Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

This is definitely a favorite pizza! I've made it a few times. The crust is tender and delicious.
A few years ago, I gave up making my own pizza dough since store-bought is just quick and easy. Here is a case where I craved this pizza and had to make the crust myself (takes a while so it's a good task for when you have a free afternoon).

The secret crust ingredient: a russet potato!

Rising dough.

The helper performing a taste test. Mmmm!

Allow the dough to rest in the pans one last time.

For sauce, I simply drained a can of diced tomatoes in a sieve.

Form the edges and prick with a fork several times.

While baking the crust, prep your toppings. We chose crumbled sausage, pepperoni, green pepper, sliced onion, kalamata olives, and shiitake mushrooms. We used our favorite pizza cheese, reduced fat Dragone, freshly grated (1/2 a block for 2 pizzas).

The prebaked crust is ready for toppings!

Makes one 14-inch pizza or two pizzas, 6" and 8"

1 medium baking potato (about 9 ounces), peeled and quartered
1 1/2 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup water (warm, 105 to 115 degrees)
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for oiling bowl
1 3/4 teaspoons table salt

1. Bring 1 quart water and potato to boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and cool potato until it can be handled comfortably. Grate through large holes on box grater. Measure 1 1/3 cups lightly packed potato; discard remaining potato.

2. Adjust one oven rack to lowest position; heat oven to 200 degrees. Once temperature reaches 200º, maintain heat 10 minutes, then turn off heat. Keep in mind that yeast multiplies the best between 105 to 115º and is killed at temperatures above 140º.

3. In bowl of standing mixer fit with paddle attachment, mix yeast, 1/2 cup flour, and 1 cup warm water until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warmed oven for 20 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, 3 cups flour, salt, and potato. Mix on low speed until dough comes together. I found it necessary to drizzle in more olive oil to make the dough come together. Or you could use more water.

Switch to dough hook attachment and increase speed to medium; continue kneading 10 minutes. Transfer dough to lightly oiled medium bowl, turn to coat with oil and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in warm oven until dough is soft and spongy and doubled in size, 45 minutes.

4. Oil bottom of deep-dish pizza pan (we used 8" and 6" cast iron skillets) with remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil. Remove dough from oven; turn onto clean, dry work surface and pat into rounds. Transfer rounds to pan, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest until dough no longer resists shaping, about 10 minutes.

5. Heat oven to 425º. Uncover dough and pull up into edges and up sides of pan to form 1-inch-high lip. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in warm draft-free spot until double in size, about 30 minutes. Uncover dough and prick generously with fork.

Bake in preheated oven until dry and lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Add desired toppings; bake until cheese melts, 10 to 15 minutes. Move pizza to top rack and bake until cheese is spotty golden brown, about 5 minutes longer.

Let cool 5 minutes, then, holding pizza pan at angle with one hand, use wide spatula to slide pizza from pan to cutting board. Cut into wedges and serve.

Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

This is the best recipe I've found for chicken soup. Instead of trying to create flavorful stock from scraps and bones of chicken, you create a better one using ground chicken. Small pieces of chicken give up flavor much more than large pieces of chicken.
First, make the stock.
Heat 1 TB veg oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering.
Add 1 lb ground chicken, 1 small chopped onion, 1 medium peeled, chopped carrot, and 1 stalk chopped celery. Cook, stirring frequently until chicken is no longer pink.
Reduce heat to medium-low.
Add 32 oz. water, 64 oz. (2 cartons) low-sodium chicken broth, 3 bay leaves, a dash of table salt, and 2 split bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves, cut in half.
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove lid and bring to a boil on high (if boiling already, immediately remove chicken breasts to a plate to cool).
Maintain a gentle boil for 20 minutes.
Pour stock through a sieve set upon another large pot or bowl. Press down on solids to get any liquid gold out, then discard the solids. Let the stock sit to cool while you prep veggies for the final soup.
Once stock has cooled, skim off fat with a spoon. You will leave some behind, the point is to remove any excess.
Return the stock to the Dutch oven set over medium-high heat.
Measure 1/4 cup water. Add 3 TB cornstarch and stir up until dissolved. Stir into the stock and bring to a gentle boil.
Add a small onion, halved and sliced thin, 2 medium carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise in 3/4" pieces, 1 celery rib, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2" pieces, 1 medium russet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4" cubes. Cook until potato pieces are almost tender, 10-15 minutes.
Add 1 cup egg noodles and continue to cook until tender, about 5 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, remove skin and bones from chicken breasts and finely shred with your fingers. It's helpful to cut some of the larger strands with a knife once they're pulled apart.
Add shredded chicken to soup, along with 2 TB chopped parsley (from our garden!) and cook until heated through, 2 minutes longer. Season with fresh ground pepper; serve.

Stuffed Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Sauce

A favorite market, Russo's, often has nice vacuumed-packed cuts of beef. This time I bought a pack of beef tenderloin ends for around $5.50. It contained two pieces, which I was able to butterfly with a sharp knife.
In a pat of butter and splash of olive oil set over medium high heat, sautee 1/2 a chopped large onion, for 5 minutes.

Saute 8 shiitake mushrooms, chopped up, for an additional 5 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring often, until veggies are deeply browned, about 10 minutes longer.
Stir in 1 clove of minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant.

Pour in 1/4 cup Madeira wine and scrape up any browned bits. Cook 2-3 minutes until it evaporates. Put mixture in a separate container and set aside to cool.
Pat mixture onto tenderloins. Top with baby spinach leaves. Roll up and tie with butcher's twine.

Drizzle with olive oil to coat, both sides. Salt & pepper.
Preheat oven to 450º.
Brown in a skillet preheated over medium high heat.
Cast iron works well.
Turn to brown all sides. Transfer to an oven dish and roast for 10 minutes.
Allow to cool a couple minutes then snip ties away.
Make a sauce with melted (microwaved) blue cheese (3/4) and butter (1/4). Pour any pan juices into it and mix up. We had it easy in that we just did that to a gifted cheese ball (also with chopped walnuts, which is a nice texture). Top with some sliced scallions (green onions). They make it sooo good!
Though not done here, Alex suggests cooking 3 strips of bacon until crispy, then crumble and also use as topping.
This meal took so much effort, that the taster was already asleep and we didn't bother with sides!

Panko Chicken Nuggets

I couldn't believe how many nuggets could be cut from one chicken breast (as in, what's cooking above)!
They were nice 1" or so, bite-size morsels.

Have a plate of flour, a bowl with a beaten egg + tsp water, a bowl with panko bread crumbs.

First, sprinkle the chicken liberally with your favorite dried seasoning. I went for an Italian blend of herbs.
Then dust on some flour to coat.
Dip into egg.
Put in panko bowl and coat.
Put on plate.

Coat the bottom of a heavy skillet with olive oil (1/4" so you cook the sides, too).
Heat oil over medium/medium high, until a drop of water spits.
Cook chicken in batches, using tongs to turn. Remember to use clean tongs once they are cooked. Try not to turn them until the first side is very golden brown.
Place cooked nuggets onto paper towels to drain.

Serve as is, with Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce and/or honey.

I like to have them over a garden salad with Italian dressing.

They can be made ahead and refrigerated. Reheat in the toaster oven at 375º for 10 minutes.

Bacon Cheeseburgers

We love to make our own burgers. The process is easy and you can buy a large quantity of meat, form the patties and freeze them if you'd prefer. 3 patties per pound of meat is about right.

Use 85% lean beef, sea salt, fresh ground pepper and smoked paprika. Use ample amounts (more pepper than salt). Carefully use your hands to combine. Form patties to desired size and freeze or cook. If it was grilling weather I would cook these outside.
First, fry up some bacon for topping.
Drain the fat and rinse the (cast iron) skillet out and wipe it dry.
Preheat the pan over high heat.
Generally, cook 3 minutes on each side. Do not press down on them with a spatula (you'll press out the juices!) Soon before they are done, put a slice of cheese on top.
Did I mention this recipe will also stink up the kitchen?
Top with lettuce, onion, tomato, bacon and pickle slices (they are out of order in photo).
Toast a sesame-seed hamburger bun briefly. I like to use mayo, mustard and ketchup on my bun halves. Alex sticks to just mayo. Andrew doesn't usually care for mustard (but he ate it here and said he liked it!)

Taster approved! He preferred to eat the bun and patty, separately, but with none of the toppings.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked Paprika
1 pound stew beef
1 cup frozen pearl onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
3 carrots, cut on a diagonal into bite size pieces
3 ribs celery, chopped in 1/2" segments
10 fingerling (small) potatoes, cut in half if larger than 1"
1 cup frozen peas

Combine flour, paprika and garlic powder in a bowl. Cut excess fat from beef if necessary.
Use tongs to assist seasoning with salt & pepper and toss to coat in the flour bowl, shaking off excess and put pieces on a plate.
Heat oil in a dutch oven pot over medium high and brown beef on all sides. Beware, this will stink up the kitchen so ventilate as much as you can.
Transfer to the slow cooker.
Deglaze pot with the chicken broth and once browned bits are scraped up, pour into the slow cooker.
Add the remaining ingredients except for peas.
Cook on high for 4 hours, until vegetables are tender. About 30 minutes before serving, add peas to the pot.
Serves 3 to 4.

Puff Pastry Pizza!

At a loss for what to make for lunch, I tried a little improvising with the ingredients on hand. The taster said he wanted pizza and he even helped pick out the toppings. I have to note that the taster has taken an active role in helping with meal preparation. Yay! He pulls up the chair and asks how he can help.
Be forewarned, this pizza is over-the-top decadent.
Any variation of it, cut up in small pieces, would be a nice party appetizer.

Take your frozen puff pastry out of the freezer. It's supposed to thaw 40 minutes at room temperature but I cheated. Snap off a third of one sheet (it's folded in thirds). Dust with flour and microwave on a plate at half power, for one minute. Ours is an antique microwave so just keep checking it.
Place thawed dough on a cutting board dusted with flour to roll out a bit. Once rolled, slice in half and put pieces on your baking sheet (line with non-stick foil or parchment).
Preheat the oven (I used the toaster oven) to 400º.

Coat the dough with a spreadable goat cheese (Chavrie).
Use around 3 Tb sun dried tomatoes packed in oil and chop them up (Trader Joe's). Top the dough.
Slice up 6 marinated mushrooms (again, Trader Joe's) and top the dough.
Sprinkle on some capers (but beware, they cause a rich effect).
Slide into the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Shield the top with foil (to prevent the toppings from burning) and bake another 5 minutes.

Top with smoked salmon, slice up and eat!
Yum! And, shockingly, taster approved.