Super Bowl Party

We are one week away from the greatest holiday that America Celebrates, the Super Bowl. As you might be aware I am a little bit of a Colts and having grown up in Indianapolis I wanted to share some ideas for Super Bowl food to serve at your party in honor of the Colts.

First on the drink side. Get some Blue Curaçao and use it as a replacement for any drinking that needs triple sec. Make some Blue Margeritas or Long Islands Ice Teas (use Sprite instead of coke) or some other island concoction. Beer is always a classic for Super Bowl Parties but if you are outside of Indiana it is almost impossible to find any of the local Microbrews like Upland or Brugge. If you are really in search of Indiana Beer then take a gander over at www.indianabeer.com and check out some of local scene and maybe they can ship to you.

No Super Bowl Party would be complete without food. I will be the first to admit that it is hard for Indianapolis to compete with New Orleans when it comes to food. Mayor Ballard of Indianapolis took a lot of flak for putting up St. Elmo's Shrimp Cocktail as part of bet but since New Orleans is all about shrimp but St. Elmo's Shrimp Cocktail has become an institution and the Shrimp Cocktail is something that everyone loves to share without of town guest to see the reaction. So no Super Party with the Indianapolis Colts would be complete without a little Shrimp Cocktail St. Elmo's Style.

Of course the recipe is a secret but there are a couple of ways to going about creating a similar dish and they all involve FRESH Horseradish. You want to create a tomato based cocktail sauce; you can use a jar from the grocery as your base or make your own base from scratch. Whatever you decide to do the secret to St. Elmo's sauce is fresh grated horseradish and lots of it. I would say a good ratio is for every 1 cup base sauce use 1/2 cup of fresh horseradish. Add a dash of lemon juice and then toss your cooked, chilled shrimp in the sauce. If your eyes don't water then you need to add more horseradish.

As for other food ideas, check out my previous blog about Indy Pizza. Gourmet Pizza with quality toppings that are over the top, make them yourself and don't expect Pizza Hut to cut it. If you have been wanted to ad a deep fryer to your kitchen this is the occasion. People in Indiana love to deep fry everything from Pork to Snickers. Corn Dog, Deep Fried Deserts like Elephant Ears, and candy bars are all fair game for the menu. If you decide to deep fry a dessert item I would suggest freezing it and then using an Elephant Ear type batter to coat it. Great items to consider doing this to are Ding Dongs, Twinkies, Snickers, Milky Ways, and 3 Musketeers.

The crown jewel of deep fried cooking in Indiana is the Pork Tenderloin. Pound out a deboned pork cutlet, give it a nice buttermilk bath and then apply your favorite breading and deep or pan fry. Place on an Egg Bun with some pickles and mustard and you have an instant Hoosier Classic.

Enjoy the game and GO COLTS!!!