Gourmandistan

Saffron Noodle Cake with Sautéed Peppers: worth raiding the reliquary.

October 15, 2012 by Steve

There is a small jar in our pantry. Inside, much smaller than the small jar, is a dark envelope. The envelope holds a few shreds of something quite precious. It’s not the True Cross, it’s saffron. Saffron is expensive, and while we usually have it on hand (Gourmandistan must uphold its inventory, after all) we tend to think of it as something used only for special occasions. Deborah Madison’s Saffron Noodle Cake is making us reevaluate our stance on the […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Pasta, Peppers, Recipes, Vegetarian

Tenacity & tok-sel lima beans

October 7, 2012 by Steve

“NuLu” is the trendy term for Louisville’s East Market district, currently reigning over Bardstown Road and Frankfort Avenue as the street deemed “Restaurant Row.” (Non-trendy Louisvillians have many more “restaurant row” streets to choose from. Some of them have battling all-you-can-eat buffets.) Before it was “Nu” East Market was more “Ew”—a place of derelict buildings (complete with actual derelicts!), Christian missions and one amazing chef. Bruce Ucán opened Mayan Café on East Market while many people still automatically locked doors and […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, Mexico, Recipes, Restaurants, Vegetables, 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

Vacation and verse.

September 19, 2012 by Michelle

Gourmandistan has temporarily relocated to Normandy, and we are taking a brief break from food blogging while we enjoy the fruits (mostly apples, if you’re curious) of a French vacation. Once again, we’ve given our good friend and Michelle’s college chum, Susan Thomsen, the solemn duty of maintaining our presence on the World Wide Web. Since 2005, Susan has written about children’s books at her delightful blog, Chicken Spaghetti, which she named after a favorite Southern casserole. (She’s originally from […]

Categories: Food

In France, In a contest, Incensed at the Internet

September 3, 2012 by Michelle

We’re back in France, and we’re very happy about it. We’re also happy to be nominated for the Country Living Magazine “Best Food Blog.” We’re not so happy about our current Internet situation, where we’re limited to an extremely expensive and incredibly slow 3G connection. (Both of us are having AOL International flashbacks, which are not pleasant.) So while we urge you to go to CountryLiving.com and vote for our blog (every day for the next week or two please!), […]

Categories: Food, Fruit Desserts, Strawberries

Plum, Dumb & Full of Crumb

August 21, 2012 by Steve

Sorry, people who put him in the “crazy” camp: Steve was not doing exactly the same thing and expecting different results. After all, these smaller, redder plums were purchased from a different vendor. And this time Steve did not leave them sitting in a bowl on the counter. He left them sitting on the counter in a paper bag, which somehow rendered them invisible. Fortunately, these plums ripened much less violently than their predecessors, with only a few having matured […]

Categories: Blueberries, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Plums, Recipes, Vegetarian

Impulse to action via Roasted Plum Frozen Yogurt

August 13, 2012 by Steve

We have been talking about fresh plums all summer long. When we finally spotted them at a recent market, we (OK Steve) couldn’t resist snapping up a bagful without bothering to ask the vendor anything regarding variety, locality or organicity. When we returned home all we knew was they were big, very purple and seemed very, very unripe. A few days later we also discovered they were very, very sensitive, as almost half of our purchase “ripened” into juice-weeping balls […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Ice cream, Plums, Recipes, Vegetarian, Yogurt

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

A parching, painterly interruption leads to Peach Ice Cream Pie

July 29, 2012 by Steve

Horrifying heat is not good for ice cream. Neither, it seems, is it good for house painters. After weeks of weather-related delay, our house and kitchen were freshly painted and finally freed from painters. The outside, in its lovely new creamy white color, was baptized by a couple of non-drought-relieving nickel-sized hailstorms (thanks again, global weirding!). After restoring the cookbooks, WWII posters and various tchotchkes to our kitchen we were ready to once again bespatter its freshly painted walls with […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Ice cream, Peaches/Nectarines, Pies & Tarts, Recipes, Vegetarian

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