. Edmund Gwenn as Santa, is perfect casting. Almost any of the old versions of “A Christmas Carol”, are worth watching, and the casting is always perfect. I even enjoyed the version with George C. Scott.
Merry Christmas, love and hugs to Kelly, Alex, Dante, Penny, Sophie, and the blog sisters. May you be surrounded with love, friends, and joy. And may you ladies find designer shoes and handbags under the tree but nothing that says Fruit Of The Loom. It was a given that with five kids in my family, Santa was going to leave us underwear during the lean years.
Kelly Djalali
December 24, 2021 at 11:29 amMerry Christmas, Mari! I love the idea of leaving little hand pies out for Santa. And I would like to leave him a selection of sweet pies and savory pies – the savory ones like little empanadas, filled with Mexican chorizo and cotija cheese. The sweet ones could have a mixture of Nutella and fruit preserves. I think if my house was close to last on the list, Santa would be ready to unwind with a hot toddy. He could take it in an insulated to-go cup and sip it as he flies home.
Well, I have preparations to begin for Christmas Eve with the family, so I will have to leave it here…Thank you so much Mari, we wish you and your family a Merry Christmas.
xo Kelly
Sylvia Espinoza
December 24, 2021 at 2:33 pmMerry Christmas, Kelly ❤ Wish you, The Djalali Family, and The Blog Sisters many blessings. You all make my heart smile ❤?❤
Kelly Djalali
December 24, 2021 at 3:22 pmMerry Christmas, Sylvia! It’s good to hear from you today, we wish you and yours all the joy! Have a beautiful Holiday. xo Kelly
Suzanne Smith
December 24, 2021 at 7:38 pmThat looks delicious. And every single year, it’s a requirement invite house ( by next) that we must watch bad Santa. . I love Billy Bob Thornton abd Thurman Merman. We may watch that tonight. Always makes me laugh and puts me in a sentimental good mood. Merry Christmas!!
Kelly Djalali
December 26, 2021 at 9:10 amHello Suzanne! LOL – Another Bad Santa fan! Such a funny movie. I hope you had a lovely holiday, Merry Christmas. xo Kelly
Suzanne Smith
December 24, 2021 at 7:39 pmDamn. Typing on my phone. It’s a requirement in our house (by me) that we watch every year