Super bowls

Why not make your Super Bowl party a Souper Bowls bash?

3 easy meals-in-a-bowl that will get you out of the kitchen and onto the couch long before kickoff.
Vermont Maple-Spiked Chili with Cheddar Stars
Caribbean Black Bean Soup
Thai Chicken Soup with Coconut Milk and Lemongrass
Snack stats you NEED to know!

The goal
Feel like a champ as your guests serve themselves at halftime and between plays.

By Patty Rhule

Coaches: Jane and Michael Stern
Playbook: Chili Nation (Broadway Books, $12)
Record: Gourmet magazine columnists, authors of Eat Your Way Across the U.S.A. and Road Food.
Pep talk: "It's simple and not very hot. Kids like chili with some sweetness, as do men, who are basically big kids," Jane Stern says. "Plus, it's festive with the cutout stars." Make ahead; feel free to double.
Sidelines: Serve with white rice and corn bread.
Special team: Cranberry beans (found at health food or gourmet shops; kidney beans can be substituted) and maple pepper (it's optional; if you want to try it, call the Green Market in Quechee, Vt., 802-457-3641).
Extra points: Serve in big metal mugs, especially nice "when people get excited during the game and drop it."

Vermont Maple-Spiked Chili With Cheddar Stars

1 pound dried cranberry beans or kidney beans (for speed, substitute
4 cups drained canned kidney beans)
1 cup chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 pounds ground chuck
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper (or 1 Tb. maple pepper; see ordering info at left)
1 1/2 tsps. salt
3 Tbs. chili powder
1 tsp. ground allspice
15-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 slices sharp Cheddar cheese (2 inches by 2 inches by 1/4-inch thick)

Soak the beans in water overnight; discard any bad beans and stones. Rinse the beans and place in a large pot with fresh water. Cook 1 hour, until tender. Drain and reserve 4 cups of beans.

In a Dutch oven, sauté onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add meat, stirring to keep it loose and crumbly, and cook until browned. Drain and discard fat. Add pepper or maple pepper, salt, chili powder, allspice, tomato sauce, maple syrup and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer and cook, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Add the reserved beans and cook 15 minutes more.

Use a cookie cutter to cut stars from the cheese slices, or cut stars freehand with a small knife. To serve, spoon the chili into bowls and top each serving with two or three stars. Makes 10 cups; serves 6 as main course.

Coach: Barbara Kafka
Playbook: Soup: A Way of Life (Artisan, $35)
Record: Author of the best-selling Microwave Gourmet and the award-winning Roasting: A Simple Art; New York Times contributor.
Pep talk: "It's very robust, but it has a certain elegance. People tend to think of Caribbean food as very hot, spicy, but it's nice to see that it can be restrained and delicious without that. You can easily make it ahead." Kafka says this is Miami chef Doug Rodriguez's mom's recipe.
Sidelines:A salad, good bread.
Extra points: "There are parts of Cuba where they serve bananas sliced in the soup. If you've gotten so turned on by cilantro that you can't bear the thought of not having it, you can put some in. If you like spicy, you could add hot pepper after it's cooked."

Caribbean Black Bean Soup

1 pound dried black beans
2 bay leaves
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large red bell peppers, cored, seeded, ribs removed and cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
8 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 Tb. ground cumin
2 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano
2 Tbs. dried oregano
1 1/2 Tbs.sugar, or to taste
2 Tbs. kosher salt, or to taste
For serving:
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup sour cream, optional

In a medium stockpot, bring beans, 12 cups of water and bay leaves to a boil. Lower heat; simmer, stirring often, for 3 hours. Add more water if necessary to keep the beans covered.

Meanwhile, in a frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Stir in peppers, shallots, onions. Cook, stirring often, 8 minutes or until onions are translucent. Stir in garlic, cumin, oregano; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; let cool slightly. Purée in a blender.

When the beans are almost done, stir in the purée, sugar and salt. Simmer until the beans are tender, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Adjust the seasonings. Serve with red onion and sour cream, if desired, on the side. Makes 10 cups; serves 6 as main course.

Coach: Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Playbook: Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home With a Four-Star Chef (Broadway, $35)
Record: James Beard Foundation Award winner for best chef in America, 1998; among his Manhattan restaurants are Jean Georges and Vong.
Pep talk: "Everybody loves chicken soup. Adding a little spice brings it to an exotic level."
Sidelines: Ladle the soup over rice; that's how they'd eat it in Thailand.
Secret weapons: Visit an Asian market for lemongrass, Thai red curry paste, coconut milk, nam pla or nuoc mam (Asian fish sauce), and lime leaves. If you can't get nam pla or nuoc mam, use salt to taste. Galangal is called blue ginger in Thailand; you can substitute regular ginger root.
Extra points: "Goes well with beer!"

Thai Chicken Soup With Coconut Milk and Lemongrass

1 stalk lemongrass
1 Tb. canola oil
1 medium onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsps. Thai red curry paste or curry powder
Six 1/8-inch-thick slices galangal or fresh ginger root, not peeled
3 lime leaves, dried or fresh
4 cups chicken stock
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 cups shiitake mushrooms
One 13- to 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
Juice of 2 limes
2 Tbs. nam pla or nuoc mam (Asian fish sauce)
3 scallions, trimmed and minced on the diagonal
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

Trim the lemongrass of its outer sheath and hard ends, whack it in a few places with the back of a knife, then cut it into two or three pieces. In a deep skillet or medium saucepan, combine the oil, onion and garlic and turn the heat to medium. Cook a minute, stirring, then add the lemongrass, curry paste, galangal (or ginger) and lime leaves.

Cook, stirring, 3 or 4 minutes, then add the stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook at a moderate boil about 15 minutes. (You may prepare the soup in advance up to this point; refrigerate in a covered container for up to two days.)

While the broth cooks, cut the chicken breast into 12- to 34-inch cubes. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and discard or reserve for stock; cut the caps into quarters or eighths.

Add the coconut milk, then the chicken and the mushrooms, to the broth. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the chicken is done.

Stir in the lime juice and nam pla; taste and adjust the seasoning. Divide among four bowls, then garnish with the scallions and cilantro and serve. You may remove the galangal and lemongrass before serving or leave them in - they are delicious to gnaw on at the table. Makes 8 cups; serves 4 as main course.

• Snack fests: Super Sunday, New Year's Eve and July Fourth are America's top snacking days.

• Eat up: When it comes to the total amount of food eaten per person in a day, Super Sunday is No. 2, behind only Thanksgiving.

• Party on: The Super Bowl is the No. 1 at-home party event of the year, says Hallmark Cards; the average party has 17 guests.

• The morning after: Antacid sales increase 20 percent the day after the Super Bowl, reports the convenience store chain 7-Eleven.

  ---

  Go to top
  
  Snacking on the sidelines

  A sampling of how top players chow down in front of the TV:

• Doug Flutie The Buffalo Bills quarterback starts the day with a bowl of Flutie Flakes, his cereal that benefits autism. Later, "we get a group of guys together, play touch football, then order pizzas and Pepsis and watch the game."

• Troy Aikman. The Dallas Cowboys QB always has "lots of appetizers, chips and salsa, crab dip, sushi, deli sandwiches. Never anything too heavy on the stomach - need to keep room for the beverages."

• Daunte Culpepper. The Central Florida quarterback, a top senior NFL draft prospect, will munch on buffalo chicken wings.

• Wayne Chrebet. Don't pass the chips to this New York Jets wide receiver. Says his dad, Wayne Sr.: "He doesn't snack and he doesn't drink anything but water. That's why he walks around with 4.5 percent body fat."

  Photo Credit : BRIAN LEATART for USA WEEKEND