Patriots Super Snack

Here's the second contender in our Super selection of game-day snacks. This is for the New England Patriots fans. Your guests will love filling this delicious traditional New England Baked Corn Cake baked corn cake with shredded beef and cranberry filling, then topping it with a sunny apple relish. It has all the elements for a winning dish.

This is Potluck Paradise at its finest. Make-ahead easy, tasty heated or at room temperature, and even healthy. Low fat and low sodium, but your guests will never know. Even New York Giants fans will like it.

Baked Corn Cakes
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the cornmeal into a medium-sized, heat-proof bowl, slowly pour in the boiling water, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool. Mash the cooled cornmeal mixture with a fork to break it up. Stir in the sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Combine the melted butter, egg, and milk, mixing well, and stir into the cornmeal mixture. Then add the flour. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with non-stick spray. Form corncakes about 3 inches in diameter by pouring about 1 1/2 measuring tablespoons of batter on the sheet. Cakes will spread as they bake, so allow 2 inches between them. I could get 8 corncakes on my 11 by 18 baking sheet. Bake until cakes are lightly browned on the bottom and firm on the top, about 5 to 7 minutes. Then flip and bake for another 5 to 7 minutes. If the cakes don’t lift off immediately and easily they are not ready to flip.
Note: You can also cook these in a frying pan, but the cakes come out thicker. Just as tasty, though.
Yield: about 18 3-inch corncakes. Recipe may be doubled

Cranberry Barbecued Beef
2 1/2 cups shredded left over pot roast, New England boiled beef,
or a hunk of deli roast beef, shredded
1 14-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 cup apple cider

Combine all the ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture cooks down with hardly any liquid sauce left.

Apple Slaw
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 apples such as Gala, Cortland, or Jazz

Combine the vinegar and sugar in a 1-quart saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Grate the apple, peel and all, on the large side of a box grater. Add the apple to the hot liquid and stir to mix. Drain before serving.


Copyright 2012, Rae Katherine Eighmey. All rights reserved.