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The Main Ingredient: Where Food and Football Collide: For Super Game Day Eating Use Provolone for Antipasti Panini

Posted on: Sunday, 5 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Robert J. Byers and Tara Tuckwiller, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Feb. 5--Steelers football has always gone hand-in-hand with food in the Byers household. Each game is an event to be savored and celebrated, and so is the accompanying grub.

The type of food often depends on the kickoff time. A 1 p.m. game calls for what I have known since my earliest southwestern Pennsylvania memories as simply "football food," which others know as antipasti. If it's a 4 p.m. game, we're looking at light dinner fare, say chili or panini. And a 9 p.m. Monday night game is cause to break out the deep fryer and Frank's RedHot for Buffalo wings.

In the superstitious realm of Steelers fans, it is best not to deviate much from your game-time routine, lest you be the one responsible for creating a jinx (yes, I'll be wearing the same tattered Steelers T-shirt for tonight's game that I've been wearing for a decade of kickoffs -- don't laugh, the shirt has powerful mojo).

But if there's one thing I have learned in the study of football and food, it is that it is vitally important to serve the food at the start of the game, because if things go bad in a hurry, there won't be much of an appetite by halftime.

That point was first driven home during the 1994 Sugar Bowl (the Mountaineers are my other football obsession), when my plate of hot wings didn't seem so hot at halftime with the 'Eers down 21-7.

For last month's Sugar Bowl, I, of course, did not make hot wings. No, in order to break the WVU bowl jinx, we really needed to go out on a limb. Tara complied by making Eritrean food: spicy mounds of unrecognizable dishes all piled atop a large round of flatbread. You eat it with your fingers. Needless to say, come bowl time next season, I'll be breaking out the Eritrean cookbook.

I've introduced my 7-year-old daughter to the wonderful world of "football food" -- those colorful trays of antipasti, brimming with olives, pepperoni, cheeses and the like -- and she's totally into it, although her interest in the football part of the equation quickly wanes when the last piece of cheese disappears.

And so, after the longest column intro ever, we get to today's ingredient -- an old friend in the world of football food -- provolone cheese.

In keeping with the Italian origins of antipasti, I usually try to keep the components as authentic as possible. Provolone is a good place to start, although much of what we get here is made in Wisconsin. It's a mild, unassuming cow's milk cheese that plays well with others -- such as on a cracker along with a slice of soppresetta and a sliver of roasted red pepper.

It's also outstanding as a melting cheese for sandwiches and burgers.

When buying provolone, there are a few things to look for on the label. If it's your bargain-basement brand in a sealed pack, check to see if smoke flavoring has been added. If you're not a big fan of the smoke, try the specialty cheese aisle or the deli counter for purer-flavored provolone. There, look for the words dolce, Italian for "sweet," or piccante, Italian for "spicy," on the label.

The dolce, which is made with calf rennet, is creamy and mild, while the piccante, which is made with lamb or kid goat rennet, is sharper.

The selection of Italian deli meats and cheeses at local grocery stores has improved lately (we particularly like the Boar's Head brand). A quick shopping trip and you'll be ready -- for some football.

To contact staff writers Robert J. Byers and Tara Tuckwiller, use e-mail or call 348-1236 or 348-5189.

Capicola-Provolone Panini with Roasted Red Pepper and Onion

Italian panini are just glorified grilled-cheese sandwiches that have been compressed. Experiment with ingredients to find a combination that suits you.

1 small purple onion, very thinly sliced

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

Unsalted butter

8 slices Italian-style bread, cut about 1/2-inch thick

12 slices capicola (or more to taste)

8 strips roasted red pepper (jarred are fine)

4 slices provolone cheese (or more to taste)

Marinate onion in vinegar and oregano for half an hour. Butter one side of each piece of bread. Divide remaining ingredients equally among sandwiches, top with a few of the onions (vinegar discarded) and remaining bread pieces -- buttered sides on the top and bottom. Fry in a heavy skillet over medium heat, keeping another heavy skillet pressed down on top of the sandwiches to flatten them (we use two cast-iron skillets for this). When bottom sides are golden-brown (2-4 minutes), flip the sandwiches and reapply the skillet, pressing down on the center of the skillet to further compress the sandwiches. When sandwiches are golden on both sides, serve immediately. Serves 4.

Nutrition information (1/4 recipe): 349 calories, 137 calories from fat, 15 grams fat, 8 grams saturated fat, 51 milligrams cholesterol, 1,412 milligrams sodium, 34 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

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Source: The Charleston Gazette

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