Vegetarian | Gourmandistan

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

Bourbon Praline Pound Cake does good with good gifts.

January 6, 2014 by Steve

Home-grown heirloom pecans and good bourbon whiskey are not things to be wasted. We thought this rich-but-light, bourbony-but-not-overly-so pound cake was an excellent way to use both. Every year we receive a bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon from our neighbor, a sign of appreciation for allowing him, his horse and his fox hunting friends free access through our land. Because Steve enjoys bourbon whiskey but is not much of a drinker, and Michelle despises the stuff, the bottles tend to […]

Categories: Cake, Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Nuts, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Do Santa right with Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies.

December 21, 2013 by Steve

Spoiler alert: Gourmandistan doesn’t actually believe Santa exists. This year, we’ve not even pretended to be into Christmas. There’s not a single holiday decoration out in our house. And, there has been very, very little holiday baking. But if the jolly old elf with his judgmental list was real, this oatmeal cookie would guarantee some extra presents. Based on a 1980s Lee Bailey recipe, these cookies delightfully straddle the line between chewy and crispy, and come out of the oven […]

Categories: Cherries, Christmas, Cookies, Cooking, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Semi-tarting up our demi-Tarte Tatin

November 18, 2013 by Steve

We are almost as fond of our Tarte Tatin as we are of apples (and Steve is very, very fond of apples). It’s something we make just about every year when apples are in season. But like just about everyone else, we at times crave variety. So this season we decided to see what a little spice would do to one of our favorite desserts. After Steve took five minutes to bang out one of his patented pâte brisées, Michelle […]

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

Apple Crisp with Candied Ginger and Dried Cherries gives Ahab a break.

October 29, 2013 by Steve

Every Fall for nearly a decade, when the apples are in season, Michelle returns to the hunt for perfecting the Caramelized Apple Cake in Susan Herrmann Loomis’ Cooking at Home on Rue Tatin. It has become her obsession. Loomis describes the cake as “dense and buttery with a pure flavor.” Michelle would possibly describe it as “all that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the […]

Categories: Apples, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Roasted tomatillo salsa base with basically no rules

October 25, 2013 by Steve

Do you have fresh tomatillos? Access to a broiler? A couple of heads of garlic, some various peppers, onion-ish bulbs and maybe 20-25 minutes? Then you’re well on your way to Salsa Town, and that’s about all the direction we can give you. We’ve been making this salsa base for many years now, freezing it in one-cup batches for the occasional taco night or a try at chilaquiles—adding salt, cilantro and lime after defrosting since we found their tastes disappear […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Mexico, Recipes, Vegetarian

“Trip’s over” treacle tarts with Tamasin Day-Lewis and tourist photos

October 17, 2013 by Steve

We very much enjoyed our month in Britain. Like all good vacations, this one has left us with fond memories and renewed energies to do more things while not on vacation, such as sculpting our woodland with pathways and plants, and cooking more out of our British cookbooks. We have already achieved one of these goals, and at this point believe we will (after 20-odd years) finally do the other, at least when springtime rolls back around. We were somewhat […]

Categories: Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, England, Food, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Peach curd takes precedence over citrus

September 5, 2013 by Steve

Gourmandistan has seen the last of summer for this year, unless some lovely reader wishes to spirit us away to the Southern Hemisphere. (We will be available for away-spiriting after mid-October.) Which means peach season has sadly passed us by, but not before we discovered a delicious new way to use them. After Michelle once again pointed out the many, many jars of jam in our freezer, Steve grudgingly admitted making peach jam wasn’t quite the necessity he believed it […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Jams & Preserves, Peaches/Nectarines, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Pita, parity, pasta makers and pressing the perfect lavash cracker

August 25, 2013 by Steve

Recently we’ve been messing around with meze, cracking the spines of Ottolenghi and Tamimi’s Jerusalem and Claudia Roden’s Arabesque and The New Book of Middle Eastern Food in search of small somethings to serve alongside what has turned out to be a surprisingly addictive version of David Lebovitz’s baba ganoush. (We’ve been roasting the thin-skinned Asian eggplants from our farm share under the broiler until charred and soft, then blending the skins and flesh into the mix. Smokily delicious!) We also needed […]

Categories: Cooking, Crackers, Food, Recipes, Vegetarian