Thanksgiving & Game Day Fare

Avid football fans, elevate the game day experience with a harvest chow down.  Turkey tailgates and enticing food arrays will elicit enjoyment during the game from the most discerning in the crowd to the non-sports enthused.  Incorporate traditional holiday fixings to create the ideal atmosphere for the ultimate in football fare.

Turkey & Football unite via sliders

Turn up the heat on the barbecue, the turkey is here.  Football and Thanksgiving have long paired up, over the next two weekends revel in the combinations of game day and grub.  Stadium tailgating will no doubt showcase the trend of football turkey- inclusive of grilled up drumsticks, but at home viewers can set up in the same fashion.  Pulled turkey sliders displayed with a toppings station of fresh cranberry sauce, gravy, and stuffing is a simple, creative, and tasty spin on a commonly reinvented offering.  No to mention the grab and go style is conducive to spectators not wishing to miss a play.  

The specialties of the season provide numerous recipes to delight guests with a twist on the ordinary.  Sweet potatoes used for potato skins in this recipe are a hit, follow the directions but feel free to try out favorite cheese and toppings of choice.  To amend standard antipasti spreads to adhere to the theme, stack figs wrapped in prosciutto, mozzarella, and roasted squash for skewers that reach a new level entirely. Putting leftovers to use for feeding a crowd is easy, this pizza holds it’s toppings and for an early game time create a quiche with the Thanksgiving extras.

Sweet potato skins. Photo credit: www.marthastewart.com

Sweets are a welcomed must for entertaining, even in a crowded parking lot dessert can be done well.  Handheld mini pies, assorted pastries, and cookies with fall season flair (think cinnamon, pumpkin, and nuts) will satiate the sweet tooth and wake up those impaired by a food coma.  It may even be appropriate to whip up the first batch of eggnog of the season, add a scoop of gelato to serve a seriously delectable version.

Thanksgiving-fueled menu options perfect what game day parties are all about.  Utilize seasonal culinary trends to rally the fans and their taste buds.  Food, football, and family unite this time of year... dig in!

The Italian Way

“There are 2 kinds of people in the world, those who are Italian, and those who wish they were Italian,” Mario Batali, a famous Italian-American chef spoke these words at a food and wine festival conveying the passion for Italian food. 

 

Entertaining with Italian food is as easy as it is delicious!

Anti-pasti, served as a first course at formal Italian meals, consists of meats, cheeses, olives, roasted vegetables, and is served with crusty bread.  The pure joy of anti-pasti is that it can be prepared in various spreads customized to taste of the crowd.  Typical meats used are prosciutto, capicola, sopressata, and aged cheeses such as parmesan, asiago, and provolone.  

The upcoming holiday season brings out of town guests and a busier social calendar, having the staples for anti-pasti on hand is the first step to hospitality and reduces the inconvenience with time consuming preparations of other choices. Success in an Italian’s kitchen has a visual presence with hanging prosciutto and a giant wedge of parmesan cheese. Anti-pasti creates an instant atmosphere of conviviality amongst groups of friends and family and can be enough to entertain for hours.  

  

Sauce simmering on the stove on Sunday morning through mid-afternoon is a staple for many Italian-American families.  Traditionally the sauce, or “gravy”, is prepared with meats and served with pasta. The Sunday sauce has even been transported to stadiums for tailgating feasts, using a large pot on top of a grill to boil the pasta, thus never skipping a week.  For a Sunday sauce/gravy recipe, ask friends who are Italian or a local Italian chef, they will share tips from a handed down version that is perfected. The serious commitment to food and the simplicity behind it create the unparalleled joy of sharing present in these Italian preparations at family tables.  The absolute comfort of a homemade sauce/gravy translates the taste to a feeling of being part of an Italian family for guests. 

Rich tradition along with vibrant entertainment is easily achieved through the Italian way of food.  Regardless of if the family hosting and their guests are Italian or not, the collective anti-pasti, the palliative Sunday sauce, both give credence to Batali’s statement come the following Sunday.  

Molto bene!