Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month the #WorldWineTravel group is sharing articles about the wines from Martinborough, New Zealand. Fittingly, our very own Martin - of ENOFYLZ Wine Blog - is hosting. You can read his invitation here . If you are reading this early enough, feel free to jump in on our live chat Saturday, September 24th at 8am Pacific. Follow the hashtag #WorldWineTravel and be sure to add that to anything you tweet so we can see it. Here's the line-up of posts from the group about Martinborough... Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla will be serving up Chicken Salad, Calamarata Pasta, and the 2020 Craggy Range “Te Muna Road” Sauvignon Blanc. Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm is Saying Farewell to Summer with a Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc . Terri of Our Good Life is sharing Garlic Parmesan BakedEggplant with an Astrolabe Province Sauvignon Blanc . Our host, Martin, at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog will be pairing Ata Rangi PinotNoir Crimson + Smoked Portobello Mushroom Burger .  2020...

I love the idea behind the Crazy Ingredient Challenge, but I'll be honest: I haven't been very good at participating. In the Crazy Ingredient Challenge, we are assigned two ingredients to cook and create.  Lori of  Lori's Culinary Creations   and Kelly of  Passion Kneaded   are our fearless leaders. And, unfortunately, due to lack of participation, they are calling it quits for now. Adieu, Crazy Ingredient Challenge. Sorry to see you go, but I completely understand. So, for this final month... July's Crazy In gredient Challenge = capers and lime Capers are something I always have on hand. They add a nice pop of saltiness to salsas and salads. And I will never forget renting a house on the island of Ustica. When we left, after a week, Antonio, the owner, gave me a jar of home-cured capers to take with me. I may or may not have slapped a commercial label on them and brought them back to California with me. Maybe that happened...I'm not really saying. ...

I have been embarrassingly remiss in planning and executing our Cooking Around the World Adventure . We started five years ago and made our way through over 175 countries; then, I stalled and haven't really done anything for two years! And we only have 18 more countries to cook. And my Precise Kitchen Elf has requested that we, "please finish before college." Thank goodness he's only a freshman in high school! Still, I have renewed my commitment to cooking the world with my family. I told them we'd aim to finish before the end of this summer. Just a reminder that these are not wholly traditional recipes. Our dishes are traditionally inspired , but we will use whatever ingredients are local to us. I hope that makes sense. from worldatlas.com About Tunisia... The smallest country in Northwestern Africa, Tunisia is located between Libya and Algeria. Nearly everyone in the country is Muslim; the official language of the country is Arabic. Before gaining...

Our CSF (that's community supported fishery) pick-up days is one of my favorite dinner days of the week. We love  Real Good Fish  for the quality, the freshness, and the philosophy! Today, Real Good Fish delivered to all of its members fresh market squid that was pulled up yesterday. Talk about fresh... I wanted to make something simple that really highlighted the squid. Since we couldn't agree, I made two recipes. This was the first. Ingredients 1/2 to 3/4 lb fresh market squid, cleaned 1 C organic heirloom cherry tomatoes 1/4 C thinly sliced organic red onion 3 T capers 3 to 4 T olive oil 1 to 2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 to 2 T balsamic vinegar freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper 1 to 2 T fresh parsley, minced Procedure Place squid tubes and tentacles in a large pot. Cover them with water. Make sure they are submerged by at least 1" of water. Bring the water to a boil. As soon as the water boils, drain the squid. Once they are cool e...

I am notorious for never making the same thing twice. So, during a dinner party during the holidays a few close friends were talking about some of our dinner party highlights over the years and one dish bubbled to the top as the most unforgettable  dish I've ever made. Then it turned into a challenge: "We know that you never make the same thing twice - that you can't make the same things twice - but even if you made the seafood pie and it was only half as good as the first one, it would still be the best dish you've ever made." Seriously? Wow. A challenge, an insult, and a compliment all at the same time. Gotta love friends who tell the truth. Here's the Seasfood B'stilla v.2010 when I made it for Jake's 35th birthday... So, I promised that I would re-do the seafood pie during 2015. At. Some. Point. That gave me through December 2015 to make it. But, not one to procrastinate on my cooking obligations, I opted to get it done in the beginning...

While I love participating in the Secret Recipe Club , there are very few blogs that make me scratch my head and think: really, would those ingredients go well together?!? This month, I have the absolute pleasure of being completely introduced to, baffled by, and intrigued with the recipes at  Recipe Taster  by Alessio. A self-described Renaissance man, his curriculum vitae include advanced degrees in Physics, jewelry design, and an obvious penchant for putting together outrageously creative flavor combinations. In that vein, I selected a recipe that included two ingredients I would never have thought to put together: chocolate and calamari. Yes, I really did write chocolate and calamari in the same sentence; and I actually cooked them in the same dish. Check out my inspiration ! "Weird is good" reads his post. Indeed. Sometimes weird is just weird. In this case, I have to agree: weird is good. I made a few adjustments based on what I had: I skipped the lovage and swappe...

Every now and then I go to a restaurant and the first thing I think when I taste a dish is not : "I wonder what's in here..." so I can recreate it.  It's rare.  Tonight was one of those nights. While the Nonni took the boys to a concert, Jake took me out for dinner at Basil Carmel ; a friend had told him about it and he thought that I would love it - seasonal dining, organic produce, and local, sustainable meats and seafood.  He was right.  As we made our way through four different courses, and polished off a bottle of Brophy-Clark's 2006 Pinot Noir, all I could think was "Wow, just wow."  From the grilled calamari with a balsamic reduction over spiced, sauteed chard and the spinach salad with toasted hazelnuts to the chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream and pistachio sauce, I was dazzled.  My compliments to the chef!  We will definitely be back there!