Steve

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

Smothered pork chops take us South by way of New York City

June 24, 2017 by Steve

Mashed potatoes, a mess of slow-cooked greens and a meltingly tender chop soaking in rich sweet onion gravy is the kind of meal that demands a nap afterwards, at least if you haven’t been working in the fields all day. It’s not the kind of thing we have often in Gourmandistan, as we’re usually searching for something more exotic. But we had a moment recently when fresh local pork and farm share curly kale and potatoes reminded us of this […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Meats, Onions, Pork, Recipes, Southern Food

Hand jive, hand pies, doin’ that crazy good sour cherry hand pie

June 13, 2017 by Steve

While we do host both felines and poultry, Gourmandistan does not have a cat named Way-Out Willie, or a cool little chick named Rockin’ Billie. We’ll let others do that hand jive all over town. We’ll keep scarfing sour cherry hand pies down. We spotted sour cherries at the market a while back, and once again bought every last remaining carton from the farmer. Steve sat down and made an afternoon out of pitting cherries, reserving most of the fruit for […]

Categories: Baking, Cherries, Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit Desserts, Pies & Tarts, Recipes

Carolina congee and crab Dutch baby broaden our beach dining options

May 28, 2017 by Steve

We have once again returned from a trip to Dewees Island, South Carolina, where we indulge in sunshine, ocean breezes and the chance to eat local seafood. This year we shifted houses, as much on the promise of a well-equipped gourmet kitchen as the immediate beach access. We took advantage of both as much as we could, and produced some new dishes as well as more great memories. The house was beautiful and wonderfully close to the beach, but did have […]

Categories: Cooking, Crab, Food, Recipes, Seafood, Shrimp, Vacation

Jammy-egged asparagus with butter and soy is an annual spring enjoyment

May 10, 2017 by Steve

Unable to grow our own asparagus (we’ve tried), we rely on local farmers to provide us with this springtime treat. And when we have some, we often rely on this recipe we adapted from Andrea Reusing’s Cooking in the Moment. The 2011 volume is one of those that fits right in to Gourmandistan’s way of thinking, centering on local farms and seasonally appropriate recipes. One of our favorites from Reusing’s book is this simple dish of asparagus, egg, soy and butter. Gently blanched spears are briefly […]

Categories: Asparagus, Butter, Cooking, Eggs, Food, Recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian