Steve

Grapefruit ice, brown sugar shortbread and the surprising benefits of staleness

January 10, 2013 by Steve

Sometime we may speak at length about Bill Neal, as his recipes are consulted frequently when Gourmandistan needs to go Southern. But for now, we will speak of staleness. Steve loves fruit, and stubbornly tries to stay organic and somewhat local even in winter. (This does, however, require a somewhat strained definition that includes the entire southern US.) So we take in a lot of citrus, which Michelle will only eat if all traces of pith and membrane have been […]

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

In the belly of the beans

January 6, 2013 by Steve

While we Gourmandistanis have been privileged to encounter several different British people on the Internet, we have somehow never managed to discuss beans on toast. From our readings, advertising and a hefty dose of British satellite TV (we miss you, Come Dine With Me!), we’ve concluded there is some strange cultural connection to what appears to be creepily plain canned baked beans. On toast. Often, microwaved. This affection for one of the ultimate expressions of boringly prepared bland brownness may explain […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, Pork, Recipes

An early taste of good fortune with Pork & Black-eyed Pea Chili

December 31, 2012 by Steve

We’ve chronicled our betwixt-and-betweenness with that Southern New Year’s staple, black-eyed peas, here and here. But once again we faced the turn of another calendar year (way to let everyone down, Mayan Apocalypse!) and the tradition of turning the boring little buggers into something edible. Michelle was determined to do even better than last year’s outing, and stumbled across a Michael Symon recipe for black-eyed pea chili that sounded good to her. It sounded good to Steve as well, though it pained […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, New Year, Pork, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Boiled custard, the gossamer thread to Nanny’s Christmas Eve

December 22, 2012 by Steve

For a Christmas Eve treat, Michelle’s paternal grandmother always made a Southern tradition, boiled custard. After that, things get a bit hazy. Boiled custard itself can be confusing, especially to someone like Steve who has sketchy (and Yankee) Christmas traditions. While both eggnog and boiled custard arise from the mists of Anglo-Saxon odd drink traditions (along with wassail, posset and caudle), the former is often made with raw eggs, while the “boiled” custard popular in the Southern U.S. cooks eggs […]

Categories: Beverages, Christmas, Cooking, Dairy, Family, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Picking up a little blueberry almond tart

December 13, 2012 by Steve

This universe is vast and full of mysteries, replete with bosons, gluons, quarks and other micro-matter. So Steve understands that, possibly on some subatomic level, there could exist a condition known as “too much pie.” This theoretical event horizon, however, exists beyond any pie plate Steve might find himself within reach of. Not that Steve will eat an entire pie in one sitting—that would be gluttonous (besides Steve has usually stuffed himself on savories by the time dessert rolls around). […]

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

Chocolate & peanut butter ripples across Atlantic, threatening Nutella domination.

December 9, 2012 by Steve

Gourmandistan wants only to spread the love, so we must first say that we adore Nutella. Steve, particularly, has been a fan of filberts for as long as he can remember, and we’ve both appreciated schmears of the nutty stuff on crêpes purchased from Paris metro station vendors. But seriously, Europeans need to get better acquainted with peanut butter, one of those magic foodstuffs (like tomatoes, potatoes, pineapples and processed cheese product) brought to life in the New World. We […]

Categories: Chocolate, Cookies, Cooking, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Soft-boiled eggs, soldiers and slightly overdoing Michel Bras

December 2, 2012 by Steve

We first found the Relais & Chateaux resort hanging above the Aubrac plateau in 2004, as we fled the food desert known as the Minervois that had been our lovely home for almost a month on our first annual “let’s spend our mythical child’s school tuition” flex-time sojourn to France. While we were utterly charmed by our house, we were almost equally devastated at the discovery all French folk did not necessarily look at food the way Patricia Wells had […]

Categories: Cheese, Cooking, Eggs, Food, France, Recipes, Restaurants, Vegetarian

Martha Stewart, Mitt Romney and making bank off Salty Peanut & Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

November 25, 2012 by Steve

One of the benefits of being around since the middle of the last century is that we Gourmandistanis may confidently say we were hip to Martha Stewart before Martha Stewart became hip. “It’s a good thing” was a catchphrase in our various domiciles as we cooked, stenciled and collected assorted tchotchkes such as the fake topiary Steve dubbed “the puffball on a stick.” While even Michelle is not as craft-tastic and decorative-ish as she used to be (the puffball, too, […]

Categories: Chocolate, Cookies, Cooking, Food, Nuts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Winner, Winner, Chez Panisse Chicken Dinner

November 18, 2012 by Steve

We appreciate each and every vote cast for us as nominees for the second annual Country Living Magazine Blue Ribbon Blogger Awards. Sadly, they were not enough to clinch the “Reader’s Choice” honor. (According to Mitt Romney, we should have offered contraceptives, amnesty, aid for dependent children and other “free stuff.”) But even better, the judges picked us as the year’s best new cooking blog! We heard the news when we were in Normandy, but had to keep mum until […]

Categories: Chicken, Cooking, Food, Recipes

Gourmandistan

A fabled land of farmers, farm shares, fancy (and not so fancy) restaurants, family meals, food projects and more.

Author Archives: Steve