Not your usual Super Bowl fare
On this year's Super Bowl party menu: pan-seared duck breast with blackberry sage sauce served with fennel gratin with pecorino and lemon. Not what you were expecting?
For Mark and Sandra Kelly, self-confessed foodies with a willingness to experiment, and friends and family willing to taste-test, the Super Bowl offers a chance to serve their guests something they may not have tried before. While the appetizers sometimes repeat, the main entree usually changes and it has been this way through eight Super Bowls and counting.
While Sandra enjoys cooking a great deal, for Mark, cooking is a passion.
“Cooking is just something I've always enjoyed doing; it's stress relief, a way to relax. My wife will tell you that I get very relaxed on the weekends!” Mark laughs. He usually makes several meals on the weekends that will last them through the week.
Mark's interest in cooking began long ago when he was a young boy earning cooking merit badges for Boy Scouts. In college, a semester abroad, just outside Paris, exposed him to the European habit of shopping daily.
“There was no supermarket — just the little market down the street with bread, produce and cheese. I would go back to my apartment and see what I could create on the little Bunsen burner in my kitchen.”
Fast forward to 2011: the Kellys have been married for 26 years, and have two children in college. A few years ago, Mark, an architect by trade, and Sandra, a former teacher turned librarian, renovated their home and added a state-of-the-art kitchen with enough room for cooks and guests.
“We try to prepare as much as we can beforehand, but usually some of the cooking just has to happen while our guests are here and now we have enough room for people to watch, enjoy and pitch in.”
The Kelly's current cooking inspiration comes from watching Food Network chefs like Emeril and Bobby Flay on Food Network.
“I also love watching The Iron Chef. I like to see the chefs make decisions and see what innovations they come up with in order to use the secret ingredient.”
While many entertainers might advise you to never try a new recipe on guests, Mark disagrees.
“I'm comfortable trying new recipes on my guests. A lot of people are afraid to cook because they are afraid they're going to fail. That's going to happen!”
Mark does advise using fresh ingredients.
“One thing I think I've learned from the cooking shows and my own experience is the importance of using good ingredients, and using them plentifully. We try to eat healthily and like to stay away from preservatives and pesticides. When you buy fresh you can avoid products filled with sugar or sodium and then you can control that.”
Up next? Pasta. The Kelly's recently took a two-week vacation in Italy and fell in love with fresh pasta.
“For Christmas we bought each other a pasta attachment for our food processor and we're just waiting for it to arrive!”
No doubt next year's Super Bowl guests can look forward to an Italian menu with the special Kelly treatment.
— Sally Eyre