Kitchenette

Change.  It’s a funny thing.

The winds of change are blowing around here.  Not in a food-related or blog-related sense, necessarily, but our lives are changing.  I won’t share everything here now, but we are excited about what’s going on (and no, I am NOT pregnant…ack!).

Spring is coming.  Spring WILL come.  And even that is change enough for me.

This morning, I am sitting with the laptop enjoying the sunshine streaming through my windows and baking cookies for something at church this weekend (chocolate chip, cinnamon sugar, and World Peace cookies - all Dorie recipes, in case you’re curious).  The sunshine creeps in, and suddenly I am daring to believe that things just might be different.  That I can put myself out there, and that good things will happen.  That’s what spring does to me.

So, with all this talk of spring, why am I sharing our Valentine’s Day with you (I know, I know - a good blogger would’ve made their V-Day dinners early so they could post about them on Valentine’s Day itself, but I am a certified Bad Blogger, so you get it now, nigh St. Patty’s day)?

See, Mr. K and I are not big on Valentine’s Day.  Love shouldn’t be mandated by a greeting card company and, in reality, is just as valid and special on, say, March 14th as it is on February 14th, October 23rd, or whatever.  In fact, we are so cynical about the silliness of Valentine’s that we have a long-standing tradition of celebrating it in this manner:

That’s right.  Portillo’s.

If Tony Bourdain has taught me anything, it’s that every major locale has it’s own spin on meat in its tubular form.  And while I think Chicago-style pizza is highly overrated, Portillo’s = best.  hot dogs.  ever.

This is a true Chicago hot dog.  It is apparently blasphemous for a Chicagoan to include ketchup on a Chicago-style hot dog, but I have never done anything this city has told me to, so I say go for it!  In fact, I find most “true Chicagoans” to be so obnoxious about these hot dogs that I eat nothing but ketchup on my Portillo’s dogs.  Oh the horror!  This isn’t exactly a “real” recipe persay, but if you want to feel like a true Chicagoan, fix yourself one of these and share it with the one you love.

Chicago-Style Hot Dog
A la Portillo’s

• All-beef hot dog
•  Poppy seed bun
• Mustard
• Chopped onion
• Sweet pickle relish
• Sliced tomatoes
• Sport peppers
• A dash of celery salt
• An entire dill pickle spear

Boil or steam the dog - buying a decent brand is important here.  I understand that hot dogs barely classify as consumable food, but try to get one that at least tastes like meat, not rubber.  Steaming the bun for a little while makes it nice and soft, too.

Top with remaining ingredients, with pickle spear on top.  Enjoy, and Let’s Go Cubbies!

This winter is making me crazy. Snow, melt. Snow, snow, melt. Snow, snow, snow, snow, melt, melt, snow. And so on.

Hi, my name is Jen, and I live in Chicago. And I am NOT very happy about it.

In the spirit of misdirected rage, I bring you this: my spit-in-the-face-of-Chicago-and- all-it’s-deep-dish-monstrously-overrated-pizza-glory. The truth is, I first made this pizza in an attempt to copy my favorite pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. However, they have since dropped it from the menu (oh, the horror!), so looks like I’m flying solo on this one.

In order to be abso-fabulous, this pizza requires five things: crust (duh), a butter sauce, chicken, cheese, and a potato. The rest is up to you - it’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure pizza!

And because this winter is wearing thin on my patience, hey look! A recipe!

Garlic Chicken & Potato Pizza
Adapted from the lonely recesses of my troubled mind (aka a Kitchenette original)

1. Choose your own crust! A few that I have enjoyed are here at Use Real Butter and here at Smitten Kitchen. I always ordered the whole wheat crust at CPK. Alternatively, use a premade crust or even one of those little tubes of pizza dough that come in a can if you’re feeling frisky (or brave!). Anyway, prepare your crust according to recipe instructions. Preheat the oven and partially bake the crust if desired.

2. Choose your own potato! I typically use a russet, but nearly anything will work - a smallish russet (or equivalent) will cover one pizza. Cook the potato however you like - I typically slice mine, drizzle some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast it at 350 for 45 minutes or so. You could also slice up some leftover baked potatoes or boil it. The point is to cook those taters until they’re almost, but not quite, done. They will finish cooking on the pizza.

3. Choose your own chicken! I’ve found one boneless-skinless chicken breast to be adequate. Roast it, grill it, poach it, whatever. This is also a great recipe for using up leftover chicken. Once it’s cooked, shred or cut it into bite-size pieces.

4. Choose your own cheese! Mozzarella is still my favorite for this pizza, but anything goes. It’s YOUR pizza.

5. The butter sauce: Okay, this one actually has rules, people. Melt 6 tbs butter and add 6 tbs olive oil. Once hot, add and saute 2 cloves of minced garlic (or more - the choice is yours!) until fragrant. Add 2 tbs white wine and mixed herbs to suit your palette - I love fresh rosemary and basil, but dried herbs work well, too. Simmer 15 minutes or until it’s a consistency you can live with. If you like a lemon-butter sauce similar to the CPK pizza, squeeze in lemon juice to taste.

6. Spread the butter sauce on the crust and top with remaining ingredients. Using your crust recipe as a guide for time and oven temperature, bake until the cheese is just beginning to brown on top and the crust is nice and golden.

7 . Now come over and shovel my driveway!