Background: The first time I tried this–decades ago–was also the first time I made it. I worked in university catering and the executive chef put a recipe in front of me for a sauce to accompany the steak dish for a dinner that night. I had never heard of chimichurri, so I had no idea how it should look or what it should taste like. I followed the recipe faithfully and then didn’t make it again for a while. Later in life, I tried making it with cilantro and rediscovered the magic of this sauce. It’s both a marinade and a kind of relish or chutney. My current version also follows The Move for All Salad Dressings and isn’t far off from some of the mods in Several Quick Marinades in One. However, I’ve now developed a hyperlocavore version that makes use of abundant wild plants in my area and local flavors from my garden. It’s not a chimichurri anymore. That’s why it’s in quotes. But it’s inspired by chimichurri so…I don’t know….you tell me what to call it.

1. Save up the packets of red pepper flakes from takeout pizza until you have a bunch of them.
2. Pick some Meadow Garlic (aka Wild Onion) when it’s blooming.
3. Grab a head of cilantro.
4. Grab some good olive oil.
5. Grab some good red wine vinegar.
6. Put the Meadow Garlic in a food processor with enough oil to make the blades turn and chop up the whites, greens, and bulbs of the garlic.
7. While spinning, add red wine vinegar to the food processor in a ratio of 1 to 3 with the oil (so 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil).
8. Add the cilantro and pulse.
9. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt to taste.
10. Store in the fridge for a few days or freeze.

Why It Works

1. This is why you always say yes to the pepper flakes at the pizza parlor.
2. If you don’t have meadow garlic, try green onions and your favorite preparation of garlic. Pickled garlic works well. Just go easier on the vinegar later.
3. You can use the whole plant, in my opinion. If you want a more refined version, don’t use the stems and add it at the same time as the onions.
4. Good means not counterfeit first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.
5. Grab some good red wine vinegar. I’m not super picky about this, but Roland is a good brand for the money.
6. The different parts of the wild onion will correspond to different elements of a more traditional chimichurri: flower buds will stand in for garlic, the greens will help with that chimichurri color and the whites will represent the shallots.
7. You can adjust the acidity to your taste.
8. I add the cilantro later than the onions for two reasons: 1) sometimes I want to pull out some onion oil and just use that as another condiment; 2) I like to vary the texture so that it’s not all uniform.
9. The rest is just a matter of your taste, the amount of heat you want, and your salt palate.
10. When you pull it out of the freezer, you might have to thaw it 24 hours before using it and then give it another quick round in the food processor.

Mods:

1. Use citrus instead of red wine vinegar.
2. Swap the more authentic parsley back in there for the more controversial cilantro.
3. Make an actual authentic chimichurri.
4. Make this move but call it something less problematic like “Meadow Garlic and Cilantro Red Wine Pepper Marinade That’s Also a Relish Chutney Condiment Thing.”

Background: I’m mostly a local, seasonal fruit and veg kind of guy, myself. But my kids aren’t big into hand-harvesting Mexican plums. So I do whatever I can to expose them to variety, despite my own ideals. Still, they get into this rut where they will only eat, say, Santa Claus melon in the warmer months and Honeycrisp apples in the cooler months. I try to mix it up in subtle ways. That doesn’t work. I try telling them that all we had was cantaloupe for melons and Red Delicious apples and they should be grateful for the variety. That really doesn’t work. So then I just find the craziest fruits I can find and make this deal: try one bite of this crazy fruit and it will count as a fruit or vegetable tonight and you can have dessert. Or you can have a whole serving of another preferred fruit or vegetable and get dessert. Results vary. At least it breaks up the monotony. Here are some fruit moves along with what to do with the inevitable leftovers.

1. Kiwi: Cut in half and serve in an egg cup with a spoon for novel presentation and easy scooping.
2. Mango: It’s a tricky one to dice, but if you can get past that, it goes great with sticky rice with cream of coconut.
3. Star fruit: This one is best sliced thin because it comes out (duh) like a star. The taste and texture are like a cross between an apple and a melon, so try serving them on crackers with peanut butter.
4. Dragon fruit: Slice this one in half and use a melon baller to serve Dragon Balls (after Dragon Ball Z) on toothpicks.
5. Santa Claus melon: Do a Christmas in July themed dinner around this one. It’s kind of like cantaloupe, but the outside is shaped like a green football. I like to make fruit skewers with this one and some other more common melons.
6. Passion fruit: Make a Passion Potion by scooping out the flesh into a blender and pulsing it on high for a bit. Let the seeds settle and then pour through a doubled cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer. Mix with apple juice if you need to make it more palatable.
7. Pomegranate: Just like watermelon seed spitting contests we used to have as kids, you can set up a spitting contest with pomegranate seeds. Set up small hula hoops on the ground and then give each kid a half pomegranate and see how many seeds they can get out, clean off, and spit into their ring. (Diving rings make it even more challenging.)
8. Kumquat: Have a giant party where you get tiny stand-ins for well-known foods. Lil smokies become hot dogs. Baby corn stands in for corn on the cob. And the kumquat takes the place of an orange.

What To Do With the Leftovers:

1. Kiwi: Make a fruit tart with a sugar cookie base and an orange-juice glaze. Tile the kiwi around the cookie and give it another go.
2. Mango: Make mango salsa to serve with fish dishes. (And by “make” sometimes I mean “stir cubes of mango into store-bought salsa to preserve it and use it up.)
3. Star fruit: Just eat the slices and think about the carbon emissions it took for that one piece of fruit to get to you.
4. Dragon fruit: Freeze the balls and re-serve as Dragon Ball pops.
5. Santa Claus melon: I don’t usually have much of this one left, but when I do, I serve it with prosciutto and pretend that I’m a person who has set up his life so that he could attend a fancy brunch.
6. Passion fruit: While salsa is my go-to for extra mango, hot sauce is my go-to for passion fruit. Add a habanero or two, some salt, vinegar, sugar, and spices to your Passion Potion and you’ve got a great hot sauce.
7. Pomegranate: I don’t know, man. You are on your own.
8. Kumquat: Use these to make juice and use the juice to make the glaze for the kiwi fruit tart.

Mods:

1. Just stick to Honeycrisps in the fall/winter and Cantaloupe in the spring/summer.
2. Do an all exotic veggie night and then try these fruits again.
3. Try miracle fruit powder next time.

Background: Sometimes I buy or thaw a chicken over a break or holiday. I’m thinking, “what a great time to smoke a chicken.” Fast forward to 4 p.m. on the last day of the holiday and I’m trying to get my last meal on the table and I still haven’t done anything with the chicken. Probably I’m already making stock, so it makes sense to break it down quickly and throw the carcass in the stock.

1. Get a whole chicken.
2. Get some slider buns.
3. Get your favorite chicken sandwich fixings.
4. Get a filet knife and a cutting board.
5. Get some Bragg liquid aminos.
6. Get some freezer containers.
7. Cut on either side of the breast bone, from where the head was to where the feet are.
8. You should be able to slide the filet knife under the meat and against the breast bone cutting down toward the point of the breast and back around to the top to remove the breast meat.
9. Under the breast meat, you should see the tenderloin. Slide your knife under that and cut it out in one piece.
10. Remove the legs by firmly grabbing the leg quarter with your hands and bending the quarter until the leg bone pops free. You should then be able to cut around it to remove the leg quarter.
11. Use the fillet knife to get as much of the leg meat off the leg quarter. Put in the freezer and label as “chicken for grinding.”
12. Throw the rest of the carcass in the stock pot.
13. On a cutting board, put a plastic bag over the breast meat and tenderloins and any other choice pieces you aren’t going to grind or throw in the stock.
14. Wrap a can in a plastic bag and pound the meat until it’s about a quarter-inch thick.
15. Brine in liquid aminos for about a half hour to an hour.
16. Fire up a cast iron skillet or griddle and get it ripping hot. Turn on the hood.
17. Butter the skillet or griddle and immediately start placing the cutlets.
18. Just like you do with the Extra Thin Pork Cutlets in Soy Sauce, start laying them front to back on a griddle.
19. By the time you put the last one, return to the first one you put on the griddle and flip once.
20. By the time you get to the last one again, return to the first one and start removing them to a piece of foil.
21. When you get to the end, gather up the foil like an untied sachet.
22. While the chicken is resting, clean the griddle, and place the slider buns on the griddle to warm.
23. Serve with your favorite chicken sandwich condiments.

Why It Works.

1. Chicken is cheaper when you buy it whole and roast it or break it down yourself. You also get several options for how to use the meat.
2. We’ve recently switched from Martin’s potato rolls to southern style yeasted dinner rolls
3. Might I suggest, lettuce, Pecan Aioli and Quick Pickled Onions?
4. Many people break down chickens with a cleaver or chef’s knife. If I’m quartering it, I will too. But I use a filet knife when I want to slice the meat off the carcass quickly instead of pounding through bone.
5. This is like soy sauce, but it’s got non GMO soy beans and no wheat for those seeking GF.
6. You could also wrap in butcher paper. I don’t because I don’t like having to wait until the meat thaws enough to let go of the folds in the paper.
7. You can leave some meat on the carcass while you are doing this.
8. You should be going in at about a 45-degree angle.
9. The tenderloin has a tendon in it that you will want to remove.
10. You are going to be getting the leg and the thigh at the same time.
11. Label it however you want. I grind mine.
12. Are you making broth now instead of stock because you have introduced raw meat on the bones? I don’t know. Does it matter?
13. This is to avoid raw chicken pieces (and potentially salmonella) from flying around your kitchen.
14. Again. Raw Chicken.
15. It can get pretty salty so it doesn’t need much time.
16. The liquid aminos will brown quickly and burn after that. So you will want good ventilation.
17. The butter will also burn, so move quickly.
18. I go left to right, front to back, on a rectangular griddle so that I know exactly where I started.
19. Keep moving quickly.
20. I like to pre shape the foil a bit by folding up the sides to catch the juices coming off the chicken.
21. Leave it vented a little to prevent too much more steaming.
22. Or don’t clean the griddle.
23. Guac would work.

Mods:

1. Make rice instead of buns, use soy sauce instead of liquid aminos, and make stir fry instead of sandwiches.
2. I don’t have time for more Mods. I have to clean up this mess.

Background: Cauliflower was the first true vegetable I ever loved and I still love it. It’s a great gateway vegetable because it’s like the potato of the cruciferous family. Once you get under that umbrella, you find acquired tastes like arugula and both true wasabi and the ingredients (horseradish, mustard, greens) for the ubiquitous fake, green paste found in U.S. sushi restaurants. To make the most of this wonder-veg, I’ll give you moves for breaking down cauliflower that yield 4-5 preparations. The mods are particularly important in this move because they add flavor and everyone loves flavor.

1. Get you a big head or cauliflower or two.
2. Get some garlic (Steamed Garlic, roasted garlic, granulated, and even raw garlic work for this move)
3. Get some salt, oil, and butter.
4. Get a microwave-safe bowl, a sheet tray, and a blender.
5. Get a bigish chef’s knife and a cutting board.
6. Remove the leaves and chiffonade them. Set aside.
7. Cut the cauliflower in half from the head through the stem and then cut the halves in quarters.
8. Cut out the stem and the small limbs going to the florets. Get as close to the florets as possible. Do this for all four quarters. Break up the florets with your hands.
9. You should have a pile of nice-looking, relatively even-sized florets, some Dr. Seuss-looking weird stem quarters and some ribbons of leaves.
10. Put the weird looking stem quarters in a microwave save bowl with about an inch of water in the bottom and microwave for, like, forever. I would start with 12 minutes and go from there. You want to be able to pierce the toughest part of the stalk with your chef’s fork. Add water if it’s running low.
11. When it’s totally steamed, let it cool down a bit and prep the florets.
12. Separate the florets in half. Toss one in salt, garlic and oil. Leave the other plain.
13. Start roasting the salted, oiled, garlicked one in the oven or convection oven (yes an air fryer is a convection oven). I would do this as high as 400 degrees because I like a little char on mine. I’ve even been known to broil it to ensure I get the char I want.
14. Now that the nuked stems are cooler (they should still be very warm), put them in the blender. Reserve the steaming water. Start blending and slowly add back the steaming water until you have a nice puree.
15. Adjust the seasoning and purée again.
16. Check the roasting florets.
17. Put the plain half of florets in the bowl that the stems were in and steam them in a less aggressive fashion. I would start at 5 minutes, check, and then go some more. If you are using raw garlic, add it before you steam.
18. When the timer goes off for the steamed heads, the roasted heads should also be done.
19. You should now have roasted cauliflower florets, steamed cauliflower florets, cauliflower purée, a chiffonade of cauliflower leaves, and a bunch of little bits of cauliflower dots that broke off during the processing. Collect and save the little white dots for another preparation. Add garlic where you want it, but don’t add raw garlic at this stage.
20. Serve “Cauliflower Four Ways,” save the components, or do a little of both. Put the purée down on a plate with a spoon and add a pat of butter like you would mashed potatoes. Sprinkle the chiffonade of leaves on top of the cauliflower purée. Add the florets on top, either with both the steamed and the charred ones scattered evenly around or in a yin-yang pattern for picky eaters. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Why It Works:

1. When I’m doing a prep like this, I like to have lots of different kinds of leftovers, so I might do two. Keep in mind, that you can pull out components raw at any stage before cooking and have yourself prepped up for another night. This Cauliflower Four Ways move is more about mise en place than it is about making a showy cauliflower dish (which isn’t really showy until you get to the mods).
2. If using raw garlic, add before in the steaming steps, but after in the roasting steps. The garlic shouldn’t burn in the steaming move, but it will in the roasting move. While char on veggies can be nice, it’s acrid on garlic.
3. Neutral oils are best for this, but if you are vegan, you might want to replace the butter with a flavorful oil.
4. You will be steaming half and roasting half.
5. Your largest chef’s knife, as a general rule for chef’s knives, should be about an inch or two larger than the largest head of cauliflower that you usually buy.
6. A chiffonade is just a think confetti of leaves. Cauliflower leaves are great for practicing your chiffonade technique because they have a celery-like center that stabilizes your knife, they are stackable without folding, and they don’t bruise like basil.
7. You are quartering to expose the stems as much as possible.
8. You actually want a lot of the stems because the puree is so useful. So cut the florets so they have as little stem as possible on them. This will also help them cook more evenly as the stems are tougher.
9. Taste the leaves raw. Imagine them just warm and see if you like them that way. If not, put aside for stir fry. You are now serving cauliflower three ways.
10. You know your microwave better than I do, so adjust your timing accordingly.
11. You want these to be warm, but not so hot that the water is going to burn you or the steam that builds up in the blender causes the lid to blow off.
12. You will season the plain ones later.
13. Don’t start out by broiling. The timing of this move is important. If this is the first time you’ve done this, you might even start at 350 degrees. You can always broil at the end to catch up.
14. The steaming water has nutrients in it, so don’t waste it. But also, don’t add so much back that you’ve got a watery mess. You are looking for thin-ish-mashed potatoes.
15. You can add butter, garlic, and any other seasonings you want to the purée at this stage.
16. If they are done, you can turn off the oven and leave them in there while you finish the other preps.
17. Don’t make another bowl dirty. If you are using something other than raw garlic, add it after the steaming.
18. Adjust the seasoning for the steamed florets.
19. The little dots that litter your cutting board and countertop should be saved. I scoop them up with a spatula or bench scraper and save them for a rice pilaf move.
20. Every component of this dish can be reheated for serving if it got cold while you prepped the others. Also, feel free to just make cauliflower one way and save the raw, already-broken-down components for another week. They will last several days in the fridge and indefinitely in the freezer.

Mods:

1. Add crushed pistachios to the top of the dish.

2. Add your favorite white cheese to the puree.

3. Add your favorite chilies to the mix. Add dried chilies or chili crunch to the roasted cauliflower and add roasted chilies to the puree.

4. Add crushed black peppercorns to the roasted cauliflower.