Once again, it is tailgating season! That excites a lot of people, including the younger generation of our extended family. Our niece, Amanda & her fiancé, Mike, both went to Penn State University where they attended & tailgated at all the football games while there and continued the practice at as many games (both home & away) as possible, once they graduated.
And they do it up right! They have a core group of about 25-30 tailgaters, but it can definitely be a much bigger group at some games. Everyone in the core group makes or brings a food or drink to share. They cook on grills or cook ahead of time and just reheat on the grills. On occasion, they use a deep fryer.
Mike & Amanda at a Penn State game.
It takes a lot for them to miss a game, but Amanda willingly missed 2 Penn State games in a row last month to be a dedicated maid-of-honor for Kelly. The first game Amanda missed was an away game at Rutger’s. Mike & many of their crew had a big party bus transport them from the house they stayed at to the parking lot of the stadium with a trailer full of food and supplies meeting them at the stadium for their tailgate. This is a very dedicated group of tailgaters! Glad Penn State won those games, Amanda & Mike!
(An interesting aside: Rutgers claims to have originated tailgating at the first football game ever played between Rutgers & Princeton in 1869 when fans traveled to the game by horse-drawn carriages, grilling sausages at the “tail-end” of the horse. Source: www.tailgating.com.)
Tailgating is fun, popular and good tasting! Whether you cook ahead of time or prep, then cook at your tailgate, this recipe will work!
Vietnamese Chicken Sandwiches (adapted from Cooking Light)
Total time required: about 50 Minutes Serves 3 – 4
Ingredients:
- 1 (12-ounce) French bread baguette
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- 1 pound chicken cutlets
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic, divided
- 1 tablespoon lower-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots, about 1/2 pound
- 1 cup very thinly sliced radishes, about 12
- 1 English cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce, about 1/2 head
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon hot chilé sauce
Preparation:
Cut bread in half horizontally, scooping out the middle of both halves to leave a 1-inch-thick shell. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with pepper. Sauté the chicken 3 minutes on each side or until they are done. Let the chicken stand 10 minutes, then slice it into strips and toss it with 1 teaspoon of the garlic.
Cook the chicken then slice it into strips when it is cool enough to handle.
Combine the remaining 1 teaspoon of garlic with the soy sauce, sesame oil and hoisin sauce in a bowl. Add in the chicken, tossing it to thoroughly coat the chicken.
Combine the sugar and the vinegar in a small saucepan. Cook them until the sugar dissolves. Add the carrot and radishes into the sugar-vinegar mixture. Cool, then drain the vinegar from the veggies, reserving 2 tablespoons of the vinegar mixture.
The carrot sticks & radish slices get cooked for a bit in the sugar-vinegar mixture.
Drizzle the top half of the bread with the reserved vinegar mixture. Arrange the cucumber slices and lettuce on the bottom half of the bread. Top the cukes & lettuce with the chicken, then layer on the carrot/radish mixture, cilantro and the hot sauce. Return the bread top to the sandwich and cut the loaf into 4 equal portions.
Not your ordinary chicken sandwich!
Go, Team, Go! ~Linda
Vietnamese Chicken Sandwiches (adapted from Cooking Light)
Total time required: about 50 Minutes Serves 3 – 4
Ingredients:
- 1 (12-ounce) French bread baguette
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- 1 pound chicken cutlets
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic, divided
- 1 tablespoon lower-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots
- 1 cup very thinly sliced radishes
- 1 English cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon hot chilé sauce
Preparation:
Cut bread in half horizontally, scooping out the middle of both halves to leave a 1-inch-thick shell. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with pepper. Sauté the chicken 3 minutes on each side or until they are done. Let the chicken stand 10 minutes, then slice it into strips and toss it with 1 teaspoon of the garlic.
Combine the remaining 1 teaspoon of garlic with the soy sauce, sesame oil and hoisin sauce in a bowl. Add in the chicken, tossing them to thoroughly coat the chicken. Combine the sugar and the vinegar in a small saucepan. Cook them until the sugar dissolves. Add the carrot and radishes into the sugar-vinegar mixture. Cool, then drain the vinegar from the veggies, reserving 2 tablespoons of the vinegar mixture.
Drizzle the top half of the bread with the reserved vinegar mixture. Arrange the cucumber slices and lettuce on the bottom half of the bread. Top the cukes & lettuce with the chicken, then layer on the carrot/radish mixture, cilantro and the hot sauce. Return the bread top to the sandwich and cut the loaf into 4 equal portions.