Making snacks proves effortless and delicious

Watching sports can be a complex experience, eliciting a variety of emotions ranging from pride to disappointment to anxiety to guilt.

Yes, guilt. You know the feeling: You’re watching your favorite athletes sweat profusely, tirelessly working toward a common goal and there you are, on your couch, throwing back cheese-dusted handfuls of chips and popcorn. Add pizza and beer to the equation and you might just enter self-loathing territory.

Junk-food consumption is almost intrinsically linked to the sports-viewing experience. But during March Madness, with day after day of NCAA basketball events, these eating habits can become especially lazy.

Preparing your own game day foods — that is, doing more of the work than the Frito-Lay factory does — can make the rituals of sports spectatorship more fulfilling.

Supermarkets sell pizza dough for little money, around $3 for a generous 12-ounce ball. Your favorite pizza joint might even sell dough.

It’s simple to flour, roll and sauce the dough on a baking sheet, and it can be done during a commercial break. Then, all you have to do is throw the sheet in a 450-degree oven until it’s baked to your desired doneness. The commitment is that simple.

Cookbooks exemplify this culinary ease. For instance, on Tuesday, Jim Lahey’s My Pizza was released. In the early 2000s, Lahey popularized the no-knead method of dough-making.

This book continues that tradition, but advocates pizza as the perfect base for unusual toppings. Corn, jalapeños, veal meatballs — it’s all fair game on a Lahey pie, and topping one should be just as exciting and personalized for you, too.

Your taste buds will thank you, should you purchase some really good cheese and meat to decorate your creation.

Whole Foods recently acquired Creminelli Fine Meats from Salt Lake City. I recommend the La Quercia prosciutto — barely salty, just-dry-enough strips of pork that will take your pizza from good to great.

The worthwhile effort — and it’s hardly any effort at that — cannot be overstressed. The assembly takes less time than waiting for pizza delivery. And watching your crust bake and bubble in the oven is far more satisfying than intently keeping your eyes glued to the Domino’s online tracking system.

Popcorn, like pizza, is a great foundation on which to incorporate interesting flavors.

If you’re microwaving a quick bag of popcorn, do yourself a serious favor and melt some chocolate while you’re at it. Popcorn with dark chocolate and sea salt is an ideal pairing: Scharffen Berger is a top quality chocolate, and melting some of the semisweet, 62-percent cacao chocolate bar will give popcorn a bit of an edge without entering too-bitter territory. It’s ideal when the melted chocolate hardens up on the popcorn with the sea salt.

Popcorn also supports spicier flavors, if you’re craving it. Flavored popcorn is readily available in stores but again, it’s a cinch to assemble yourself. Toss it with cayenne pepper or drizzle with a spice-infused oil, like one with chili peppers.

At home, you want to focus on foods that are really simple and not distracting while also being tastier than the majority of what’s consumed while plopped in front of the TV. Snacks like the ones mentioned here solve that issue.

Inside arenas and stadiums, however, where the quality of food offerings is being improved dramatically, one can find even more “upscale” treats.

In the last few months, Madison Square Garden has undergone a concessions “transformation” — their word, not mine — where you can dine at chicken and sausage stands sporting celebrity chef names.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten is an American culinary legend — three James Beard awards, an equal number of Michelin stars at his New York flagship restaurant Jean-Georges and four stars from The New York Times. His Simply Chicken is now among those offerings available at Madison Square Garden.

Simply Chicken won’t be Michelin-worthy, of course, but the venture makes sense. People want to eat — or rather believe that they’re eating — the best of the best. That’s why it’s also natural to extend this mentality to the home.

So why all the effort just to have something to eat during Syracuse vs. Wisconsin? Simple: Food can, as at a movie theater, circus or ball game, make a good viewing experience great.

And if your bracket is totally shot by the end of the week, at least you can look back fondly on that killer prosciutto-topped pizza.

 

Bernard Leed is a junior majoring in narrative studies. His column “Amuse-Bouche” runs Wednesdays.