Tuna, potatoes, tomatoes turned into Super Bowl snacks at food bank benefit

Could you pull together a Super Bowl snack spread with just the ingredients already in your pantry?

That was the challenge put to Daily Herald Food Editor Deborah Pankey and Cook of the Week Challenge winner Dan Rich by folks at the Northern Illinois Food Bank Sunday afternoon.

Faced with an array of common food pantry items — boxes of cereal, canned tuna and beans, peanut butter — and a handful of other ingredients, the two had an hour to tackle football-friendly fare in the food bank’s Geneva warehouse. Some 60 Daily Herald subscribers noshed on pomegranate-studded guacamole and chicken tacos topped with Yucatan-style pickled onions from nearby Altiro restaurant while they watched the pair execute their culinary game plans and call the occasional audible.

Rich, Elgin’s superintendent of public works, scored big with his sweet and sour meatballs, while Pankey fumbled when her Mediterranean empanadas stayed in the oven too long.

Watch for some of their winning recipes in the Jan. 29 Food section.