the thin chef

I’m a little late on this, but I figured I’d add my voice to the overwhelming number of food-blog posts written in response to last month’s announcement of Gourmet magazine’s closing. I’m still shocked and disheartened by the news…as schmaltzy as it sounds, it kind of felt like a mentor or a personal leader was leaving me. I remember picking up the magazine when I was in college and completely losing myself in the pages, finally understanding my interest in food and writing could actually lead to a career. Stories on faraway places and beautiful—if not intimidating—recipes never failed to inspire me. Ruth Reichl is someone I have long admired, and I think what she did at Gourmet was fantastic. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Luisa posted on Twitter that she was going through all of the Gourmet.com web-exclusive recipes and saving those she wanted to try. Rumor has it that when the magazine closes its doors, the web site will be kaput, too. I followed her advice and searched the Gourmet.com archives. I found 40 or so recipes to print and save. (I was like a contestant on Supermarket Sweep, grabbing anything that looked good, lest it be gone tomorrow!)

Among those was Roasted Cauliflower Barley Risotto, a lovely twist on classic risotto. Chewy and perfect, this is the kind of dish that sates you fully on a cold night…but would also taste great in the middle of summer paired with a glass of chardonnay. Even if you don’t want to make it this week, or even this month, do yourself a favor and print this recipe today, because there’s no telling if you’ll be able to get it the next time you think to make it. And you should make it…it’s absolutely fantastic.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 12:44 pm and is filed under comfort food, healthy, vegetables, vegetarian, whole grain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.