The idea for easy country gourmet had noble, if not downright inauspicious, beginnings. I moved from New York, where I had made my home for 12 years, to rural Vermont having no idea what I would be up against living there. How could a yuppie possibly survive in a place that demanded skills totally alien to her theretofore existence?I did, however, rise to the task quickly and found myself perfectly at home in my new environment from lugging firewood through thigh-high snowdrifts at 30 below, learning how to repair things everything and anything to save a buck, to finding a multitude of ways to survive the economic pitfalls of living in an area reliant on tourism. When necessity forced me into the kitchen, I discovered that I could do more with a stove than just boil water, and began spending inordinate amounts of time there. Something new was always in the oven, and someone or several someones were always popping in around dinnertime to taste my newest creation.
Spare money being a rare commodity for many Vermonters, I also learned about being economical. However, having lived on gourmet food in New York, I was determined to find a way to be able to eat the same way in Vermont - only within the confines of a budget.
Thus was born the concept for "easy country gourmet" - "easy" because I needed to fit two jobs plus cooking & housekeeping into my schedule & didn't have time for complicated cookery, "country" since many of the foodstuffs used in my recipes are indigenous to Vermont or my Mid-Atlantic origins, such as maple syrup, cheddar cheese and blue crab, & "gourmet" because of the ingredients used, as well as their visual presentation.
Featured recipes will change periodically. I hope you enjoy them, and would welcome your feedback!
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