Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Last year, for my birthday, I headed to Holman Ranch Tasting Room with some girlfriends to meet the Queen of Quince . We  tried our hands at rolling Yalanchi Sarma , Armenian stuffed grape leaves, nibbled on quince leather, and feasted on various mezze , including pickled cauliflower, black olive dip, spiced feta, and more. And we sipped on different varietals from Holman Ranch Vineyard, including a chardonnay and a pinot noir. It was a fantastic evening. So, when I saw that Holman Ranch Tasting Room was kicking off their "In Your Own Backyard" 2013 series with a cooking demo by Sweet Elena's Bakery and Cafe, I signed us all up. We love Elena! She baked the cheesecakes for my wedding and has continued to dazzle us with her baking prowess. Elena Salsedo, former Ventana Inn pastry chef and current proprietor of Sweet Elena's in Sand City, demonstrated making moqueca , the Brazilian seafood stew (recipe to follow!), and Nick Elliott of Holman poured a compleme...

While I love participating in the  Secret Recipe Club , I really dislike when other bloggers orphan their assigned partners. That's not what this is all about; this is about being a community and doing what you say you're going to do! So, in those cases, I am always game for stepping in and rescuing an orphan blog. Today, I had the pleasure of meeting and cooking from Baking and Creating with Avril . Avril writes to share her love of baking - and cooking - along with other crafty ventures. Creativity in and out of the kitchen bring her joy. Me, too! I've been craving dessert for the past few days and decided that this was the perfect reason to crank up the oven and toss some flour around. I started with Avril's recipe for Apple Crostata  and made a few changes. I used pears instead of apples, reduced the sugar, and added ground cardamom. I also skipped the crumb topping and the vanilla ice cream. But I will, as she did, serve this for breakfast tomorrow. 1 C fl...

I noticed this a few weeks ago, but had other cheeses on my shopping list. Finally, after a few Twitter exchanges with fellow foodie, Twitter pal, and fromage lover Raul N., it was down to the wire and The Cheese Shop was almost sold out. We were warned that there was one round left. So I headed down there and - just in case he got there after I did - I made sure to leave a piece. This cheese hails from the Middle Peninsula in Virginia, made by the Bonnyclabber Cheese Co. on the Sullivan's Pond Farm. Semi-soft, this cheese is wrapped in corn husks that have been macerated in White Lightnin moonshine and is aged for over two months. Since I'd never had the cheese - or moonshine - I decided to do some reading. Interesting history! 'White Lightnin' is a brand name of moonshine which was historically called white lightning, mountain dew, hooch, or white whiskey. In the 1600s colonists used their excess corn to distill a clear corn whiskey. In 1920 Prohibition was p...

Last night we celebrated Brian's 40th birthday with a surprise party at La Crème in Pacific Grove. Though he suspected something was up - and claims to know that he knew I was lying about it - Pia managed to keep the scale of the bash under wraps. Brian had no idea friends from near and far would be in attendance to celebrate the start of his fourth decade. Once again, Chef Jon Moser and La Crème owner Tamie Aceves whipped up some culinary magic. Here's what was served...   Scallop Crudo An über-fresh scallop was perched atop a poached garnet yam with a dot of lemon salsa and fresh mint. I think I ate half a dozen of these myself! Tarte Flambée I wondered why this appetizer was called a flambée since it was obviously not flambéed. So I did some reading. A Tarte Flambée, from the Alsace region in France, is a "pie baked in the flames." Chef Jon's version was smeared with an herb fromage blanc mixed with caramelized onio...

Photo by Kevin Brookhouser While working on my latest cookbook review, I needed some wild boar. Naturally, I asked my friend Brian, "the best killer in the family", according to Dylan. Truth be told, this is not the creature we're eating. I think I cooked the pig before this one, or the one after. In any case, Brian gave me a piece of wild boar backstrap. Before reading this cookbook, I had never heard of a rillette - much less eaten one. Rillettes are savory meats or fish that have been braised or prepared as confit. This recipe - from Jesse Griffiths Afield: A Cook's Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish  - was so easy to do and resulted in a salty, creamy, satisfying dish. Stay tuned for my full review of the book. But for now, enjoy this... I started with the backstrap, rubbing it with a mixture of ground ginger, ground cardamom, ground coriander, and ground cinnamon. I placed the meat in a baking dish and filled the pan with water ...

Last night, at a friend's 40th birthday party, he received a box of Pop-Tarts from some friends. Don't ask! I don't... But sometimes that's all it takes to get my culinary gears churning. I woke up this morning, thinking I would make my own version for breakfast. I intended to make pocket-sized rectangular tarts, but ended up with one large round tart that we sliced into wedges. I am certain that this tastes nothing like a Pop-tart, but it was Pop tart-inspired. 4 C flour 3/4 C espresso 3/4 C olive oil 2 1/2 t baking powder Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, blend all of the crust ingredients and knead to form a soft dough. Divide the dough in half and roll each out into a round shape. Place one round on a baking stone. Crumble chevre (goat cheese) in the middle, leaving about an inch border around the outside of the filling. Spoon pumpkin butter over the cheese and place the second crust on top of that. Fold the edges toget...

The Food Matters Project  challenge for this week was Mark Bittman's Chicken Jook with Lots of Vegetables, chosen by Erin of The Goodness Life .  Click here to see what everyone else created; look in the comments section! This was an easy lunch on a Saturday afternoon; I set it on the stove in the morning and went about my day, doing laundry and cleaning, and by the time we were all hungry, it was done. Perfect! One note before we begin: I hardly think that cabbage, snow peas, and bean sprouts count as "lots" of vegetables. I bolstered the pot with the bounty from my CSA box, using leeks, carrots, celery, fennel, kale and chard. That's lots of veggies! Also, I didn't follow Bittman's procedure very closely at all... 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and diced 2 leeks, cleaned and cut into coins 2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless olive oil 4 carrots, sliced 6 stalks of celery, sliced 2 C short grain brown rice 8 C organic chicken broth 2 T minced...

In France, this is called mimolette - or Boule de Lille - as it is traditionally produced around the city of Lille, France. This is a Dutch version which is called commissiekaas . The story goes that King Louis XIV was searching for a native French product to replace the very popular Dutch Edam. To differentiate it from Edam, he had it colored orange with annatto seeds. Dutch cheesemakers took it right back and created their own "mimolette." Made with cow's milk, it has a grey crust which is the result of cheese mites intentionally introduced to the surface of the cheese! As it ages, its taste changes. A young  commissiekaas tastes vaguely like parmesan and it somewhat soft. I prefer it with a harder texture and a stronger flavor. This piece, that I picked up at the Cheese Shop, reminded me of hazelnuts. Though we savored this in small chunks, I'm thinking about getting another piece and doing something with chocolate and hazelnuts. If I do, you'll see i...

We've made  Eliopitakia  (Cypriot olive pies) at home, but today I made them with a dozen 3rd through 5th graders. And they did an amazing job. Too bad I didn't get to try any! They feasted, then they asked if they could take some home. At the end of the class, there was nothing left for me to try. Must have been good. Thankfully my boys were up to v.2 and we made another one for dinner tonight at home! Pastry 3/4 C orange juice 3/4 C olive oil 4 C white whole wheat flour 2 1/2 t baking powder Filling 2 C pitted black olives (avoid olives preserved in vinegar) 1 onion, peeled and sliced 1 C fresh herbs, thinly sliced (we used Italian parsley and rosemary today) 4 T olive oil Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, mix all the pastry ingredients and knead to make a soft dough. Let stand while preparing filling. Caramelize onions. Mix olives and mint to onions and toss with olive oil. Split dough in half and roll out each to 1/2 i...

Can you call something a recipe if all it requires is slicing and layering? Perhaps. This is the Italian 'recipe' we made during our Culinary Adventurers class this afternoon: Insalata Caprese .  Heirloom tomatoes + fresh mozzarella + fresh basil Then we sprinkled it with freshly ground salt and drizzled it with olive oil.

This is hardly a recipe, but I've made it twice now in less than six hours, so I figured it was worth sharing. I wanted a little something sweet to end our Mediterranean trip during my Culinary Adventures class; I came across a Moroccan dessert of sliced oranges, sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with orange blossom water. I used what I had: blood oranges + ground cinnamon + rosewater. It was a hit! Then I repeated it for our own dinner. Delicious! This is definitely going to be on our after-dinner treat rotation.

I agreed to write a guest post for Dionne of Try Anything Once  this month. My topic: overcoming a culinary challenge . I chose to write about opening up my kitchen and getting over that ridiculous overprotectiveness I used to have. How did I do it? Click to read my post on her blog: here . Have you overcome any culinary challenges? I'd love to hear about them. Comment here or email me at constantmotioncamilla [at] gmail [dot] com.

Tonight I made a seafood risotto with crab, black truffle cream, and lemon zest. The secret to risotto, as Maria told me, is stirring:  usa il cucchiao...sempre.  Use your spoon...always; keep stirring. Maria was the cook for the Nuzzo family who was ordered to teach me all her recipes. Then she was fired and I was tasked with cooking for the family six days a week. Thankfully she didn't blame me for the impossible situation and we stayed close throughout the year that I was there. And sometimes when I cook, I hear her instructions in my head. Make risotto with whatever you have on hand! Tonight I used kale, herbs, pancetta, squid, scallops, and shrimp...and topped it with some crab from a friend's friend. Thanks, Bret! And thanks, my love, for cleaning the crabs for me. I helped; I poured him an oatmeal stout. I stirred in some black truffle cream and tossed some lemon zest on top to make the flavors really sing. For the risotto: saute your ingredients - gr...

1 C flour 1/2 C ground almonds 2 t baking powder 2/3 C organic sour cream 3 eggs, at room temperature 1/2 C organic dark brown sugar, lightly packed 1/2 C olive oil + enough to grease the bundt pan 2 T Sambuca, or other licorice liqueur pinch of fennel pollen 1 C raw pecan halves In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground almonds, fennel pollen, and baking powder. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream, eggs, sugar, olive oil and Sambuca until combined. Scrape the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk again until lump-free. Pour the batter into the buttered bundt pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes or until browned. Allow cake to cool for at least 10 minutes, before unmolding.

This was another find from The Cheese Shop. I went in to get a selection of cheeses for my Culinary Adventurers class and was introduced to this cheese by a very helpful employee. Thank you! Stokes Point is the most southern tip of King Island, in Australia, and the closest point to northwestern Tasmania. King Island Dairy Stokes Point Smoked Cheddar is naturally smoked with Tasmanian hardwood. Matured for nine months, the golden rind created during smoking acts as a natural preservative. This cheese is amazingly unique. I have, literally, never tasted anything like it. Salty. Smoky. It reminds me of smoked salmon. My students' reactions varied. One said, "delicious, awesome, strong"; another said, "weird and fishy."

The Food Matters Project  challenge for this week was Mark Bittman's Sesame Noodles with Spinach and Salmon, chosen by Sara of Pidge's Pantry .  Click here  to see what everyone else made. Look in the comments section. This was an easy dinner on a Sunday night. Well, easy for me. My husband had to pick the crabs clean...which I really, really appreciated. I did pour him an oatmeal stout while he cracked and pulled. And I especially loved that the crab was pulled from the bay this afternoon. I am so grateful to have friends who fish and crab. Or, in this case, friends of friends. 3 C baby kale leaves 1 C thinly sliced shitake mushrooms 1 T minced garlic enough whole wheat spaghetti noodles for everyone you're serving olive oil sesame oil soy sauce sesame seeds for garnish 2 handfuls haricots verts, blanched crab meat smoked salmon Cook the pasta. In the meantime, brown the garlic in a large flat-bottom pan. Add the shitake mushrooms and baby kale. Co...

Almost a year ago now, my best girlfriends and I went to an event at a local tasting room: Meeting the Queen of Quince . She had us roll  Yalanchi Sarma , Armenian stuffed grape leaves. For Ulla's Mediterranean birthday feast, I decided to try my hand at my own version. Yum! Stuffing 2 C cooked bulgur wheat 1 pound 96/4 organic grassfed ground beef 3 shallots, minced 2 cloves garlic, minced pinch of fennel pollen dash of ground nutmeg freshly ground salt and pepper In a large, flat-bottom pan saute the shallots and garlic in a splash of olive oil until softened. Add the meat and cook throroughly. Season with spices and stir in the bulgur. Place a teaspoon of your filling in the center of a grape leaf. Keeping constant pressure, roll the grape leaf into a packet. Because my grape leaves were so small, I used two for each roll. Arrange the rolls in a baking dish. Lay sliced of lemon over the top. Fill your pan with water so that the water comes to the top of th...

For my friend's Mediterranean-themed birthday dinner, I decided to put the kids to work to make pasta. We had... ...and... Each kid made a dough ball... 1 C semolina flour 1 egg water as needed Then they ran the dough through the machine: 3 times on setting 1, 1 time each on settings 2-6, and through the cutter. We served Team Linguine's creations with a fresh marinara sauce while Team Fettucine's pasta was tossed in an alfredo.