Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I needed a break from my typical food histories and memoirs this weekend and I came across  Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn*. So, I downloaded it onto my Kindle, headed to the back patio, soaked in the sun, and blazed through this novel in a few hours. On the Page Let me start with this: I love anything that has to do with Rome. So, even though I would characterize this as a historical 'bodice-ripper', and definitely not my usual genre, I stuck it out because it was set in Ancient Rome.  This novel was not at all what I expected. It was much darker...from the opening line when the reader meets the slavegirl Thea who cuts herself and bleeds into a little blue bowl to clear her mind to the newest savage gladiator that they call The Barbarian whose inner voices demand he kill for sport. The characters are all tormented in one way or another. And as the narrators rotate we hear from the vapid, ambitious Lepida who seduces and blackmails her stepson along with do...

After my paella dinner this weekend -  Juan's Paella + Carigane Rosé -  I still had leftover ingredients. I had initially planned to make two pans of paella, but both pans did not fit on the stovetop at the same time. So, I decided to do an encore dinner with a slight change: I used cuttlefish ink for a black version. Please note that this is not wholly traditional; I didn't use any squid, for example. But it was so delicious that I wanted to share what I made! Allioli a la Catalana Allioli, akin to the French Aioli, is an incredibly versatile sauce or emulsion that's ubiquitous across Spain. It's eaten with fish, meat, and vegetables and is traditionally made with a mortar and pestle. My version is made in the food processor, but it's still as rich and creamy. Ingredients for Allioli a la Catalana 3 or 4 whole cloves of garlic, peeled and pressed generous pinch of salt 1 egg yolk, at room temperature 1/2 organic lemon, juiced 1 C olive oil ...

Welcome to the kick-off post for my online event #4theLoveofGarlic*! I wrangled half a dozen garlic lovers and we worked with ingredients from Melissa's Produce and a kick-ass garlic press called the Garject from  Dreamfarm   to create recipes to make your garlic loving heart sing. Click for more information about the event, the bloggers, the schedule, and the sponsors:  here . And, while you're there, enter the giveaway for a chance to win a Garject of your own! We have six Garjects to send to our lucky readers. About the Garject... In all the years I've been seriously cooking (that's going on two decades), I have never had a garlic press. Okay, I guess I should clarify: I've had lots and lots of garlic presses; I have just never liked any of them!  So, I resorted to some mad knife skills while I usually used the presses once or twice, then shoved them to the back of the utensils drawer until Spring cleaning.  That is, until I receiv...

Last week, I participated in the Wine Pairing Weekend event 'New Year, New Wine." I paired Crni Rižoto with Dingac Vinarija’s Pelješac...and you can read my post: here . I was pouring a Croatian wine and decided to make a traditional Croatian dish. Every seafood restaurant in Croatia has a  Crni Rižoto  (black risotto) on its menu.  Crni Rižoto  is risotto dyed black with squid ink; I used cuttlefish ink for the same effect. However, since arborio rice is not Whole30 compliant, I made a version for myself that used caulibits instead of rice. Ingredients 1 C fish stock (or a combination of fish stock and vegetable stock) 1 T olive oil 1 medium shallots, peeled and minced 1 cloves garlic, crushed and minced 1/4 lb shrimp 1/4 lb squid tubes, cleaned and sliced into rings 1/4 lb scallops 1/4 lb clams, scrubbed 1/4 lb mussels, scrubbed 4 C caulibits, or chopped cauliflower 1 T fresh parsley, minced juice and zest from 1 organic lemon 1 t cuttle...

Happy New Year to you from the crew at Wine Pairing Weekend. #WinePW happens on the second Saturday of the each month. And for the month of January, David of Cooking Chat - and the originator of #WinePW - invited us to kick off the new year with a new wine. You can read David's invitation:  here . Feel free to join the conversation on Saturday, January 14th on Twitter with the hashtag #WinePW. We start chatting at 11am ET. And if you'd like to see all the past and future topics, click here . It's hard to believe we're going on three years with this group. New Wines & The Crew David clarified: "What do we mean by “new wine”? Simply looking for wine that is new to you, whether that be a wine region you haven’t explored, or maybe it is a new grape varietal. Or maybe it’s a type of wine you haven’t tried much. You get to figure what trying new wine means to you." What fun! I had a couple of options from new-to-me varietals to new-to-me wine regions....

It's time for Fish Friday Foodies' October event. We are a group of seafood-loving bloggers, rallied by Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm , to   share fish and seafood recipes on the third Friday of the month.  This month, Caroline of  Caroline's Cooking  is  hosting. Here was her challenge to the group: " As fall is upon us and winter all too soon, let's create some pasta dishes with fish and seafood. Whether it's a quick midweek meal for a busy school day or a comforting weekend feast, pair together your favorites." As I was researching possibilities, I came across fideuà which is essentially paella made with pasta instead of rice. Then I came across a  Fideuà Negra and I was sold. I am more than a little enamored with anything that includes cuttlefish ink! Oh, about the name - fideuà is usually made with short lengths of dry pasta called fideus . Since I couldn't find any of that, I opted for some gluten-free spaghetti noodles...

While I don't find using cuttlefish ink that bizarre, the boys decided we should cook with cuttlefish ink for my Bizarre Foods SEM because "other kids might not have ever tried it." Okay. That makes sense. Ingredients  makes 2 to 3 servings 1 C flour (I used a blend with semolina, bread flour, and all-purpose flour) 1 egg water, as needed 2 t cuttlefish ink Procedure Spoon the pasta flour blend into a large mixing bowl and make a hollow in the center, like a volcano. Spoon the cuttlefish ink into the crater of the flour volcano. Use a fork to begin incorporating the flour. Making a whisking motion with your fork, starting in the middle and blending in the flour from the bottom moving upwards. If your dough is too wet, add a small amount of flour; if your dough is too dry and crumbly, add water 1 t at a time. Turn the dough onto a lightly dusted board and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is elastic and smooth. Roll out as thinl...