Breads & Crackers | Gourmandistan

Making Twiglets at home a twisted way to remember London

February 16, 2019 by Steve

Our recent trip to London was all too brief. In ten days, we only just scratched the surface of the city. We didn’t get to anywhere near every restaurant, neighborhood, shop and cultural site we had bookmarked in advance. But we did return with some great memories, renewed friendships and, it seems, a terrible craving for Twiglets. Before we get to what their current corporate owners call “a unique wholewheat product,” we’d like to assure our readers that we did do […]

Categories: Breads & Crackers, Cooking, England, Food, Recipes, Vacation

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

Simmering a bit more summeriness into beef pot roast

July 5, 2016 by Steve

Pot roast is something we usually associate with colder months here in Gourmandistan. But we had a really cool 4th of July weekend, and even as the weather increasingly becomes hot and sticky around here, we cannot stop buying beef from our biodynamic neighbors up the road. A slab of chuck roast recently caught our eye and demanded we do something with it. With the help of Alice Waters and Bradley Ogden, Michelle came up with this lighter-than-expected pot roast. She […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Dumplings, Food, Recipes

Peach Ginger Rosemary Brown Betty makes brioche flop much better

August 2, 2015 by Steve

An anticipated bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich ended up as a Peach Brown Betty, and it really wasn’t a bad ending. It did begin somewhat sadly for Steve, who had fussed over his buttery brioche dough for two days before it all went wrong in the oven. What seemed to be a golden brown loaf revealed its still-raw core when the top fell off as Steve attempted to turn it onto a cooling rack. Putting the patched-together brioche back in the oven […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Peaches/Nectarines, Recipes, Vegetarian, Yeast breads

Beef short ribs with bootlegged Michigan cherries

September 5, 2014 by Michelle

While we were in Michigan, we couldn’t stop buying cherries—a tic which continued even as we headed back to Kentucky. On our way down South we stopped at one last farmers’ market, buying up delicious fruit that we seldom find locally in the Bluegrass State. With a bag of ice in a cooler, the sacks of black cherries (the last of this year’s very late harvest) made it home safely, where they rested in the refrigerator until we could get to a market […]

Categories: Beef, Biscuits, Cherries, Cooking, Food, Recipes

Soppy Jamie’s leek and rabbit pot pie improved with a bit of biscuit

July 10, 2014 by Michelle

Jamie Oliver may have said he doesn’t like to get all soppy, but the first time we made his leek and rabbit pie, the filling wept all over the pastry crust and our oven. His instructions called for cooking both leeks and rosemary along with the rabbit pieces for quite a while in quite a bit of sauce which, as Michelle expected it would, resulted in mushy leeks and unappetizingly gray herbs. Still, the cider-flavored dish had promise and seemed a wonderful way […]

Categories: Biscuits, Cooking, England, Food, Leeks, Rabbit, Recipes

Blueberry lemon shortcake, because summer is finally here

June 25, 2014 by Michelle

After a long winter, Gourmandistan will bear rhubarb, and delight in strawberries, as spring weather begins to literally bear fruit. (Fine, strawberries are “literally” not fruits, but pseudocarp. Satisfied, pedants?) But when blueberries arrive, we know the peaches, plums, blackberries and other delightful summer treats will soon appear at local farmers’ markets, to be enjoyed until apple season signals the end of another (hopefully) bountiful year. We buy many, many blueberries at the markets, because Steve enjoys eating them as snacks. […]

Categories: Biscuits, Blueberries, Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit Desserts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Putting a little snap into scones with pear, ginger and rosemary

May 15, 2014 by Michelle

While we are not entirely captured by the concept of “cream tea,” Gourmandistan does like a scone now and again. But while there are many recipes, most are too sweet, too cake-like or too dry and crumbly for our tastes. After quite a bit of experimentation, we’ve (for now) settled on this version, which we’ve adapted from software engineer-turned-vegetarian-cookbook author Michael Natkin. We enjoyed winy pear flavor spiked with fresh ginger, but added a bit of dried for extra zing plus […]

Categories: Breads & Crackers, Breakfast, Cooking, Food, Muffins & quick breads, Pears, Recipes, Vegetarian