Football season approacheth. Which, at our house anyway, means some seriously tasty weekend munching while we watch people smack the snot out of each other on the TV.
As much as I love football -- and I do love a good WVU Mountaineer game -- it is the tasty tidbits that really make the game a wonderful thing for me. Because I hate to eat the same thing a bunch of weekends in a row, I like to switch it up every week. The last few years, I have also been trying to make our munchies more healthy -- as we get older, that becomes more important as working the snack food off my hips has become much more of an uphill battle (or a saggy one, if you know what I mean!).
A while back, I posted a whole set of ideas and a lot of links for potluck and tailgaiting recipes that has been one of my most popular posts on this blog. But every year around this time, I start getting e-mails from folks asking if I have any more ideas or recipes to share on the subject.
Here goes my second pass on the buffet line:
-- A chili bar is still my favorite idea for a gameday nosh. I make a huge crockpot full of chili, and then put out bowls of toppings and fixings so that everyone can do their own thing. It's especially nice for a long game day if you plan on doing this as nachos -- you leave the chips on the side, people top their own plate with what they want at the very time they want it, and then you don't have a nasty, soggy baking dish full of ick just sitting around afterward. Building the nachos a portion at a time is a huge improvement!
I make a pot of chili with lean ground turkey and lean ground beef fried up with a little onion and garlic, then add seasonings, beans, crushed tomatoes, and let it simmer in the crockpot for hours. I season mine with medium chili powder and adobo seasoning from Penzeys. The key is the brown the meat well with the onions BEFORE you put in the crockpot, scraping up the browned bits from the pan into the crockpot for a full flavor.
My suggestions for toppings? I go with sliced green onion tops; diced yellow onion; crackers (to crush on top) or oyster crackers or mini-saltines to just throw on top; shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar; sour cream; diced avocado or some guacamole; and tortilla chips.
-- Pepperoni rolls are a WV staple. Here's a whole page full of recipes from a fellow in Fairmont, WV. In my opinion, the best ones I have ever eaten have come from a place called Colasessano's in Fairmont -- but since it was sold a few years ago and they changed the recipe, I haven't been back to try them again. I've heard that they went back to the old family recipe, so perhaps it's time for a road trip to give them another try. Imagine them, gooey out of the oven with hot meat sauce, pepperoni and dripping with cheese, the bun toasted perfectly crisp on the outside...amazing stuff.
-- A good twist on this is to take frozen, pre-made meatballs and toss them into the crockpot along with a jar of some good marinara sauce. (I like the tomato and basil sauce from Classico.) I spice mine up with some Penzey's tuscan sunset and some extra pepper, and let it simmer on LOW for several hours until the sauce is really bubbly and the meatballs are well heated. At that point, all you need are some smoked provolone slices, or some shredded parmesan or mozzarella, maybe some roasted Italian peppers in sauce, and some crusty rolls and you have yourself a wonderful sandwich. Do NOT forget extra napkins and plates for these!
-- Make a big muffaletta sandwich and cut it into individual-serving-sized pieces. Cut a big baguette or loaf of Italian bread in half lengthwise, then drizzle the bread lightly with a little Italian dressing, and top with some muffaletta salad. If you can't find that jarred in your local grocery -- I mostly can't here in WV, it's much more common in Louisiana, honestly -- then mix together the following to your taste:
* jarred gardinere mix that you chop small -- I like the kind that is a little hot with cauliflower, carrots and peppers in it;
* large green olives stuffed with pimento;
* kalamata olives;
* black or green olive tapenade;
* diced pimentoes.
You chop all of this really small and then mix it together well with a little Italian dressing to moisten it up nicely. Voila! Instant muffaletta spread.
Once you spread that on your bread on both sides, layer your sandwich well with sliced smoked provolone and cold cuts -- I like sandwich-sized sliced pepperoni, ham, and salami. You can also make mini-sandwiches using small dinner rolls. The best bread for this is crusty, because traditionally the loaves in New Orleans are round, crispy on the outside and light as air inside, with sesame seeds on the loaf outside. But small, crusty dinner rolls will do for individual sandwiches just fine.
-- Honestly, any layered big sandwich works really well for a potluck or tailgate, and can be transported easily once it is cut into single-serving slices. Try roast beef with hot horseradish mustard and sharp cheddar. Or black forest ham, brie, Dijon mustard, and roasted veggie slices. Or roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, olive oil-packed tuna, mixed lettuce, and white beans tossed together like a salad on a bun. Yummy! The possibilities are really endless. One of my all-time favorites is really simple: fresh vine-ripened tomato slices, sliced fresh mozzarella, a smear of basil pesto, a sprinkle of sea salt and a small drizzle of some good balsamic vinegar on a toasted, crusty baguette. When the tomatoes are fresh from the garden and really ripe? This sandwich is transcendent.
-- Or try making individual pan bagnat sandwiches on sourdough rolls. Make these the night before and wrap well in plastic wrap -- this gives the dressing time to soak into the bread and makes them wonderful the next day when it is time to eat.
-- I highly recommend this recipe for an antipasto/muffaletta pasta salad. It's super portable, has an oil-based dressing so it won't spoil so quickly and it tastes amazing.
-- I also recommend easy eats: pre-made hummus and pita chips with cut up veggies makes a quick, easy yet still healthy snack. The same with a bruschetta salad: toss together some chopped tomato, chopped marinated artichoke hearts, chopped roasted red pepper and a little Italian dressing (or a little of the marinade from the artichoke hearts), and then us it as a dip for toasted bagel chips or pita chips or veggies. If you toss in a little diced fresh mozzarella, it eats like a meal. Or take some pre-made salsa, mix in some freshly diced tomatoes and some diced fresh cilantro and it tastes homemade (no one ever has to know -- I won't tell if you don't!); pack some tortilla chips and you are good to go. Ditto for some pre-made guacamole -- just mix in some freshly diced avocado, several hefty squeezes of fresh lime juice, and some chopped fresh cilantro and you have a party in a bowl.
Several major cooking websites have put together compendiums of recipes this year:
-- Food Network
-- Martha Stewart
-- Southern Living
-- Taste of Home
-- Eating Well
-- My Recipes
-- Coastal Living
-- Epicurious
-- Family Circle
I have a ton of recipes linked in my prior potluck and tailgate post, a super bowl food post (and also here for another one), as well as in several crock posts that I have done. (See here, here, and here.)
Happy tailgating, and may the best team win. (Go Mountaineers!)
(Photo via Jayel Aheram.)
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