Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Last month I hosted an 8-day online event celebrating food and romance - #TripleSBites. Along with 19 other bloggers, we shared over 130 recipes. I wanted to give my readers an easy way to view the recipes from each sponsor. Here are the 18 recipes posted using  Acala Farms   Infused Cottonseed Oils. Thanks, again, for sending product to the bloggers and for providing a wonderful prize package for our readers! Check out everything from pesto to flank steak. These recipes are listed in alphabetical not chronological posting order. Enjoy! All  of the  Acala Farms   Recipes... Blood Orange & Cilantro Glazed Salmon by Cheese Curd in Paradise Blue Bacon Turkey Burgers and Infused Oven Fries by  Famished Fish Finicky Shark Caesar Salad with Fried Chickpeas by The Pajama Chef Ceviche de Pescado with Crisped Garbanzo Beans by Culinary Adventures with Camilla Chai Sweet Chili Steaks by Amy's Cooking Adventures Chicken Mole Skewers with C...

Figs and sin - as in Adam-and-Eve sin - have a long visual history . When they were disgraced and banished from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were often depicted covering themselves with fig leaves. Adam and Eve by Abrecht Dürer, 1504. Rijkmuseum. Amsterdam. Why were fig leaves for shame? Or modesty? Maybe because fig leaves are larger than, say, grape leaves...and definitely larger than apple leaves. I digress. All of that was just to explain why, when Erika of Not Ketchup , asked me which fruit ketchup I wanted to try for #TripleSBites, I selected fig. Spiced Fig. There you have it. My mind works in mysterious ways sometimes. Then I begin thinking about the recipe I would share. I decided to share an oven-roasted flank steak that is so simple you can have it on the table in less than an hour. It's been rubbed with Voodoo Chef 's RED rub, seared with Acala Farms Chili Cumin Infused Cottonseed Oil, and drizzled with a sauce made from  Not Ketchup 's Spiced...

It's not a party without some meatballs, right? I whipped up these #TripleSBite-worthy ones with a little help from event sponsors  Acala Farms   and  Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices .   Just for fun, here are the (purported) aphrodisiac qualities to this dish... Chili peppers : The capsaicin in chili peppers heats up the body, increases blood flow, and causes the brain to release endorphins, which are feel-good chemicals. Many cultures throughout history have claimed peppers as an aphrodisiac.  Cucumber : Besides the obvious assumption about the cucumber, it's been reported that the scent of cucumber arouses women. Hmmm...I've never thought about that. Also, its high water content, when consumed, can also hydrate and refresh you. Ingredients Meatballs 1 pound grass-fed organic ground beef 1/2 C small cubes of bread or breadcrumb 1 t chunky garlic (I used some from  Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices ) 1/2 t lemongrass  ...

Ceviche is probably one of my favorite appetizers. It's a simple dish of seafood "cooked" by the acid in lemons and limes. It's so easy, but it requires incredibly fresh ingredients. I usually ask my fish monger which is the best choice for ceviche that day. Sometimes he'll say shrimp, sometimes it's the scallops. The day I made this, he said fish. So  ceviche de pescado it was.  Just for fun, here's one (purported) aphrodisiac quality to this dish... Tomato : Tomatoes came to be known as 'apples of love' - not because they were considered aphrodisiacs, but due to a mistranslation. Kind of like a game of telephone. The early tomato was yellow, so Italians initially called it pomo d’oro , literally 'apple of gold.' Later, the name changed to pomo d’Moro,  apple of the Moors. Then, a Frenchman traveling through Italy asked for the name of this unusual fruit and mistook it to be  pomo d’amore - love apple - instead of pomo d...

Last night when I was trying to figure out what to do with my Fresh Cilantro Cottonseed Oil from Acala Farms *- click to read my full product review: here - I realized that I had no bread in the house. It was almost midnight. That made my decision for me: I would make focaccia dough, let it rise overnight, and bake it fresh in the morning. I need to remember to do it more often. Freshly baked bread is so much better than a packaged loaf, isn't it? And this is so easy. Ingredients 2 C warm water 1 T active dry yeast 1 T granulated honey (you can use granulated sugar) 5 C flour, plus additional for kneading 1 T freshly chopped cilantro 1 T freshly ground sea salt for sprinkling 1/2 t freshly ground pepper for sprinkling olive oil for greasing your bowl oil for drizzling on your focaccia (I used the Fresh Cilantro Flavor-Infused Cottonseed Oil from  Acala Farms ) Procedure Combine the warm water, yeast and granulated honey in a small bowl. Let the...

I was recently introduced - through a fellow food blogger (thank you, Sarah of  Curious Cuisiniere !) - to  Acala Farms and their Flavor-Infused Cottonseed Oil*.  While I am an ardent culinary adventurer and eager seeker of oddball ingredients, I am fairly pedestrian when it comes to my oil choices. My kitchen is stocked with olive oil - some for cooking lubricant and some for delicious condiment - and that's about it.  So, when I received the cottonseed oil, I was intrigued. The enclosed literature was fascinating. Acala Farms took its name from the Acala cotton variety that thrives in hot, arid climates. Cottonseed oil was first bottled in the early 1880s, just after Eli Whitney developed the cotton gin. Honestly, I had no idea that cotton was even used as a food crop. I have to say: I adore Acala Farms' motto of "drizzle, sizzle, sample, and eat". So, I did. This recipe embraces all four of those. I drizzled, I sizzled, I sampled, and I ate...and it was ...