Gourmandistan

Elevating a half-hour quesadilla into a half-day salbute.

July 28, 2011 by Michelle

A can of beans, another of tomatoes and some canned or jarred chipotles in adobo, cooked with some onion and garlic and maybe some frozen corn. A pack of store-bought tortillas, a little queso fresco or mild feta cheese and some chopped cilantro. Mix, heat, season. Spread, sprinkle, cover with second tortilla, grill. One slightly tricky turn in the pan, and your dinner is served. Quick, simple, and for a long time quite the Gourmandistan staple. We’re still open to […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, Mexico, Recipes, Vegetarian

Creamed carrots, a cookbook, and the customs of Gourmandistan.

July 23, 2011 by Michelle

“I don’t think these are all that good” said Pavel, our Foxhollow CSA farmer, as he handed us a fat bunch of carrots at a recent market. We accepted the ill-omened roots as part of our share graciously, as the laws and customs of Gourmandistan forbid the flinging of substandard produce back into a farmer’s face. (Beware, visitor: unless you are a farmer, you have no absolute guarantee this custom will hold for you.) We like Pavel and his products, […]

Categories: Carrots, Cooking, Food, Nuts, Recipes, Vegetarian

First peek at peach season.

July 13, 2011 by Michelle

While peaches have appeared at our local markets, the best part of our region’s yield may be yet to appear. Steve wasn’t too impressed with the size or flavor of the fruits we found last weekend, so he was judicious with his purchases. “Judicious,” of course, meant he only bought half of Mrs. Deutsch’s supply instead of the whole thing—so that, plus the bunch he bought from another market, made another jam session essential. Michelle, in a bit of penance […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Jams & Preserves, Old cookbooks, Peaches/Nectarines, Recipes, Vegetarian

A side dish for all seasons

July 9, 2011 by Michelle

One of Michelle’s recent rummagings of antique store cookbook sections resulted in a copy of Roy Andries de Groot’s 1966 Feasts For All Seasons. De Groot’s books were a big influence on many of the 1970s and 1980s California chefs—particularly his Auberge of the Flowering Hearth (1973), which describes a year of seasonal cooking at a small inn in the French Alps. De Groot’s wealthy, blue-blooded, European perspective can sometimes be a bit annoying, but there’s much that is incredibly […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Old cookbooks, Onions, Recipes, Vegetarian

Sugared berries

July 6, 2011 by Michelle

Michelle’s mom’s birthday falls at the end of June, in the middle of blueberry season. We’ve made this wonderful cake several times with success, but never before have we decorated it so beautifully. Michelle first thought of adding lemon zest as a garnish, but was afraid it would overpower the rather subtle lemon cream cheese icing. We had many blueberries on hand thanks to Steve’s frenzied end-of-season buying spree, so Michelle decided to try sugaring them. Dipped in egg white […]

Categories: Blueberries, Cake, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Recipes

Happy 4th of July!

July 4, 2011 by Michelle

Categories: Food, Independence Day

Naked breasts: no longer a bore.

July 1, 2011 by Michelle

We’ve become quite attached to chicken bones. Not simply because in Gourmandistan most of them find their way into the stock pot. We’d also become convinced that boneless, skinless chicken breasts had no taste. We turned away from scallopine and piccata, towards baked or braised bone-in, skin-on breasts with garlic, wine and other good things. But a few recent purchases from Shannon Young of Stone Run Farms turned us around to the bare breast, and allowed us to revive a […]

Categories: Chicken, Cooking, Food, Recipes

A better bacon for pasta carbonara.

June 19, 2011 by Michelle

Steve’s guanciale has been sectioned, sealed and frozen, but not before we put some to a very good use. We’ve long been fans of pasta carbonara, even championing Calvin Trillin’s effort to change Thanksgiving into National Pasta Carbonara Day. (Trillin seems interested in the humorous aspects of carbonara-themed parades and presidential portraits. We’re more interested in eliminating the angst and crap food found in so many “traditional Thanksgiving” meals.) Carbonara sauce has a murky origin, but Gourmandistan is partial to […]

Categories: Cooking, Cured meats, Food, Italy, Old cookbooks, Pasta, Pork, Recipes

Gourmandistan unveils guanciale

June 12, 2011 by Michelle

For months, Steve was haunted by hog jowls. At a mid-Winter Bardstown Road market, Matt Corry of Schacht Farm told Steve about two jowls along with a pair of hocks available from one of his recently-processed pigs. Liking Matt and his meat products, Steve bought the meat sight unseen. A week later, Steve proudly informed Michelle he’d spent nearly $100 for four very large, very ungainly pieces of pork flesh. As our little chest freezer had very little room and […]

Categories: Cooking, Cured meats, Food, Italy, Pork, Recipes

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