Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Pumpkin lentil salad, Gourmet Magazine and a young entrepreneur

When you are on Day 15 of a sprained ankle, day 15 of a no-good-terrible cold and day 6 of a wrenched back, somehow you seem to read a lot of news. There certainly is an entrepreneurial spirit in the ten year-old English girl who sought to sell her grandmother on e-bay.
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/business/article_212259444.shtml

I was always told to be good to your kids because they pick your nursing home. Hmmm ... better be extra good to your grand kids also!

And then of course, there is the sad story of Gourmet Magazine. It's offices are being packed up and this lush, posh magazine has it's last issue in November. 68 years of celebrating food in the best possible way - it is a loss to the food world. Some thoughts can be found here:
http://www.examiner.com/x-25270-Minneapolis-Italian-Food-Examiner~y2009m10d6-Gourmet-Magazine-closes-its-doors



This 1989 book has seen me through birthday parties, my first attempts at a serious American beef roast with all the trimmings, holidays, appetizers and desserts. It's pages are stained and it remains beloved of my kids - who had many celebratory meals from this book and Gourmet Magazine.

In the midst of shuffling through news, I also managed to cook here and there. We have had wet, cold weather for six days. Something welcoming was needed. Bon Appetit (sorry, Gourmet!) has a recipe for spiced pumpkin-lentil-goat cheese salad in their October 2009 issue.
The link will give you the detailed instructions. I have to say this was a beautiful autumn side dish - and became my husband's lunch the next day. The tangy mellowness of the goat cheese with the sweet squash and "take me as I am" lentils blended in a way that exclaimed, "October is here." I will make this again. I did some changes. First - I bought chopped and already-peeled squash. Yes, I did. Peeling and dicing pumpkins and squash is probably the last thing I want to do on any given day. So I didn't use the pie pumpkin and nobody minded. Because my pieces were smaller than the pumpkin chunks, I also roasted it for only about 30 minutes. I add more cumin. After assembling all, I thought it needed a taste of - something. So I judiciously dripped a little white balsamic over the salad. It added some zing and tang and I will certainly do that again.

Doesn't that just cry harvest moon, All Hallows Eve and autumn leaves? Meanwhile, join me in a glass of bubbly or a bite of artisan bread and your favorite cheese in celebrating Gourmet's remarkable 68 years and mourning it's passing.


25 comments:

OysterCulture said...

I was shocked to learn of Gourmet's demise, and ever further surprised to find some people saying it was no longer relevant - tell that to the nearly 1M subscribers.

I hope you are feeling better soon - having been a victim of more than one sprained ankles myself, you have my utmost sympathy.

Te pumkin lentil salad sounds inspired and look forward to checking it out,

Kim said...

This is the first I've heard of Gourmet mag closing down. Yikes!! I am also a fan and subscriber, but I can understand the weight of the competition out there. That's really too bad. I wonder how Bon Appetit will fare as they are owned by the same company. This sounds like a wonderful fall harvest salad. Can you have your husband call my husband and convince mine to eat this? _ LOL! My hubby is SO picky!

Heather S-G said...

Yes, this totally cries Harvest Moon!!! Gorgeous :D I hope you start feeling better soon...what a bummer. I can't believe it about Gourmet...flabbergasted, really.

Wanda..... said...

I bet more magazines are in for hard times...all the ones I subscribe to are offering such good deals and some from long ago past subscriptions, like Southern Living, are offering unbelievable low prices.

Pumpkin and lentils are favorites of mine that I work into many recipes, like spaghetti sauce and different soups. This cold weather makes me want soup and crusty bread tomorrow. In fact it's so cold here the heat was turned on today.

I hope your ankle is healing well Claudia...it does take forever though.

Smiles,
Wanda

Heather said...

god i love lentils. they're so delicious, and sound like a great combo for pumpkin! hope the ankle feels better!!!

Katy ~ said...

I am distressed over Gourmet. Such a fine magazine.

I am distressed over your health challenges! Goodness, enough is enough already!!

I bought lentils for the first time a short while ago, not having any idea on how to use them LOL. I appreciate a recipe that features them. This sounds very good.

Miranda said...

Goat cheese and lentils are a terrific combo. Great dish!

Reeni said...

I am sad - it's one of my favorites. Love the pumpkin lentil salad. And you! You have such a way with words that just makes me wish your posts would never end!

Bunny said...

Carol told me today about Gourmet and a couple other magazines they put out that will be gone as well. I ope you feel better soon!

Foodie with Little Thyme! said...

This looks fabulous and I hope it helped to left your spirits and mend your ankle. Oh and I'm with you on the peeling and chopping.

theUngourmet said...

This is quite sad! What a terrific magazine!

What a lovely salad. Trader Joes sells that ready to serve squash too. I love it!

Hope you are back up and running very soon. :0)

Donna-FFW said...

Oh Claudia.. I hope you feel better soon..

It is sad about Gourmet, I have quite a few recipes I make from there that I use over and over again.

Your salad looks wonderful!

Anonymous said...

The pumpkin and lentils salad sounds just lovely especially with the goat cheese! It's really too bad about Gourmet :(

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

I feel sad when any magazine goes under...such a loss!

I's like to find already cooked and cubed pumpkin...sounds like it would come in handy for many fall meals. This sald looks so good!

Barbara GF said...

How can that be, Claudia, the demise of Gourmet? What does that say about the food world? So sad; we need to keep our periodicals and newspapers alive.
Your lentil squash salad screams autumn to me. And that lavish goat cheese on top makes a perfect complement.
I hope you are feeling much better. :-)

figtree said...

So sorry that you are not feeling well. I hope by your next post you are feeling better..Thanks for the great recipe.Figtreeapps

Laurie said...

This sounds wonderful.. and I'm exited to try it with a variety of winter squashes..

Hope you will be up and around soon.. but not to soon for a lack of healing.

Velva said...

This looks like a great salad. I am not surprised that this recipe came from Gourmet. I have been crushed about the magazine's downfall. Each month I depended on Gourmet to take me to far away places, help me discover new food and culture and always kept to date on the politics of the plate. It was my favorite food magazine. December is going to be a sad month.

Thanks for this great post! I think I should be nice to grandkids too. :-)

Nancy said...

This salad looks delicious - I love the combination of pumpkin with lentils and goat cheese! Very earthy and October-esque.

So sad about Gourmet; with the mass outrage it has caused, maybe the magazine will be saved/ resurrected? I can hope, can't I...

janet said...

That looks amazing! I hope you are better soon, I just healed up from stitches in a finger, so I sympathize.

chow and chatter said...

oh I love this salad, delicious Rebecca

unconfidential cook said...

I'm so sad about Gourmet, too--when I first started cooking years ago, I scoured its pages and it helped me gain some confidence. Our #1 Favorite Chocolate cake, which I've made at least 50 times (and multiply that by the number of times all my friends have made that...and you have quite a number!) came straight from its pages.

zerrin said...

Hope you recover soon. As my husband experienced the same, I know it takes a long time to recover completely.

This salad sounds so healthy. I'd never think of combining pumpkin and green lentils althought I love both. Thanks for the recipe.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

I loved your article in the Examiner. Very well written. I also really like the pumpkin lentil salad. All of the beautiful colors of fall.
Sam

My Little Space said...

The pumpkin looks absolutely gorgeous in there! Such a lovely combo.