WASHINGTON — So you’re having people over for the Super Bowl and you’ve got the usual suspects on the table — chili and chips. “There is one thing that you can make that will up your game so much that you can buy everything from the store,” says WTOP’s resident food expert Mary Beth Albright.
Marinara sauce, Albright says.
You can dip mini pizzas into it, pigs in a blanket, chips — anything you’d contemplate eating from a spork during a football game. “I’m here to tell you, if you create a simple marinara — fantastic,” Albright says.
To whip up the sauce, start with a couple of large cans of whole tomatoes (Albright likes the San Marzano brand). Use your hands to break up the tomatoes. Coat the bottom of a pot with olive oil and add the tomatoes.
Next, slice up some garlic into really thin slices.
“You ever see that scene in ‘Goodfellas,’ where they’re in prison and they’re shaving the garlic with razors, really really thin? That’s how I want you to get the garlic,” she says.
After the garlic, add a little salt, pepper, red chili flakes and a sprig of fresh basil. Don’t worry if you don’t have the basil, though.
“A spring of fresh basil in February — you might have to mortgage the house for because it gets expensive,” Albright says.
Next, bring the pot it to a really big simmer and let it cook for 20 minutes or so. The sauce should take on an orange hue.
“It’s a sauce that tastes like summer but it coats your mouth in a comfort way that you need in the winter,” Albright says. “You can dip anything in that.”
What else can you serve by way of snacks or finger food?
Pigs in a blanket with artisanal sausage and puff pastry bought in the grocery store’s freezer section. “Dump that into the marinara sauce and you have a Super Bowl party, my friend,” Albright said.
Also, consider making macaroni and cheese in muffin tins.“You can just eat it with your hands, so you’re not messing around with how to get it on your spork,” she says.
As it turns out, sporks are rather important on game day. Things that are hard to eat might require guests to look down at their plates while they’re watching the game. You’ll risk upsetting your guests if they miss a big play because they were looking down, managing your frou-frou food.
“My rule is nothing that can’t be eaten with a spork.”
