Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month, the Wine Pairing Weekend bloggers are turning their eyes towards the wines of Greece. Deanna of  Wineivore  is hosting. You can read her preview here . Wendy is tasting Assyrtiko from Santorini paired with Greek Mac and Cheese at A Day in the Life on the Farm. Camilla is Waiting for the Temperature Drop: Still Eating al Fresco and Pouring Moschofilero at Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Andrea asks Do You Know Fokiano? at The Quirky Cork. David is having a Greek Spaghetti Recipe and Wine Pairing at Cooking Chat. Cindy is exploring how Xinomavro Thrives in Naoussa Where Key Elements Define Its Character at Grape Experiences. Deanna is testing an Almost Paleo Greek Menu + an Aged Sparkling Zitsa at Wineivore. Gwendolyn is pairing 2 Greek Wines with Grilled Eggplant, Black Cod, Lamb Kebabs at Wine Predator. Nicole is showcasing Three Off-the-Beaten-Path Pairings for Holiday Cheese & Charcuterie Platters at Somm’s Table. ...

It's hard to believe that we are inching our way towards the end of 2021. Crazy. Welcome to the October installment of our #EattheWorld project, being spearheaded by Evelyne of  CulturEatz . Here's  her challenge .  This month, we are sharing Greek recipes. Here's the #EattheWorld line-up... Palatable Pastime: Spanakopita Bites   Magical Ingredients: Spanakorizo   Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Greek Cabbage Roll Rice Bowls   A Day in the Life on the Farm: Makaronia me Yiaourti   Pandemonium Noshery: Aginares a la Polita - Greek Artichoke Stew   Sneha’s Recipe: Greek Hot Dogs   Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Skordalia   Sugarlovespices: Greek Spinach and Feta Pie with filo pastry (Spanakopita)   Kitchen Frau: Classic Moussaka Skordalia is a delicious Greek garlic dip that has a thick base of mashed potatoes. You can serve it chilled or at room temperature. I used it as a spread on sourdough and as a side for roasted chicken thigh...

Today the Sunday Funday group is writing about and sharing Greek recipes. Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group. This week, Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures is hosting and asked us to share Greek recipes. Here's the #SundayFunday Greek recipes line-up... Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Greek Cabbage Roll Rice Bowls   A Day in the Life on The Farm: Makaronia me Yiaourti   Palatable Pastime: Spanakopita Bites   Culinary Adventures with Camilla: A Polarizing, Perplexing Greek Wine + Kouneli Stifado  Sneha’s Recipe: Greek Hot Dogs   Food Lust People Love: Golden Briami Tart A Polarizing, Perplexing Greek Wine One of the most unique wines I've tried is Retsina, a traditional Greek wine that includes the addition of resin from the pine tree Pinus Halepensis  during fermentation. I've actually r...

  We make a lot of homemade bread. Sweet breads. Savory breads. You name it, I've probably tried it. Sourdough boules are always made in pairs and often cooling on my countertop. On the savory side of the bread world, we have made naan , bolillos , hamburger buns , and more. But, until this weekend, I have never made pita pockets. Since our local Greek fest was canceled, again this year, due to COVID concerns, we decided to have our own festival. And R came home early from his day trip to Santa Cruz to help me make pita and kourabiedes for the dinner. I read and researched before deciding on this process. Also, I cooked the pita on a hot skillet on the stovetop, but many recipes suggested baking on a hot stone in the oven. I will have to try that another time. But it was so rewarding to see these puff up on the skillet in front of my eyes! I doubled this recipe, but still made them in separate bowls Ingredients makes 8 pita 1 cup warm water 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast 1 teaspo...

Years ago, a friend shared her in-laws' recipe for Kourambiedes . Throughout the years, I  have adapted the recipe and made it my own. I've posted them as  Kourabiedes . And, really, I'd have to do some more reading about why they are called different things. But, kourambiedes, kourabiedes, whatever you call these Greek butterballs, they are delicious! Traditionally, on Labor Day weekend, we hit up the three-day festival of all things Greek at the Custom House Plaza down by the wharf, meeting up with my parents and friends. Often we plan our days and grab lunch or dinner there on all three of the days that it runs. But, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festival was cancelled.  Boo. Faced with a Labor Day weekend without these delectable Greek butterball cookies, I felt like this... That's how Gabey felt when they sold out of Kourabiedes one time. Because, he, like the rest of us, really love those cookies! So, I told him Auntie Cam would take care ...

I almost always lean to the savory side first and wanted to pair a Greek rabbit stew with this traditional Greek wine. But that wasn't such a big hit with either me or Jake. So, he tried it with a bit of Italian chocolate that I had just gotten from my friends at La Balena . That pairing was definitely a better fit in our minds. Then I remembered that I had been saving some Lithuanian chocolate that was infused with juniper and orange. I thought that might be a nice match with the pine resin tones of the Retsina. The evergreen notes in both were very complimentary! I'm not saying I would buy another bottle of Retsina in the near future. But nibbling the juniper chocolate was a nice way to sip through the rest of that wine. I would love to hear from you if you have experience with Retsina...and what you like to pair with it. And I will be highlighting other wines from different regions with winemaking in their history stretching back to antiquity. Stay tun...

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller * has been on my bookshelf since I finished Circe by the same author. You can read my thoughts on that book here . But this weekend I picked up The Song of Achilles  and read it in almost one sitting. On the Page This is a familiar story for anyone familiar with the Western literary canon, but unlike the traditional telling, The Song of Achilles  looks at The Iliad  and the Trojan War through the eyes of Patroclus, Achilles' lifelong companion. But you know the story: Paris steals Helen from Menelaus and that launches a thousand ships to wage war on Troy. During the conflict, Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother, steals a slave girl from Achilles. The greatest warrior that ever was refuses to fight for the Greeks any longer, so Patroclus dons Achilles' armor instead and is slain by Prince Hector of Troy. Achilles kills Hector and drags him around the walls of the city. Then Paris kills Achilles. The difference in this re-telling i...

Let's start with this: I love ABBA, I love oddball wines, and I love Greek cuisine. Now that we have that out of the way, this is my post for May's Food'N'Flix selection. My friend Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm invited us to watch Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again*. Read her invitation  here  and join the party! Seriously. When doesn't ABBA put a smile on your face?! If you don't know what I'm talking about - Mamma Mia! is a musical based on ABBA songs and the movies are set on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi. On the Screen Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again  is a sequel, coming a decade after Mamma Mia! , but it's really a prequel in that it gives the back story of Donna, played by Meryl Streep in the first movie, and how she has three possible dads for her daughter Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried. The three dads (current age) are played by Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, and Stellan Skarsgård in both the original movie and this one. ...

Cindy of Grape Experiences is hosting the Wine Pairing Weekend crew for September. And she has asked us to explore, open, and pair wines from Greece. You can read her invitation here . I don't have a lot of experience with wines from Greece. Back in 2015, I poured Domaine Sigalas's Assyrtiko with Smoky, Spicy Clams . So, I was really excited to dig into wines more and I found a really intriguing one: a traditional semi-sparkling orange wine. If you're reading this early enough, please join us for a live Twitter chat on Saturday, September 8th at 8am (Pacific time). Follow the conversation with hashtag #WinePW. Or you can search for that later and read all of the posts. Before I get to my wine pairing, take a look at the other Wine Pairing Weekend bloggers' posts... Στην Υγεια σου! Lori of Dracaena Wines writes about The Case of the Confused Country . David from Cooking Chat suggests Grilled Tilapia with Tomatoes, Olives and Greek Wine Pairing . Sarah of ...