Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month - and last - the  Cook the Books  group has been reading Midnight Chicken  by Ella Risbridger. Debra of  Eliot's Eats  is hosting. Read her invitation here . I am getting this in just under the wire. Phew. On the Page This is a poignant memoir that attests to the healing power of cooking and  was not at all what I expected. It’s a cookbook filled with life events, milestones, and highlights the importance of stability and comfort. This is Risbridger's life full of recipes to sooth a troubled soul.  When we meet Ella, she is depressed and suicidal. The recipes give her something to live for and were so inspiring. Before she even starts, she offers three things to remember: salt your pasta water; if in doubt, butter; and keep going! I tried several of her recipes including Tipsy Amaretto Squash Soup, Trashy Ginger Beer Chicken, and Needs Using Up Minestrone. But the recipe I am sharing for this post is something I've never attempted: chal...

When one of my blogging friends - Sue of  Palatable Pastime  -  posted our #FoodieExtravaganza topic for December, I decided that I needed to try to conquer the bagel and gave myself plenty of practice time. So, I started reading and researching how to make bagels. That landed me on this question: Did you know that bagels were controversial? I didn't. The Bagel Conflict Back in 2017, one of my best friends made bagels and delivered some to my doorstep. My family was thrilled! That same weekend I received my issue of  Food & Wine  magazine and there was an article about Montréal bagels. I texted Pia that she was on-trend! And I, clearly, am three years behind the wave. Ha. Honestly, I probably still wouldn't have made bagels except that I am always up for a culinary adventure, especially if it's assigned for one of my blogging groups. Thanks, Sue. My family appreciates the nudge! Okay, before I read that article in  Food ...

Yesterday morning I lamented that I was out of flour. Didn't I just buy ten pounds of flour last week?!? Yes. But I have been doing a lot of baking. I mean a lot. Just over the past weekend - cornetti , my first, second, and third attempts at a sourdough boule, naan, and pork bao - were all on my table. And that was just the savories. I also made a carrot cake and jasmine tea cakes. Yes, this shelter-in-place order is great for expanding my baking skills; it is not great for my waistline! But it's given me lots of recipes to post. All of those will be shared soon. Stay tuned. Within hours of posting the photo of my empty flour bag and asking local friends if they had seen any flour in any stores, I had a friend deliver two gallon bags with flour to my office. Another friend offered me her Tartine Bakery cookbook. When I got home there was a container of bread flour and a 25-pound bag of all-purpose on my doorstep. And, because I didn't know all of this was go...

I got a new pet today. Well, it seems like a pet because I have to feed it and care for it. But this pet, unlike an actual animal pet, will yield us - with any luck - some delicious bread to eat! I'm grateful for a generous friend sharing her starter and an online sourdough group to help me through this process. The first thing I needed to learn: how to feed the starter. Ingredients 1/4 C sourdough starter 1/4 C warm water (instead of using a wet measuring cup, she suggests using the same volume measuring cup) scant 1/4 C whole wheat flour* scant 1/4 C all-purpose flour Also needed: mixing bowl, waxed cloth cover Procedure Take your starter out of the refrigerator. If there's any liquid on the top, either drain it off or stir it in. Discard** all but 1/4 C starter and place that in a bowl. Pour in the warm water. Add in the flours. Mix until smooth and cover. Cover - I used a wax cloth - and let sit on the counter at room temperature for at least fou...

The  Secret Recipe Club  has a fun, themed - fifth Monday - event that blurs the lines between the groups. You can be assigned to any other participating blogger in groups A through D. Our theme this month: Leprechaun & Bunnies. We've been tasked to focus on foods for St. Patrick's Day (corned beef hash, anything green, etc.) and Easter (carrot cake, spring dishes, etc.) since March has both holidays this year! I was assigned to  Making Miracles , a blog written by Rebekah. Now, even though we've never met in real life, I feel as if Rebekah and I are good friends. We've been in the same cooking circles for awhile and she has taken part in every multi-blogger event I've coordinated in the past two years. So, I was excited to be assigned to dig deeper into her creations. Initially I leaned towards the "bunnies" part of this assignment, considering our St. Patrick's Day dinner is remarkably the same every year. Corned Beef. Cabbage. And Iris...

I can't remember where I was reading about popovers. But I've been dreaming about them. I finally got around to christening my popover pan this weekend. I read a bunch of recipes and created these. They were an instant hit and were received with oooooos and ahhhhhhhs. Ingredients makes 6 popovers 1-1/2 C organic whole milk 1-1/2 C flour 1/2 t salt 3 eggs 1 C shredded Cotswold cheese 2 T fresh chives, chopped 1 T fresh parsley, chopped 1 T butter, cut into 6 cubes 2 T shredded parmesan Procedure Preheat oven to 400ºF. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Temper the eggs so they don't scramble or curdle. Whisk constantly until the eggs and milk are completely combined. Fold in the flour and salt until just combined. Then stir in the Cotswold, chives and parsley. Place the popover pan in the oven for 3 minutes to preheat. At the end of 3 minu...

Last night, after the boys were in bed, Jake asked, "Can you make some cookies?" Hmmmm...I wasn't about to go to the store since I was already in pajamas. So I looked at the ingredients I had in my fridge and pantry before I answered. Yes, I can. This recipe is incredibly flexible...and something you should be able to whip up late at night without too much trouble. Use whatever jam or jelly you have in the fridge. I could have made lemon curd bars, but opted to use the last of my blueberry jam. Ingredients 1 C butter 2 C flour 2/3 C organic granulated sugar 1 t baking powder 2 egg yolks blueberry jam (I used about 4 to 5 tablespoons for an 8" square pan) Procedure Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. With your hands, press the butter into the flour, flattening the cubes into flat leaves. Add in the egg yolks and press together gently to form dough. Press two-thirds of the dough mixture int...

Last night when I was trying to figure out what to do with my Fresh Cilantro Cottonseed Oil from Acala Farms *- click to read my full product review: here - I realized that I had no bread in the house. It was almost midnight. That made my decision for me: I would make focaccia dough, let it rise overnight, and bake it fresh in the morning. I need to remember to do it more often. Freshly baked bread is so much better than a packaged loaf, isn't it? And this is so easy. Ingredients 2 C warm water 1 T active dry yeast 1 T granulated honey (you can use granulated sugar) 5 C flour, plus additional for kneading 1 T freshly chopped cilantro 1 T freshly ground sea salt for sprinkling 1/2 t freshly ground pepper for sprinkling olive oil for greasing your bowl oil for drizzling on your focaccia (I used the Fresh Cilantro Flavor-Infused Cottonseed Oil from  Acala Farms ) Procedure Combine the warm water, yeast and granulated honey in a small bowl. Let the...

For this month's  Food'N'Flix ,  we watched, or rewatched as the case may be,  The Terminal.  Evelynne, at Cheap Ethnic Eatz , is our hostess this month. Click to see  Evelynne's invitation . This post contains an affiliate link for the DVD at the bottom. This is a movie - like last month's selection - that I haven't seen in many, many years. On the Screen... This is the story of Viktor Navorski (played by Tom Hanks), a traveler from Krakozhia, who lands in New York and finds himself stranded in the airport terminal. While he was en route , his country went to war and the government was overthrown. The result: Krakozhia no longer exists and, as a man without a country, Navorski's travel visa has been canceled. He can't leave the airport because he has no official documents; he can't be deported because he has no official documents. Talk about a double-edged sword. So, he's stuck. That's all of the story I'll spoil. ...

I made the mistake of asking the boys what they wanted for their back-to-school breakfast last night. R suggested crêpes and the chanting began, "Crêpes, crêpes, crêpes!!" Crêpes are not a quick and easy, run out the door kinda breakfast. So, I set my alarm early enough to pack lunches, make crêpes, and get the boys to school early. Here they are with one of our best buddies on his first day of kindergarten...hope they all have a good first day! Ingredients 1-1/2 C white whole wheat flour 3 eggs 2 C organic whole milk splash of vanilla roasted rhubarb (click name to go to recipe post) butter lemon wedges organic granulated sugar Procedure Whisk together the flour, eggs, milk, and vanilla until lump-free. Let sit for at least 20 minutes. Heat a large flat-bottom pan and rub the bottom with butter. Pour the batter in the middle of the pan and quickly make a tilting motion to distribute the batter all over the pan. The goal: have as thin a batter layer a...