Michelle

Pawpaw ice cream with unfamiliarity and added tropicality

October 2, 2014 by Michelle

Even though we were raised within their growing range, pawpaws have been mostly a mystery to Gourmandistan. We were somewhat familiar with the song “Way Down Yonder In The Pawpaw Patch,” and were tempted many years ago by the offer of free pawpaw saplings from the Kentucky State University Land Grant Program. We turned them down, as we believed they would suffer the same fate as our other orchard (gnawed to death by deer). KSU is home to the world’s only “full-time pawpaw research program,” which seems to serve as the Internet’s primary […]

Categories: Chocolate, Cooking, Food, Fruit, Fruit Desserts, Ice cream, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Beef short ribs with bootlegged Michigan cherries

September 5, 2014 by Michelle

While we were in Michigan, we couldn’t stop buying cherries—a tic which continued even as we headed back to Kentucky. On our way down South we stopped at one last farmers’ market, buying up delicious fruit that we seldom find locally in the Bluegrass State. With a bag of ice in a cooler, the sacks of black cherries (the last of this year’s very late harvest) made it home safely, where they rested in the refrigerator until we could get to a market […]

Categories: Beef, Biscuits, Cherries, Cooking, Food, Recipes

Zucchini pancakes for (and from) victory

August 11, 2014 by Michelle

We are not going to waste time weeping about zucchini, as the clichéd stance of despairing what to do with it is quite possibly as old as the vegetable itself. Instead, we will offer a simple, no-nonsense solution: zucchini pancakes. We’ve made this recipe pretty much every summer since the 1980s, when this cookbook based on recipes from the PBS show The Victory Garden came out. The TV series, created by Russell Morash, was a pioneer in both food and garden television, […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Summer Squash, Vegetarian

Crispy curried lamb ribs with suspect authenticity (and slaw)

August 1, 2014 by Michelle

We’ve made these spicy, sweet and only slightly sticky ribs several times, adjusting the recipe (and accompaniments) as we’ve gone along. We started with something called “Chinese Style Honey Mustard Lamb Riblets” from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s 1993 Rose’s Melting Pot: A Cooking Tour of America’s Ethnic Celebrations. Beranbaum says she based her version on “the memory … [her] husband had of his favorite chicken wing dish in a Chinese restaurant in Toronto,” so we knew we were already starting fairly far afield from […]

Categories: Cabbage, Cooking, Food, Lamb, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Salad

Chatting our way to cantaloupe ice cream

July 24, 2014 by Michelle

We were, as per usual in Gourmandistan, having a conversation about food as we traveled to the market. Specifically, Steve was thinking about cantaloupe curd, and whether it would be good. We’ve had successful stabs at peach curd and grapefruit curd, and since melons are in season Steve wondered if the curd process could be applied to cantaloupe. Michelle thought it sounded interesting, but feared the delicate flavor of the melon might be affected by the heat necessary to make a curd. Instead, she suggested […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Ice cream, Melon, Recipes, Vegetarian

Not exactly shrimp and grits because we’re not exactly in Charleston

July 20, 2014 by Michelle

On our recent trip to Dewees Island, we enjoyed the proximity to fresh seafood. On a recent trip to Whole Foods, not so much. Looking for a way to dispose of some of our bounty of farm share tomatoes, we had been talking about taking a shot at recreating a dish we liked at Slightly North of Broad (SNOB) in Charleston called “Maverick Shrimp & Grits.” It added tomatoes, sausage, onions, garlic and country ham to the classic Low Country dish. Steve finally […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Okra, Pork, Recipes, Restaurants, Shrimp

Soppy Jamie’s leek and rabbit pot pie improved with a bit of biscuit

July 10, 2014 by Michelle

Jamie Oliver may have said he doesn’t like to get all soppy, but the first time we made his leek and rabbit pie, the filling wept all over the pastry crust and our oven. His instructions called for cooking both leeks and rosemary along with the rabbit pieces for quite a while in quite a bit of sauce which, as Michelle expected it would, resulted in mushy leeks and unappetizingly gray herbs. Still, the cider-flavored dish had promise and seemed a wonderful way […]

Categories: Biscuits, Cooking, England, Food, Leeks, Rabbit, Recipes

Blueberry lemon shortcake, because summer is finally here

June 25, 2014 by Michelle

After a long winter, Gourmandistan will bear rhubarb, and delight in strawberries, as spring weather begins to literally bear fruit. (Fine, strawberries are “literally” not fruits, but pseudocarp. Satisfied, pedants?) But when blueberries arrive, we know the peaches, plums, blackberries and other delightful summer treats will soon appear at local farmers’ markets, to be enjoyed until apple season signals the end of another (hopefully) bountiful year. We buy many, many blueberries at the markets, because Steve enjoys eating them as snacks. […]

Categories: Biscuits, Blueberries, Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit Desserts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Design vs. function found in blanquette of pork

June 1, 2014 by Michelle

Phaidon Editorial Director Emilia Terragni was recently described as “Queen of Cookbooks” on the strength of the publishing house’s marvelous-looking books from such luminaries as Ferran Adrià and René Redzepi. Terragni first became known through the English language publication of The Silver Spoon, an Italian cookbook first published by the design and architecture magazine Domus. Gourmandistan owns this admittedly gorgeously-designed cookbook. It serves as a stand for Steve’s computer monitor. Phaidon’s beautiful books have often seduced us. But, while pretty, several painfully useless purchases have prevented […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, France, Pork, Recipes, Soups & Stews