Drink | Kitchen Konfidence

Blood Orange Vodka Sour Recipe

January 30, 2017 by Brandon Matzek 7 Comments

You guys! This cocktail is so fresh and so delicious. You absolutely must give it a try.

The base of this Blood Orange Vodka Sour recipe is a homemade sour mix made with one of my favorite seasonal ingredients, the blood orange. Painted in blushing shades of orange and red, a blood orange has a distinct flavor with sweet notes of red berries. When you slice one open, the fruit inside could be solid orange in color, solid maroon or a speckled mix of both. To make the sour mix, you start by creating a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water) infused with grated blood orange zest. After the sugar is dissolved and the syrup cools, you stir in freshly squeezed blood orange and lemon juice. Lemon is needed to add some sharpness to the mix.

Once you’ve made the sour mix, the rest of the cocktail is a breeze. Fill a cocktail shaker with blood orange sour mix, Absolut Vodka and an egg white. Shake to froth up the egg, add ice, then shake again to chill the drink. Strain into a coupe glass and finish with a few drops of Angostura bitters.

Deep rouge beneath a pristine cap of white foam, this cocktail is a beauty perfect for Valentine’s Day. The combination of smooth vodka, ethereal texture and fresh blood orange make for one special drink with your loved one. Continue reading for the recipe!

Game Day Tequila Cocktails 3 Ways

January 23, 2017 by Brandon Matzek 2 Comments

The big game is almost here, so today I’m sharing three unique tequila cocktails perfect for any Game Day bash.

Each of these cocktails is made with Olmeca Altos Tequila, one of my favorite partners here on Kitchen Konfidence. I’ve got an option for the casual tequila-drinker (Easy Passion Fruit Margarita), the serious tequila-drinker (Añejo Old Fashioned) and the beer-drinker (Grapefruit Tequila Fizz). You can pair any of these cocktails with Mexican Game Day apps like queso fundido or salsa verde, but they would also work well with American favorites like buffalo chicken dip or pulled pork sliders. Just make sure you’ve got plenty of chilled tequila on hand to keep the party going!! Continue reading for the recipes.

Top 15 Recipes of 2016

December 30, 2016 by Brandon Matzek 3 Comments

Hello friends and Happy Friday!! I’m going to close out this year with a tasty roundup of my top recipes of 2016.

2016 was an interesting year filled with excitement, a little anxiety from time-to-time and plenty of change. With all of the celebrity deaths and political unrest, many are calling 2016 just the worst. But it was also the year that I decided to transition from my career in Marketing (with Westfield) to full-time food blogging, writing and photography! The second half of 2016 was spent navigating the choppy waters of self-employment, and while it has been challenging, I feel like I’m off to a good start!

I launched my first eBook in partnership with The 30 Clean.
I started writing for Modern Luxury San Diego, a gig I really now look forward to each month.
I’ve continued to work with many amazing clients and partners who help support this blog financially. I want to mention too that I am very critical when it comes to the partners I work with, and I will only promote brands or products that I truly love. Hopefully this comes through when I share sponsored recipes or products!
I’ve gotten to explore San Diego even more, sharing my findings and recs on Instagram.
I’ve shared a wider variety of approachable recipes that seem to be working well (based on your feedback!).

In 2017, I hope to turn up the volume on each of the items above while dabbling a bit more in the video realm. I’m actually quite giddy thinking about the possibilities! Before we get to the roundup, I want to say thanks. Thanks to all the partners and sponsors that help support Kitchen Konfidence financially, and thanks for making awesome products/services that I can gladly support. Thanks to my friends and family who always send so much love and support. Thanks to Jorge for just being awesome. We’re both working from home now, and it’s been so fun, and easy, and enjoyable. I get to see his smiling face all the time now 🙂 And finally, thanks to you the readers for all of the likes, loves, comments and feedback. You are the reason why I do what do!

Happy New Year from Brandon, Jorge, TiVo and Boris!! If you need a cocktail for NYE, try this one or this one. And now, on to my top recipes of 2016!!

Guava Passion Fruit Margarita Recipe

September 29, 2016 by Brandon Matzek 1 Comment

You guys, I am SO excited to share this cocktail with you all today.

Why, you might ask? Well, the main flavors here come from fresh guavas and passion fruit, two ingredients that are a pure delight to cook with. The floral aromas present in ripe guavas can instantly whisk you off to the tropics, and the complex tanginess of both fruits is perfect for a margarita.

This Guava Passion Fruit Margarita recipe starts with a sweet-tart purée made with the aforementioned fruit. Hued a sunny shade of yellow-orange, the purée is then mixed with barrel-aged Olmeca Altos Reposado tequila. Notes of citrus and vanilla in the tequila work beautifully with the tropical fruit. Lime juice and simple syrup are mixed in to snap flavors into balance. I decided not to add a liqueur element to this margarita, because the fruit purée is so robust in flavor, nothing else is really needed. With just one sip of this golden marg, a sense of warm, carefree summer will immediately wash over you. Continue reading for the margarita recipe.

Soda & Sage Cocktail Recipe

August 3, 2016 by Brandon Matzek Leave a Comment

Can we talk for a moment about how crazy this heat has been recently?! All I want to do right now is stay at home in the AC while doing any one of the following:

1. drinking an ice cold beverage.
2. eating a frosty bowl of ice cream.
3. slamming a few of these ice cream sandwiches.
4. slurping a spiked ice cream float.
5. taking a bite out of these chocolate-covered pops.

I recently got a bottle of Sage liqueur by Art in the Age, and I’m obsessed. This garden gin is infused with sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender, dandelion and more! It’s fresh, aromatic and exactly what I want to be drinking on a hot day. To let the nuanced flavors of the spirit shine through, I’ve paired Sage with sweet, floral St. Germain, lemon juice and sparkling water. The finished cocktail is fizzy, herbaceous and so, so refreshing. Continue reading for the cocktail recipe.

Blackberry Hibiscus Cooler Cocktail Recipe

June 17, 2016 by Brandon Matzek 24 Comments

The first day of summer is coming up this Monday, and you know what that means. It’s backyard barbecue time.

When I throw a party during the summer months, I often like to serve a big batch cocktail or an easy do-it-yourself cocktail. This Blackberry Hibiscus Cooler is a little bit of both. The base of the cocktail is a syrup infused with fresh blackberries and dried hibiscus. Tinted a gorgeous hue of shocking magenta, the syrup tastes like pure summer. To complete the cocktail, citrusy Olmeca Altos Plata Tequila, fresh lime juice and soda water are stirred in with ice until well chilled. Whole blackberries and lime wedges to garnish. This Blackberry Hibiscus Cooler is sweet, tart and incredibly refreshing on a hot summer day. Continue reading for the recipe plus tips on how to prepare this drink for a party!

Orange Crush Cocktail Recipe

June 3, 2016 by Brandon Matzek 17 Comments

Hello friends and Happy Friday!!

If you’ve been following along on Kitchen Konfidence for the past couple of months, I’m sure you noticed that I’ve been sharing a number of cocktail recipes all made with Olmeca Altos Tequila. Well they recently launched Altos Añejo, a gold tequila aged for 18 months in oak barrels. Rich and smooth, Altos Añejo has flavor notes of wood, vanilla and chocolate along with dried fruit and almond aromatics. This tequila has so much character, it can easily be enjoyed as is on the rocks. Here, I’ve paired the Añejo with a number of orangey things, including fresh orange juice, Aperol, orange liqueur and orange bitters. Continue reading for the cocktail recipe.

Bonfire Margarita Recipe

April 29, 2016 by Brandon Matzek 68 Comments

With just a few simple ingredients, you can up your margarita game at the next backyard BBQ, fiesta with friends or late-night bonfire.

First, let’s talk about the classic margarita recipe. In its most basic form, a margarita is a mix of tequila, orange liquor and lime juice. A margarita can be made on the rocks or blended with ice, and you have the option to add salt to the rim or not.

With this Bonfire Margarita, I’ve kept flavors similar to a classic margarita while adding some smoky depth of flavor. The base liquor is bourbon barrel-aged Olmeca Altos Reposado Tequila. Rich with notes of vanilla and oak, this amber tequila lends a robust complexity to the cocktail. The reposado tequila is mixed with a little mezcal for smokiness, lime juice for freshness and simple syrup for balance. Drops of orange bitters compliment the tequila while a smoked salt rim echoes the toasty notes of the mezcal. This refreshing cocktail is finished with an aromatic strip of fresh orange zest. Continue reading for the recipe.

Spicy Paloma Recipe

April 14, 2016 by Brandon Matzek 34 Comments

I’ve been particularly smitten recently with the combination of grapefruit and jalapeño. A couple of weeks ago, I showed off this pairing with vodka and St. Germain. This week, it’s tequila and basil.

The Paloma cocktail in its simplest form is just tequila, grapefruit soda (usually Squirt) and a lime wedge for garnish. Here, I’m taking things to the next level with muddled jalapeño and basil, lime juice, simple syrup, fresh pressed grapefruit and fizzy water to finish. Small quantities of basil and jalapeño provide interesting notes of anise and spice while the tart freshness of grapefruit takes center stage.

I’ve partnered with Olmeca Altos Tequila on this cocktail, and their Altos Plata Tequila is a perfect pairing here. Bright, citrusy and fruity, Altos Plata is a smooth, silver tequila infused with the herbaceous aroma of cooked agave. The citric and herbal notes of the tequila compliment the grapefruit, basil and jalapeño, resulting in a damn tasty beverage. Continue reading for my Spicy Paloma recipe.

Mint and Green Tea Smoothie Recipe

January 27, 2016 by Brandon Matzek 37 Comments

Meet my new favorite feel good smoothie. It’s green (of course), but not too green.

The base of this smoothie is brewed green tea infused with golden coins of fresh ginger. I used some organic green jasmine tea here, but you can use whatever you’ve got. Just make sure the tea bags haven’t been sitting in the pantry for 5 years. Green things include spinach for nutrients and mint for flavor. Pear and pineapple join the mix to naturally sweeten things up. Blend that all up, and you’ve got a vibrant green beverage that’s pure sunshine on a cold winter morning. There’s no kale or celery in this smoothie, so its “greenness” is definitely on the pleasant side. Continue reading for the smoothie recipe.