Tapping Into Your Inner Chef Easier Than You Think

I decided to structure my game plan in the kitchen around the Washington Redskins vs New York Giants game Sunday.

On the menu: pigs in a blanket, shrimp cocktail and meat balls, which I have renamed, "game balls."

The skins, who are nicknamed "the hogs," were my inspiration for the first dish. The Skins will be wrapping up their season today, which is why I am making little sausages wrapped in pastry.

As for the Giants, the first thing that came to mind when envisioning  New York food fare is Italian cuisine.

 I decided to make meatballs but with a certain twist.  I will be making the meatballs from deer sausage and ground deer meat, or wild "game". Every game there is a most valuable player and his coach awards him a game ball. I will show you how you can award all your guests' "game balls" with a simple recipe.

The shrimp cocktail idea came from both cities being located close to the ocean. Also, making shrimp cocktail is fast and easy and will save you money if you were to buy already cooked shrimp from the store.

Let's get cooking!

• Shrimp Cocktail

You will need: 1 pound of deveined shrimp, kosher salt, pot of water, cocktail sauce and a bowl of ice water, known as an ice bath.

Eliminate stress by preparing shrimp the night before and just keep covered.

Use a pot big enough to hold 4-6 quarts of water, put water and 4 pinches of salt into the pot and bring to a boil. While your water is heating up rinse and dry the shrimp, when water comes to a boil simply place the shrimp in the water. The shrimp will only take 3-5 minutes in the boiling water until ready. During this time get a big bowl and fill with ice and then fill with water. The shrimp are done when they turn pink and begin to curl, don't overcook or your shrimp will be Shrimp Rubbertail not Shrimp Cocktail. Immediately drain the shrimp and put them into your ice bath. The ice bath halts the shrimp from cooking further, take them out of the bath after 2-3 minutes or until cool to the touch. Your shrimp cocktail is done! Keep the shrimp covered in the fridge until guests begin to arrive, then grab a martini glass and fill with cocktail sauce and arrange the shrimp on edge of glass. See photos for example.

• Pigs in the Blanket

You will need: 1 Package of Lil Beef or Lil Pork Smokies, 1 package of crescent rolls, and a baking pan.

You can prep these in advance and keep them in the fridge but just wait until game time to cook them.

Open up crescent rolls and unfold the triangles, cut each triangle into 3 smaller triangles. Place one smokie onto the wider end of the triangle, they will look like tiny sailboats. Then simply roll up the smokie into remaining section of roll. They don't have to look perfect, the pastry will puff up quite a bit once in the oven concealing any mishaps! Place your little piggies on a baking sheet, you could use parchment paper if you prefer but you don't need to grease the pan. When you are ready to cook them, heat oven to 400 degrees and cook for 15 minutes, check after 10 minutes, they are ready when pastry is a light golden brown. Pigs in the blanket, done!

• "Game Balls"

You will need:

• 1 lb. Deer Sausage, 1 lb. Ground Deer Meat (1 lb. of Ground Beef and Ground Pork can be easily substituted)
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 cup of Breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup Grated Parmesean Cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tablespoons BBQ Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon of Honey
• 1 Teaspoon each of Garlic & Onion Powder
• 1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning
• 1 Cup of Shredded Mozzarella or Italian Blend Cheeses
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 23 oz jar of marinara or tomato sauce

Get a bowl large enough to combine meats and the majority of ingredients. In the bowl combine meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, mustard, BBQ & Worcestershire Sauce, parsley, Parmesean cheese, honey, garlic and onion powder, and Italian seasoning. With your hands, get down and dirty in the mixture and make sure that all ingredients are thoroughly combined. You should have a huge seasoned meatball about the size of a soccer ball when you are done.

From this ball take enough meat where you can form golf ball size meatballs inside of your palms. The important thing here is to not make the balls to big. Place each rolled ball onto a sheet or plate and place into the fridge for at least 2 hours. You want the balls to set in the cold making cooking them easier to cook. 

When ready to cook, get a large skillet and pour in the oil. Heat at medium high heat just until oil begins to smoke then starting from the edge of the skillet begin placing meatballs in to the pan, the balls should start talking to you as soon as they hit the oil, if they don't your oil is not hot enough. Make sure the balls are not touching each other and that you don't over crowd the pan with the balls. If you put to many balls in the pan the oil will cool and balls will not cook properly.

Cook for 3-5 minutes or until the bottoms have been nicely browned. Turn over on other side to brown as well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, once the balls have been browned remove from pan and drain them on paper towels. Place the balls in a single layer in a casserole dish. Pour entire jar of tomato sauce onto the balls and spread sauce evenly around the dish. Place into the oven for 30 minutes so that the insides of the balls finish cooking, about 5 minutes before finished take the balls out of the oven and top with the mozzarella cheese, put back into oven until cheese has melted and slightly browned. Take out of the oven and place toothpicks into each ball and begin to serve your Game Balls!

You should get plenty of high fives throughout the game and it won't be because of what's happening down on the field! Get these introductory game-day meals ready because each week I will be getting a little more advanced to prepare you for the last game of the year, the Super Bowl. Enjoy!