Michelle

Red Scarce

June 5, 2010 by Michelle

Sour cherries, in their meaty, sweety, tarty glory, have been appearing more frequently this year in Gourmandistan. In the past we could only get a couple of pints each year from Hazelfied Farm (though those few were, in true Raphe & Teresa fashion, exquisitely small and sour). But this year Michelle’s already scored a couple of quarts from Steve Hess at a recent Norton Commons market, and some neighbors up the road just put up a “cherries 4 sale” sign. […]

Categories: Cherries, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Single-serving strawberry tarts

May 28, 2010 by Michelle

Michelle was craving strawberry pie. But the problem is that fruit pies, especially strawberry pies, last for only a short time before becoming mushy and unappetizing and we didn’t want to waste any of our precious fruit. Steve remembered that we had small tart pans stowed somewhere in the kitchen cabinets and so we made up a batch of tart dough from Maury Rubin’s book of tarts and froze six single-serving tart shells, pulling them out as needed and baking. […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Strawberries, Vegetarian

Eating, eccentricity and ethnocentrism at the “International” Bar-B-Q Fest

May 26, 2010 by Michelle

Earlier this month Steve’s friend and honorary Gourmandistani, Bill, invited him to Owensboro for the International Bar-B-Q Festival, held on the second Saturday in May since 1978 on the (at least for this year, somewhat rain-swollen) banks of the Ohio River. The Festival’s website advises one to “come for the food, stay for the fun,” but Bill insisted the right way to attend the “Fest” was to go early, beg for scraps of cooking ‘Q from the cooking teams and […]

Categories: Bar-B-Q, Festivals, Food, Holidays & Events

God bless our local farmers

May 25, 2010 by Michelle

Just like last year, we’re participating in two farm shares. Our friends Raphe & Teresa are no longer sharing their bounty with us, having found that increasing their wedding flower business far outweighed the pleasures of driving to Louisville to hear Steve incessantly begging for raw milk. We’re still with our neighbors at Foxhollow, but this year also got a share from Riverfarm Organics, a new CSA up in Goshen. Steve somehow missed the message about our first scheduled Riverfarm pickup. Luckily, we were […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Pasta, Peas, Recipes • Tags: Locavore

Disaster in Gourmandistan!

May 15, 2010 by Michelle

We, who so cavalierly call for massively-involved kitchen preparation using who-knows-how-many utensils, have suffered a tragedy. It seems our not-so-frequently-used disposal chose to drop a chunk of itself down its drain—preventing its use while also causing any dishwasher drainage to spew out the disposal bottom instead of nicely draining away. We now face at least two days of hand-washing all pots, pans, dishes and utensils. Steve has called for an emergency dining-out protocol (he has a magazine assignment anyway), but […]

Categories: Cooking

Because sometimes you get the carrot.

May 15, 2010 by Michelle

Friday night, Gourmandistan served chicken and dumplings for dinner, along with a little watercress salad. The salad we threw together in a trice—Michelle’s high leaf-selection standards were the biggest delay. The chicken and dumplings? Getting that dish together took a bit over a year. We started with several baby chicks, which grew into heritage French Houdan hens running around the yard with the rest of the flock. Actually, these Houdans spent much of their time running from the rest of […]

Categories: Chicken, Chicken keeping, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Soups & Stews • Tags: Chicken keeping

A Quick(ish) Duck Confit

May 12, 2010 by Michelle

Duck confit is one of the world’s wonder ingredients. The rich, salty and herb-tingly tasty meat can be used on pizzas, in salads or soups. Or, you can make a quick meal by crisping up a couple of legs in a pan to go with whatever else happens to be around. In France, we’ve bought packages of traditional confit, made by slow-cooking duck legs in their own fat, then preserved by covering them in more duck fat. But here in […]

Categories: Cooking, Duck, Food, Recipes

Squeezed: The Secrets of the Orange Juice Industry | Food & Think

April 28, 2010 by Michelle

Sigh. Another illusion shattered. Perhaps we should start drinking Tang®—it may be more honest. From the article: “[R]aw juice is often heated, stripped of its volatile compounds and flavor-rich oils, and stored for as long as a year before it reaches the consumer. Something called “the flavor pack” is used to return most of the “natural” aroma and taste to the product…” Squeezed: The Secrets of the Orange Juice Industry | Food & Think.

Categories: Food, News • Tags: Gross

Birthday Soup

April 27, 2010 by Michelle

Recently, Michelle had a birthday. Since Steve’s is only a week after Michelle’s, the usual practice is to have a joint celebration of some sort. (This year we’re going back to Alinea in Chicago—and, in keeping with chef Grant Achatz’s direction, the only self-indulgent table shots will be a couple discretely taken with an iPhone.) But on her actual birthday, Michelle decided to cook a variation of Thomas Keller’s Chicken Soup With Dumplings. After a full day of work, she just […]

Categories: Chicken, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Soups & Stews