Archives for 2019

Buffalo Wing Cheese Dip

July 3, 2019 by Matt

Oh man. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wing sauce. Ever. Just the words “buffalo sauce” conjure pleasant images of cold beers in a dark bar on a Tuesday afternoon, the wadded up, orange-stained napkins littering your table top like fallen comrades strewn about the battlefield, sacrificed in the vain effort of keeping ones hands and face relatively clean. The kind of memories that end in a full belly, a keen sense of satisfaction, and, if you’re in a quality establishment, lots of wet-wipes.

I can’t think of a single person I know that doesn’t like buffalo sauce. Maybe not because of its popularity, but because I don’t readily associate with those sorts of people. In fact, if you are one of those people, I’m afraid I’m going to kindly have to ask you to leave.

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Basic Vinaigrette

June 27, 2019 by Matt

Alcohol: because no great story ever started with someone eating a salad; a statement emblazoned on T-shirts and Facebook posts letting you know that the owner cannot be bothered to ever eat something other than large hunks of meat accompanied by copious amounts of cheap booze. A sign that the humble salad has been, at least in American society, been equated with weakness and boring food.

And it is boring, when you do it wrong.

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Tahini/Miso Cauliflower

May 20, 2019 by Matt

Florets getting ready to meet their maker.

When was the last time you made everyone in your family happy? Go on; I’ll wait. Yeah, I can’t remember either. If you cook for your family, and I don’t mean just that whole nuclear family thing, I mean the WHOLE family, it gets even harder to remember when you bring food into the picture. It becomes the ultimate challenge, the unicorn you’ve managed to cross-bread successfully with… well, anything. It’s mystical and rare and hopefully pulls its own weight by getting drunk uncle so-and-so to stop telling fart jokes at the dinner table.

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Quick-pickled Vegetables

May 5, 2019 by Matt

I love pickled things. I hate the thought of actually pickling things. It’s quite a dilemma. Fortunately for all of us, it’s a dilemma that’s easily fixed.

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Radish Slaw

January 13, 2019 by Matt

This is a fun little thing to throw together and easy with the right tools. Use a mandolin to cut the radishes into thin coins and then “matchstick” them, or show off your knife skills and do it the old fashioned way. If you have access to jicama or kohlrabi, I highly recommend matchsticking one of those and throwing it in the mix for some added body.

Use this slaw as a topping to white fish, chicken tacos, or in bulk as a side at your next cookout.

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Sauteed Broccolini with Garlic and Chili Flakes

January 6, 2019 by Matt

A ridiculously delicious small plate that doubles as one of my favorite sides for a steak. Think of it as a cross between broccoli and asparagus. Some recommend blanching (a quick boil followed by an ice bath) before sauteing, It’s not a bad thing to do, but I rarely have the time or space for it. If you have one of those refrigerators that makes ice, by all means do so. Those of us without will use our ice for cocktails. Just be aware that if you do blanch this stuff, you should cut your saute time by a few minutes.

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Pantry & Refrigerator: Essentials & Desirables for Your Day to Day

January 4, 2019 by Matt

Oh, the pantry. The daily games of Tetris, trying to find that one can of something that I swear we have in here. The almost monthly re-arranging of stock, moving lesser-used items to a higher shelf only to need it again the next day (or later that night). But most importantly, always having the hot sauce out front. Always.

With a well-stocked pantry, I can take on the world. Well, the world of my kitchen, I suppose. It’s the largest source of pride in said kitchen when it’s fully stocked and organized, and I know that with it, at the very least I can have something worth eating on my table tonight.

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