Chef Patrick Connolly shrugs off the heckling he gets when he rocks his Patriots garb at the New York kitchen he runs. After all, his brother is Dan Connolly, the Patriots’ starting offensive lineman.
“I’m 100 percent a Patriots fans. For every ten dirty looks I get, there’s one Bostonian who understands where I’m coming from,” Connelly joked.
Connolly is the executive chef at The Kitchen NYC, an event space in midtown Manhattan, which will be home to a blowout Super Bowl Party on Sunday.
In honor of the big game, Connolly pits New York and New England against each other on his menu, with the palate being the playing field. The dishes all feature ingredients sources from the locations of their respective teams.
For Pats fans, he offers up delicious shellfish options, like fried Wellfleet oysters, a lobster roll grinder on brioche and Maine corn nachos with corn tortillas, in addition to Fall River Portuguese linguica sausage and chicken wings with a spicy New Hampshire maple syrup.
The Giants menu includes Hudson Valley duck wings, a pastrami grinder, sweet Italian sausage and baked potato skins with sliced NY strip steak. “I wanted to include pretty noticeable ingredients that most people in New York recognize from daily life — nothing too extravagant,” Connolly told TODAY.com.
Want to have your own head-to-head at home? Here, Connolly shares to snack dishes from his Super Bowl menu, perfect for pleasing all your partygoers.
Patriots: Maine lobster and crab nachos with corn tortillas, smoked bacon and ‘tartar’ sauce
- 1 bag corn tortillas
- 1/2 lb jonah crab meat
- 1 1/2 lb lobster
- 3 Tbsp white vinegar
- 10 slices applewood smoked bacon, cut into thin strips and rendered til crispy and drained
- 4 sprigs of tarragon
- ½ cup crème fraiche
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
- 2 Tbsp capers, chopped
- 12 each cornichons, sliced into small rings
- 1 cup iceberg lettuce, shredded
- 1 tsp Spanish paprika
For the lobster:
Bring a large pot of water with to a boil. Add 3 tbsp of white vinegar to the water.
Separate the raw lobster into claws and tail. Drop the heat on the water to a simmer and add the claws. Cook the claws for 2 minutes, then add the tail and cook all together for another 6 minutes. Remove the lobster tail and claws from the water and place into ice water. Let chill for 10 minutes, then remove meat and finely chop.
To assemble:
Pick the leaves from the tarragon and dice into small squares. Mix the tarragon with the crème fraiche, grated zest from the lemon and juice of ½ lemon. Arrange the tortilla chips on a large platter. Distribute all of the ingredients on top of the chips in the following order: Crème fraiche, crab, bacon, egg, capers, cornichons, lettuce and paprika.
Giants: Steakhouse baked potato ‘skins’ with sharp cheddar, potato puree, sliced NY strip, scallion and sour cream
- 1 bag good quality potato chips
- 2 large russet potatoes
- ½ stick butter melted
- ¼ cup warm whole milk
- 8-oz boneless NY strip steak
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 oz sharp NY state cheddar, shredded
- 6 scallions, sliced (white and green part)
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ clove garlic, minced
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Sea salt
- Cracked pepper
For the potato puree:
Simmer 2 potatoes in water for 1 hour until tender.Ppeel and put them through a food mill. Add the melted butter and warm milk to the potatoes. Whisk until very smooth and salt to taste. Cover with plastic and keep warm.
For the NY strip:
Cut the steak into fourths and remove any unwanted fat. Marinate in Worcestershire and olive oil for 20 min or up to 2 hours. On a hot grill, grill each piece for 4 minutes per side (for medium) -- pan searing and broiling are also options. Remove from the grill, let rest for 5 minutes.
To assemble:
Lay the chips out on a large platter. Distribute the potato puree about the platter in 1 Tbsp drops on the chips. Slice the steak into ¼ inch pieces and scatter onto the chips and puree. Add the shredded cheddar and place the plate in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes. Add the sliced scallions, garlic and lemon zest. Finish with a pinch of coarse sea salt and a few turns of the pepper mill.
More from Bites: