Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I initially tracked down a bottle of wine labeled - through an online vendor - as coming from the Jura in preparation for David's, of Cooking Chat ,   French Winophiles October event. Then I paired it with a new-to-us dish. Upon further reading, however, I realized that while the wine was from the wrong region, the dish was from the region where the wine was made. Boo. At least the dish and the wine matched! So, now, you don't have to wait till October to get this recipe. It's perfect if you're still in the throes of winter where you live. Plus I was able to locate two bottles of wine from the correct region. Stay tuned for those... In the Glass In retrospect, I should have known that the wine was from the wrong region as I just poured a bottle of Quenard wine for our focus on the Savoie earlier this month. You can read that post A Taste of #vindesavoie: Älpermakkaronen + 2018 JP & JF Quenard Vin de Savoie Chignin  where I write about both Savoie ...

While many recipes are focusing on apples, the darlings of Fall, I've been shining the spotlight on one of my other favorite seasonal fruits: the pear! I recently made a Madagascar Bourbon Bean & Bartlett Jam. It was so tasty and so easy. So, I was really excited that Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories selected Pears + 10 Ways. And I really, really loved that all of those recipes were savory.  In case you don't have a copy of Bittman's book, read his 10 pear salads online here . His pear salsa and relish will certainly be on my table soon. And I do love the combination of pears with fennel. Before I get to my salad, please visit Karen and Wendy's posts this week. Our Pear Creations An InLinkz Link-up Recipes that poach pears in tea have long intrigued me. There's the Food Network's green tea-poached pears with marscarpone and brittle ; Gourmet's tea poached pears with tapioca and satsumas ; and The Meaning of Tea's lemon ging...

Tonight we elfed (yes, that is a verb!) and finished the presents for the teachers. Last day of school tomorrow. All the gifts are ready, but we will still need to get up early and make a kale salad and bake some gingerbread for D's class party. Then, they'll be officially on Winter Break! Phew. For some I created earrings. For others I made flower arrangements in Christmas-themed mugs. And for still others we put together DIY Mulled Wine kits. The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf blended the spices, so I don't know the proportions. But I do know what he put in there. It smelled fabulous. Ingredients cinnamon sticks star anise whole allspice berries dried ginger rainbow peppercorns green cardamom pods white cardamom pods whole cloves ground black lime Also needed: cheesecloth, cotton twine, whole oranges Procedure Blend all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, breaking up the cinnamon sticks into small pieces. Place the spice blend i...

We are no longer doing our dairy-free experiment. Thank goodness! While Jake was trying it out, I did discover that making homemade nut milk is so easy and much better than store bought nut milk; I also realized that I can give up any food except for cheese.  There is no good dairy-free substitute for cheese. Sorry, vegan friends. Your soy, nut, et al cheeses are awful. Trust me, I spent a lot of money, trying every single brand during Jake's one month experiment. Awful, I tell you. If I had to give up dairy for allergy reasons, I would survive. Somehow. But I would be unhappy. Since dairy-free was just an experiment, the day it ended, I ran to the Cheese Shop and bought five different kinds of cheese! Still, I do play with baking dairy-free. This morning, I made dairy-free pumpkin muffins. Here's how the conversation at our breakfast table went this morning... R: What's for breakfast, Mommy? C: Pumpkin muffins, figs, and kale smoothies. R: Hooray, M...

#PumpkinWeek is here again and we can't be more excited. Hosted by Terri from Love and Confections , nineteen bloggers will be sharing nearly seventy pumpkin-filled recipes over the course of the week. Be sure to come back every day to see all the delicious creations - from muffins to cakes, cocktails, breakfast baked goods, savory pastas and stews, and gluten-free recipes, too. You can also find these great recipes and more on Love and Confections' #PumpkinWeek Pinterest Board ! #PumpkinWeek Day 1 Recipes: Browned Butter Salty Pumpkin Sugar Cookies from The Spiffy Cookie Caramel Pumpkin Cake from Feeding Big and more Pumpkin Chai Baked Donuts from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures Easy Pumpkin Donuts with Vanilla Cream Sauce from {i love} my disorganized life Gooey Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks Healthy Cinnamon-Apple Pumpkin Muffins from Simply Healthy Family Homemade Pumpkin and Sage Pasta from Kudos Kitchen by Renee Pu...

I've decided that I am going to give handmade holiday gifts this year. You can follow my hashtag #handcraftededibles from now till December as I madly whip up things for friends and family. When I took a poll, friends all voted for edibles - or drinkables. So, I'm starting now. I'll be bottling up some Meyer lemon bitters for lucky cocktail crafters that I know. Our Meyer lemon tree is producing like crazy. I might have some limoncello in the works soon, too. The bitters formula seems pretty simple - bittering agents plus flavoring agents plus alcohol. Cheers. Ingredients peel from 2 organic Meyer lemons 6 white cardamom pods 1/2 t whole cloves 1/2 t coriander seeds one 1" piece of ginger, peeled and cut into strips 1 t birch bark pieces 10 ounces vodka Procedure Place all of the ingredients in a jar. Make sure that the spices are submerged. Cover with a lid and place in the cupboard. Shake gently everyday. Let steep and infuse for two to four ...

You will see these Chai Sweet Chili Pickled Cherries as part of an upcoming dish. But they would be a wonderful addition to any cheese and charcuterie platter. When I received the Chai Sweet Chili sauce from Intensity Academy * - for participating in the upcoming online blogging event #TripleSBites - I knew that I wanted to make some kind of pickles. Then I saw cherries at Whole Foods and a lightbulb went on. Pickled Cherries. I mirrored the spices you would use in chai instead of the typical pickling spices. Ingredients 1/3 C organic granulated sugar 1 1/4 t salt (I used a red Hawaiian salt) 1 t coriander seeds 2 cinnamon sticks 8 whole cloves 3 star anise 1/2 C organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar 1/2 C water 2 T Chai Sweet Chili sauce (thanks,  Intensity Academy * ) 1 pound fresh cherries Procedure In a small saucepan, combine water and vinegar and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and stir in Chai Sweet Chili sauce. Cook ...

This week the #SundaySupper crew is sharing lightened up holiday dishes. This is a great, tasty substitute for coleslaw. And it's easy, too! I used red cabbage which has a slightly tougher texture but slightly sweeter flavor than its green counterpart. Ingredients 1 red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced 1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced 1 tart apple, cored and thinly sliced 1 C pitted dates, chopped 1 t ground cinnamon 1/4 t ground cloves 14 t ground cardamom 1 t black cumin seed 1 t caraway seed 3 T white balsamic vinegar 1 C water splash of olive oil freshly ground salt, to taste freshly ground pepper, to taste red pepper flakes, to taste Procedure In a large flat-bottom pot, add all of the ingredients - except the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes - to the pot. Stir to mix thoroughly. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the cabbage is tender, approxim...

This is my only sweet creation for #10DaysofTailgate... I love quince. If you're unfamiliar, here's a piece I wrote for Edible Monterey Bay in August: Queen of Quince Takes Her Show on the Road . So, when some friends left me a bag full of quince last weekend, I hooped, hollered, and prepared to quince. One of my favorite things to make: quince butter. We can never have enough. So, for the only #10DaysofTailgate dessert I'm making, I decided to incorporate quince butter. Ingredients Quince Butter makes 2 quart jars 4 large quince, peeled, cored, and diced 1/2 C white balsamic vinegar  2 C water 1 C organic granulated sugar 1 T ground cinnamon 1 t ground cloves 1 t ground nutmeg 1 t ground cardamom Cookie Dough makes approximately 30 3/4 C butter, at room temperature 3/4 C organic granulated sugar 2 egg yolks 2 C white whole wheat flour 1/2 C ground almonds zest from one lemon 1 t vodka 1 t cold water Procedure Quince Butter ...

Pickled beets are a family favorite, so I had to have them at my Pickle Bar this past weekend. I had purchased chioggia beets, thinking that they would be brightly colored and clearly striped. Some were lightly pink and others were creamy white; but none of them were a combination of both. Boo. These are ready to eat after 24 hours, but I let mine pickle for 48 hours. They were fantastic. Ingredients 3-4 beets, trimmed 1/2 C apple cider vinegar 1/4 C freshly squeezed orange juice 3/4 C water 3 T organic blonde coconut sugar 1 T salt (I used some large-grained  Monterey Bay Garlic Sea Salt ) 3 cloves minced garlic 1 t fennel seeds 1/2 t whole cloves 1/2 t mustard seeds Procedure Steam the beets over boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool till you can handle them. Peel and slice to 1/4". Layer them in your jars. Place all of the other ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil and, then, simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Pour the liqu...

This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking from Julie of White Lights on Wednesday 's pick: Emeril Lagasse's Kicked Up Sandwiches .   This post contains an amazon affiliate link at the bottom - for the book. Our three choices this month were for Almond-Poppy Seed Pound Cake with Lemon Neufchâtel, Turkey Waldorf Sandwich, or Beef Shwarma with Tzatziki Sauce. And, yes, I did pick the latter because of Julie's note: "Who doesn’t want to know what Shwarma is after seeing The Avengers? "  I actually didn't remember the Shwarma reference...from the one time I saw the movie. But my boys - all three of them - were happy to oblige and watch it with me; it was the first time our little one has been allowed to see a PG-13 movie. Gasp! He was so excited...he's ten-and-a-half. I found this still of the Avengers eating shwarma...from the extras of the DVD; we had watch...

I created this for my Spice It Up! class because I loved the idea of merging sweet vanilla with savory curry powder. The result is an intriguing interplay of sweetness and spiciness. The kids devoured it, so it must have been good. I didn't get a single bite! So I had to make another batch for us to try.     vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved, bean cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces 4 t mild curry powder 1 t  freshly ground sea salt 8 chicken legs 4 T butter splash of olive oil 4 C sweet onions, peeled and chopped 1 C tomatoes, chopped 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into ½” pieces 1 t whole cloves Combine the vanilla seeds, curry powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Rub the mixture on the chicken legs and set aside. In a large, flat-bottom pan, melt the butter with a splash of olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken legs and the vanilla bean pieces brown the chicken. Cook for approximately 15...

Every so often, the boys ask if I can teach them how to make something. D recently requested saffron rice. Sure thing! This may not be a traditional recipe, but it's tasty. He also whipped up a curried veggie soup to go with it. 2 C uncooked medium grain brown rice 3/4 t crushed saffron threads 3 T butter splash of olive oil 6 whole cardamom seed pods 4 whole cloves 3 cinnamon sticks 1 onion, peeled and diced 3 C organic chicken stock, boiling 1 teaspoon salt Soak the rice in cold water for half an hour or so. Soak your saffron threads in 2 T of boiling water. In a large flat-bottom pan, melt the butter in a splash of olive oil. Add the spices - cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon - and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. They'll begin to let off an amazing aroma! Add in the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Stir in the rice, coating them completely with the butter and oil. Cook over low heat for about ...