Tail Gate Recipes From Terranova's

August 28, 2008

Finally it's here. Football season gets underway tonight as there are high school ballgames scheduled all over our area. Then tomorrow night there are even more high school games to enjoy. I LOVE IT! Of course, college football gets underway this weekend as well and that means folks heading out to the games early so they can do a little tail gating. Today we visited Terranova's Italian restaurant to pick up a few recipes to add to our collection for tail gating. These are a little different than your normal hot dogs, hamburgers, stew and chili. These you can fix at home, put on ice, warm up at the game and have a great meal that will have folks from all over the parking lot coming over and asking for a taste.
Here are four of Chef Paul Ackerman's recipes from Terranova's:

SPICY DILLED SHRIMP

1 lb. boiled shrimp
1/2 cup mayo
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. minced shallots or red onion
1 tsp. dried dill
1/4 cup sour cream
6 dashes Tabasco sauce (or to taste)

In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients except shrimp. Mix well. Add shrimp and toss well to insure good coating. Refrigerate, the longer the better, then eat to your heart's content

MACARONI AND CHEESE

8 oz. grated fontina cheese
8 oz. grated American cheese
8 oz. heavy cream
16 oz. pasta (shells or elbow) cooked according to pkg. instructions
4 oz. gold fish crackers

Add heavy cream and cheese to a heavy pot and melt, stirring constantly until cheese is melted and smooth. Add the cooked pasta and stir in well to incorporate. Pour into an oven safe pan and top with crushed gold fish crackers. Cook in a 350 degree oven until the top starts to turn golden brown.

BBQ BEEF RIBS

1 rack beef ribs
2 cups water
1/4 cup Dales steak marinade
2 bay leaves
1/4 onion sliced
1 half lemon rind and juice
2 tbsp. seasoned salt
2 tbsp. liquid smoke

Add all wet ingredients to bottom of broiling pan along with bay leaves, onion and lemon. Place broiler rack on the pan. Remove membrane from back of ribs and put beef rib on the rack. Brush some of the Dales and liquid smoke on both sides of the ribs. Place ribs inside down on the rack and sprinkle additional seasoning evenly over the beef rib. Cover the whole thing tightly with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil. Place in oven at 225 degrees and cook for three hours.

Ribs can be chilled before grilling or you can grill them right out of the oven. Remember, when you grill them from cold, you have to start out a medium temperature to heat them up, then bring your temp up and add your favorite sauce to caramelize.

PURPLE CHICKEN

1 whole fryer chicken
1 cup raspberry walnut vinaigrette dressing
1 baking pan

Place chicken in oven safe pan (I would use disposable aluminum pan that can go from oven to frig.)
Fill basting bulb with dressing
Lift skin off the breast of the chicken but do not remove skin from breast bone. Squirt some of the dressing under the skin making sure to coat all of the breast meat. Make a small slit in the knees of chicken. Use baster to squirt more of the dressing into the drumstick and thigh parts of the chicken. Use about 2/3 of the dressing under the skin, rubbing chicken to insure even distribution. Cover with aluminum foil and place in preheated to 375 degree oven. Cook until chicken reaches internal temp of 150 degrees. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Drain off juice and add remainder of of the dressing to make a grilling baste. To grill, cut chicken into halves or quarters and place on grill inside down first. Baste generously and flip. Repeat a few more times making sure inside temp of chicken reaches 165 degrees.

This chicken can also be used to make a fantastic chicken salad using mayo, walnuts and celery to taste.