Steve

Sourdough carrot cake with pineapple filling tardily fits the bill for bunny season

April 1, 2018 by Steve

We’re sorry if we’ve posted too late to help elevate some folks’ celebrations, but we must admit we like this carrot cake for reasons entirely unrelated to Easter. For a few years now Steve has shepherded a Gourmandistani-native yeast sourdough starter, cherishing his little colony after an initially disappointing start (which did lead to a tasty if not sour outcome). As others who have nurtured sourdough starter understand, the little eukaryotes demand regular care—pouring off hooch (alcohol, if you didn’t […]

Categories: Baking, Cake, Carrots, Desserts & Sweets, Easter, Food, Pineapple, Recipes

Cherry Chambord iced chocolate cake makes Valentine’s Day darkly delicious

February 12, 2018 by Steve

Gourmandistan is not a nation inclined to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Instead of an excuse to exchange candy, flowers or cards, we generally see February 14th as the midpoint of the most miserable month of the year. Left alone during a recent snow day demonstration of February’s disheartening weather, Michelle combined chocolate, coffee, cherry and Chambord, creating this delightful cake with pink-hued icing, a moist crumb and layers of rich chocolate ganache. While inspiration came from Ina Garten and Shirley Corriher, […]

Categories: Baking, Cake, Chocolate, Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Jams & Preserves, Recipes, Valentine's Day

Fried cacio e pepe helps us recall some delicious Rome memories

January 28, 2018 by Steve

Gourmandistan recently returned from a trip to Italy, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Michelle and Steve’s official union. (We don’t use our “shacking up” years in the official count.) While we spent the majority of our time in Venice, the trip began and ended in Rome. There we enjoyed a delicious, deep-fried version of Rome’s famous cacio e pepe (pasta with pepper and cheese). The path to enjoying it, however, had a few ups and downs—and not all the ups […]

Categories: Cheese, Cooking, Food, Italy, Pasta, Recipes, Vacation, Vegetarian

Maraschino cherries meet Perugina chocolate ice cream as we reminisce about Italy

September 9, 2017 by Steve

It is September, which for many years has been the month for Gourmandistan to relocate to a different country than America. We are not doing so this year, as we decided to postpone our international travel in order to coincide with our 30th anniversary in January, when we’ll be going to Venice. That means we’re currently going through a bit of Euro-withrawal, looking forward to returning to the enchanting, sinking city and revisiting our old blog about Padua and the […]

Categories: Cherries, Chocolate, Dairy, Food, Fruit Desserts, Ice cream, Italy, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vacation

Chunky crispy peanut butter chocolate layer cake totally fit for totality

August 30, 2017 by Steve

Too many things in our hype-infested world seem to overpromise yet underwhelm. Superlatives are attached to every service, product and event. However, we’re happy to report that, should you be lucky enough to experience a total eclipse of the sun, it is one of the few things actually deserving of the word “awesome.” And while we will say this chocolate cake is quite good, it in no way matches an eclipse—but it did help make the experience even more exceptional. […]

Categories: Baking, Cake, Chocolate, Desserts & Sweets, Family, Food, Recipes

Duck breast with peach sauce succeeds with substitute jam and sans thermometer

August 13, 2017 by Steve

We very much like duck breast in Gourmandistan, but we’re always a little leery when we cook it. Getting to that perfect stage, a bit beyond rare but before the liverish taste takes over, isn’t something we do with consistency. This method, originally paired with a black currant sauce, seems to work well even without a meat thermometer (which we have, but can never quite bring ourselves to trust). Alternating pan-searing with a quick trip to the oven, the breast […]

Categories: Cooking, Duck, Food, Jams & Preserves, Peaches/Nectarines, Recipes

Blackberry bounty brings some beautiful blackberry bars

July 25, 2017 by Steve

It has been a banner year for wild blackberries in Gourmandistan. We had enough for several batches of blackberry jam plus some blackberry cobblers (including several cups frozen for a future cobbler at Michelle’s mother’s request). Even after Steve spent many mornings gleaning the patch, there are still more berries available should he feel like hiking out to get them. (He will most likely hike out to get them.) With this sort of surplus available, Steve has been urging Michelle to make […]

Categories: Baking, Blackberries, Cookies, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit Desserts, Jams & Preserves, Recipes

Brooming out chard, kale and sausage with baked pasta

July 17, 2017 by Steve

We are quite happy to be back in the swing of summer, but the season’s bounty is beginning to overstuff our refrigerator. Michelle is beginning to explore replacing our aged Sub-Zero, and possibly adding a second unit outside. Meanwhile, we’re making space the old-fashioned way: searching for recipes that get rid of large bales of green stuff. Casting about for a not-too-tasking solution, Michelle thought about a baked pasta dish. She found this recipe originally made with broccoli rabe on Smitten […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Kale, Pasta, Recipes, Swiss chard

Creating our own candied dill pickles because nobody else will

July 9, 2017 by Steve

Steve, though quite familiar with and capable of enjoying kosher dills, half-sours and sweet pickles, had never heard of candied dill pickles until he took up with Michelle, who had learned of their existence way back when her mother began to put them in Julia Child’s potato salad. Michelle expanded the role of candied dills to tuna salad, and after introducing them to Steve, quickly made him a convert. For decades, we would pick up a jar at our local […]

Categories: Cucumber, Food, Old cookbooks, Pickles, Recipes, Southern Food, Vegetarian

Gourmandistan

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

Author Archives: Steve