Beans | Gourmandistan

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

Tenacity & tok-sel lima beans

October 7, 2012 by Steve

“NuLu” is the trendy term for Louisville’s East Market district, currently reigning over Bardstown Road and Frankfort Avenue as the street deemed “Restaurant Row.” (Non-trendy Louisvillians have many more “restaurant row” streets to choose from. Some of them have battling all-you-can-eat buffets.) Before it was “Nu” East Market was more “Ew”—a place of derelict buildings (complete with actual derelicts!), Christian missions and one amazing chef. Bruce Ucán opened Mayan Café on East Market while many people still automatically locked doors and […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, Mexico, Recipes, Restaurants, Vegetables, Vegetarian

A not-so-short hop away from Hoppin’ John

January 1, 2012 by Steve

We Gourmandistanis generally pride ourselves on maintaining a humanistic, progressive point of view, striving to reject superstition and magical thinking. However, given Steve’s totemistic use of blue clothing and fervent belief in the power of both hexing (and reverse hexing) as applied to UK basketball, we cannot say we’ve completely left superstition out of our lives. Plus, especially for Michelle, Southern traditions hold strong, and here in our wintry homeplace black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day are as expected as […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, New Year, Oysters, Recipes

Elevating a half-hour quesadilla into a half-day salbute.

July 28, 2011 by Michelle

A can of beans, another of tomatoes and some canned or jarred chipotles in adobo, cooked with some onion and garlic and maybe some frozen corn. A pack of store-bought tortillas, a little queso fresco or mild feta cheese and some chopped cilantro. Mix, heat, season. Spread, sprinkle, cover with second tortilla, grill. One slightly tricky turn in the pan, and your dinner is served. Quick, simple, and for a long time quite the Gourmandistan staple. We’re still open to […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, Mexico, Recipes, Vegetarian

Lentil soup, Le Puy and a lesson in geology

January 29, 2011 by Michelle

Millennia ago, when volcanoes were spewing up pretty much all of modern France, part of the magma that eventually became the Auvergne was composed of pure basalt, one of the hardest minerals on Earth. (Steve once did advertising for a basalt-slurry-based corn-chute lining company, where he learned vital facts about the igneous rock.) One of these ancient basalt pillars pokes up over Le Puy-en-Velay and hosts an 11th century chapel accessible only by climbing 268 steps—something the acrophobic Michelle can […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, France, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Appetizer solution (white bean bruschetta)

January 10, 2011 by Michelle

Our dinner guests being vegetarian wasn’t the problem—having dinner guests was the problem. Dinner guests, while certainly welcome in Gourmandistan, do require certain steps to be taken, such as picking up the numerous books and magazines scattered about, removing the cats’ countertop colander bed and making hors d’oeuvre. Michelle looked around the place and assembled some meat-free prospects: a few dried white beans in the pantry, a Blue Dog baguette in the freezer and some fresh sage leaves in the […]

Categories: Appetizers, Beans, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Vegetarian

Hoppin’ new year (black-eyed pea soup)

December 31, 2010 by Michelle

In Gourmandistan, we recognize there is a tradition saying eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day will bring good luck in he coming year. We also agree with Edna Lewis that black-eyed peas “are a little dull.” So, in an effort to bring our readers both good luck and good taste in 2011, we present an alternative to the traditional peas and rice. Happy New Year, everybody! BLACK-EYED PEA SOUP (adapted from Elizabeth and Alexis Terry’s Savannah Seasons: Food and […]

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