Culinary Adventures with Camilla

   This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Quail & Olive . Complimentary product was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own. When Anni at  The Quail & Olive *asked if I wanted to play with the  Raspberry Basil Vinegar  to create a recipe, I couldn't say 'yes' fast enough. I love a challenge and I really love supporting and highlighting local businesses. So I went to her shop, picked up a bottle, and starting thinking about possible combinations on the drive home. My tendency is to lean savory, so the first thing that popped into my head was salmon. I love the color combination of pink and red, so I decided to slow roast some salmon and top it with a fresh raspberry-basil salsa. And because fennel pollen, in my mind, is the equivalent of culinary fairy dust, I sprinkled that on top of the fish. Anni carries the Wine Forest brand fennel pollen in the pantry sect...

I usually use holidays to push myself out of my culinary comfort zone and try something new. I have yet to make a porchetta, or roast suckling pig. But, alas!, Easter 2020 equals #EasterinPlace so I haven't been out grocery shopping except for essentials...and we can't have a meal with my parents as they are strictly sheltered in place at their own house. I realized, though, that I did have two pork tenderloins in my freezer. So, I thawed them out and attempted the flavors of porchetta on roasted tenderloin. Success!! Just bear in mind that you will need to start this dish a day ahead of when you want to serve it as the pork needs to marinade overnight. Otherwise, this dish is surprisingly simple and amazingly flavorful. One of these days, I'll get my hands on a suckling pig and actually make a porchetta. Till then, this will work. Ingredients serves 6 to 8 2 T fennel seeds 1 t fennel pollen 1 T coarse salt 2 t black peppercorns 1 t dried crushed red...

Delicata squash are a family favorite. And this is a quick preparation that you can season however you wish. Last night, I simply sprinkled the cooked delicata with fleur de sel and some fennel pollen. Ingredients delicata squash olive oil freshly ground pepper fleur de sel fennel pollen Procedure Preheat griddle over medium heat. Halve the delicata and scoop out the seeds. Destem, then slice into 1/4" to 1/2" wide pieces. Arrange the slices on the griddle. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper. Cook for 5 minutes on each side or until the squash is softened and beginning to caramelize. Move to a serving plate. Drizzle with more olive oil and sprinkle with  fleur de sel and fennel pollen. Serve immediately.

In preparation for an upcoming wine pairing event, two rabbits ended up in my possession and I decided to braise one of them to pair with a bottle of  Charles Baur Riesling Cuvee Charles 2015 for a #Winophiles event that goes live this weekend.  Stay tuned for my tasting notes. But, for now, here's my recipe.... Note: I added fennel pollen to my Alsatian dumpling which is not a traditional ingredient. But I wanted to mirror the licorice notes from the fresh fennel in the rabbit. If you aren't a fan of fennel, swap carrots for the fennel in the stew and skip the fennel pollen altogether. However if you're up sometime non-traditional, I liken fennel pollen to a culinary pixie dust! Ingredients Rabbit 2 pound rabbit olive oil 2 C fennel bulb, trimmed chopped 2 C onion, peeled and diced 2 C celery, chopped 2 bay leaves sprig of fresh thyme water and/or stock (I used a homemade beef broth) 1/2 C white wine Alsatian Dumplings 1-1/2 C flour 1 t...

December always means Christmas cookies. Lots and lots of Christmas cookies. I was excited to see that Ellen at  Family Around the Table  was organizing a week-long event surrounding cookies. She has also created a giveway from one of our event sponsors. More on that soon! For now, I hope you enjoy the recipes my fellow bloggers have shared to celebrate the cookie season. Get baking! Wednesday's Cookie Tray Cardamom Shortbreads by Culinary Adventures with Camilla Chocolate Coconut Almond Dipped Shortbread by Making the Most of Naptime Big and Chewy Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies by Cooking with Carlee Chocolate Oreo Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies by Soulfully Made Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe by Making Miracles Christmas Sprinkle Cookies by Books n Cooks Chunky Cranberry Double Chip Cookies by Family Around the Table Coconut Cherry Snowballs by Red Cottage Chronicles Coffee Shortbread Cookies by A Kitchen Hoor’s Advenutres Double Chocolate Nutella ...

The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf requested Moules Frites for his birthday dinner. It ended up being a day late as we were stuck in traffic coming back from San Francisco. But, we did it and D was happy. After dinner he also got his wish of a birthday Bûche de Noël . Moules Ingredients 1 C organic heavy cream 1 t fennel pollen 2 pounds mussels, soaked, scrubbed, and dried 1 stick of butter, divided in half splash of olive oil 3 to 4 whole juniper berries, crushed 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and diced (approximately 1 C) 2 leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced (approximately 1 C) 1 C white wine (I used a Pinot Gris) freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper 1/2 C fresh chopped herbs (I used a mixture of parsley, oregano, and thyme) Procedure Place the cream in a small sauce pan and stir in the fennel pollen. Warm the cream until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, but do not bring it to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and let come to room temperature while the...

This is my final post as I prepare for the #ScorchedTerroir event for September's #winePW. Here's  my invitation . I couldn't decide on a single wine, so I'll be sharing wines from around the blog. My final wine of the virtual globe-trotting is from Sicily. Scorched Sicily... Unlike Santorini and New Zealand, I have actually been to Sicily. More than once. I love it and its surrounding islands! When I lived in Rome for a year, after college, I took a week long trip through Sicily and ended up on Lìpari, the largest in a chain of islands in a volcanic archipelago situated in between Vesuvius and Etna. I rented a cottage on a family's farm in Lìpari and was able to see them putting up a tomato harvest for the year. Truly amazing. Then, a few years later, I returned to Sicily with my husband and some friends and family. We stayed in Palermo then were stranded on Ustica, an island off the northwest coast, for a week. I write 'stranded' because we had onl...

Evelyne at  Cheap Ethnic Eatz   is hosting this month's  Food'N'Flix  event. We watched, or rewatched as the case may be,  Butter.  Click to see  Evelyne's invitation .   On the Screen... Despite being a huge Jennifer Garner fan - yes, I own the Alias box set* and have no problems watching and re-watching the episodes - Butter never appealed to me. But, for Evelyne, I decided to risk it. Butter immediately makes it clear that it won't be taking itself too seriously. The entire backdrop for this light satire/dark comedy is, after all, a cutthroat butter carving competition. And the cast of characters is largely caricaturized and one-dimensional. We have the ruthless, ambitious Laura, played by Jennifer Garner; Laura's unfaithful husband and reigning butter-carving champ Bob, played by Ty Burrell; a gold-digging hooker/mistress who is also a butter-carving competitor, played by Olivia Wilde; and (new to the Hollywood scene) Yara Sha...

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  BreadBakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month I'm hosting and have chosen breads from around the world that are traditional for Easter, Passover, or Springtime. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's our International Easter/Passover/Spring Bread Basket, in alphabetical order... Bacci Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm Casatiello by Culinary Adventures with Camilla Choereg - Armenian Easter Bread by Chef Mireille's East West Realm Colomba Pasquale (Easter Dove Bread) by Cook's Hideout Cornish Saffron Easter Bread by Pas...

I wanted a little something sweet tonight, but I didn't want it badly enough to get dressed and go to the grocery store. My problem: I had no butter. Sugar, yes. Flour, yes. Butter, no. Argh!   So, I decided to experiment with an olive oil shortbread. I called it "La Fée Verte" because it has a splash of absinthe and a sprinkling of fennel pollen. This was easy to make - 7 ingredients in all, about 2 minutes active time, 50 minutes of baking, and 20 minutes of cooling. So, in your hand in less than 75 minutes. Awesome! Ingredients 3 C white whole wheat flour 1 C organic powdered sugar 1/4 C organic granulated sugar 1 T absinthe 1/4 t fennel pollen 1/2 t fleur de sel 1 C olive oil Procedure Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, absinthe, fennel pollen, and fleur de sel. Pour in the olive oil and stir until the dry mixture is completely incorporated into a cohesive ball. Transfer ...

One of my best friends - who is about to have a baby, as in any minute now - posted a recipe for me:  Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Bars . Her note - "these made me think of you minus the strawberry." Despite most people pairing rhubarb with strawberry, I prefer my rhubarb plain. I jokingly told her that she needed to say, "Cam, Nicholas is craving these!" Then I'd whip up a batch for her. When I was at Whole Foods yesterday, there were five lonely stalks of rhubarb. They called my name. It was a sign. For the record, no, produce doesn't really talk to me...I'm not that crazy. But I scooped up all of the rhubarb and made these for Jenn and her unborn baby. And because I can't follow a recipe to save my life, these are inspired by Smitten Kitchen's recipe...with lots of adaptations. Can't wait to see if he's a rhubarb lover in a couple of years. Ingredients 2 C rolled oats 1 C flour (I used a white whole ...