Potluck Paradise: January 2013

Count down to Super Sunday is now in its last week for the teams and for those of us who relish the game at parties, or just sitting in front of the television cheering loudly for our favorite teams. . . or commercials. However you watch it, the day is all about stars.

Here at Potluck Paradise headquarters we got to looking in the fridge for game-treat ingredients and discovered the end of the holiday ham nicely nestled in the freezer. And we got to thinking about those who sit on the bench, waiting for their opportunity to get in the game and take off as a star.

We've already put up a couple of recipes for the 49ers and the Ravens. This time we took our inspiration from a book loosely based old Maryland colonial-era recipes. We found a baked ham coated with brown sugar and doused in sherry. What would happen if we brought those flavors to the last cup of leftover holiday ham?

Well, we ended up with "Put Me in the Game, Coach" Minced Ham.

Quickly made, this new ingredient combination is ready to help any number of other culinary players elevate their game. It effectively stretches a sandwich's worth of ham into enough deliciousness for several sides or snacks.

Use it to:
Stuff mushrooms
Mix into deviled eggs
Put into scrambled eggs or omelets
Mix half and half with buttered bread crumbs Great for for green bean casserole topping
Toss into salads or scalloped potatoes
Blend with granted cheese, spread on English muffin and broil
The list goes on and on.

And it couldn't be easier to make.

Baltimore "Put me in the Game, Coach" Minced Ham

1 cup minced ham
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 teeny, tiny pinch ground cloves
3 or 4 grinds black pepper

Put all ingredients into a medium frying pan and cook over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the liquid is evaporated.

Add small amounts to make eggs, potatoes, leftovers and other dishes sideline stars.
Keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for a month.

Super Bowl is a registered trademark of the National Football League

Copyright 2013. Rae Katherine Eighmey All rights reserved.

This is the first event in our third annual, self-proclaimed "February is National Potluck Month" celebration.

Some have called “Super Sunday” a national holiday. Here at Potluck Paradise headquarters we’re not sure the big game ranks up there with Valentines Day or even President’s Day in the range of February events. But we do know it is a time when our favorite kind of event come into its best. The Game Day Potluck.

With four teams and three weeks left, it is definitely time to plan. This year we’re taking our inspiration from a 1922 cookbook—The Stag Cookbook: Written by Men for Men and featuring the favorite recipes of famous fellows of the era. Reading through the recipes it seems as though many of them were actually cooked by the notable gents. There are a fair number of simple spaghetti with canned tomato sauce dishes along with mac and cheese and scrambled eggs. That’s a clue to the genuine nature of these dishes.

So, if those gents could come forth with tasty treats nearly a century ago, why not offer the challenge to the guys who attend this year’s Super Game Day parties? Kick-off is at 6:30 EST. Plenty of time for folks to gather and have a Potluck Cook-Off.

Instead of the usual chips, salsa, wings, pizza, toss out the challenge. Bring your best dish to be scored on a 7-point scale for flavor, texture, and overall appeal – with 2 extra “safety” points awarded for healthful ingredients, low sodium, or low fat. A bonus 3-point “field goal” score for using totally fresh ingredients.

To get the ball rolling, here’s one of the 1922 recipes.

Harry Houdini’s Famous Scalloped Mushrooms.

1/2 pound (8 ounces) fresh mushrooms of any kind
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup fresh bread whole wheat bread crumbs
1/8 teaspoon salt, optional
several grinds of fresh black pepper

Preheat the over to 350 degrees F.
Wipe off the mushrooms and cut into thin slices. Lightly butter a tall, one-quart casserole dish. Divide the mushrooms into thirds. Put one layer in the bottom of the casserole. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup crumbs and pepper, Dot with butter, using about 1/2 tablespoon. Repeat layers. For the last layer of crumbs, melt the last 2 tablespoons of butter and add the last 1/4 cup of crumbs and mix well. Sprinkle these buttered crumbs over the top of the casserole. Bake until the mushrooms are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. The layers will sink considerably as they cook.

Serves 4.

NOTE: The key to this recipe is having three even layers of mushrooms and crumbs. It is easy to make a larger version using 1 pound in a two-quart casserole or 1 1/2 pounds in a three-quart casserole and increasing the other ingredients proportionally. Baking will take longer.

Now for treats form this year's four semi-finalist teams:

Starting with San Francisco

San Francisco 49er’s Chocolate Gold Rush Bars

Celebrate a 49er’s victory with a glass of champagne and these not-too-sweet treats made from two kinds of San Francisco’s famous Ghirardelli chocolate and some California red wine. They are so versatile that they could be a wonderful complement to ice cream if you need to sooth the shattered dreams caused by a “big game” defeat. Perfect the way they are, but for a sweeter taste you can give them a glaze of chocolate or golden browned-butter icing.

1 cup Ghirardelli ground sweet chocolate

2 cups all purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup pitted dates, diced

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 8-ounce bar Ghirardelli dark chocolate 60%

6 tablespoons cold, hard butter

1/8 teaspoon salt, optional

2/3 cup wonderful California red wine

additional sweet cocoa powder for forming the bars 1/4 to 1/3 cup, approximately

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the ground chocolate, flour, salt and baking powder. Add the raisins, dates, pecans, the slightly chopped dark chocolate, and the hard butter cut in tablespoon-sized pieces. Pulse until the chocolate and fruit are chopped and the butter is blended in.

Note: if you do not have a processor, chop the raisins, dates, nuts, and chocolate into quarter-inch pieces. Blend the dry ingredients and butter as for piecrust and stir in the chopped ingredients.

Stir, or pulse, in the wine. Knead briefly, about 30 seconds, to form a smooth dough. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Divide the dough into 12 balls. Dust a work surface with the extra cocoa powder. Dip a ball of dough into sugar and roll under your fingers on the surface into a snake-like piece about 3/4 inch thick and 12 inches long. Cut into 2-inch long pieces and place on the baking sheet and flatten slightly with your fingers. You could easily make these into football shapes by tapering the ends. Continue with the rest of the dough. Bake until firm, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to a wire baking rack to cool.

Yield: about 6 dozen bars.

Browned Butter Glaze

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon milk, more or less

Melt the butter in a small, heavy saucepan. Watch carefully as it begins to bubble and the butter solids turn brown. It can go from perfect to burned very quickly. Stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Add the milk a little a time. You can also add more sugar if the mixture is too runny.

For the New England Patriots we have Patriots Corn Cakes with Cranberry BBQ Beef and Apple Slaw

For the Falcons we have Atlanta Peachy Chicken with Peach Pecan Chutney

And

For Baltimore you can add a can of crab meat to this non-fat dip with tasty carrot chips

Good Luck to All the Teams and Fans!!!