Projo Football Food and Spirits

From Kikkoman, maker of soy products including sauce and Pearl Soymilk, comes this hearty recipe that might be nice to enjoy with a playoff game as it combines two of New England's favorite things: seafood and corn.

SEAFOOD CORN CHOWDER

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels

1 cup frozen diced hash browns

1 3/4 cups chicken broth, divided

1 1/2 cups soymilk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dill weed

1/2 pound bay scallops, rinsed and drained

1/4 pound bay shrimp, rinsed an drained

1/3 cup diced roasted red bell pepper

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Saute onion in melted butter in large saucepan over medium heat 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Add corn, hash browns, 1 1/4 cups broth, soymilk, salt and dill. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in scallops, shrimp and bell pepper. Blend flour and remaining 1/2 cup broth; pour into pan. Return soup to a boil; cook, stirring, 1 minute, until soup thickens and scallops are opaque and cooked through.

Grilled Shrimp Salad with Grapefruit & Sweet Onion Vinaigrette

20 peeled and de-veined shrimp
2 tablespoons Creole seasoning
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 cup seasoned flour
6 cups spinach
1 recipe Grapefruit & Sweet Onion Vinaigrette

Grapefruit & Onion Vinaigrette:
2 grapefruit, sectioned
1/2 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup salad oil
1/4 cup tequila
1/4 cup sugar
To taste salt and black pepper

For the Vinaigrette:
In a very hot cast iron skillet, blacken grapefruit sections and onion, turning constantly for one minute. Place in a medium bowl, add vinegar and oil; reserve. Heat tequila and sugar in a small skillet until sugar is dissolved and alcohol is burned off. Combine tequila syrup with reserved mixture; season with salt and pepper.

For the Salad:
Season shrimp with Creole seasoning and rub with oil, grill over high heat until cooked through. Toss onions in seasoned flour and fry at 365 degrees until crisp and reserve. In a small mixing bowl, toss spinach with dressing making sure to get pieces of grapefruit in the salad. Divide spinach among four plates, top with fried onions and place grilled shrimp around the spinach. Finish by drizzling dressing over shrimp.

Serves: 4
From Chef Randy Evans with Brennan’s of Houston in Houston

Next up, the Washington Redskins, a team from an international capital. Here, from Seafood-Norway, is

Cod With Greek Walnut Salsa
6 (6 oz. each) Alaska cod fillets, thawed
oil, as needed
Greek Walnut Salsa (recipe below)

Season cod fillets with salt and pepper. Saute in oil in a non-stick or heavy saute pan over medium-high heat until fish just flakes when tested with a fork. To serve, divide cod between serving plates and top evenly with salsa.

Greek Walnut Salsa
1 1/4 cups tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 cup cucumbers, finely chopped
2 tbsp. olives, finely chopped
2 tbsp. red onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp. garlic, minced
pinch oregano, dried
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped, toasted

Mix together all ingredients except walnuts until well combined. Season with salt and pepper; stir in walnuts just before serving.

Miami's turn, but we don't eat dolphins. The Marco Island (Fla.) Sun Times offers this recipe for shark kabobs, but swordfish is a fine substitute. (Should you actually have a shark you need to use up, soak the steaks in milk for an hour to neutralize their strong taste.) Swordfish chunks, already cut up, are often less expensive than steaks.

Marinated Shark or Swordfish Kabobs
1 1/2 pounds shark steak
1 large can pineapple chunks, drained reserving juice
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup sliced green onion
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 green pepper, cut in squares
1 red pepper, cut in squares
1 small red onion, cut in eighths

Combine sherry, soy sauce, garlic, pineapple juice, brown sugar, green onion, mustard and ginger in plastic bag or container. (Remove shark from milk and pat dry with paper towel.) Cut steaks in 1 1/2 inch pieces. Marinate steak cubes in refrigerator about 1 hour.

On metal skewers, alternate shark steak, peppers, onion and pineapple chunks. Grill or broil about 5 minutes on each side, basting with marinade. Serve over rice.

Former Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest is coming back to Gillette Sunday as a Cleveland linebacker. His Browns bio lists his favorite food as "soul and seafood." These mussels are pure Southern New England.

Chris H. of Chepachet posted this recipe to AOL Food. He called for using a double boiler, but I think he meant a steamer:

New England Patriots - Championship Mussels
10 lbs mussels rinsed
1-2 Celery Stalks
1 Onion
1-2 links hot Chirico Sausage
1-2 tbsp Garlic
2-3 Domestic Beers

Cut onion, celery, and Chirico in pieces Add everything to a pot. Steam for 10-15 minutes on high or when the top mussels are open. Spoon into a dish and enjoy. The guys I go with now prefer this over clams, we do this before at least 1 Pats game a year and at our Fantasy Football Draft.

Note: Put the mussels in last, on a collapsible steamer basket or in a wire strainer to keep the beer from soaking the mussels on the bottom.

There's also a recipe for Cleveland Browns Tailgate Potatoes there. It involves lots of chopping, onions, hot peppers and Parmesan.

Grilled Salmon with Cherry Tomato-Basil Relish

For the relish:
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup firmly packed fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

For the salmon:
Four 6-ounce salmon fillets or steaks
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Olive oil

To make the relish: Cut the tomatoes in half if they're small, or in quarters if they're large.

In a wooden bowl and using a pestle, mash the garlic and salt to a paste, then stir in the vinegar. Whisk in the oil, then add the tomatoes and basil, gently tossing everything together. Set aside.

Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill. Season the fish with sea salt and pepper.

Oil the grill rack well and lightly brush the fish with oil. Grill the fish, turning halfway through the cooking process, for a total of 8-10 minutes per inch of thickness, or until slightly charred on the edges and still slightly translucent in the center. Serve with the relish.

Makes 4 servings.

-- Associated Press

Gourmet and Epicurious call this "Shrimp in Escabeche" -- escabeche, they write, "refers to placing already cooked seafood into a marinade."

In my kitchen, that's cooked shrimp in oil and vinegar with a few extras.

Shrimp Vinaigrette
1 small red onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 Turkish bay leaves or 1 California
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 pound large shrimp in shell (21 to 25 per pound), peeled, leaving tail intact, and deveined

Toss together onion, vinegar, oregano, and 1 teaspoon salt in a shallow glass or ceramic dish.

Simmer oil, bay leaves, garlic, and peppercorns in a small saucepan 10 minutes, then let stand until ready to use.

Add shrimp to a medium pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 4 quarts water), then remove from heat and let stand, uncovered, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain well, then stir into onion mixture along with oil mixture.

Chill shrimp in escabeche, covered when cool, stirring occasionally, at least 12 hours. Discard bay leaves and serve shrimp cold or at room temperature.

Cooks' note: Shrimp in escabeche can be chilled up to 2 days.

Recipe from Gourmet, September 2007 at Epicurious; photo by Roland Bello