Breakfast | Gourmandistan

Distinctive desiccation dazzles in apricot, date and nut loaf

March 8, 2015 by Michelle

While we still await our area’s first bits of fresh fruit (please hurry, strawberries!), we have made a nice discovery: apricots from Apricot King Orchards in Hollister, California, a farm in the northern part of the state that ships exceptionally good apricots as well as a number of other dried fruits. (Don’t worry, folks. Unlike many you read these days, this is not a sponsored post.) We’ve long searched for a good source of California apricots, which we find more flavorful than […]

Categories: Apricots, Breakfast, Dates, Food, Nuts, Old cookbooks, 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

Duck fat fried eggs: clean fridge, clean plate

November 24, 2013 by Steve

A bit of duck fat, shallots, bread and some eggs don’t take up much space, but they are a delicious way to clean. With Thanksgiving and the onslaught of holiday cooking coming up, Michelle has been scouring our fridge and freezers, looking for the stuff Steve squirrels away in the back, as well as the leftovers he refuses to give up on. (Steve will someday find a use for those pork necks, he swears.) While searching for Thanksgiving and “Black […]

Categories: Breakfast, Cooking, Eggs, Food, Recipes

Pee, pan-dairy pancakes & a pledge you should make

March 15, 2013 by Steve

Gourmandistan is not normally a territory enthused about the prospect of kidneys. Even a fan such as Jaques Pépin is forced to describe their flavor as “an assertive taste that some may not find inviting.” Putting it bluntly, kidneys pretty much always taste of urine, quite possibly because their primary function is producing the stuff. While we’ve received them in several whole animal purchases, we’ve usually (somewhat secretly and shamefully as nose-to-tail enthusiasts) allowed them to go to waste. Today, however, […]

Categories: Breakfast, Cooking, Family, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Blueberry alarm clock

May 28, 2012 by Steve

Blueberries may, quite possibly, be nature’s most perfect food. According to these helpful folks at the High Bush Blueberry Council, they border on some kind of super fruit—low in calories, loaded with fiber and vitamins, and packing enough antioxidants that one might safely hoover up an entire grill’s worth of free radicals without turning into the picture of Dorian Gray. (Have a great Memorial Day, everyone!) In season, Steve likes to finish his morning routine with a fistful of berries […]

Categories: Blueberries, Breakfast, Cooking, Food, Muffins & quick breads, Recipes, Vegetarian

A somewhat painful endorsement of canned fruit (pear, ginger & walnut muffins)

March 21, 2012 by Steve

Steve has given up on fresh pears and their fickle ripening. The stage between crisp-and-tasteless and mushy-and-black is infinitesimal, and always happens when he isn’t around to enjoy it. While fresh pears have been declared fructus non grata in Gourmandistan, Michelle recently snuck in some canned pears under the guise of “muffin-making supplies.” (Usually vigilant as to the house fruit stores, Steve may have been distracted by the unearthing of a cache of last season’s blueberries in the freezer.) Michelle […]

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

Hulk Hogan, Sorghum and Sweet Potato Pancakes

January 29, 2012 by Steve

A Real American Breakfast, a cookbook borrowed from her mom’s collection, put Michelle in mind of this morning’s meal, and Steve in mind of Hulk Hogan. As Steve (or assorted Hulkamaniacs) can tell you, Hulk was once the “Real American.” Born from humble beginnings, pumped up in the steroid-fueld ’80s to fight the cartoonish Iron Sheik, he now spends his time on social media and reality TV and defending rumors that he’s less the man than he claims to be. […]

Categories: Breakfast, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Sorghum, Sweet potatoes, Vegetarian

Granola Opry

January 9, 2012 by Steve

There is opera, and there is “Opry.” There is granola, and there is “Granola Revisited” from Lorna Sass’ Whole Grains Every Day Every Way. We Gourmandistanis often find granola too sweet, too cinnamony or just too junked up. Carob chips are Satan’s chocolate and, being purists, we believe even Amedei chocolate would ruin a good granola (and vice versa). This granola is simple, light and still plenty sweet—especially when you ramp up the coconut ration (perhaps, for example, after discovering […]

Categories: Breakfast, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Vegetarian

Research and risotto cakes

February 22, 2011 by Michelle

Gourmandistan is planning to temporarily plant its flag in a new land this Fall, inside the province of Padua in northeastern Italy. We’ve begun preparing for our trip already—Michelle furiously researching the sites, transportation options and cultural habits of the Veneto; Steve rambling around Google Earth looking for towns named for sausages and cheeses he’s heard of. In addition, we’ve predictably started exploring Italian recipes. We’re not huge fans of risotto-making here in Gourmandistan. Steve’s weak wrists and fidgetiness resent […]

Categories: Breakfast, Cooking, Eggs, Food, Italy, Peas, Recipes, Rice