mattwright’s Profile

Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

In Design: A Kitchen Renovation VI

We went with the "Raven" color Caesarstone for our kitchen remodel 6 months ago. We couldn't be happier with it. The product is awesome. The installers however, weren't awesome.. but we are really happy with Caesarstone, and would use it again.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I love them on toast, with some roasted beets. I did a concoction a while back now that had some almond butter with it (uses olive oil..) - I blogged the recipe a while back, hopefully it will come through.

http://mattikaarts.com/blog/?p=220

Being from europe I used to eat sardines a heck of a lot, and never actually ate fresh ones until coming to the US.

See more comments by mattwright »

Recent Posts

From Photograzing

Spring onion sherry and wild sorrel soup

From Photograzing

Clam and pork belly soup - a modern take on clam chowder!

From Photograzing

Winter Squash Chutney

From Photograzing

Home curing Bresaola

See more posts by mattwright »

Recent Favorites

mattwright hasn't favorited a post yet.

Recent Polls

mattwright hasn't answered any polls yet.

Recent Quizzes

mattwright hasn't taken any quizzes yet.

Recent Comments | Response to Comments

From Serious Eats

In Design: A Kitchen Renovation VI

We went with the "Raven" color Caesarstone for our kitchen remodel 6 months ago. We couldn't be happier with it. The product is awesome. The installers however, weren't awesome.. but we are really happy with Caesarstone, and would use it again.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I love them on toast, with some roasted beets. I did a concoction a while back now that had some almond butter with it (uses olive oil..) - I blogged the recipe a while back, hopefully it will come through.

http://mattikaarts.com/blog/?p=220

Being from europe I used to eat sardines a heck of a lot, and never actually ate fresh ones until coming to the US.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

Well, it has been a year, but I got one more. I bet even Marvin from Burnt Lumpia doesn't know about this. When I get my hands on some green (unripe) mango (traditional craving for pregnant Filipinas), we get some which start to get soft but still green. We (our family) scrapes it with a fork/chops it very fine and serves it with sardines and tomato sauce and rice. Sometimes we saute it a bit, but mostly we don't bother.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

Personally I love sardines right out of the can too. No frills just the can and the fork! I like the one with Soybean Oil and my dog is even hooked on them too! He sure has a shiny coat now and no constipation problems so I don't have too much of a problem sharing with him. lol
My problem is trying to find a quiet spot to eat them where he can't find me! lol
Husband hates the fishy smell tho. Guess its a required taste.

From Serious Eats

In Design: A Kitchen Renovation VI

I have multiple surfaces. I have some granite, I have butcher block and I have some formica. The formica if kept nice lasts a long time and is fairly cheap. There is no reason you need to cover regular non work suface space with granite or something expensive. Your vase or bread box does not need to have granite under it. Get a backsplash, it saves a lot of trouble.
Sinks are important and so are faucets and they are expensive.
I loved designing my kitchen. I am already designing another in my head.
No one tell the Husband!

From Serious Eats

In Design: A Kitchen Renovation VI

Like @cybele, we did concrete countertops in our kitchen...about five years ago now. We absolutely love them -- they will take on the very occasional red wine stain (it was late, we were drunk, no motivation to clean up the kitchen), but they're durable, solid and good looking.

We did ours through Concrete Works in Oakland, CA -- they're really friendly and provide great service. http://www.concreteworks.com/

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

i love sardines right out of the can. i eat one can everyday and i savor it.
delicately picking out the bone and eating bite by slow bite... i practically lick the can.

i've discovered that in order to get good sardines you've got to pay for them. the cheap ones have more of a fishiness that i don't like. i buy norwegian brislings. mediterranean style is my favorite. i've discovered that everyday i actually feel better after i eat them. they really help me stay alert for the rest of the day. i felt an instance high after the first time i ate them, so i've been hooked every since.

i've tried doing recipes and mixing them in salads but honestly, i love em plain and that's how i only eat them from now on.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

guess what I make a living out of them. I do product development for a certain brand in asia. But eversince I started working on it, I stopped eating them at home. C'mon give me a break, they're everywhere at work. =) I want to eat something else. lol.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with fried sardines but they're great on toasts and on rice as well. One can eat it right off the can or bottle (yes, there are bottled sardines). But for the tomoto sauce based sardines, I'd rather heat them first and add some lemon or a bit of soy sauce.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I, too eat them out of a can. I prefer the ones packed in mustard sauce, as the mustard hides a bit of the fishy taste, but also buy the water-packed and add my own mustard. I just smash a few onto wheat bread or a bagel. Eating them on bread also makes them more palatable for me. Eating them with hard-boiled eggs sounds like a good idea, too...

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

As suggested above, buy sardines packed in water. Drain well, mash and spritz with balsamic vinegar and malt vinegar to taste, add a scant amount of mayonnaise, if you like a creamy spread or omit. Fold in a tablespoon of chopped, drained and rinsed, capers and season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Spread on hot, buttered rye toast. This sandwich is quite palatable, even delicious. This is a variant of the French Canadian "sardines on toast.

The sardines won't be oily, 'fishy'. Buy the cheap brand of sardines in spring water and visit a dollar or discount store to buy capers. The ones from Spain seem the cheapest. I think this sardine approach is good on all counts. Do try to enjoy....

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

Try getting a tin of the smaller sized variety and using them instead of anchovies in a puttanesca sauce. I cut them in half lengthwise rather than chop them.

If you ever have a chance to try Venetian sarde in saor, do it!

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I just ate my first can of sardines. These were packed in water. Quite tasty. I ate them plain right out of the can with a little pepper on top. Thanks for the sardine tips. They are an excellent source of protein.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

re: sardines and rice -- yes! must be cos i'm half filipina? salad of choice to accompany is red onion/juice ripe tomatoes/coriander and a sharp vinaigrette.

my parents retired to live in st jean de luz and every time i visit them i stock up on their sardines from this WONDERFUL shop: http://www.labelleiloise.fr/

in fact, my ma sent me a dozen tins for my birthday!

the other way i like tinned sardines is in on toast with plenty of mayo and sliced tomatoes.

if i get fresh i make them in escabeche OR grilled -- too too yum.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

Try Sultan brand sardines in chili oil from Morroco. Yellow box. They are great and would probably go well with pasta and just use the oil on the pasta as well. Maybe add some capers, green onions or how about some lightly sauteed kale........? And how about some toasted old baguette just smashed up in there?

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I can eat them out of can, but that's me. Here's a good way to tart them up:
http://badhomecooking.typepad.com/bad_home_cooking/2007/04/how_to_avoid_br.html
Which I did at Pessach last year.
Good luck. And don't overthink what you can or can not eat whilst pregnant. I craved tekka maki (tuna roll sushi) when I was pregnant with my first....ate it all the time, in defiance of the Parenting Police. The now 11-year-old is tall, smart and healthy. And loves sushi.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

@eatWashington: Not to endorse the evil WTO, but you grandfather would have prevailed today with a sardine labeling case, as bristling (sprattus sprattus) is now considered one of twenty-one fish species that are permitted to be labled and sold as a "sardine" per the WTO Codex Alimentarius.

Um, Peru won a huge sardine labeling case a few years ago. I learned about the current regulations then.

Yay for all sardines!

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

Oh, wow!!! Such good eats. I drain 'em (Packed in oil or water) on a paper towel then slather up a couple of slices of bread wirh mayo, slice up a little onion and pile it all into a sandwich. Don't even have to slice or mush up the sardines. yum

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

This vision brings tears to my eyes - Daddy and I would sit on the back porch (Mother would not allow sardines in the house) and smash sardines on Saltine crackers. I was about 5 and none of my siblings would touch them. Just me and my Dad. I hadn't thought about that until I read this piece today. I can hardly wait to get a can, sit on the back porch and think of my Dad, long gone, but those sardines were only thing that was "just us". We liked "Kipper snacks" the best but forget mayo and mustard. Thanks for the memory!!

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

Hi Robin

This is a devious recipe from a book I wrote called The Healthy Lunchbox designed to lull unsuspecting children into eating sardines. Maybe it would help you too?

Just-like-tuna paté
Enough to fill 2 large wholemeal baps, 4 wholemeal rolls or 3 granary or wholemeal sandwiches
1 can of sardines in sunflower or olive oil
75g/3oz Quark or low fat curd cheese
Grated rind of half a lemon
1 tbsp chopped chives
Freshly ground black pepper
Drain the sardines, split them lengthways and remove the backbone. (Yes, I know it’s healthy but there’s nothing more offputting to kids than coming across crunchy bits of bone) Put the sardines in a blender with the Quark, lemon rind and chives. Whizz, taste and season with pepper.
* you can of course make this by hand but the extra smooth texture you get from blitzing the mix makes it somehow less sardiney.

http://thefrugalcook.blogspot.com


From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

My grandfather invented sardines. As a young grocery delivery boy with a bicycle, he went over on the ferry to Norway from Newcastle-on-Tyne in the North of England where he lived to find new markets, and saw the Norwegians were canning fish. He bought the rights to do the same, came back to England and launched Skipper Sardines. The round-cornered flat can was opened with a key attached to its underside. It was wrapped in paper illustrated with the picture of a bearded sailor in a yellow sou'wester that's become an iconic poster. The French sued him in court for using the word 'sardine' which they said was theirs. Since it doesn't describe a species of fish, my grandfather lost the case and had to change the name of his canned fish to "bristling".
They were our regular Sunday night supper, after a heavy roast meat lunch with Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy. We squashed them with the back of a fork into thick slices of hot buttered brown toast, squeezed some lemon juice over and several good grinds of black pepper. Wonderful! eatwashington.com

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I like King Oscars' Balsamic Vinaigrette sardines right out of the can or in a salad.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I'm seconding Marvin's comment (and not just because I read his blog)! As a kid, my Filipina mother would saute some onions and add it to the tomato-sauced sardines, and serve it over a bed of rice with Filipino spinach on the side. It was heaven!

And not only can you find canned, tomato-sauced sardines in an Asian grocer, but there's also a similar Mexican version from Chicken of the Sea. I found this version next to the other canned fishes at my local Safeway grocery store.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I love them plain. You could try the sardines in tomato sauce. Maybe you have to grow up on them to love them truly.

From Recipes

Eating for Two: How Do You Love Sardines, Tell Me All the Ways

I really like canned sardines and I always buy them packed in water. They don't taste oily then, just pleasantly moist.

Recent Favorites

mattwright hasn't favorited a post yet.

Polls

mattwright hasn't answered any polls yet.

Quizzes

mattwright hasn't taken any quizzes yet.

About mattwright

Website:

Location:

About:

Favorite foods:

Last bite on earth: