Superbowl Party Food Tips even if you aren't a
football fan you will love them.
I am not a football fan but there are so many
people that will be glued to their TV's watching the Superbowl so I thought I
might provide a few tips to make your party a bit easier and you can either
watch the game or enjoy the food.
Typical foods eaten at Superbowl parties
include: Pizza, wings, burgers, nachos and chili. I have a few tips
for you to make things easier so you can prep ahead and spend more time with
your friends and family.
1. Prep as much as you can a day or couple of days beforehand or even a week ahead and
freeze some things.
Example 1.
I made Pita dough last week and portioned out
the dough and put them in small freezer bags and stored them flat in the
freezer. You can pull them out the day before and either cook them up
then and just warm them up before your party or just serve them cold as they
will still be pretty fresh if you store them properly.
Example 2.
Chicken Wings are a staple at Superbowl parties
because they are handheld and easy to eat but can be a bit messy so make sure
you have lots of napkins scattered around. You want to make chicken wings
but you don't want to spend the whole time watching the wings while everyone
else is watching the game so you can start this process a week in advance
too. Start by taking a large pack of pre cut wings and pat them dry and
then add seasonings, I added salt, pepper and chipotle powder. Bake
them in an oven at about 375 degrees for at least 25-30 minutes depending on
your oven. My oven is slow so it always takes longer but what you are
looking for is for the wings to be just cooked and lightly browned. You
will cook them again when you are ready for the party. I had a pack of 24
wings and baked them all and then as you can see I split them into 2 freezer
bags below. In one bag I left them just with the seasonings and they will
cool in the fridge and then I will place them in the freezer for another
time. You can do this with the whole batch of wings and then defrost the
day before and bake until they are warmed either just with your favourite
seasonings or you can add a sauce. In the second bag I added some bottled
Chipotle BBQ sauce and I also added some Maple Syrup to sweeten it up a bit
more. I will bake these off again later to get them all hot and sticky in
the oven. You can also freeze them this way but I would suggest freezing
them plain and then adding the sauce when they are defrosted or warmed up
again. This will save you a lot of time the day of your party and baking the
wings cuts the frying calories you would normally get with pub style wings or
processed wings.
2. You don't have to make everything yourself.
Example 3.
There are some things you can buy that will save
you a lot of time and you will still be a hero at your party. You can buy
the wings, you can buy the pita and you can pretty much buy it all these days
but pick a few things that you want to do your own way and a few that just take
up your time and taste the same to buy.
In the case of the photo above I bought the
Hummus and Tzatziki from the grocery store because I can make them but the
Hummus requires a food processor and the Tzatziki requires a lot of grating and
straining to do it properly. If I had lots of time I would make them
myself for sure since I can control the flavour that way if I want more garlic
and less salt I can do that. For this it cost me $3.49 for each of these
containers and saved me a whole lot of cleanup time.
I also picked up this cute Taco Dip and chip
container. Since I am not having a party but wanted to have a taste of
the foods eaten at this kind of party this caught my eye. It would be
costly to buy a whole bag of Tortilla chips and the individual ingredients to
make the taco dip and hard to do for 1 or 2 servings so for about $4 I got this
ready to go so I don't have to spend time chopping, cleaning and there is less
wasted food. And yes I would probably make it if I was having my friends
over and it's one of my friends special items to bring to parties. Costco
also has a great layered dip in a large container. We had that at one of
our last potlucks at work and it was a favourite dish.
I made the Baba Ganoush because it doesn't
require any machines except your own muscle power and a chefs knife and
chopping board.
Baba Ganoush recipe:
After I roasted the Wings I cranked up the oven
to Broil and added a whole eggplant and broiled it until it was charred on all
sides. It steams the inside and it's really easy to make it this
way.
Cut the eggplant open and scoop out the soft
eggplant centre and transfer to a cutting board that has about a tablespoon of
diced white onion and a smashed garlic clove. Chop it all up together and
if you do it while it's still warm it will soften up the onion and garlic and
make the whole thing smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste and I
added a pinch of smoked paprika and a squeeze of a bit of lemon juice.
You can add either a tablespoon of tahini (sesame seed paste) or mayo.
The sesame seed is healthier and you don't have to worry about it staying out
as much as mayo. If you have fresh parsley add some and drizzle the
top with olive oil for flavour and creaminess. No food processors to
clean up. Just the roasting pan, knife and cutting board. That's
not too bad.
Example 4.
You can pick up some great heat and eat
appetizers at your local grocery store these days. I really like these
Presidents Choice Chicken Empanadas because they are little bites full of
flavour and you don't need to do anything except heat them up in the oven.
Let your oven do the work for you.
3. Make it easy for people to serve themselves.
Invest in a Crockpot or if you like to cook but
don't have the time then pick up an Instant Pot if you can find one on
sale. Or you can pick up chafing dishes from party supply stores.
An Instant Pot or Crockpot are amazing for
dishes like Chili because you can cook and serve in them and keep the food
warm. Your guests can serve themselves if you set up a Chili Station.
At my work last week we had 3 different chilis and we had a bowl and spoon in
front of them to rest so they wouldn't leave a mess on the table and beside the
crockpots were the bowls, napkins, cutlery and the fixings for the top like
cilantro, cheese and sour cream and bags of chips as you can see in the
photo. My beef chili was so popular there wasn't any left and I even had
another container in the fridge that was eaten. It was a good chili but
Chili is a great thing for a party because you can keep it cooking for a long
time and it's still good.
4. Set it up pretty and keep it simple
Set up your dishes in nice containers and place
everything needed nearby. If you are worried about things like double
dipping dips you can serve them in shot glasses or have everything in one
container like the dip and veggies in a glass or other type of container or add
little spoons to every dip so people know to serve it up with the spoons.
What I have learned is that people don't think they just eat so you have to make
it easy for them.
5. The dollar store and party supply store is your friend and
will kick up your party if you think outside the box.
Everyone at the office knows that I spend a lot
of money at my dollar store where I live. That's because you can really
get so many of your celebration items there.
For a Superbowl party see if your dollar store
has some fake grass pieces and you can set that up on your table and place the
food on it. Or maybe they have football mats for kids or mini footballs
that you can place around the room. Sometimes you can find football
containers for things like chips and dips and all kinds of sports related
items. If you have the cash go nuts. I don't have anywhere to store
a lot of these things so I try and find things I can repurpose for different
events. I should get some fake grass because that can also be used for
Easter or summer time events.
What ever you decide to do whether it's catering
the whole thing or a Potluck or making it all from scratch remember to organize
it all around leaving time to spend with your friends and less time in the
kitchen. I keep trying to do this more and more but sometimes I end up in
the kitchen anyway.
Make it fun and spread the tasks out. If
you have some help that's great. I usually have to do it all myself and
sometimes my friends help clean up at the end.
What I have learned from watching Ina Garten,
Martha Stewart and Giada De Laurentis over the years is you don't have to do it
all and the point of having people over for parties is to have fun with
them. So find a happy balance and enjoy the game as they say.
