Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I have always loved colorful salads and was tickled to come across my (long-lost) julienne peeler when I cleaned out my utensils drawer this weekend. It was almost like going shopping...there were tools in there that I hadn't seen in awhile. You can bet that I julienned to my heart's content this weekend! This beet and celeriac salad was inspired by the beets and arugula we received in our CSA (community supported agriculture) box on Saturday. This salad is easy to prep ahead of time; you just toss with the dressing right before serving. Ingredients Salad 2 to 3 raw organic beets, scrubbed, dried, and julienned 1 organic celery root, peeled and julienned ¾ cup organic arugula Also needed: sesame seeds for garnish Dressing ¼ cup vinegar (I used apple cider) ¼ cup olive oil 1 Tablespoon honey (I used a local sage honey) ¾ teaspoon ground cumin freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper 2 Tablespoons organic fresh mint, chopped ...

For some reason neither of us could sleep a couple of nights ago. Jake grabbed his computer and started to do some work; I headed to pick something interesting off of my bookshelf. I ended up crawling back under the covers with Sugar  by Kimberly Stuart.* Is this a classic novel that will persist through the ages? Probably not. It is, after all, a book that relies heavily on the current 'reality television' culture. But was it an entertaining way to spend a few hours? Absolutely! On the Page Charlie Garrett, a female pastry chef, has worked her way up to the number two spot in the kitchen at a renowned restaurant in New York called L'Ombre. Along with that honor comes all of the usual things: no love life, an unforgiving schedule, and an abusive chef in the number one spot just above her. She's been patiently waiting for Chef Felix to retire so that she will be named Head Pastry Chef at L'Ombre. But a job offer from an old flame who is opening his own ...

When I was trying to decide on a dessert for our Easter brunch, I was inspired by the bounty of beets I had just picked up from Serendipity Farms . I wanted to make a naturally bright pink dessert and settled on panna cotta . That is definitely my go-to, easy-to-make-ahead-of-time dessert. Some of my other versions include Espresso Panna Cotta , Cardamom Panna Cotta , Salted Juniper-Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta , and Matcha Panna Cotta . It's so easy to get creative. And the beets added that lovely pop of color. Funny story - I purchased PEEPs with the thought to use them to hold our place cards. Look right! The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf was insistent: "Mom, PEEPs are not for decorating. They are for eating." Well, I'm not sure I agree with that. But he plunked them on top of my beet panna cotta and citrus mousse. And I can admit: they were cute. Beet Panna Cotta And Citrus Mousse Ingredients  makes eight 4-ounce servings Panna Cotta 3 envel...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of  Moms Meet . All opinions are my own. I'll just start with this: I have an incredibly contentious relationship with blenders and food processors. I love the ease of blenders and food processors and they are so necessary for so many different foods. And, over the past decade, I've owned my fair share of them. One blender had a base that tightened in the opposite direction of 'righty-tighty, lefty-loosey' so, if I happened to forget that, I ended up with blended sludge all over my counter; I always ran that blender in a bin! I had a blender that I really liked - it worked quickly and efficiently - but the jar was plastic and I vastly prefer glass.  So, I always keep an eye out for my next blender, hoping that I'll find one that does everything I want and is made of what I want. When the opportunity arose - through my association with  Moms Meet  - to try an  Oster ®  Pro® 1200 Plus, I was thril...

Last night was my second artisan pasta class with Jenn, the Culinary Arts guru at a local high school and friend from college. Remember the first session when we made Hand-Rolled, Hand-Cut Spinach Papardelle ? Yesterday we made 3 different pasta doughs and laminated them together - basic dough, pink beet dough, and red pepper dough. Jenn jokingly called it a 'Tequila Sunrise' dough when we laminated it all together. So pretty! On another note: I am blown away by how quickly you can put a dough together with a food processor. I don't have any space in my cabinets for one, but- wow! - I'm impressed. Basic Pasta Dough adapted from Making Artisan Pasta (my review of that cookbook  here ) Ingredients 350 g pasta flour 3 eggs, room temperature 1 egg yolk 2 to 3 T tepid water Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Dough Ingredients 350 g pasta flour 2 ounces red pepper puree 3 eggs 1 T sweet red paprika Beet Pasta Dough Ingredients 275 g pasta f...

This is a virtually effortless appetizer that's as tasty as it is simple. I had planned to make my own vinaigrette as a marinade, then a bottle of beet vinaigrette arrived from one of the event sponsors  Out of the Weeds  and my dish was decided. It was even easier than I anticipated. Thanks, Robin. Just for fun, here are the (purported) aphrodisiac qualities to this appetizer... Beets : When I visited the ruins of Pompeii, I saw frescoes of beets on the wall of the brothel. In Greek mythology Aphrodite ate beets to augment her beauty. Ancient Romans believed that drinking beet juice was a love potion of sorts. But there may be some science in relation to this myth: naturally-occurring nitrates in beets can increase blood flow and beets also contain high amounts of boron, which is directly correlated to the production of sex hormones. You decide. I just love the pink color they lend to dishes. Chocolate or Cocoa:  Chocolate contains phenylethylamine, which ...

I don't know why I always thought borsch was a cold beet soup. Got that wrong! No, no, no, this was a warm, flavorful, nutritious winter soup that I garnished with some sour cream and a dollop of caviar. I also thought that borsch only had beets in it. Wrong again, this soup has tons of earthy goodness in the form of onions, carrots, potatoes and more! And while it can be blended smooth, I opted to leave it chunky and rustic. I served this with some "periwinkle" bread. Translation: pumpernickel bread. I guess Dylan thought I said periwinkle. 6 small beets, roasted, peeled, and diced 4 potatoes, roasted and diced 3 carrots, thinly sliced 4 stalks of celery, thinly sliced 1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced 8 C organic chicken stock 1 C fresh chopped chervil 3 bok choy, chiffonaded freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper sour cream, for garnish caviar, for garnish In a large soup pot, brown the onion, celery, and carrots in a splash of olive oi...

The time changed this weekend. Fall back. It's only one hour, but now I drive home from work in the dark. Not only are days shorter, they are colder, too. There is a chill in the air that signifies the coming of winter. This is the time of year when I pull out the soup pot and soups become a dining table staple for the next few months. So, I wanted to share some soup-making secrets. Well, they aren't exactly secrets, but they are tips to help you make some delicious, seasonal, and filling dinners. Start with a  Mirepoix , p ronounced  mirh-pwah.  It's usually a mixture of carrots, onions, and celery - finely diced, and used as an aromatic seasoning base. But I use whatever I have in the fridge. It might be leeks and carrots one night. Fennel, onion, and carrots another night. Make the mirepoix sweat! Before you add any liquids to the pot, cook the mirepoix at a low heat until it begins to soften but not brown. It softens their texture and blends their flavors....

I got to see my boys' sense of humor when we were talking about my mom's birthday cake. Dylan said, "I want to make her a pretty pink and purple cake with - " Riley interrupted "with Medusa snakes made of marzipan!" They both collapsed on the floor in a fit of laughter.  Why?  "Mom, Medusa is a witch." Let's just hope that Nonna has a sense of humor, too. She did. I was able to talk Dylan into the fact that pink and purple blend to a magenta color - the same color as beets. So, he went with a beet bundt cake with a beet-lemon juice glaze. To make it pretty, he added sugar pearls. CAKE 1 C all-purpose flour 1 C white whole wheat flour 1 t baking powder 1/2 t baking soda 1 t ground cinnamon 1/2 t ground cardamom 1/2 t ground nutmeg 3 large eggs 1 3/4 C organic raw turbinado sugar 1 C extra-virgin olive oil 2 t pure vanilla extract 1 1/2 C julienned beets (I roasted them, peeled them, and used my julienne pee...