Steve

Disco and Coniglio

July 8, 2010 by Steve

As we’ve mentioned, Michelle has hundreds of cookbooks, enjoying the authors’ stories as much as (and in some cases more than) the recipes themselves. What we didn’t mention is she got this way with the help of her mother. In a recent purge of some of her own innumerable cookbooks, Michelle’s mom gifted Gourmandistan with several volumes, the only real value of most being in the currency of camp, or perhaps of Schadenfreudeistan. (The Joanne & Rick Pitino Wildcat Cookbook […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Italy, Old cookbooks, Rabbit, Recipes

Microwave corn on the cob

July 3, 2010 by Steve

Microwave technology never really caught on in Gourmandistan. Steve’s family hosted a beta version of a mid-70s GE microwave oven. (Steve still remembers his crushing disappointment as he realized the boxy, black-fronted thing in the kitchen was not, as he thought, a new television but, instead, an oven his dad had brought home from work.) And, sadly, both Michelle and Steve had youthful indiscretions involving Lean Cuisine®. We have a microwave in our kitchen, but it’s mostly used for warming milk […]

Categories: Cooking, Corn, Food, Recipes, Vegetarian

Pea meets pie. Gourmandistan falls in love.

May 31, 2010 by Steve

First too-good-to-be-true thing: a large bag of in-shell English peas from the Norton Commons farmers market. Second too-good-to-be-true thing: a recipe for Fresh Green Pea Pie from Camille Glenn’s The Heritage of Southern Cooking, combining the fresh peas with a double crust. Glenn, food editor for the Louisville Courier-Journal back when it was a great newspaper who died earlier this year at the age of 100, wrote: If I were asked to name the greatest fresh vegetable dish in the […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Old cookbooks, Peas, Recipes

Attack of the giant veg

May 30, 2010 by Steve

This week’s Foxhollow Farm share arrived with a very large leaf lettuce plant. While Pavel, our farmer, assured Michelle that it was “still tasty,” even notoriously low-standard-when-it-comes-to-greens Steve thought the lettuce too leathery for salad. Michelle voted to send the gigantic greens to the chickens, but Steve became determined to see if we could salvage it—and thanks to the Gourmet Today cookbook, we did. This reasonably simple recipe, which can be found on the Epicurious website, features chopped lettuce, potato, […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Lettuce, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Vegetarian

A delicious frosting of “delay and divert.”

May 30, 2010 by Steve

Gourmandistan has nothing against salt—we use it liberally on and in all kinds of things, and enjoy a nice salt crust on a steak or roasted chicken. What we don’t like is big business hiding it—especially when also hiding how crappy processed food really is. This story deals with how the food industry wants to divert attention from a reasonable request to cut the amount of salt in food, and why they don’t want to do it. Here’s a sample […]

Categories: Food, News • Tags: Gross

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This is not another Alinea menu post

May 20, 2010 by Steve

There are many, many sites where people post video and/or pictures and course-by-course accounts of their experiences at Chicago’s Alinea. This is not one of them. Before our last visit, Michelle read about chef Grant Achatz expressing his dismay and confusion over diners’ need to document every moment of their visits, to the detriment of the dishes he was trying to serve. (OK—we did sneak one iPhone photo of the final dessert course, but not of Achatz himself preparing it […]

Categories: Food, Restaurants

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So many strawberries, so little time.

May 16, 2010 by Steve

Trying to eat SOLE (sustainably, organically, locally, ethically) can be trying for Steve, who feels he hasn’t eaten right if he doesn’t get at least one piece of fruit per day. So when the local stuff is in season, we tend to buy in bulk. Now strawberries have appeared everywhere from the Foxhollow Farm store to the Bardstown Road market. (Rhubarb, the tart celery-like stalk that Steve usually grabs as the first “fruit” of the year never appeared at our markets.) […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Recipes, Strawberries, Vegetarian

Something America should consider

April 15, 2010 by Steve

Gourmandistan’s “Best Baguette” award is held in semi-perpetuity by Blue Dog Bakery, and we would love to see this kind of competition fostered across America. Instead of “American Idol,” can we have “American Baguette?” In receiving the award, Mr. Bodian earned 4,000 euros and the title of “Mr. President’s Baker” — every year, the winner of the annual contest earns the privilege of baking bread for the president of France; starting this month Mr. Bodian’s bread will be served at […]

Categories: Breads & Crackers, Food, News

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Pizza

April 13, 2010 by Steve

There will undoubtedly be more posts on pizza, as it is appearing more and more frequently in Gourmandistan meals. One reason is Alice Waters, whose dough recipe in The Art of Simple Food (page 60!) produces a crust that is reliably tender yet firm enough to handle just about any topping. A second reason is that Michelle was smart enough to buy a couple of pizza stones and a peel. Cooking the pizza on super-hot flat ceramic disks makes the […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Pizza

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