NBA Cookbook

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              (Pic by @TheWagofMutombo  Intro/Q&A by @Ananth_Pandian)

Dave Murphy has lived on both coasts of the US and now currently resides in Texas, which we all know is a country all to itself. Despite being a passionate Lakers fan, Dave does have several redeeming qualities like having a strong and perhaps strange affection to bench players like Slava Medvedenko. His blog Searching for Slava, not only covers all existential Lakers related events, it goes in-depth on the wonderful and weird (fictional) life of Craig Sager. If that is too heady for you, check out Dave’s work on True Hoop’s Forum Blue and Gold, and Digital Refrain. 

Follow Dave on Twitter.

1. Everything is big in Texas so what’s the biggest piece of meat you’ve ever ate?

Mmmm. Well, I’ve only lived in Texas for the past four years and regardless, I can’t actually remember any particularly huge piece of meat I’ve ever eaten. I’m not saying I haven’t, just that I can’t remember. If I did, it might have been at Johnny’s Steak House on Hollywood Blvd. I used to go there eons ago, it’s long gone now. It was a great place to take a date, especially when you were a poor punk rock guitarist – steak dinners for $3.95, including a baked potato. It wasn’t the choicest cut of meat for that price but it was decent sized and tasty. I haven’t had a steak in a long time.

2. Favorite piece of Laker paraphernalia that you own?

It’s got to be the game notes for Game 7 of the 2000,Western Conference Finals against Portland. Two- sided cream sheet of Lakers letterhead from the Staples Center; rosters on one side and some stats and info on the other. They were handing them out in the sky boxes (“#humblebrag” - Ananth). It got to be the fourth quarter and everybody pretty much thought it was over. And then it wasn’t. We were all going nuts. A truly amazing game.

3. Out of all the current Lakers, who would you want to get a drink with?

Probably Pau if it were someplace quiet to drink and talk about a lot of things. Metta if it was a party. Hell, probably Metta anywhere. Not Kobe. I mean, what are you going to say to Kobe Bryant at a bar? Although there’s a possibility that he’d leave and go to the gym and let me tag along and watch him shoot about a thousand jumpers.

4. What’s up with your Slava Medvedenko fandom?

The Slava question. I was intrigued from the moment he became a Laker, all the way from the Ukraine. He supposedly spoke five languages but not English so he had a translator. I never believed it, I thought the language barrier was a ruse. He’d get into a game and immediately start jacking up shots, didn’t matter if he was the fifth option. And he’d make them and Jackson would jerk him back to the bench.

Slava would trudge back, eyes staring bullets in the floor, cheeks aflame. Back then some of us would comment on boards about it and it got to be a thing, like Slava’s unintentional comedy. When he left the league it was as if the internet was wiped clean. We’d ask, “whatever happened to Slava?” Even NBA.com took down his stats. WTF? There’s guys who only played one season in the league forever ago that still have their info pages up. Slava actually won rings! And articles would disappear as well. It was the oddest thing.

Lately, there seems to be a resurgence – there’s a few more things visible to the public view. Maybe the dark police have ended their erasure. Maybe Slava just got tired of covering his tracks. There can be many reasons and none of them matter, because in truth, he was just some big palooka from a far off place who liked to shoot the ball. I chose the title for my blog because he represents something elusive, a search for something that nobody really understands, including myself. Besides, it sounds cool.

5. Hypothetical – you are about to go on a first date with someone, so you want to take them out to dinner – what type of cuisine do you pick?

Seafood. Johnny’s Steakhouse notwithstanding. That was a long time ago.

Dave’s Recipe: Veggie Soup

I like making veggie soup. Maybe half a dozen times a year, depending on the weather. I think I first got the recipe from an old Fanny Farmer cookbook a long time ago, but maybe not. I’m pretty sure the one thing that made her recipe different was the amount of butter. As far as measurements below,

I actually never measure anything. I just dump stuff in as I’m doing it. So I really don’t know if any of these are accurate. Which means your veggie soup will never be as good as my veggie soup if you use this recipe. You can add meat if you want, like pre-sauteed bits of chicken or sausage but it’s best to do it at the very end, so that the meat taste doesn’t overly influence the broth. I usually only make it for two. So I’m going to kind of double the recipe in my head. Even though I don’t measure things.

So, you might want to make it weaker or stronger, depending on how badly I screw this up. Are we all clear now? Did you ever go clear?

Ingredients (for four):

8 cups of water

4 Knorrs veggie bouillon cubes

1-2 celery stalks, chopped

1-2 carrots, chopped (I usually use baby carrots so the slices aren’t so intimidating

8 smallish red rose potatoes, mostly skinned, and chopped or sliced into decent sized pieces.

A goodly amount of sliced mushrooms.

1 onion, chopped

½ red bell pepper, sliced

½ stick of butter

½ small can of corn giblets (optional)

Some finely chopped garlic if you have it, otherwise some powder or garlic salt

Tony Chachere’s original creole seasoning

salt

pepper

rubbed sage

basil

anything else in the spice cabinet that you like

Preparation:

In a large soup pan or kettle, get the water boiling and put in the bouillon. You’ll want the broth ready by the time your veggies are sauteed.

Dump all your chopped veggies into a large skillet with about half a stick of butter. This is the trickiest part because I usually cook half this amount and I forget exactly how much butter Fannie Farmer said to use but it was more than normal and this accounted for the extraordinarily good taste but if you use too much or two little it screws it up. And you can also substitute olive oil which gives it a nice sweet taste. Again, I don’t measure. I just slice a good chunk of butter or pour in the olive oil but you aren’t me so you’ll probably mess it up.

Season your veggies in the pan liberally. Again, measurements are amorphous but you want it nice and spicy, and sometimes that just means putting enough creole and pepper in so it has an aesthetically pleasing look. Cook at a nice sizzling temperature for ten minutes, stirring often enough to keep the veggies from sticking to the pan. If you use corn, toss it in at the last minute so it doesn’t toughen. If you’re using meat, do it in a different pan. When your timer goes off, toss it into your pan of lightly boiling bouillon water and simmer for 20 minutes.

During this time, you can put a splash of red wine in – the alcohol will burn off and it will add a nice extra flavor.

Put in a pan of Pillsbury biscuits in the oven, time so they’re ready when the soup is. Use lots of butter on your biscuits.

Serve and eat on a cold raining night when the windows are rattling and an NBA game is getting ready to tip off. You’ll be happy.