Super Bowl Food

2/7/10

I know it seems like I haven't been cooking, but I have! I just haven't been keeping up with writing. I've made a half dozen things I haven't written about yet, but I'm trying to catch up.

Although the super bowl party menu wasn't from the cookbook, I still think it's worth writing about. My contributions to the party included vegetarian chili, caesar salad, guacamole, corn cake, homemade butter, cinnamon chocolate fudge, and magic cookie bars. The homemade butter pretty much stole the show, although I thought this was the best year yet for vegetarian chili.

I started on Super Bowl morning with the desserts.

The recipe for Cinnamon Chocolate Fudge (with kosher salt on top, YUM) came from Giada De Laurentis and can be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/cinnamon-chocolate-fudge-recipe/index.html

The recipe for Magic Cookie Bars which are butterscotch, coconut, nuts, and graham cracker crust, comes from the side of the sweetened condensed milk can and has been a family favorite for many years. Here's how you do it:

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a glass baking dish (9x13 or any size you want). Pour in half a cube of melted butter. Add about 1 cup graham cracker crumbs. Mix with the butter and press into the bottom of the pan. Pour half a can sweetened condensed milk over the graham cracker mixture to get it to set. Add 1 bag butterscotch chips. (This is also super yummy with chocolate chips. Sometimes, I do half a bag of butterscotch on one side, and half a bag of chocolate chips on the other side.) Layer on 1/2 to 2/3 cup chopped nuts. Then add a layer of flaked, sweetened coconut. Pour the remaining sweetened condensed milk over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. ADDICTIVE!

Then I started the chili. Here's a link to the recipe.

I then started the guacamole. I cheated a bit on this one, but it was delicious and worth it. I cut up a couple tomatoes, half a white onion, a big handful of cilantro, a garlic clove, and added the juice of one lime, along with some salt. I added this mixture (also known as pico de gallo) to some commercial guacamole, which appeared to be just avocado and spices. I tasted for salt and other seasonings, and it was fabulous. You could just mash up some avocado and add garlic powder and salt.

The star of the evening was homemade butter, which I doctored up a couple ways. (Thanks to my friend, Carla, for the inspiration for this.) First I took 1 pint of organic whipping cream and I whipped it for about 10 minutes with an electric mixer. It first turns into whipped cream, but you just keep going. Eventually, it separates into curds and buttermilk. Once you have quite a bit of liquid buttermilk in the bowl, you pour the butter into cheesecloth in a colander, retaining the buttermilk in a bowl below. Press out as much of the liquid as you can and then tie up the cheesecloth with the butter in it. You can freeze the buttermilk for soups or baking. I just drank it. It isn't thick and tangy like commercial buttermilk. It's thin and tastes a lot like nonfat milk. I believe it gives you super powers, as well.

The fresh butter tastes far more creamy than commercial butter. The pint of cream makes about 1 cup of butter. I split this into thirds; to the first bunch I added lemon zest, fresh thyme, and a little lemon juice. The juice doesn't like to mix with the oiliness of the butter, but it added flavor anyway. I just poured off what didn't get mixed in. I also made a honey-lavender butter. The last batch I left plain. I served them with bread, and along side some zucchini bread brought by my friend, Pat. All of them were indescribably delicious. I am now a devotee of fresh butter. I think all the guests at the party are, too.

The corn cake (corn bread but way more moist) recipe came from AllRecipes.com. It was the best cornbread I have ever eaten and I will absolutely make it again. Here's the recipe link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Corn-Cake/Detail.aspx

The caesar salad was just romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese, and store-bought dressing and croutons. On another day, I will make the croutons and dressing from scratch, but today was more about the other things.

Then the only thing left to add was decorations (artfully contributed by Liana and David), a trivia game, some beer, and a big screen TV. The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts provided the entertainment, and a GREAT game it was. Can't wait until next year.