Pizza, chili, chicken wings. It's the grub of choice for Super Bowl partygoers everywhere. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say, “lack of choice.”
That menu was probably considered imaginative decades ago when, for most, pizza was a treat not a staple, chili was the most exotic spice on your rack, Buffalo wings were the spiciest thing in your cookbook – and if you did teriyaki, you were pushing the envelop of Asian cuisine.
This Sunday, as millions gather in front of their high-definition television screens, it seems more reminiscent of high-school cafeteria chow.
But model your menu after Taste of the NFL and you can elevate your game-day gathering.
Chef Paul O'Connell, of Chez Henri restaurant, puts the final touches on a smoked cod and lobster chowder served with chili lime butter (Jodi Hilton for The Globe and Mail)
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Every year since 1992, on the eve of the Super Bowl, the host city (this year it's Phoenix), holds a $500 (U.S.)-a-head fundraiser for local and national hunger organizations. Each of the NFL cities sends a chef from one of its top restaurants to create a special dish to serve the 1,000 or so guests who attend.
This year, the pressure for perfection is on chef Paul O'Connell of Chez Henri restaurant in Cambridge, Mass. He's representing the undefeated New England Patriots with a smoked cod and lobster chowder topped with spicy butter.
“It's my mother's recipe fancied up. My grandmother was from Newfoundland, so my mom grew up on cod,” he says. “And chowder is very New England. But I'm doing chili lime butter with it so it has an Arizona twist. At home, you could serve it in coffee mugs to give it a tailgate party feeling and make it more ‘football-y.'”
Chef Stephen Lewandowski of Tribeca Grill in Manhattan is representing the other Super Bowl contenders, the New York Giants. He's opted to give a retro appetizer – meatballs in gravy – a gourmet makeover, marinating and slow cooking short ribs in wine, then mixing them into a ground beef-pork-veal trilogy. With a trio of cremini, portobello and oyster mushrooms in the gravy, he's pushing the meatball concept to new heights.
“The short ribs make the meatball incredibly moist and flavourful,” he says, adding that the dish is approved by Sopranos stars James Gandolfini, Steve Van Zandt and Vincent Pastore.
“When Gandolfini was in the restaurant, he looked at me as if to say, ‘What's a [Pole] know about meatballs?' But after he tasted them, he said, ‘Hey, these are almost as good as my mother's.'”
Other ways to upscale some old favourites for a Super Bowl party include Kansas City Chiefs duck drummettes (forget the wings), Miami Dolphins shrimp and mango curry (ditch the shrimp ring); and the Buffalo Bills beef carpaccio rolls with roasted garlic aioli (goodbye cold cuts).
Among the easiest is a mouthwatering stand-in for pizza: chargrilled bundles of smoked mozzarella cheese wrapped in prosciutto and Swiss chard.
“I chose this recipe because you can make them up ahead of time,” says chef Sanford D'Amato of Sanford Restaurant in Milwaukee, Wis., who is representing the Green Bay Packers (eliminated in the semi-finals). “Just grill them a little and serve them on a warming tray.”
Each chef has his own party tips, but they all agree on one rule: Keep it simple.
“Hey, I love having a party and having people over,” Mr. Lewandowski says, “but I'm not putting myself in the kitchen all day. This is the Super Bowl – I'm watching the game.”
Links to recipes can be found above.
SUPER BOWL PARTY TIPS
Some people like the game, some like the commercials, some like the halftime show, so there is no good time to pull everyone away from the television and serve a big dinner. Instead, offer a steady stream of appetizers.
Choose dishes that, for the most part, you can prepare in advance and only have to heat up on game day.
Avoid dishes that require a knife and fork. Think finger foods.
Lay out all your serving platters ahead of time and label them so you can focus on the next big play, not where the food should go.
If there are kids around, set up a separate play area with movies and games that will keep them amused, not interrupting on the fourth down.
All 32 NFL chef's recipes are available at TasteOfTheNfl.com. You can also order the Taste of the NFL Restaurant Guide and Recipe Book ($19.95, proceeds to charity) at the site.
Special to the Globe and Mail
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