Oh, wait, I forgot. I could not possibly care less about professional football (though if my father asks, GO GIANTS). I love college football. When B decided to go to a grad school with an exceptional team I adopted them as my team-in-law (that’s allowed if you went to a school with a craptastic football team, which I did. I actually witnessed a QB run the wrong way with the ball at one fateful game in 1994).
Being from New England, I probably should try to care about this particular game, but honestly, the fact that I’m from New England is the only reason I even know who is playing (their geographic locations directly correlate with the vast majority of my Facebook friends, therefore I’ve been seeing mature and logical posts about the teams’ merits for weeks. I’m SO looking forward to tonight night when every post is some form of na nana boo boo from the winning fans and complaints about the refs heads and rectums being fused from the losers).
Despite my lack of enthusiasm over the game itself, I LOVE me a good Superbowl party. Know why? Appetizers! Superbowl parties are all about the apps. I love miniature food. I love dips. Ergo, I love Superbowl parties. My logic is infallible, don’t even try to argue with it.
I made these last weekend for a neighborhood potluck and was pleasantly surprised with my creation.
They’re Soyrizo! Totally vegetarian. They could have been vegan if I made the pie crust myself with shortening (HA!) and used soy or almond cheese. But that shit’s weird, so they’re not. I have discussed the validity of Soyrizo as a meat substitute in the past and I stand by it still. Most of the fake-meat-purporting-to-be-real-meat-flavored stuff falls far short of the mark (that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, just that it tastes nothing like the product it masquerades as). This stuff is actually good. It might help that I think regular chorizo is revolting, but I digress…
Refrigerated pie crust, soyrizo, frozen corn, frozen potatoes with veggies, & salsa (not pictured) make this super easy.
You could totally make the hash browns from scratch and sauté fresh peppers and onions. You could grow the corn in your back yard too, but this is easier.
I used a 2.25 inch cookie cutter to make the pie crust disks, but you could use anything with a 2-3 in diameter and it will work just fine (high ball glass, biscuit cutter, one of those lawn hole punchy things).
One package (two crusts) made about 42 circles. Press them into ungreased mini muffin tins.
Lessons learned at this point in the process, which I will graciously pass on to you so you don’t get all “what the crap” on me when it happens to you:
1. To get a little more out of the pie crusts (and so your apps taste more like filling and less like dough), use a rolling pin and roll the dough a little thinner before making the disks – just so it’s still thick enough to handle.
2. Poke holes in the bottom of each of the cups with a fork – they won’t bubble up as much. You could use beans or pie weights too, but that’s a little too anal for my taste. Just smoosh down the bubbles with your finger when they’re still hot.
3. as much as you don’t like to waste food products, don’t combine the scraps of pie crust and re-roll it out until it’s gone. The re-rolled ones will bake in to sorry flat little disks that silently mock you for not knowing better:
The one on the right is a 1st run roll. The one on the left is sneering at me.
Once they’re in the pan, bake them at 400 degrees for 5-8 minutes until they’re a little brown on the edges. You can fill them in the pan if you want, but then they’re hell to get out of the holes. I took the shells out and put them all on a cookie sheet to fill.
It’s not the most appetizing looking filling, but if you smother it with cheese, no one will be any the wiser when shoving the tasty little treats in their pie holes.
Soyrizo Mexican Appetizers
1 box refrigerated pie crust (2 crusts)
1 tsp olive oil – just enough to grease the pan
1 package soyrizo (found in the refrigerator section where the tofu is, not the sausage)
1.5 (ish) c frozen corn kernels
3 (ish) c frozen hash brown potatoes (preferably with peppers and onions)
Salsa of choice (I used a roasted pepper one from Trader Joes)
2 c shredded mexican blend cheese
scallions for garnish
Prepare shells as above, arrange on a cookie sheet.
1. Cook potatoes according to package directions, set aside
2. Using the same pan (or a different one if you want to do more dishes), heat olive oil and saute soyrizo, and corn together until soyrizo is cooked through – about 5 mins
3. Stir in potatoes and salsa – the salsa binds it together and makes it more filling like
4. Fill pie crust shells with heaping spoonfuls. Top with shredded cheese.
5. Bake at 400 until cheese is melted.
Serve. Watch the commercials. Root for whatever team you want. Or just make them, since I didn’t get off my ass and post this in time for you to actually make them for a Superbowl party.
Oh, and if you have leftover filling (which is likely), make these for dinner some night (just fill a pepper, top with cheese, bake until cooked through – about 20 mins):
Legally Delish 