Kap & Mina's Sunday Afternoon Tailgate: Week 11

This week's theme comes by special request from Mina. She's been dying to make tailgate tacos all season, and now she's got her chance. Tacos are the perfect tailgate food--they're made to travel, easily customized, and universally loved.

What better week to do it than when the Eagles face the Packers? (Wisconsin being a state with a great football culture but a decidedly weak taco heritage.)

So say olé as the Eagles face Green Bay!


(Ed.: I want to apologize. That was really corny. Even by my standards, which as we all know are notoriously low. It's a combination of spending too much time around Mina and all the tequila from this week's recommended drink--I swear!)

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"Touchdown Tacos"

WILD AND CRAZY WING TACOS

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For this week's recipe, I ran a question by Kap: Breakfast or Buffalo Wings? And since he answered, "Buffalo Wings," I tried to think of a recipe that was easy, with the bold flavors that Kap likes, yet was more in line with a conventional "taco" than the madcap pyrotechnics featured in Kap's recipe below. It features all of my favorite stuff about Buffalo wings, but adds a fun taco-twist.  Eat up! 

- Mina

• 3 TBSP Olive Oil
  
• 2 TBSP Butter
• 2 Whole Chicken Breasts
• Sea Salt and fresh cracked Black Pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup Buffalo Wing Sauce
• 1/4 cup Tabasco Sauce
• 4 Flour Tortillas
• 1 Green Pepper, chopped
  
• 1 c. Lettuce, chopped
• 2 stalks of Celery, chopped
• 1 small Red Onion, chopped
• Ranch Dressing
• Guacamole
• 2 squeezes of Lime Juice
• 1/4 cup Feta Cheese (I don't like bleu cheese, but I can do Feta, go figure! Both will work, though. So will crumbly Mexican cheeses, like cotija)   

Heat olive oil and butter in pan, sauté chicken on both sides, sprinkling with salt and pepper, until cooked through (about 5-6 min.). Remove the chicken from the pan.

Combine Tabasco and wing sauces in to the same pan, and heat for about a minute. Shred chicken with two forks, and toss with the warm sauce mixture until evenly coated.  

In a bowl, mix green pepper, celery, and red onion together.  Sprinkle chopped mixture with a dash of sea salt, if you like.  

In another bowl, mix guacamole with a squeeze of lime juice. 

Spread a thin coating of ranch dressing inside each taco. 

Fill tacos with chicken, lettuce mix, and guacamole.  Sprinkle with feta cheese on top, and enjoy! 

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ASIAN SHRIMP NACHOS

All season long I've been playing with convention, trying to be unorthodox with our themes. This week, I'm not sure whether to call these little shrimp cups "tacos" or "nachos." Either way, they are fun and full of Asian flair. While the notion of shrimp nachos with a ginger sauce can be kind of sacrilegious, these are really more of a loosely interpreted appetizer. And, when you really get down to making them, they aren't too wild and crazy.

- Kap

• 8-12 Wonton Wrappers
• 16-24 medium Shrimp, shelled and deveined
• Cornstarch, for dredging
• 2 TBSP Oil (separated), plus additional oil for frying
• Creamy Ginger Dressing (recipe below)
• 1/2 Red Onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 Pineapple, peeled, cored, and chopped (you can use canned pineapple out of season)
• 1 head Bok Choy, chopped
• 1 bag Quesadilla Cheese (or fresh crumbled Queso Fresco)
• Chives, chopped for garnish (optional)
• PAM Cooking Spray
• Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray mini-muffin tins with cooking spray.

Brush the wonton wrappers lightly with oil, and place each wrapper into a section of a mini-muffin tin. Gently press each wrapper into the tin and arrange so that it forms a cup shape. The wrapper will overlap itself and stick up out of the cup. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until browned and crisp. Remove from the tin and allow wrappers to cool.

Heat 1 TBSP oil in a pan over high heat and add the red onion (you can also do this on a grill), stirring so that the onion does not burn. When the onion begins to brown, remove from heat to a bowl. Repeat the process with pineapple (draining liquid off first, if using canned).

Dredge the shrimp in cornstarch. Then pan fry in oil until lightly brown (about 3 minutes each side). Drain on a paper towel, and the toss in a bowl with Creamy Ginger Dressing (below).

When ready, add the quesadilla cheese to the wonton cups and broil for 30 seconds until just melted (being careful not to burn the cups). Remove from oven, and top with bok choy, 2 pan fried shrimp, grilled onion, and grilled pineapple (in that order). Garnish with chopped chives, if desired.



Creamy Ginger Dressing

• 1/2 c. Mayonnaise
• 1/4 c. Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
• 1 tsp. Ginger paste
• 1 squirt Sriracha, to taste

Mix ingredients well.

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An Important Message from Kap & Mina

If you've been following the news recently, then you've heard about the recent alcohol-related death on WVU's campus where we both work. Our hearts go out to the victim and his family. Though we don't know the people involved or the details, we do know that alcoholism is a serious problem across college campuses--though it is rarely, if ever, identified and labeled as such. We are in need of a serious, national culture change when it comes to college drinking. 

In the wake of this tragedy, we talked seriously about not including a drink recommendation, even though our blog series is really more geared toward an older adult population. In the end, we've decided to use this as an opportunity to share our simple philosophy about social drinking: It's more fun when done safely.

It's not fun to have regrets--to throw up or pass out or make yourself ill; to see your friends get hurt.

It's not fun to be scared--to forget where you were, what you did, or how you got home. 

It's not fun to be embarrassed--to behave in ways that undermine the capable person you are.

And it's not fun to pound cheap, foul-tasting booze when you can enjoy a drink that actually tastes good.

Choose quality over quantity in all things--your drinks, your friends, and your experiences.

Please, if you are going to try any of the drinks listed on these pages, make sure you do so responsibly. Make smart decisions and look out for your friends. When we drink, we pace ourselves carefully. Kap is more than twice Mina's size--we keep that in mind. Kap drinks slowly so that Mina won't subconsciously try to match his pace. When he gets up for a refill, he makes sure that he's not topping off Mina's glasses too full or too often as the afternoon wears on. In return, Mina always makes sure that Kap is stone-cold sober before asking him to drive her home. Together, we look out for each other, and the end result is that we have a great time.

- Kap & Mina

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DRINK RECOMMENDATION: MATADOR

It's been a big season for tequila here at the tailgate, but the Matador cocktail fits neatly with our theme with its refreshing cross between margarita and a screwdriver.

- Kap

• 1 TBSP Lime Juice
  
• 1 oz. White or Silver Tequila
• 4 oz. Pineapple Juice
• Ice
  

Combine ice, lime juice, pineapple juice, and tequila in a shaker and shake well.

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EAGLES PREDICTION

Loss -- The Eagles destroyed the Panthers on Monday Night Football, but Cam Newton is no Aaron Rodgers. And while the Packers are a difficult team to pin down, any time Rodgers takes the field, you know they are going to be tough to beat.


MY RECORD: 6-3

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All recipes listed above come from our own imaginations unless otherwise indicated. If you try one of these recipes in your own kitchen, leave a comment below and tell us how it goes. And, of course, share your modifications, enhancements, improvements, etc.

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