France | Gourmandistan

Canard a la moutarde competes with duck confit

March 10, 2014 by Michelle

We Gourmandistanis are big fans of duck confit. We’ve written before about our less fat-intesive method of making it, and we currently have some boned-out bits stuffed in the freezer, waiting for a pizza, flatbread or perhaps a salad. But while we love the convenience of crisping a nice confit leg for dinner, our kitchen (OK, Michelle) is more and more often opting for a rival method—roasting duck legs with bread crumbs, butter and mustard. It takes a couple of […]

Categories: Cooking, Duck, Food, France, Meats, Old cookbooks, Recipes

Cold weather can’t stop Salty Caramel Ice Cream with Roasted Pears.

January 25, 2014 by Steve

Perhaps Michelle began thinking of ice cream because Gourmandistan is currently locked in a frozen wasteland, our only connection to the outside world being our rattling, rusty 20-year-old SUV. (And after our last round of snow and sub-freezing temperatures, we may not even have that.) Also, Michelle is usually looking for something sweet. She was browsing through Madeleine Kamman’s In Madeleine’s Kitchen and saw a recipe for “Crème Glacée à la Savoyarde {A Savoie-Inspired Caramel and Pear Ice Cream},” an […]

Categories: Cooking, Dairy, Food, France, Fruit Desserts, Ice cream, Old cookbooks, Pears, Recipes, Vegetarian

Garbure ≠ garbage + ordure; or you are what you etymologize

May 16, 2013 by Steve

The next time you’re eating “brunch” with a “spork,” you should stop for a moment and thank Lewis Carroll. (Perhaps you should then explore the idea of no longer brunching, especially if you frequent places providing sporks as utensils.) Carroll, one of Steve’s personal literary lions, introduced the idea of such “portmanteau words” in Through the Looking Glass, his sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Portmanteaus are everywhere these days, from “Brangelina” to “breathalyzer” to “bromance.” (While we’re not particularly […]

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

Soft-boiled eggs, soldiers and slightly overdoing Michel Bras

December 2, 2012 by Steve

We first found the Relais & Chateaux resort hanging above the Aubrac plateau in 2004, as we fled the food desert known as the Minervois that had been our lovely home for almost a month on our first annual “let’s spend our mythical child’s school tuition” flex-time sojourn to France. While we were utterly charmed by our house, we were almost equally devastated at the discovery all French folk did not necessarily look at food the way Patricia Wells had […]

Categories: Cheese, Cooking, Eggs, Food, France, Recipes, Restaurants, Vegetarian

Calvados overdose: Calvados Ice Cream with Apple Calvados Compote (now with bonus Calvados!)

November 3, 2012 by Steve

Those Norman French sure love their apple brandy. A sidebar next to this recipe in Susan Herrmann Loomis’ French Farmhouse Cookbook lists seven rounds of Calvados served at the end of old-school Norman meals, including the coup de pied au cul or “kick in the ass.” Gourmandistan’s recent relocation to Normandy saw us imbibe several shots throughout many meals, some as apéritifs and some in desserts, but never seven in one sitting. (Steve would not have fared well, as Steve […]

Categories: Apples, Cooking, Food, France, Fruit, Ice cream, Recipes, Vegetarian

Food, Photoshop & Frustration: Chocolate Pear Macaroon

October 5, 2012 by Steve

Making the chocolate pear macaroon dessert wasn’t really that difficult. A few pears, a bit of cocoa powder (Steve would have preferred a bit more cocoa, actually), almonds, an oven, etc. The difficulty comes from Photoshop, a program Michelle has always seen as a time-sucking vortex from which she will never escape. Inspiration for both the dessert and Michelle’s new obsession came from the same place: Roger Stowell of the Food, Photography and France blog. As part of our recent and […]

Categories: Chocolate, Food, France, Fruit Desserts, Pears, Recipes

An “au revoir/auf wiedersehen” to apples

December 4, 2011 by Michelle

Steve has probably purchased his last batch of local apples for the year, and since he snacks on several per day (there are many, many doctors out there, after all) he’ll soon be buying what he calls “crapples” at the grocery. Michelle, however, has higher standards, and refuses to cook with the flown- and trucked-in Braeburns, Fujis or sappy-sweet HoneyCrisps that Steve brings home. While that means Tarte Tatin and apple clafoutis must wait until next fall, Michelle recently managed […]

Categories: Apples, Cooking, Food, France, Fruit Desserts, Nuts, Pies & Tarts, Recipes

Struggle, strive, squash.

October 19, 2011 by Steve

Winter squash is work. Peeling is a chore and cutting can be terrifying, as the heavy flesh resists even the sharpest knives. And many times our local squash can be a little disappointing, our butternuts and acorns lacking a certain sugariness that we’ve found in French potimarron and Italian zucca. Michelle spends much time at local markets searching for something that appears close to these champions of cucurbitae. And when she finds a suitable candidate she faces even more work, […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, France, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian, Winter squash

Basque in the afterglow: garlic, sausage & red pepper soup

August 29, 2011 by Steve

Possibly the saddest lie Michelle has ever told involves a pony, the Pyrenées and picture-taking. Steve had asked to stop on a narrow, guardrail-less road winding its way towards St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port so he could photograph a Basque pony, one of a small herd climbing the steep mountainside. Michelle, a raging acrophobic, suffered Steve only a few shots before declaring she was worried he would “fill up the card” on the digital camera. Steve, who has much experience with Michelle’s fear of […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, France, Peppers, Pork, Recipes, Soups & Stews