Soups & Stews | Gourmandistan

Cook-all-damn-day Corn Chowder

August 5, 2012 by Steve

Michelle wanted to make a dessert. Perhaps a peach crisp with the few shriveling fruits left in our crisper, maybe a Normandy-nearing tart with some of the funky-looking apples Steve picked up on Saturday’s market run. Our weekly trip was shorter than usual, and she felt the entire day was ahead of her. Then she decided to make this Roasted Corn Chowder with Garlic and Herb Butter from David Tanis’ Corn, part of the “Country Garden Cookbook” series. She’d made […]

Categories: Cooking, Corn, Food, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Vegetarian

Let’s go pea!

June 17, 2012 by Steve

One of the smaller joys of Steve’s life is his tangential connection to Austin-Peay State University, home of (at least to Steve’s scatologically-slanted ear) the greatest cheer in college athletics. A few seasons back, as Steve giggled at the chants of “Let’s Go Peay!” while the Governors lost to his beloved Wildcats, Michelle’s dad (also a rabid UK fan) revealed he’d attended the small university near the Kentucky border in Tennessee. By the transitive power of shared TV-watching (a right […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Peas, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Lady and the ramp

March 27, 2012 by Steve

We have been almost desperately waiting for local greens, especially with this spring’s too-warm start. Last Saturday, as Steve was off wallowing in the depths of March Madness, Michelle spied some ramps at our local farm store. As Steve returned later that afternoon, gluing his eyes back to televised basketball, Michelle busied herself finding a good way to celebrate the arrival of these delicate, oniony sprigs. What are ramps, you might ask? Let’s let some nice horticulturists explain: Ramps, (Allium tricoccum or Allium tricoccum var. burdickii, […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Food, Muffins & quick breads, Ramps, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Rooting for Spring (celery root & potato soup)

February 26, 2012 by Steve

We have had little to complain about this Winter. There’s been plenty of moisture with little flooding and virtually no snow, and Steve has enjoyed an entire season without having to chuck ice chunks out of the creek in order to let cars through. Still, while we promised not to whine, we’re becoming a bit impatient for Spring. Michelle spent this weekend cleaning our pantry and refrigerator, and decided to use some aging potatoes and a bit of celery root […]

Categories: Celery root, Cooking, Food, Potatoes, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Vegetarian

Brassicas (broccoli + cauliflower) and the last bit of bitching about winter

November 30, 2011 by Michelle

A combination of Thanksgiving over-planning and continued concern over our vanishing seasonal vegetables recently deposited pounds of broccoli and golden cauliflower in our refrigerator. But thanks to Michelle (and of course, our voracious and demonstrably-upset-at-the-arrival-of-cold chickens), very little of our efflorescence of florets went to waste. One preparation was a last-minute substitute for a creamier broccoli salad, as we realized our Thanksgiving meal’s butterfat quotient was beginning to approach Brillat-Savarin cheese levels. This version mixed broccoli and golden cauliflower into […]

Categories: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Salad, Soups & Stews, Vegetarian

Curried winter squash soup: If it’s farm share, it’s still summer, right?

November 18, 2011 by Steve

We are grimly staring down the onset of winter, scheming how to maximize the local and sustainable parts of our upcoming Thanksgiving dinner and dreading that time of year when we’re forced back into the produce section of Whole Foods. Defying the early darkness and bitter chill of these mid-November evenings, Michelle still gathers what herbs remain in our garden after several killing frosts. Our carrots have dwindled to a few gnarled roots, and we’re no longer sure which of […]

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

Asparagus soup, a delicious penance

May 29, 2011 by Michelle

We try. We really, really try to restrain ourselves at our local markets. But we grow weak in the presence of so many fresh vegetables, acutely aware of the change of seasons. (Because of the dampness, strawberry season this year has been lamentably brief.) Overeager to grab good things before they’re gone for another year, we ended up with way too much asparagus sitting in our refrigerator. The previous week’s haul drooped their tips in disappointment as we added yet […]

Categories: Asparagus, Cooking, Food, Old cookbooks, Peas, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Soy Beans, Vegetarian

An escape to South Asia (without leaving the house)

March 28, 2011 by Michelle

Michelle had plenty of things to avoid around the house this weekend, among them income tax preparation and seemingly endless bouts of NCAA basketball (Steve says: “Go Cats!”). A shift in the weather made it uncomfortable to go outside, so Michelle took refuge in her alternate galaxy of cookbooks, choosing this time to travel to South Asia. A Sri Lankan coconut curry from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent perfumed the […]

Categories: Cauliflower, Cooking, Food, Other Asian, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Vegetarian