October | 2011 | Gourmandistan

That low, slow road to Morocco

October 28, 2011 by Steve

Gourmandistan cannot claim expertise on Morocco. American popular culture leads us to believe the North African country has an Express that leaves the smell of gardens in your hair, a certain avenue leading to Dorothy Lamour, and shockingly, gambling at Rick’s in Casablanca. Of course, Wikipedia can further enlighten us, but we’d rather turn to the pages of Claudia Roden’s Arabesque. We found this particular dish when searching for a way to deal with a lamb-share primal shoulder. Whole shoulders […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Lamb, Morocco, Pasta, Recipes

Struggle, strive, squash.

October 19, 2011 by Steve

Winter squash is work. Peeling is a chore and cutting can be terrifying, as the heavy flesh resists even the sharpest knives. And many times our local squash can be a little disappointing, our butternuts and acorns lacking a certain sugariness that we’ve found in French potimarron and Italian zucca. Michelle spends much time at local markets searching for something that appears close to these champions of cucurbitae. And when she finds a suitable candidate she faces even more work, […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, France, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian, Winter squash

Italy, it’s not.

October 14, 2011 by Steve

This meal sort of started with finding some beautiful (and local) Grateful Greens watercress at Whole Foods. But it also began during our failed attempts to find decent Asian food in Italy. In France, her slew of South Asian colonials-turned-citizens generously offering porc au caramel, riz nature and nems, we’ve found many lovely Asian dishes. In the Veneto we couldn’t find anything better than bland Cantonese fare lamely Italian-izing itself with menu columns featuring “Antipasti,” “Primi” and “Secondi.” In addition […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Food, Japan, Nuts, Recipes, Watercress

A little less inspiration, a little pork action

October 10, 2011 by Steve

Gourmandistan has returned again to its traditional Bluegrass boundaries, after spending a month in northern Italy. (Thanks for the assist during our absence, Susie T.!) We must say that, though we enjoyed our time in Italy, we did not feel the connection we’ve built with France over the years. While we liked our butcher, our fruit vendor and some nice nearby wine shops, we missed the sense of terroir that seems to spark our imaginations. (Venice, though… we absolutely love […]

Categories: Artichokes, Cooking, Food, Italy, Pork, Recipes