Posts tagged ‘Super Bowl’

Like our New Year’s Eve tradition, our annual Super Bowl parties have picked up so much steam over the years, they’re now barreling down the mountain without brakes and making me use bad metaphors. What started as an excuse to eat a whole casserole dish of seven-layer dip has now become a full-blown event for as many people as we can stuff around the TV. I know, I know—I do it to myself.

For this coming Sunday’s Colts-Saints matchup, it seemed way too easy to simply go with the richly varied Cajun and Creole delicacies of New Orleans. I had to give myself a challenge and represent the good people of Indianapolis as well.

So I did what any good 21st-century reporter does: got on the interwebs. It’s funny how, through my research, I saw patterns of overlapping ingredients and dishes throughout each region’s cuisine. Biscuits are omnipresent, corn used for Southern grits pops up throughout Indiana—popcorn or on the cob—and instead of roasted or bbq’ed pulled pork shoulder, Hoosiers have a thing for breaded and fried pork tenderloin sandwiches. Oh, and of course, there’s fried chicken.

And did you know that Indiana’s state pie was officially named the sugar cream pie a year ago? It bears a strikingly similar flavor and texture palate to the traditional Mardi Gras king cake, which is a sweet, bready dough wrapped around a cream cheese filling. I’ll be making my sugar cream pie with cherries to break up the texture and add some brightness, but I’ll be doing my king cake straight-up with cinnamon and cream cheese.

all hail the King Cake in its sugar-glazed glory

WHO DAT? The New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl-bound, and we’ve got your back with a jambalaya recipe from Nicole Canfora Lupo, New Jersey-based journalist, author of Images of America: Belleville, and lover of double coupons. She can be found at her incredible finance site, Rainy-Day Saver, where we can all learn a few things about budgeting and splurge on the good stuff, like bacon chocolate.

It’s always smart to have a filling and meaty main course on your Super Bowl buffet table. With all the free-flowing beer, your guests need something substantial to keep them energized and on their feet through four quarters of commercials that try too hard, questionable play calls from the guys in stripes, and an aging-rockers halftime show. One of my all-time favorite winter recipes rises to the occasion for this year’s Big Game—it’s not a soup, it’s not a stew, it’s that Creole creation of jambalaya.

I’m not sure when I first discovered the ricey goodness of the jambalaya. It might have been back in 2004, when I went to Oddfellows Rest in Hoboken, which specializes in Cajun and Creole cuisine. But it definitely led me to find a good base recipe and put my own spin on it.
>> Read on to get the jambalaya recipe >>