Steve

Managing farm share kale with a simple mess o’ greens

June 28, 2018 by Steve

As usual at this time of year, Gourmandistan can’t help buying fresh green things at farmers’ markets. We’ve enjoyed snap peas, spring onions, broccoli, asparagus and other vegetables we know we’ll only see for a few weeks. Adding the more perishable items from our weekly CSA, we’ve had many things more pressing (and beautiful) to prepare than long-keeping kale. As the kale kept coming, the bunches began to crowd out everything in our crisper compartments. We needed to do something […]

Categories: Collards, Cooking, Food, Kale, Recipes, Southern Food, Vegetables

No oven, no problem: stovetop chicken and dumplings

June 10, 2018 by Steve

Gourmandistan tries to put on a good face for guests, but recent visits have been marred by unexpected difficulties. The first was a bridge-defeating flood turning dinner guests into overnight visitors. The second was the double oven blowing an internal fuse, fortunately just as our pizzas were ready for another unlucky pair (who as it turned out were also overheated due to a dying central air conditioning unit). The days spent without AC and oven severely limited our cooking options, […]

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

Atlantic Beach Pie easily evokes the seashore with citrus and saltines

May 28, 2018 by Steve

We recently returned from another lovely trip with Michelle’s family to Dewees Island, South Carolina, where Michelle once again tried to eat fresh local shrimp each day. Charleston restaurants were of course happy to help, but as usual Michelle turned out several shrimp dishes herself, including shrimp and grits casserole, shrimp salad and, of course, our annual Low Country Boil. Peeling, deveining and cleaning the crustaceans is something Michelle finds especially distasteful, and we generally abstain from eating seafood away […]

Categories: Baking, Cooking, Crackers, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit Desserts, Lemon, Lime, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Vacation

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

Gourmandistan

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

Author Archives: Steve