Culinary Adventures with Camilla

My radishes are most often relegated to salads. There's nothing wrong with that; I love fresh radishes. Have you ever tried Radish Crudités with Creamy Ricotta ?  But a little back I had seen a recipe for  Butter-Braised Radishes that was posted in  The Washington Post  in 2008 . I decided to give that a try with my own little twists...and with Easter Egg radishes to bring to this week's #SundaySupper.  It's remarkable how much a quick braise transforms radishes. It even softens the colors dramatically...and t he braising renders the usually piquant radishes mellow and silky.  Ingredients 2 T butter 1 bunch Easter Egg (or any kind of) radishes, cleaned, greens removed, halved or quartered lengthwise freshly ground black pepper freshly ground sea salt 1 T honey (I used a local avocado honey) 1/2 C water 1 T fresh mint, thinly sliced olive oil  Procedure Use a pan large enough to hold the radishes without crowding. Melt ...

 Before rhubarb season wanes, I decided to make some rhubarb curd. It's been on my to-do list for years, but I always remember after all of the rhubarb is gone from the central coast. Argh! Not this year. Ingredients 6 C sliced rhubarb 1/2 C water zest from 1 organic lemon 1/3 C honey (I used a local avocado honey) 1/2 C organic powdered sugar 8 T butter 8 egg yolks juice from 1 lemon Procedure Place the rhubarb, honey, water, and zest in a large, flat-bottom pan. Cook over medium heat until the rhubarb softens and loses its shape. In the meantime, place the powdered sugar, butter, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Heat the pan until the butter is completely melted. Bring the mixture to a boil. Beat the yolks. Add 1/3 of the boiling liquid to the beaten yolks then add the mixture back into the boiling liquid. Continue beating over medium heat until it thickens. Be careful not to let the curd boil or it will scramble. Spoon the curd into steriliz...

According to What's Cooking America ...here's the ( paraphrased ) scoop on cobblers. It seems to me that the 'cobbler' is an all-encompassing term that includes some of the others. Cobbler: an American deep-dish fruit dessert or pie with a thick crust (usually a biscuit crust) and a fruit filling (such as peaches, apples, berries). Some are enclosed in the crust, others have a drop-biscuit or crumb topping. Crisp / Crumble:  fruit mixture on the bottom with a crumb topping, which can be made with flour, nuts, bread crumbs, cookie or graham cracker crumbs, or even breakfast cereal. Crumble is the British version of the American Crisp. Betty / Brown Betty: fruit, usually apples, baked between layers of buttered crumbs. Betty was a popular baked pudding made during colonial times in America. Grunts / Slump: an American colonialist attempt to adapt the English steamed pudding to the primitive cooking equipment available in New England resulted in the...

In honor of salmon season's opening day, I roasted some salmon for dinner tonight. Ingredients serves 4 1-2 pounds wild salmon, skin removed 2 T whole grain mustard 2 T honey (I used a local avocado honey) olive oil freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper 1 orange, thinly sliced juice from 1 orange Procedure Preheat oven to 400-degrees Fahrenheit. Place salmon pieces on baking dish lined with parchment paper. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together mustard, honey, and orange juice. After the 10 minutes of roasting, brush salmon with mustard mixture and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and lay orange slices on top. Return the dish to the oven for another 5 minutes or until salmon is just cooked through. I served these with oven roasted potatoes and a crisp green salad.

Honey Ganache makes approximately 5 dozen truffles Ingredients 3-1/4 C 72% cacao chocolate, chopped 2 C organic heavy cream 3 T butter, softened 2 T honey (I used a local avocado honey) Procedure 1. Place chopped chocolate and honey in a large mixing bowl.  In a medium saucepan, bring cream to a boil.  Pour boiling cream over the chocolate.  Let sit for three minutes, then whisk until smooth.  Stir in butter. 2. Refrigerate until firm - at least two hours. I left mine overnight. Procedure Line a cookie sheet or tray with parchment paper or foil. With a tablespoon or tablespoon scoop, scoop chilled ganache from your bowl and place on the lined tray. Refrigerate for a minimum of 15 minutes. (I let them chill for about 30 minutes.) For chocolate-dipped truffles...how to temper chocolate... Place half of your chipped chocolate (I didn't measure, but you can just repeat the process if you run out of chocolate)...