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There are few things my husband likes more than chicken tikka masala, so when the first weekend without Steeler football came around this postseason, I knew I needed to make something a little special to cheer him up for watching a black and gold-less football game. When we had visited Harrod’s in London last fall, I had seen some beautiful chicken tikka masala wrapped in kubus bread in their great hall of food and knew immediately I wanted to try to make them some point this season for the living room-gating. Kubus bread is a sort of pita flat bread from the Middle East, but I found that using lavish, pita and naan are good substitutes. With this batch, I did a mix of lavish wraps (easier to serve and handle at a party) and chicken tikka masala served with naan for people to scoop and wrap as they please.
The chicken tikka itself is delicious, so if you want to skip the whole hullabaloo of making masala sauce and wraps, just make chicken tikka kebabs instead. There is nothing quite like the mix of spices that flavor tikka and masala, so don’t worry if it’s the first time you’ve ever bought garam masala to make a dish. After you figure out how easy and great it is to cook with the spice mixture, you’re going to go through the whole bottle in no time.
Chicken Tikka Masala Wraps: 28 Days of Super Bowl Recipes over on the mothership.
Easily one of my favorite things I’ve made all season.
Things You Can Wish On Rival Sports Fans and Figures Without Damaging Your Karma Too Badly on the mothership.
Feel free to head over and add your own mild inconveniences.
Let this day be the day we give the High Shirley its due. Like the Pro Bowl, the High Shirley is fun, nonsensical to people on the outside, slightly embarrassing to explain why you like it, offensive to purists, goofy in a Drew-Brees-to-kick-the-extra-point sort of way and not something you’re likely to want every weekend.
But it doesn’t mean it isn’t good.
Look away beer snobs! High Shirley: The trashiest yet most delicious beer cocktail you will ever make for the Pro Bowl.
(Beer snobs, if you’re going to yell at me for this drink, do so over in the comments on the mothership. Read the whole post and not just what is here on the Tumblr. It might change your mind.)
I had planned on posting my own personal guacamole recipe, but when Holly’s IRON FIST guacamole turned out to be so close to mine (just without the cumin), so I decided maybe it would be worth reviewing a few store bought guacamoles for the Football Foodie readership who might be in a hurry on Super Bowl Sunday, or worse, pinned underneath a car or a fallen tree and unable to use half of their body for guacamole making since pitting an avocado really is a two-armed endeavor, or at least a bit easier with two arms. I’m sure people with one arm make great guacamole, but if you’re newly stuck under a car or a tree, you may not be in the right state of mind for making guacamole.
Then a funny thing happened. I couldn’t bring myself to buy pre-made guacamole. I looked at the bags of guacamole puree at Trader Joe’s, the vacuum-sealed bags at my neighborhood Gelson’s, the plastic containers filled with green-ish goo in the refrigerated section at my little corner market. I read all the ingredients and they all looked okay; avocados, garlic, spices, jalapeno, lime, and yet, there was nothing appealing about any of them. See, I’ve had store bought guacamole and really, they’re not bad, but they’re not really good either, they’re just sort of tasteless. There is very little flavor left in the avocados by the time they get to your home, their richness long since given away to the citrus they’ve been cured with, their greenness left merely to act as a vessel for transporting jalapeno and making sure tortilla chips aren’t seen naked at the party. Even the best homemade guacamole loses its zip over a couple of days, no matter how tightly you pack it up.
I was staring glassy-eyed at a package of “spicy” guacamole at the store when Bry reminded me, “Hey, doesn’t Trader Joe’s sell little kits to make guacamole with? Why not make that?”
Hope! yes! Guacamole in a package, but you still have to assemble it! Maybe this won’t be so bad! Plus, for $3.99 you’re getting much more than the 6-8 ounces of guacamole in all of the pre-packaged deals! Let’s try that!
Store Bought Guacamole? Super Bowl Guacamole Extravaganza Investigative Report over on the mothership.
Time for the annual re-posting of How Not To Throw A Super Bowl Party over on the mothership.
Look forward to this each year like the Christmas Carol around the holidays.
But first, I have to apologize to all of the readers and David for the lack of guacamole “glamor shots” shots in this post. This batch was made for New Year’s Day game day; a mix of hungover, making a lot of different snacks to feed the hangover, and swearing at the television because the Steelers-Browns game was a little too close for comfort. (Possibly also yelling at the Bengals for being the Bengals against the Ravens.) I thought I had taken the beauty shots of the guacamole before serving it, but when I downloaded my images late that night, there were none to be found. Unfortunately, there was no guacamole left to take pictures of which is bad for the site, but it’s a strong testament to how well this guacamole went over.
Update: Found what happened the guacamole glamor shot. I forgot that my camera had run out of juice during the guacamole making and I had taken the prettier pictures with Bry’s iPhone (which has much better resolution than my Android phone). Post updated for pretty!
Updated David Roy’s Serrano and Olive Oil Guacamole with a better picture.
We’re sort of having bad day around here at TSW HQ, but I cannot imagine it’s any worse than the past few days at the Colts headquarters (see: Peyton Manning vs Jim Irsay vs the joint statement saying they’re all a happy family), or what is still going on at Jets HQ (see: continued post-season fallout of the Rex Ryan vs locker room strife according to Darrelle Revis) or even at the Steelers front office (see: Ben Roethlisberger vs Rooneys firing Bruce Arians).
Again, this is why I believe the week before the week before the Super Bowl is one of the worst weeks of the NFL calendar. Too much time, not enough news and people just get themselves into trouble.
Spicy Spinach Pancetta Balls: 28 Days of Super Bowl Recipes
Spinach balls have been a cocktail party staple for decades, but I’m a firm believer that the old classic is begging to be spiced up with some hot pepper and some meaty pancetta. I’ve never made these and not have them disappear within in minutes. Plus, these little bites can be prepared ahead of time and frozen, saving you a lot of time on game day.
Yeah, you need make these. I need to make these again soon.
The curse of this blog is I don’t repeat making foods I love enough during the season.
Pink fluffy clouds at the dog park today.
Today’s recipe comes from my pal, Holly Anderson. Holly was the one who asked me to be a part of the original Ladies(…) after bonding in the Deadspin/Defamer super collider and we’ve been friends ever since. These days you can find Holly running the big show over at SI’s The Campus Union where you can find her covering college football in a smart, funny and irreverent way that only she brings to the conversation (because college football needs more drama club stories).
It came to no surprise to me that Holly’s guacamole would be the recipe submitted that was closest to my own. We share similar tastes in men, Pro Bowls, music and movies; of course our guacamole would be spiritual avocado cousins. What makes Holly’s guacamole special is the extra kick of lime zest, an addition that’s going to find a permanent home in my own guacamole from now on. The avocado comes alive in this recipe and isn’t buried behind heat. A purist’s delight.
Holly Anderson’s IRON FIST of Guacamole: Super Bowl Extravaganza over on the mothership.
Even though lemon is the natural accompaniment to blueberries, lime works just as well in this drink. Also, I really wanted to get a stronger blueberry taste, so I increased the amount of blueberries while doubling the total amount of simple syrup being made so we’d have enough for the entire divisional weekend games.
The sweet blueberry and lime are a great match for the tequila. Garnishing the glass with a lime gives your guests a little control to increase the tartness of their drink if they so desire.
Sometimes I get the bright idea to try to work outside when the weather’s nice.
Little work actually gets done once I’m outside, but at least I’m outside.
Cellar Door: Academy gives bullshit excuse for Fassy snub
normanreedus: scifantasy: betterthanurfaves: ” ‘He’s a guy who’s unfamiliar to a lot of people and did a movie that’s really intimate,’ one high-ranking academy voter told the Ministry. ‘That was a super-brave performance but … perhaps it inspired people to fantasize, and not actually vote.’ “ says an Academy voter to the Los Angeles Times This is such bullshit. The AMPAS are full of old men that don’t like to reward young “heart throbs” and give all of the best actor Oscars to Oldies. They’re afraid of penis, especially big penis that has made a name for itself. Halle Berry gets fucked over sideways/doggie style/missionary and back in Monster’s Ball to old ass Billy Bob Thorton and she wins the Oscar because the AMPAS members got to live out they’re old man fantasies. That’s also why they always reward younger actresses(Natalie Portman, Mira Sorvino, etc.) over older ones, because they have hard-ons for ingenues. But Michael is a young “heartthrob” male actor so he didn’t stand a chance. And Michelle will probably beat Meryl and Viola, because she’s younger~ and cuter~. Not only that, but what about almost-unknown-before-a-few-months-ago Rooney Mara and her Dragon Tattoo nomination? To reduce Michael’s performance to “fantasy fodder” is an INSULT of the highest order. It’s an old boy’s club full of misogynists. Hello. I’ve been saying this for like ever. Why do you think Leo has never won an Oscar? They always give them out to the older men and the younger women. It’s the epitome of Dirty Old Man Syndrome. Not to disagree with the Fassbender point, but DiCaprio was nominated for both The Aviator and Blood Diamond, and neither were as Oscar-worthy as his role in The Departed, which got all the love for Scorsese (deserved) but not its actors at award time. I don’t know how you can watch Shame and “fantasize,” but dick gets you an NC-17, while tits and sex scenes get you an R, and let’s not pretend that didn’t factor in. Not for nothing, but IRON LADY and THE HELP are pretty poor movies and frankly, Meryl doesn’t put in her best performance in IRON LADY. In my eyes, if she does win that’s the lazy old Academy vote. (For the record Streep was about 29 when she was first nominated for THE DEER HUNTER.) Fellow nominee Glenn Close was 35 when she first nominated for THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP. Michelle Williams is going on 32, and an incredibly talented actress to boot. As much as pains me to say so because I hate the subject matter, she’s luminous in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN. Basically, go stick your ingenue argument in a sack.
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Today’s recipe comes from Becky, who I know from what back in the days when people commented on a Will Leitch run Deadspin. She’s funny, smart and like myself, very superstitious about her lucky game time snacks.
I’ve named Becky’s guacamole “The Velvet Glove” because unlike Alyse’s Mango Serrano Guacamole last week where the sweet hit your palate before the heat, the heat of the chipotle smacks you right in the mouth before kissing you with refreshing mango.
Take it away, Becky!
Becky’s Mango and Chipotle “The Velvet Glove” Guacamole: Super Bowl Guacamole Extravaganza.
I’m not kidding. This is a smack-you-in-the-face guacamole and you will like it.
Posting another picture of the Ancho and Guajillo Chile Chicken Enchilada Dip because now it’s all I want to eat right now.
