Culinary Adventures with Camilla

As we are recovering from the end-of-school mania, we are able to focus more on our  Cooking Around the World Adventure . I haven't finished blogging about our Ukrainian dinner - it was not a hit - but we forged forward with the United Arab Emirates and both dishes were amazing. from worldtravels.com About the UAE... Here are some interesting facts we learned...Founded in 1971, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. 'Emirate' means 'state or province ruled by an Emir.' And 'Emir' means 'commander' or 'ruler' in Arabic. Dubai is the most populated Emirate with over a third of the UAE population. I found two things fascinating about its population: (1) it's youthful; more than 50% of the population is under 25 years old. And (2) it's largely an ex-pat community; only 13% of the people living in the country are c...

May is a brutal month when I am constantly over-scheduled with the boys' schools and work. Needless to say, we haven't checked off one country per week as planned for our  Cooking Around the World Adventure . But we can cross Uganda off our list! Slow and steady...we'll finish this project. Eventually. from worldatlas.com About Uganda... Uganda is a landlocked country that lies just above the Equator in East Africa. Its landscape envelopes the snow-capped Rwenzori Mountains as well as the immense Lake Victoria. D read that its wildlife includes chimpanzees, hippos, as well as rare birds. Just over 35 million people inhabit the country and the official languages are English and Swahili.  On Our Plates... I initially planned to make three dishes, but I was running late and didn't have time to stop for plantains. So, I only managed to serve two dishes from Uganda: Chicken Luwombo and a Bean Stew. Luwombo is a ubiquitous dish that is found at most tra...

Last night was our first  Cooking Around the World Adventure   in almost two years! And tonight, we have another nation under our collective culinary belts. We haven't located our atlases, from our move last summer, but the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf is more than happy to look up information online and read it to us. from worldatlas.com About Turkey... Geographically, Turkey spans two continents: Europe and Asia. However, it lies primarily on the Asian side. For a size reference, Turkey is slightly larger than the state of Texas and, as of the summer of 2013, its population was just over 80 million people. Though Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey - and is the third most populous European city - it is not the capital; Ankara is, in fact, the capital of Turkey. The Precise Kitchen Elf just started reading the Odyssey in his English class. I told him that the ancient city of Troy was located in modern day Turkey. Side note: I absolutely adore his readin...

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...

For the main dish on our tabletop travel to Sweden, D and S made some Svenska Kottbullar , Swedish meatballs. So easy, so tasty! I decided to share the recipe over at Curious Cuisiniere when Sarah asked if I would be willing to share a cultural recipe. Sure thing. Thanks for asking. Visit Sarah's blog: here . She has some amazing recipes. And you can see my post, for her: here .

This creamy potato and anchovy casserole is said to have been named after Pelle Janzon, a food-loving Swedish opera singer of the early 1900s. D helped make this for our tabletop travel to Sweden last week. Ingredients 2 lbs potatoes 1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced splash of olive oil anchovies, approximately 10 filets 1 C organic heavy cream panko breadcrumbs 3 T butter, thinly sliced into pats + extra for buttering baking dish Procedure Preheat oven to 400°F. Peel the potatoes and cut them into strips. Sauté the leek and fennel slices in a splash of olive oil until softened. Butter an ovenproof baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of potatoes. Spread half of the leek-fennel mixture over the top of the potatoes. Place half of the anchovies over the layer. Another layer of potatoes, then the rest of the leek-fennel and anchovies. Finish with a layer of potatoes. Flatten the surface a bi...

I had the two mini-bakers help me with dessert for our tabletop travel to Sweden. D and S made Morotskaka , a Swedish carrot cake. It was moist and delicious; we didn't frost it and didn't even sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Ingredients 1-1/4 C olive oil 1 1/4 C organic granulated sugar 4 eggs 2 C flour (we used a whole wheat pastry flour) 2 t cinnamon (I forgot the cinnamon, but will definitely use it next time) 1 t baking soda 2 t baking powder 1 t sea salt 4 large carrots, finely grated 3/4 C hazelnuts 1 C raisins Procedure Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9" round baking dish, then line with parchment paper. Butter liberally. Set aside. Grate the carrots. Our four carrots - we used a mixture of orange, yellow, and purple carrots - rendered about 4 cups grated carrots. Chop hazelnuts. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients to form a batter. Gradually add the dry ingredient...