Sparta football player now competes in the kitchen
For Matthew Boffa, cooking has always been a sign of love.
“Food comes from a very special private place. The act of cooking for someone is sharing that private place with someone. It’s just a love for something very deep and personal,” said Boffa, of Sparta.
“Think what it means to feed another person. It’s a gift. I’m really, really passionate about food. Food is unique to the person who prepares it. It’s who I am. Food is just great.”
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A philosophy major at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa., Boffa recently won the school’s annual Ultimate Campus Chef Competition for the second time as part of the Dos Equis team with friends Jared Pinter of Bushkill, Pa., and Derek Antonini of New Hope, Pa.
“This meal that I made for the competition, I made for the first time. I have to feel it. My friend Derek loves to cook as well. Part of it is listening to other ideas. They make everything better. Derek had some ideas and we couldn’t have won without him.”
For the Iron Chef style-competition, the team had one hour to prepare a three-dish menu using the school’s pantry of ingredients plus one secret component, which turned out to be Chinese glass noodles.
The judges included Athletic Director Chuck Edkins, field hockey coach Robyn Stahovic and student-athlete Michael Mulvey-Glenshaw. They evaluated dishes on taste, presentation, originality and name.
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“If you don’t go in with a plan, you’re going to sink. I thought a while about what I wanted to do with the pantry ingredients and the direction I wanted to go. You want to be adaptable and leave room to evolve your plan based on what secret ingredient they throw you or just whatever idea pops up. Sometimes a meal won’t come together and then at the last second the food will speak and it will inspire you.”
The threesome started off with an appetizer of Thai sliders with chicken and sausage meatballs on a slaw bed of braised cabbage and carrots and fresh apples, julienned and tossed in some sugar and sesame seed as a bed.
“Part of what cooking means to me is expressing who you are. You put yourself on the plate. You see the world a certain way, in certain colors and in certain flavors and part of where that comes from is where you’ve been and how’ve you grown and what you’re interests are. Then you make it make sense and you feed it to other people. To me, that whole process is just so beautiful.”
For their entrée, the trio prepared broiled salmon in a Mandarin chutney with lime, soy sauce, chili flake and sugar served over stir-fried Couscous. Boffa added mushrooms, red peppers and edamame because of their earthiness and would work well with the Couscous.
Being adaptable came in handy when Boffa forgot to add the secret ingredient, the Chinese glass noodles, to his entrée. He had originally tried frying and soaking them because he wanted to transform them but was unhappy with their taste. Instead, he added them to the Bananas Foster dessert, which turned out to be a stroke of genius for the competition.
“A lot of people just plated them as part of their pasta dish. It was a happy accident and it worked out perfectly with my dessert as a garnish. It was a beautiful, crispy little crown of glass noodles. It’s good texture, too, because Bananas Foster is mushy. It’s bananas and ice cream. But it added a nice texture when you toss in a little sugar and it added a nice crunch. It makes the food fun. They really liked it.”
Growing up, Boffa always loved playing football and starred on the Sparta High School team at running back. Once in college, he stopped playing competitive sports but was happy to keep competing at something else he loved, cooking.
“I can’t play football anymore so competitive cooking gets me going.”
Boffa’s love for cooking was something he learned from his father, who enjoyed preparing meals each night for the family and Sunday morning breakfasts. Eventually Boffa began watching and asking questions before putting his own spin on favorites like omelets.
“I got my start cooking eggs in the morning for breakfast when I had friends sleep over or for my sister or myself. When I got my first girlfriend, I asked my dad to teach me how to cook a meal so I could cook a meal for her,” said Boffa.
After graduation in May, Boffa will head to Alaska to work on a friend’s salmon fishing boat for the summer. In September, he’ll head to California to look for work. And his future plans include someday owning a restaurant.
“My first job was in a kitchen and I was so excited because instead of buttons and levers and doors and handshakes and pocket squares and patterned ties and keyboards, I got to come in and cut vegetables. I wore an apron. My world was colors and smells and flavors.”
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Spanky from Eleventh Hour Rescue is a white Shepherd mix who is about 5 years old and weighs 70 pounds. He is affectionately known as Spanky McSpankster by his closest friends at the kennel.
This playful guy thought he had found his forever home but was returned after a year and a half because he was not getting along with the other dog in the house. Spanky is a handsome and fun-loving dog who is very well-mannered. He is housebroken and is good with people of all ages. Spanky is a gentle soul who walks well on a leash and loves to go for car rides. Although he likes to play with his toys, he would rather be by your side as he is a people lover. Spanky is very affectionate and even-tempered but would prefer a home with no cats. He is heartbroken being back in the kennel after living in a home with a family.
To read more about Spanky, to complete an application for him, or to see all of the adoptable pets, visit www.ehrdogs.org or call 973-664-0865.
Staff Writer Leslie Ruse: 973-428-6671; lruse@GannettNJ.com.