Al Dente

What to Mix Up for The Big Game: The Go Team

This sporty drink (featured in my drinking-book Good Spirits, but originally picked up from my bartending pal Joel Meister) will make you the winner no matter what the final score of the actual game. Refreshing, but with that little kick that makes it easier to handle your team losing, and more fun to celebrate your team winning, the Go Team is an ideal accompaniment for all the tasty snacks that have been posted this week.

Ingredients:
Ice cubes
1 ounce Stolichnaya Vanil vodka
1 ounce Stolichnaya Ohranj vodka
1/2 ounce Midori melon liqueur
1/2 ounce simple syrup (see note below)
2 lime wedges
5 – 8 leaves fresh mint
Chilled soda water

Directions:
1. Add the lime wedges, mint, and simple syrup to a Collins glass or similarly-sized glass. Using a muddler or wooden spoon, muddle well.

2. Fill the glass three quarters up with ice cubes. Add the vodkas and the Midori. Stir well with a bar spoon.

3. Top off the glass with chilled club soda. Stir one more time. Serve with a game-winning smile.

A Note: Simple syrup is a snap to make (if you didn’t already know). For 4-1/2 cups worth, add 3 cups sugar and 2-1/2 cups water to a medium-sized saucepan. Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to a boil over a medium-high heat. Lower the heat a bit, keeping the mixture at the low boil for five minutes. Then turn off the heat, and let the syrup completely cool in the pan. It stays good for up to a month in the fridge.

--A.J. Rathbun

What to Cook for The Big Game: Easy Parmesan Cheese Crisps

We've been eating a lot of cheese in the Al Dente HQ lately. (For those of you new to Al Dente, we just conducted a Parmesan cheese taste test, which I'm putting together the finishing touches on this week.) In honor of the mound of Parmesan left over in my refrigerator, I felt inspired to share this simple recipe with you all. When these crisps cool, toss 'em in a Caesar or pasta salad, if they make it that far. (Trust me, you'll be popping these like Pez.) And, you can always sprinkle a little paprika or freshly ground black pepper on these to give them a slight kick.

Ingredients:
4 cups good quality coarsely grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with greased parchment paper. (Tip: using a silicone baking mat works very well.) Sprinkle the coarsely grated Parmesan cheese into small, 5-inch diameter circles onto the pan. The circles should be in a thin layer so that they crisp up nicely. Place sheet pan in the oven and bake for approximately 8 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the cheese from the sheet pan. If you'd like to shape the crisps, quickly place them over a rolling pin after removing from the oven and allow them to cool. Sprinkle with desired seasonings, and repeat baking step with remaining cheese.

--Sous-Chef on the Run

The Wednesday Wrap: Food News to Go

"That's like putting your whole mouth right in the dip!": Just in time for this Sunday's Super Bowl parties, the great Harold McGee takes a scientific look at double-dipping and just what's going on at the bottom of the communal bowl. [New York Times]

There's More Than One Way to Eat an Oyster: Russ Parsons (no relation) goes beyond the singular sensation of eating a cold, clean oyster to explore other cooking methods (even microwaved!).  [LA Times]

Would You Like Bacon with That?: Monica Eng sits down for breakfast with Michael Ruhlman. [Chicago Tribune]

Gridiron Eats: Pats or the Giants? Boston or New York? Which city's cuisine reigns supreme? Boston thinks their roast beef and clams take the game; NYC's all about the pizza. [The Boston Globe]

Bruni Beat: New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni shines one star ("good") on the "Beirut by way of Istanbul and Athens and even Barcelona" fare of Ilili in the Flatiron District. [New York Times]

--BTP

What to Cook for The Big Game: French Onion Dip

What good is watching a football game without onion dip? Pointless, I say. This is simple to make, so when it dissappears during the first quarter (and it will), you can whip up another batch during a commercial break.

Ingredients
1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh parsley and/or chives, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1. Put all of the ingredients in a food processor. Process on high for 10 seconds. Stir slightly (making sure to get everything off the sides). Process for another 5 to 10 seconds until completely combined.
2. Spatula the dip into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate up to an hour (or for you impatient types, stick it in the freezer for about ten minutes). Serves 6 to 8 people.

--AndreaLeigh

What to Cook for The Big Game: Swedish Meatballs

I have to admit feeling a little like Duke, the golden retriever who tries to sell the secret family recipe to Bush's Original Baked Beans--that's because I'm going to share my mom's super-secret recipe for Swedish Meatballs. I've used this recipe many times to make a big batch of easy-to-prepare party appetizers. They're always a hit, now friends even RSVP saying, "there'd better be meatballs!" So, whether your favorite spectator sport is the Super Bowl or Project Runway, here's the recipe in time to load up your crock pot.

Swedish Meatballs a la Broadstone's Mom

Ingredients:
1 six-pound bag of frozen meatballs from your favorite food warehouse, such as Costco
1 jar (16 oz) creamy Alfredo sauce
1 jar (16 oz) roasted garlic Alfredo sauce
1.5 cups dry white wine

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Arrange the meatballs in a single layer on a foil-covered cookie sheet. Bake uncovered until the meatballs are browned, about 30-40 minutes.
3. Transfer meatballs to a large stockpot and add both jars of Alfredo sauce.
4. Pour 1/4 cup of white wine into each jar and shake to blend with any remaining sauce. Pour the blended wine and sauce over the meatballs and stir well.
5. Simmer uncovered, over medium heat for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
6. Pour remaining 1 cup of wine into a glass--that's for you to enjoy while hiding the empty sauce jars.

It's that easy. Delicious, simple, and the sauce won't separate. Oh, and if you see my mom, don't... say... a word.

--Broadstone

Cheeseburger In a Can--Courtesy of Zee Germans

If a worldwide apocalypse had forced us to live in underground bunkers just a few months ago, our diet would have consisted of dehydrated foods, canned beans, and vegans. Now, thanks to zee Germans, you can add cheeseburgers to that menu.

And not just any cheeseburger--canned cheeseburger. The web detectives over at Spuch dug up this gem.

I guess if survival came down to a choice between cannibalism and canned cheeseburger, I'd definitely think twice about eating someone.

--Spanno

What to Cook for The Big Game: Mini Beef Crescents

All this week, we're going to focus on food for Sunday's big game. My culinary preference for football cuisine is easy-to-cook, man-sized finger food. And lots of it. This recipe, from Pillsbury.com, fits the bill perfectly because it's versatile and easy to make.

Mini Beef and Cheese Crescents

Ingredients
1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 tablespoon Italian salad dressing
2 slices (1/2 to 1 oz each) cheese, each cut into 8 strips
2 tablespoons chopped roasted red bell peppers (from a jar or fresh)
3 oz thinly sliced cooked roast beef (from deli), cut into 16 pieces [feel free to substitute any sliced, chopped, marinated, or pulled meat --Spanno]

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Unroll dough and separate into 8 triangles; press out each triangle so shortest side measures 4 inches. Cut each triangle in half lengthwise from tip end to short side to make 16 triangles.
2. Brush each triangle with salad dressing. Top each with 1 cheese strip, scant 1/2 teaspoon roasted peppers and 2 pieces of beef, folding to fit on triangle. Roll up each, starting at shortest side of triangle and rolling to opposite point; place point side down on cookie sheet.
3. Bake 13 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

Makes 16 appetizers.

--Spanno

It's Tom's Seattle... We Just Eat Here

James Beard Award-winning Seattle chef Tom Douglas is a man whose name is synonymous with Pacific Northwest cuisine. Through five of Seattle's most creative and exciting restaurants, Tom and his wife and business partner, Jackie Cross, have helped define the Seattle food scene. Tom is also the author of three cookbooks, including the award-winning Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, and oversees a line of specialty food products sold nationwide. I've been lucky enough to get to know Tom since I moved to Seattle in '99 and his Palace Kitchen practically serves as a second home for me. Tom has been kind enough to have me as a regular guest on his weekly radio show to talk about cookbooks, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to interview him about about celebrity chefs, getting your kids involved in the kitchen, bloggers, his undying love of Seattle, and much more. Highlights from our talk are below. You can read the entire interview or listen to a podcast of the interview on Amazon Wire (gentle readers, please note: I was at the peak of a severe cold when we recorded this so I sound a bit like Lauren Bacall).

--BTP

Amazon.com: First of all, how would you define Pacific Northwest cuisine?

Douglas:   That's a cheap question.

Amazon.com: Too easy?

Douglas: [Laughs] Well, I've only been asked it for 25 years now and it's still a hard one to come by. I think it's in the context of a restaurant and for me restaurants are so much more than just their cuisine. I think the Seattle restaurant scene is a really fun--really up and down the Pacific Northwest coast. Portland's the same way... Vancouver. There's a certain sense of approachability. A certain sense of product. A celebration of the amazing bounty that we have here. Pacific Northwest cuisine is really about--kind of the same regionality that every other region has--things that come from here. I think the best way to explain to somebody from "the outside" is to use the salmon explanation.

When you are a chef in New York City or in Florida or in Dallas and you want salmon on your menu tonight you call your fish broker and you order salmon. You have some fresh salmon? Yeah? I'll take some salmon tonight. In Seattle, when you want salmon on your menu you call your fish guy and you say, What kind of salmon do you have tonight? Coho? King? Silvers? Keta? Where was it caught? What river? Campbell River? Yukon River? Copper River? Columbia River? Who caught it? Was it brought up right on the boat? Was it troll-caught? Gill-netted? Pursing caught? How was it bled? Did they bleed it right there on the boat or did they wait till they got to the dock and take it to the dockhouse and then take care of all the fish at one time? Or, as that fish was brought up, did somebody stop, bleed it, and pack its belly with ice and put it in the hold and go back three hours later to the shore and that afternoon put it on an Alaska Airlines jet down to Seattle? Oh, I'll take that one! I'll take that salmon that was King, troll-caught, boat-bled, caught this morning, on a plane this afternoon. That's the fish that I want!

And so, when you talk about Northwest Cuisine, that's the charm of living here and being a chef here. You have those kind of options.

What to Cook This Weekend: Zucchini Stuffed Zucchini

It may seem a little strange to stuff something with itself. It’s already stuffed with itself, right? But when you take some of a zucchini out and introduce it to a few other ingredients, what once was merely a side dish turns into the centerpiece of a meal or at the very least, a spectacular side dish. And if you’re cooking with friends, this dish allows you to tell them to “stuff it” without any repercussions.

Serves two as a main course, or four as a side.

Ingredients:
Four medium sized zucchini (about 6 inches in length and an inch in diameter)
One teaspoon olive oil
One medium yellow onion, chopped small
1/4 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (plus more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:
1. Trim just the ends off of the zucchini, and slice each in half, lengthwise. Carefully scrape the flesh out of the middle of the zucchini with a spoon (or a pointy ice-cream scoop). You’ll want to leave between 1/4- and 1/2-inch of zucchini around the sides and bottom. Try not to break through on either sides or bottom, to prevent spillage when eating. Put the scraped-out zucchini flesh to the side.

2.  Place the zucchini shells in a good-sized steamer that’s ready to steam. Steam the zucchini for 5 to 7 minutes. You want it just north of tender—a little flimsy but not floppy. If you don’t have a steamer large enough to hold the zucchini, par-boil them for 5 minutes (watching to avoid floppiness) and drain them. Once done, place zucchini shells into a large casserole dish. While the shells steam, chop reserved zucchini flesh. It doesn’t need to be carefully diced, but you don’t want any outstandingly large chunks.

3. Heat up a medium-sized skillet or sauté pan to medium-high and add oil. Now’s a good time to get the oven preheating to 350 degrees.

4. Once the oil is hot, add the onion. Sauté the onion on medium-high for about a minute, and then bring the temperature down to solid medium for 5 to 6 minutes, until the onion is shiny and opaque and a little soft. Add the chopped zucchini flesh to the pan with the onions, along with the 1/4 teaspoons of salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir all these new friends together, and then cook them over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

5. In a bowl, mix zucchini-onion combo with bread crumbs, basil, and 1/4 cup of the cheese. Taste. Adjust the seasoning as you feel is needed (I would add a little more hot pepper flakes, but that’s just me). Resist the urge to eat everything in the bowl. Stuff the zucchini shells with the zucchini mixture, and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the now-stuffed zucchini. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes at 350. You should be able to slip a fork into the zucchini shells with no resistance, but if you can’t, let them bake a few minutes longer.

--A.J. Rathbun

What Does This Commercial Say to You?

First of all, thanks to Popwatcher Michael Slezak for posting this Kraft Singles commercial today. Like him, I would like to know what the message in this commercial is. All pregnant women should subsist on Kraft Singles? Pregnant women love cheese? Kraft Singles will help you have a super-cute baby? If the last is true, I have to wonder how much cuter my already super-cute baby would have been, had I eaten Kraft Singles every day of my pregnancy (or at all, for that matter).

Al Dente readers, what's your take on this commercial?

--KitchenMaus