Portillo's Chopped Salad

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A little over four weeks ago, I dropped off my first born child, Jack, to The University of Missouri. Man, oh man, was that ever tough.  I told my husband that it was a good thing that he was there because I would've had to stay in a hotel in Columbia for a week just to compose myself before driving home.  I think I lost 5 pounds in tears alone😭.  But on the bright side, the move-in went well, he was happy and excited, and I was going to see him in three weeks!!

So last weekend, my husband and I drove back down to Columbia to see our first SEC football game, Missouri Tigers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks.  Woohoo! Actually, it was just an excuse to hug him one more time😉.  It was so much fun!!  Friday we took him out for Shakespeare's Pizza with his roommate and a friend. Their Panda Pepper pizza is the bomb!  Saturday we saw SEC Nation show live with Tim Tebow, then my husband and I headed over to Glenn's Café for some fried oysters and bloodies that were made with Absolut Peppar vodka. Yummy!  Then we walked and walked and walked some more.  Next, we met up with Jack again and my husband's cousin who was the former SID (sports information director) for the Gamecocks and then we might have had a few beers (Jack had a coke) while we were catching up on our lives.  Later that day we walked down Stadium Blvd. and watched South Carolina beat Mizzou 31-13.  Minus the score for the Mizzou fans, it was a beautiful day!  

But before we headed back down to Columbia, I asked Jack if there was anything he would like me to bring from home.  It was also his birthday weekend, so he most certainly asked for a batch of my cupcakes, but he also requested Italian beef and gravy from that quickly expanding American restaurant chain serving up Chicago-style foods, a.k.a Portillo's. You got it, babe! Since then, I have had Portillo's on my mind, but the weather has been unusually warm for me to sink my teeth into an Italian Beef. So I pulled out an old recipe for the Portillo's Chopped Salad to satisfy my craving.

This salad is a meal!  Pasta✓ Chicken✓ Bacon✓ Veggies✓ Greens✓ Cheese✓ Seriously, what more could you want?  Well, maybe a super yummy sweet Italian vinaigrette to bring it all together 😋.  Like most salads, it is also very versatile.  In my version, I marinate the chicken breast in some of the vinaigrette, then I grill the chicken for a nice charred flavor.  However,  you can simply sauté the chicken or you can leave it out all together and serve it as a side salad for a large crowd.  I also use Radicchio instead of red cabbage because I like the bitter taste of it with the sweet dressing.  You can also add as much or as little of the tomatoes and the pungent blue cheese to your liking.  Whatever your variation turns out to be, I guarantee it will be good.  This salad also keeps pretty well.  It was easy to pack for school/work lunches and it was very nice to come home to on my lunch break this week.

Back to the weekend...on Sunday, we took Jack out one more time for breakfast at The Broadway Diner.  I don't think it has ever taken me that long to eat breakfast.  I just didn't want the weekend to end and leave my baby.  He wanted to walk back to his dorm room, so we said good-bye in the parking lot and...yes, I cried again 😢.  But it wasn't as bad as the first time.  You see, I get to see him again in two and a half weeks!!  Doin' my happy dance! This is one of the few times I am more than happy to travel more than 8 hours for soccer games in Kansas City because we will drive right through Columbia and have dinner with our boy!

Italian Beef Sandwiches

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If you are from the Chicago area, you probably recognize the bad boy in the picture above.  The Italian Beef sandwich is a culinary institution in the Second City.  Each beef stand has its own method and thus, flavor and texture, so everybody seems to have a favorite.  I was introduced to the sandwich in my late teens and after a few years and samples of many variations, I got the familiar voice in my head--"I want to try this at home."  After much searching and tweaking of recipes, I struck gold with this process.  If you have been transplanted to some other city or country and can't get it or if you're still around and always wanted to try your hand at making the succulent, juicy beef yourself-- have I got a plan for you!  

In order to help you make your very own Italian Beef sandwices at home, I have included a few step-by-steps below.  

Prepare the ingredients for the rub, reserving 1 tablespoon of the mixture to season the juice.  Massage the rub on all sides of the meat.  Allow to rest for 1 hour at room temperature.  This ensures that the meat will cook evenly.

Roast the meat at 450° F for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350° F and cook until the internal temperature reaches 130°-135° F for medium rare.  Cooking the meat to medium rare is important for tenderness.  The meat will be further cooked when warmed in the juice before assembling the sandwich. Once rested, tightly wrap the roast in double layers of aluminum foil then plastic wrap and chill for several hours, preferably overnight.  Chilling makes it easier to slice. The meat needs to be sliced as thin as possible, preferably with an electric knife.  In fact, I would not even try slicing it by hand.  Thick cuts of meat make for a tough sandwich.

Remove the roast from the pan, lightly tent with foil, and set aside to rest for 20-30 minutes; reserve any meat drippings.  Meanwhile, deglaze the pan with boullion cubes, water, reserved seasoning from the rub mixture, and any reserved meat drippings.  

Once chilled, slice shave the meat as thin as possible (I cannot stress this enough), preferably with an electric knife, unless you can get your hands on a meat slicer.  

I am talking paper thin slices, my friends.  They don't have to be uniform, but ultra thin is key.  Electric knives are fairly inexpensive, so go get one.  I use mine all the time for meats and roasts.

Juice and meat can be made a day ahead and I recommend it highly.

The next day, heat the juice over a low heat and allow the meat to soak for no more than one minute.  Otherwise, it becomes tough and chewy.  Dress your sandwich with some juice, sautéed green peppers if you like (we like), hot giardinara (we like Pagliacci Hot Italian Pepper Spread in oil), and a good ladle of more juice (or dip the whole sandwich).  Push up your sleeves, elbows up, and dig in.  Don't forget the fries!