Just Like I Remember

Growing up, one of my dreams was to have my birthday party at this cute little food shop, where they hosted many a hands-on food preparation event (and so the story begins... perhaps this is where all of this stems from). Picture a local, everyone-knows-everyone, version of Williams-Sonoma, but with early 1990s pricing (and menus, but we'll get to that later). Even though I never realized my own dream *tear*, I was fortunate enough to attend a few of my friends' birthday parties at the shop, and they were all I'd imagined they'd be... and some deep dish pizza.

You see, at one of those fateful shindigs, the star of the show was a delicious deep dish pizza. It was so good in fact that I did what any obedient little girl in my shoes would do: I brought that recipe home and announced to my mom that we just must make it (and at this point in my life, by "we", I meant "she"). And so, over the course of my childhood, we (err... she) did, again and again and again.

Unlike the original, however, which as I recall is prepared in a 9x13 baking dish, this recipe bakes up in a well-oiled and cornmeal dusted (which, by the way, is the answer to all of your homemade pizza-making woes) cast iron skillet. Also unlike the original, this is done Chicago-style which means the cheese is layered directly on top of the crust (along with your choice of meat and/or veggies) and then the sauce is spooned over the toppings ("over the toppings" - that's ironic).

But like the original (or the version stuck in my head), both are eaten mostly with a fork and knife since their gooey yumminess makes it a bit hard to eat with your hands (though that didn't stop some people from trying).

So while this isn't the recipe I came home with that day, *see, I don't always go running to my mom for ideas or recipes (shhh... mom, can you send it to me?)*, it was a darn good rendition, and perhaps it just might be 2009's answer to cooking-store-birthday-parties-that-dreams-are-made-of's deep dish pizza.

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

from Cooking Light