Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

 
 A couple of years ago, I went to Chicago for the first time on a girl's trip with my daughter, sister-in-law, Katie, her mom, and my niece.  One of the first things we did was go to Giordano's and Lou Malnati's (Giordano's is my favorite).  I'd never tasted Chicago style deep dish pizza before, and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  If you haven't tried it before, it's kind of an upside pizza with a flaky crust.  Trust me, it's good!

While there are a few pizzerias outside of Chicago where you can get the stuff, I wanted to recreate the experience at home.  I found a recipe on carnaldish.com, which totally fits the bill.

The crust is not a normal pizza crust.  It includes corn meal and you fold in a layer of butter to give it a flaky texture.

Roll out the dough and spread a layer of soft butter on top

Roll it up like a cinnamon roll

Cut the roll in half, and fold in thirds to make a ball

The sauce is made caramelized onions, and slow simmered crushed tomatoes.

Use a 9" cake pan, grease with olive oil, and line the pan with the rolled out dough.  Then, first put down the cheese, then the toppings, then the sauce.  Bake.  Serve.  YUM!

Whatever toppings you like on pizza

Toppings before sauce!

About to go in the oven

Hot out of the oven

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

From the Kitchen of Lynnae Hymas

Recipe adapted from Carnal Dish

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 3¼ cups (16¼ ounces) bread flour
• ½ cup (2¾ ounces) yellow cornmeal
• 1½ teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
• 1¼ cups water (10 ounces), room temperature
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted, plus 4 tablespoons, softened
• 1 teaspoon plus 4 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ cup grated onion
• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• Dash of crushed red pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Ground black pepper

Toppings:

• 1 pound whole-milk or part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 4 cups) (see note below)
• ½ ounce grated Parmesan cheese (about ¼ cup)
• Your favorite pizza toppings (sausage, ham, pepperoni, bacon, pineapple, etc.)

Directions

FOR THE DOUGH:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and yeast together until incorporated. Using the dough hook attachment, add the water and melted butter and mix on low speed until fully combined.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally.  Knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
2. Coat a large bowl with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and transfer the dough to the bowl, turning once to oil the top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until it's nearly doubled in size, about 45-75 minutes.

FOR THE SAUCE:

1. Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until melted. Then add the onion,  oregano, crushed red pepper and ½ teaspoon of salt, cooking and stirring occasionally until liquid has evaporated and onion is golden.  Add the garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and sugar and bring to a simmer over high heat.  Lower the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce has reduced to 2½ cups. Remove the sauce from the stove and stir in basil and oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

TO LAMINATE THE DOUGH:

1. Spray your work surface with non-stick cooking spray and turn the dough out onto the work surface.  Roll it into a rectangular shape about 1/4-inch thick.  Spread the softened butter over the dough but leave a ½-inch border along the edges.  Roll the dough into a tight cylinder (like a cinnamon roll).  Cut the roll in half and fold the half into thirds, pinching the seams together to form a ball. Repeat with the other half.  Place both dough balls into an oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough balls rise in the refrigerator until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 425°.  Oil two 9-inch round cake pans with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil each. Place 1 dough ball on a dry work surface and roll out into a 13-inch circle, about ¼-inch thick. Transfer the dough to the cake pan.  Press the dough into the pan lightly, working up the sides. Repeat with the other dough half.
3. Sprinkle 2 cups of mozzarella over the dough for each pizza.  Place your toppings on top of the cheese (if using sausage, you can leave it raw, but make sure to bake for at least 30 minutes). Spread half of the tomato sauce on top of each pizza, then sprinkle 2 tablespoons of parmesan over the sauce. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 25-35 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven to rest for 5-10 minutes.
4. Slice, serve and enjoy!

http://carnaldish.com/recipes/pizza/homemadechicago-style-deep-dish-pizza/#.VMlnDi7jeVB

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Creamy Basil Chicken

 

Creamy Basil Chicken is a family favorite around here.  It is frequently requested, always goes fast, and there are never left overs.  My oldest even made it once for a cook-off with some of his friends.

I actually buy my chicken breasts in bulk, as in 40 lbs at a time.  It takes a while to trim, cut, and bag it, but it's a time saver when I'm cooking dinner.  I cut some of it into chunks, flatten some of it, and just bag the rest.  This is some that I've already flattened along with the other ingredients to make this meal delicious.  I think the McCormick Red Pepper and Roasted Garlic Seasoning is one of the secret ingredients that makes this dish rock!

Just use two shallow bowls for the milk and bread crumb mixture.  I go straight from the bread crumbs to the frying pan.

I find it works best to brown one side of the chicken in 2 Tbs. melted butter, pull the chicken from the pan, melt 2 Tbs. of butter, and brown the other side of the chicken.

When the chicken is browned, pull it out and bake it in the oven, then add the chicken broth directly to the pan to soak up all those delicious flavors.

After adding the sauce ingredients, including the Parmesean cheese, I thicken it with a corn starch surrey.

Pull the chicken from the oven and serve it all over a bed of your favorite pasta.  I like fettuccine best!

 Creamy Basil Chicken

From the Kitchen of and Recipe by Lynnae Hymas

Ingredients

•          1 c. milk
•          3 large chicken breasts
•          4 Tbs. butter

Breading

•          1 c. Panko bread crumbs
•          1 Tbs. basil
•          1 tsp. garlic salt
•          1 tsp. McCormick Red Pepper and Roasted Garlic Seasoning

Sauce

•          1 c. chicken broth
•          2 c. heavy cream
•          1 tsp. basil
•          1 tsp. salt
•          ½ tsp. pepper
•          1 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
•          2 Tbs. corn starch
•          4 Tbs. cold water

Directions

Cut each chicken breast in half crosswise.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Using a meat tenderizer, pound each chicken breast until it’s about a ½ inch thick.  Set aside.

Mix together the Panko bread crumbs, 1 Tbs. basil, garlic salt, and McCormick Red Pepper and Roasted Garlic Seasoning in a shallow bowl.  Pour milk into another shallow bowl.  Dip chicken in the milk and then the breading mixture.  In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt 2 Tbs. butter.  Add the chicken to the pan and brown one side.  Remove the chicken from the pan and melt the other 2 Tbs. of butter.  Brown the other side of the chicken.  Remove from the pan and put in a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.   

Sauce:  Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth.  Add the cream, basil, salt, and pepper.  Add 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese and stir until melted.  Mix the corn starch and water together in a separate bowl.  Add a little at a time to the sauce and stir until desired thickness is reached.  Place chicken on your favorite pasta and then cover with sauce.

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