3 Super Bowl recipes for the perfect New Orleans-themed party

If your team isn’t in the big game, then the majority of the fun when it comes to the Super Bowl is gathering with friends, eating, and celebrating football. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with pizza and wings, there are definitely ways to up your game whether you’re hosting, or bringing something to someone’s house.

At this point the Chiefs and Eagles have been to multiple Super Bowls, making it a little passe to suggest “burnt ends” or “cheesesteaks” to represent the teams — so instead let’s pay homage to the host city New Orleans, which just so happens to have some of the best food on planet earth.

Let’s dive into three New Orleans-themed ideas for your Super Bowl party, ranging from an easy dish anyone can throw together — up to something that requires some skill. One of the best things about Cajun and Creole cuisine is that it was inherently designed around being cheap, using what was around, with technique and skill turning often humble ingredients into something incredible.

Novice: Muffuletta

Can you make a sandwich? Good, now you can make a muffuletta. The New Orleans variant on an Italian sub or grinder is taken to another level with a few key ingredients. The best thing about this sandwich is that it’s designed to be shared, needs to be made ahead — and if you make two good-sized muffulettas they can easily feed 8-10 people.

The biggest sticking point here is bread. Muffuletta bread probably isn’t something you’ll be able to find outside of New Orleans — so we’ll have to make do with a loose facsimile. Round focaccia or ciabatta work perfectly fine as substitutes, even if they’re not wholly traditional.

From there you’re adding some olive salad, cold cuts, provolone cheese — and you’re done. Here we can also save on some items to make it even more cost-effective.

Ingredients

• Two large round bread loaves (halved)
• Two jars green olives w/pimentos
• Two cans black olives
• One jar of giardiniera
• Two cloves garlic
• Olive oil
• One pound mortadella (or bologna for budget)
• One pound soppressata or salami (or pepperoni for budget)
• One pound prosciutto or capicola
• One pound provolone cheese

Method

1. Pulse the olives, giardiniera, garlic, and olive oil in a food processor until minced. Put in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight
2. Spread the olive salad over both sides of the bread, then layer the sandwich with the meats — topping with the provolone
3. Wrap sandwich tightly in plastic wrap for at least two hours before serving so olive salad can penetrate the bread

Intermediate: Chicken and sausage jambalaya

Considering we’re cooking for a crowd we’re going to axe the shrimp and go for a much cheaper chicken and sausage variation of the classic dish. It might seem intimidating, but really this is a pretty simple recipe you can bang out in a large pot and have everyone help themselves.

Bulked out with rice, jambalaya is filling. Put a bottle of hot sauce next to the stove (Crystal hot sauce preferred), and guests can make it as hot as they like it.

Ingredients

• One onion
• One green bell pepper
• Three stalks of celery
• 1 pound chicken thighs
• 1 pound Andouille sausage
• Chicken stock
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 bag frozen okra
• Cajun seasoning
• Bay leaves
• White rice
• Thyme
• Olive oil
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

1. Brown chicken and sausage in olive oil over medium heat in a large pot or dutch oven
2. Remove chicken and sausage into a clean bowl, and brown chopped onion, bell pepper, and celery in the same pot
3. Deglaze the pot with chicken stock, ensuring to scrape up anything stuck to the bottom with a wooden spoon
4. Add tomatoes, uncooked rice, cajun seasoning, bay leaves, and thyme. Stir and cover
5. Cook until rice is tender, approximately 20 minutes — stirring occasionally
6. Add the okra and bring to a simmer before adding back chicken and sausage. Serve

Advanced: Gumbo

Gumbo is one of the greatest stews in the world, bar none. In fact, it might be the greatest stew. A perfect blend of layered flavor, complexity, heat, and umami — I’m not going to pretend for a second that the gumbo I make at home can hold a candle to anything you’ll find in New Orleans.

The roots of the dish are as varied as the city of New Orleans itself. African, Native American, French, German, Spanish — there are elements of numerous world cuisines in this one dish. The difficulty comes partly from the technique, and partly from seasoning and tasting to make sure it all comes together in harmony.

Traditionally either okra or filé powder is used to thicken the gumbo along with the roux. Filé powder, which are the leaves of the sassafras tree can be found in the spice aisle of most major grocery stores.

Ingredients

• One cup flour
• One cup butter
• 6 stalks of celery
• One large onion
• One large green bell pepper
• One bunch green onions
• One bunch parsley
• Three gloves of garlic
• Andouille sausage
• 4 cups chicken broth
• One pound chicken thighs (cut into bite-sized pieces)
• Optional One pound shrimp (shell on)
• 3 tbsp Cajun seasoning
• 1 tbsp File powder
• White pepper
• Black pepper
• Salt

Method

1. Dice onion, celery, and bell pepper — reserving trimmings
2. Peel and devein shrimp, reserving the shells.
3. Add shells to approximately 5 cups of cold water, salt, and vegetable trimmings. Bring to simmer over medium heat and allow to simmer for 45 minutes. Strain to create shrimp stock. If you choose to omit the shrimp, double the amount of chicken broth in the ingredients.
4. Melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven over low-medium heat. Whisk in flour and continue to stir with a spatula. This is your roux. Over time the color will change from a pale white, to golden brown, to brown, and finally dark brown. This is one of the most critical elements of the gumbo, and you want it to be the color of chocolate.
5. Slice andouille sausage and brown in a large skillet. Remove and set aside.
6. Add some vegetable oil to the same skillet and brown chicken thigh pieces until par-cooked (this will finish cooking in the stew). Remove and set aside.
7. Add onion, bell, pepper, and celery to the same skillet and cook until soft. Add one cup of chicken broth to the vegetables and deglaze the pan, scraping up anything stuck to the bottom.
8. Add cooked sausage, chicken, vegetables, garlic, parsley, cajun seasoning, file powder, and remaining stock to the pot with the roux. Simmer until stew thickens slightly. Add salt, pepper, or more cajun seasoning to taste.
9. Serve over white rice.