HALLIE EPHRON: Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and I confess, I will be with friends “watching” the game. In quotes because mostly I’ll be eating and yakking, noticing every once in a while when the actual football fans in the room stand up and shout. Or groan. And then I tune in long enough to notice how much time is left in the quarter.
My favorite part of the game is the last thirty seconds which usually goes on for about an hour.
My favorite thing about SBS is the food.
My friend Patty Joe makes pigs in a blanket – starting with homemade bread dough and Lit’l Smokies. They are irresistible and I cannot imagine making them. She is a Super Bowl super chef.
Then someone has brought onion dip. I could finish off an entire bowl of onion dip, especially if the chips with them are kettle cooked. But I restrain myself. The recipe’s on the package of Lipton dried onion soup mix. There are two ingredients: dried onion soup mix and sour cream. And it’s as delicious as it was when you were eight years old.
If I’m asked to bring and I can find ripe avocados, I make guacamole. Juice from half a lime mixed with a mashed avocado, mix in some minced onion and cilantro, a dash of hot sauce and salt to taste. Multiply depending on how many guests and serve with taco chips that are not too salty.
Or a cream cheese salsa that couldn’t be easier: Combine a jar of really good salsa (Green Mountain Gringo medium spicy is my pick) with a container of whipped cream cheese (Temp Tee brand, please).
If I’m pressed, I can bring the world’s simplest meatballs. My mother-in-law's recipe: Simmer 1.5” balls of hamburger meat in a large can of Hunts tomato sauce – NOT a fancy Italian sauce. Mix in vinegar and brown sugar (to taste). Period.
What I cannot make are really good chicken wings though I can put away a platter of them all by my lonesome. And a good homemade blue cheese dip/dressing is surprisingly elusive, too.
What’s on the table (or are you hiding under it) on Super Bowl Sunday?
