Steve

Hoppin’ John Biryani and saag paneer, our pagan rituals for a better year

January 1, 2020 by Steve

Gourmandistan is about as far from a theocracy as possible. However, we are not above indulging in bits of propitiation, as evidenced by the atheistic Michelle’s insistence on egg baskets, angel ornaments and other religious emulations. The turning of the calendar to a new year found us once again looking for ways to eat black-eyed peas and greens, a tradition supposedly guaranteeing luck and good fortune in the coming months. While we are skeptics, we find ourselves already crediting good […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, India, New Year, Peas, Pork, Recipes, Rice, Southern Food

Apricot buttercream (and filling) elevate (and recreate) a 1980s cake

September 16, 2019 by Steve

Back in the 1980s, when Michelle and Steve first got together, Michelle made Steve a really good birthday cake. Michelle doesn’t remember much about it, other than that the filling and icing were deliciously flavored with dried apricots. And it was baked in our first apartment kitchen, which (amazing as it now seems) we thought was incredible because it had a dishwasher and new appliances. Over the years Michelle kept Steve, but she somehow managed to lose the recipe which […]

Categories: Apricots, Baking, Cake, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit Desserts, Old cookbooks, Recipes

Slice-resisting Strawberry Pretzel Icebox Pie straddles both sides of beach vacation

June 2, 2019 by Steve

Once again Gourmandistan was lucky enough to experience Dewees Island, a place we have grown to love over many years. Our route to this small South Carolina island always includes an overnight stay in Asheville, North Carolina, possibly the hippest place in the Tarheel State and now home to one of Michelle’s mother’s dear friends who was also Michelle’s favorite high school English teacher. In Asheville, we enjoyed another dinner at Chai Pani and left with homemade bread and Kilwins […]

Categories: Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit, Fruit Desserts, Pies & Tarts, Strawberries, Vacation

Trifling raspberry almond gems just a small part of wonderful reunion

April 28, 2019 by Steve

Steve may not have heard all the meal plans in advance of Michelle’s recent girls’ weekend. He may have been, at Michelle’s behest, deep in a cabinet or office drawer, straightening yet another part of the house Michelle’s friends might perhaps peek into once they arrived from their homes across the country. The reunion of coeds who first met at Vanderbilt University in the 1970s had taken much coordination (and a bit of cajoling), and Michelle wanted to make sure […]

Categories: Cake, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Friends, Jams & Preserves, Puddings and custards, Raspberries

Making Twiglets at home a twisted way to remember London

February 16, 2019 by Steve

Our recent trip to London was all too brief. In ten days, we only just scratched the surface of the city. We didn’t get to anywhere near every restaurant, neighborhood, shop and cultural site we had bookmarked in advance. But we did return with some great memories, renewed friendships and, it seems, a terrible craving for Twiglets. Before we get to what their current corporate owners call “a unique wholewheat product,” we’d like to assure our readers that we did do […]

Categories: Breads & Crackers, Cooking, England, Food, Recipes, Vacation

Putting dates, walnuts and caramel with pumpkin welcomes fall into our home

November 9, 2018 by Steve

Fall seemed unwilling to visit our Kentucky hollow for many months, but finally gave us a few vibrantly colored leaves to photograph. We took advantage of some sunny, mild days to plant daffodils in the field by our new bridge, hoping we’ll see some new color in springtime. We’re of course anticipating what we’ll do with squash, apples and other harvest items. But we thought we’d bring in the season with an attempt to recreate pumpkin loaf in a […]

Categories: Baking, Cake, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Nuts, Recipes, Winter squash

Brined roasted almonds delightfully salt up oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

October 6, 2018 by Steve

Gourmandistan has enjoyed many recipes from Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables, but none more than the amazingly simple “Brined and Roasted Almonds.” McFadden says he learned the technique in Rome at the American Academy. We say that wherever the idea comes from, it’s worth its weight in salt—and that salty goodness made a recent batch of oatmeal cookies really special. A jar of these crunchy, rich and satisfyingly salty almonds now has a permanent spot on […]

Categories: Baking, Cookies, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Nuts, Recipes

Savory sausage tray bakes start to take over Gourmandistan

September 16, 2018 by Steve

We’re always looking for tasty but not-too-taxing ideas for busy weekday dinners. Pizza is often an option, but recently we’ve found another use for the “pizza pans” we inherited from Steve’s Italian-American family. Especially since winter squash and apple season arrived, we’ve become quite enamored of savory tray bakes. Various starchy things and apples have been placed on a tray with excellent sausages from our local butcher, arriving at our table shortly thereafter with little mess to clean up. We […]

Categories: Apples, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Sausage, Winter squash

Possibly not concord grape jam tart puts Pop-Tarts® to shame

August 15, 2018 by Steve

We Gourmandistanis are quite the fans of Concord grapes. However, feeling it rude to shove our noses into the neatly closed boxes on offer at a farmers’ market, we failed to discover how un-aromatic some recently-purchased “Concords” were until we returned home. While the flavor of the purple globes was fine, they lacked the deep purple sheen, leathery skin and profound smell of true Concord grapes. It may be that folks around here describe every homegrown purple grape as a Concord. […]

Categories: Baking, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit, Fruit Desserts, Grapes, Jams & Preserves, Pies & Tarts, Recipes