Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder...... Its what's for dinner

This is a restaurant like no other in the world. If you live in Chicago land and have not been, I highly recommend making it a priority on your to do list. I did previously blog about this spot on my top 10 restaurants in Chicago. So if you want to get some neat facts and story line of the restaurant, please take a peek. Todays blog is to all who have never been to Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder (CPOG), and feel the need to get a better understanding of what I am talking about.

This past Friday in the late afternoon we decided to have a few friends over for dinner. Upon organizing guest arrival times, I thought what can I pull together in a couple hours. Having blogged the day before about restaurants I was trying to decide what people would like, that was easy and contained the majority of ingredients I had in our fridge. That's when the light went on.  I was going to replicate the CPOG menu.

Menu:
Mediterranean Bread
Chefs Salad
Onion Dressing & House Dressing
Pot Pie Pizzas

Now Lets Get Cooking!!!

Pie Crust/Bowl

Pot Pie Dough

Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)

1 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons EVOO (vegetable oil works really well too)

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (White or Wheat)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes

2. Stir in the salt and oil into the yeast solution

3. Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour and begin to mix with a bread mixer or just take my route and use your hands (its so easy)

4. Keep adding flour and mixing until it has formed a body. It will still be sticky, but remove the dough mixture from the bowl and transport to a floured surface.

5. Knead the dough while continually adding flour until it is no longer sticky and true to pizza dough form. 

6. Take a bowl and coat it in oil and then place the dough in the bowl then cover with a dry towel and place a side for 1 hour..... We will come back

While the dough begins to rise lets get started on the pizza meat sauce

Pot Pie Pizza Meat Sauce

POT PIE PIZZA MEAT SAUCE

Ingredients:

EVOO

1/2 cup red wine

1 28oz can of crushed or pureed tomatoes

1 white onion

3-4 garlic cloves

1 1/2 tablespoon honey

1/2 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon cumin

a pinch of rosemary

a pinch of salt

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

pizza seasoning (optional) 

Ground Beef

Directions: 

1. Chop the onion and garlic

2. In a large saucepan coat the bottom in EVOO and cook the onion and garlic until the aromas are filling the kitchen and the onion looks a little transparent. 

3. When you can see the transparency in the onion, add the beef and cook until there is very little pink left

4. Once you have gotten it to this point add the tomato puree and let it cook until it is simmering. 

5. When it begins to simmer add all the spices and extras in no particular order including the wine and honey EXCEPT FOR THE CHEESE. This is last

6. Once everything has fully been blended and your almost ready to be done with the sauce add the cheese. Stir for 1 minute, and then let it cook for 1 minute and remove. Set aside  with the top on until we start building our pot pies :)

At this point we probably have about 5 more minutes until the dough is ready to be rolled. So I decided to get started on the dressing for the Chefs Salad and Mediterranean Bread. 

Onion Garlic Dressing

ONION GARLIC DRESSING

Ingredients:

An entire bunch of green onions

2 garlic cloves

A container of sour cream

Buttermilk

Directions:

1. Chop the green onion and garlic very well

2. Add to a bowl with the sour cream and mix

3. Once it has been mixed slowly add the buttermilk until it stands at the consistency that you would like your dressing to be at

Once the dressing is complete, refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Lets get back to the Pot Pie/ Pizza Dough... shall we?

The dough should have risen to almost double its size. If so, remove the dough and place on a well floured surface. 

From here just knead the bread so that all of the air bubbles are gone. After this you can begin to roll. I roll the dough until its about 1/4 inch thick. Which means with all of this dough the entire counter is covered. So I would recommend a significant amount of work space. 

You can either free hand with a knife or take a larger round object (like a bowl) to guide you when cutting the top for your pizza. Cut out almost as if you were making cookies with cookie cutters and place the dough to the side

BODY OF THE POT PIE

Ingredients:

Vegetable Oil

Sliced Mozzarella Cheese

Sliced Provolone Cheese

Shredded Asiago

Home made meat sauce

Home made dough

Now take an oven safe bowl and coat in vegetable oil (this prevents the cheese from sticking to the bottom)

From here we start adding the cheese. A layer of Mozz, Provolone and shredded Asiago so that it coats the bottom and sides of the oven safe bowl

Add the Home Made Sauce we set aside so that it almost barrels out the top.

Take the dough tops we set aside, and coat in the the vegetable oil on the side that is facing down. Then place the top over the pizza pie and brush the top with a little more oil

In an oven at 500 degrees.... they go

we made 6 larger pot pies and 2 smaller ones

While the pot pies are cooking (takes about 25-30 min at 500 degrees) Take the remainder of the dough and re-roll. Were now going to start with the Mediterranean Bread

MEDITERRANEAN BREAD

Ingredients:

Remainder of the dough

Pizza spices

shredded parm cheese

dried parley

dried oregano

dried red pepper

Directions:

Roll the dough out so that it is the size of a large floppy pizza. It does not have to be a perfect shape. Coat a pizza pan with a little vegetable oil and place the dough on the pan or pizza stone. Then rub a little more oil onto the face of the dough and cover in all the spices including the parm (but dont go too crazy because were not making a sauceless pizza).

Place on the bottom shelf of the oven with the pizzas still in there and cook for 10-15 min. You dont even want this to be slightly golden. It should be cooked yet soft almost like a pitta.

Last but not least.....

CHEFS SALAD

Ingredients:

Iceberg 

Green and red pepper

Artichoke

Pepperchinis

Large Green Olives (a couple with stuffed blue cheese)

Large Black Olive

Tomato

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Finally were ready to eat!!!!

Chefs salad with the home made onion garlic dressing and italian dressing

Mediterranean Bread

Heres the best little secret.... Take the bread a rip a large piece off. Place a good amount of salad and a dollop of your dressing onto the center of your bred and fold like a taco. The combo is just so yummy

Pot Pie Pizzas before they were flipped.

The trick to flipping the pot pies is, flip the pot pie onto your serving plate and run a spoon along the interior of the bowl so that all of the cheese comes out as one

Now I have to apologize for this next photo, we ate the pot pies without even thinking of taking a picture. So the picture we did take was of the one pot pie that was left over the morning after. So it does not look as good as it did. 

Ok so the image is terrible. But the one below is what it would have looked like

Im sorry for the lengthy blog, but if you get a chance to trying this meal it might just be your new favorite and inspiration to get on a plane to the Windy City and experience it first hand

Bon Appetite