Game food porn, Super Bowl edition, Part II: The game-food game food

The pre-game game food took the edge off, but the crowd was still calling for the heart of the menu. Once the Broncos gave up a safety on the opening offensive play of the game, folks realized that this game could get ugly and wanted to drown their sorrow in food. And booze. But they were counting on me for the food. Once again, I delivered, people.

Naturally, we started with stuffed potato skins. Is there any other way to start?

We also fixed meatballs, which have been detailed here before:

Yeah, I almost forgot to take a picture of the meatballs. They were pretty depleted by the time I got around to it. Started with about 30 meatballs.

By special request of pretty much everybody there, at halftime I fixed bacon cheeseburger macaroni and cheese:

So, so good.

In my never-ending efforts to produce new game food dishes and, thus, new game food porn, the main courses included a new dish: bayou shrimp. It's simple, really. Start with about a pound of shrimp:

Peel them. You can butterfly the shrimp if you like, but it is not necessary. Then, melt 1/4 cup of butter in a skillet:

Add the shrimp, sautee for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of lemon juice, 1/4 tsp of pepper, 1/2 tsp of basil, 1/2 tsp of paprika, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tbsp barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's), 1 clove of crushed garlic, 1/2 tsp rosemary (ground) and 1/2 tsp red pepper. Simmer for about 4 minutes:

Remove from the heat, let it stand for about 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy. Really good.

Hope yoru Super Bowl party was as good as ours. Nothing can completely make up for a shitty game like we had, but good food and good friends do a pretty good job. Bon appetit, and don't miss the NFL Draft Party Food coming in May.

Game food porn, part 1

Our first game food porn today for the Most Triumphant Green Bay Packers is bacon cheeseburger mac and cheese. Sweet baby jeebus this is comfort food and, based on the reaction today, excellent game food. The fiancee of Cpl. Raised By Wolves (did I mention he got promoted?) had thirds. This stuff is good.. So here we go.

You will need 2 tablespoons of oil -- anytime the recipe calls for oil, I use olive oil, but use whatever you like -- one medium onion, chopped up, 1 pound of ground beef, 1/2 half pound of cooked bacon, crumbled. 2 tablespoons flour, 1 cup milk, 4 tablespoons butter (half stick), 1 teaspoon garlic salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and four cups cooked macaroni (two cups dry). You can also top with 1/4 cup toasted Panko breadcrumbs, but I did not do so.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven, toss in that chopped onion. Yeah, use a Vidalia, putz.

Sautee that onion for a couple minutes, then add your ground beef. A pound, pound and a half, whatevs.

While the hamburger is cooking -- don't forget to stir -- measure out two cups of macaroni.

Put it in the pot.

Bring it to boil, K?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, you cooked the hamburger, then you added two tablespoons of flour. You let that cook for a minute, then you added the milk, the butter and the spices. You stirred it until it was creamy. (Don't be afraid to add more milk to it isn't too thick.)

Top with the cheese and crumbled bacon (and the bread crumbs if you choose). Cover, and cook on low heat until the cheese is melted.

Like so.

Combine something this good with a Packers win and you have Nirvana. Bon appetit.