Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I have never seen  Midnight in Paris , despite it being nearly a decade old. So when Debra of  Eliot's Eats  picked it as May's  Food'N'Flix  movie, I set out to find it. You can read her announcement: here . I was able to find it and stream it on Amazon.* So, one evening, we settled in to watch this star-studded affair. A few minutes in, Jake says that he's watched it before and I hadn't been interested then. "But it wasn't an assignment back then," I protested. Thankfully, he relented and watched it with me again! On the Screen image from amazon.com At the risk of sounding uncultured and anti-artsy-fartsy films, I’m not a fan of Woody Allen movies. His movies always seem to have this melancholy, self-centered feel. This one was less so and I definitely enjoyed it. I won't give away too much of the film, but Gil (played by Owen Wilson) and his fiancée, Inez (played by Rachel McAdams), are in Paris piggy-backing on her parents...

This post written by me on behalf of Imperial Sugar, a sponsor of #AppleWeek.   Products for recipe development and review were provided; prizes were donated for the giveaway,  and this page may contain affiliate links. Phew! What a week! So many apples creations from the #AppleWeek crew. And many, many thanks to Carlee of  Cooking with Carlee  for organizing this fantastic event. In case you are just finding this now, I posted several recipes through the event: Seared Steak with Envy-able Apples , Grilled Cheddar Cheese with Apples and Hatch Chile Hot Sauce , Baked Chai-Spiced Apple Chips , Apple Butter-Glazed Chicken Wings , Bulgogi-Inspired Oven Beef Jerky , and Gingered Apple Triffles . So much delicious fun. Don't forget to check out the prizes and enter the giveaway on my  kick-off post . And let's start with the final collection from the other bloggers... Saturday Recipes Apple Bourbon Pork Tenderloin with Butternut Squash by Girl...

Welcome to the final September post for our year-long #KitchenMatrixCookingProject; you can read more about it here . This month  Karen of   Karen's Kitchen Stories   selected our recipes and she is ending the month with cookies!   Bittman suggests a dozen cookies in his book, including bar cookies and thumbprints. The boys were looking over my shoulder when I was planning recipes and the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf gushed excitedly, "Can I make thumbprint cookies with frangipane!?? I've never done that before." If you've been following me for even a brief amount of time, you probably know this about me: I never say no when the boys want to buy a new-to-them ingredient or when they want to create a new recipe. Never. But, before I get to our frangipane thumbprint adventure, here's the #KitchenMatrixCookingProject cookie tray... An InLinkz Link-up Super Duper Almond-y  Frangipane Thumbprint Cookies As you can imagine 'super d...

Four years ago, D was a huge fan of Cake Boss and heard them talk about Italian Wheat Pie; we made a version back then. I hadn't heard him mention it for years. But, in the past two weeks, he's been bugging to me to make a pastiera . As it's Spring Break, we have fewer commitments and he has more free time. So, I suggested he had time to do it. I helped...a little bit. When he decided to add a layer of frangipane to the bottom of the pie, I was excited. What a great twist! Ingredients Crust  makes top and bottom  2-1/2 C flour 1 T organic granulated sugar 1 C butter (2 sticks), chilled and cubed 1 t pure lemon extract 1/2 C cold milk Filling 2 C whole milk ricotta 2 C cooked wheat grains (we used farro) 3 eggs 1 C organic brown sugar 1 C frangipane (recipe below) 1 t pure lemon extract 1 t pure vanilla extract Frangipane 1 C ground almonds 1/2 C organic granulated sugar 1/4 C butter, softened 1 egg 1/2 t pure lemon extract 1/2 t ...

This was delivered to my mom this morning...for her birthday. D selected the flowers and did most of the work on the tart. I love having an Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf! Happy birthday, Nonna. When I was deciding on what to bake for my mom's birthday, I was inspired by my Frangipane Fig Tart and my Potato Roses . Odd combination, you might think. But those two collided in my brain to make this... Fuyu-Frangipane Rosette Tart Tart Crust Ingredients 1-1/2 C flour 1/2 C ground almonds 1/2 C powdered sugar pinch of salt 3/4 C butter 2 to 3 T water 2 to 3 T Armagnac (use whatever alcohol you want - or more water) Frangipane  Ingredients 1 C ground almonds 1/4 C organic granulated sugar 1/4 C organic powdered sugar 2/3 C melted butter 1 large egg 1 t Armagnac 1 t vanilla bean powder* Persimmon Rosettes 4 Fuyu persimmons, thinly sliced 1/4 C honey Tart Crust Procedure Mix the flour, ground almonds, sugar, and salt; rub in the...

When one of my best friends invited us over for dinner, and said that it was a birthday celebration for her mom, I offered to bring something for dessert. I wanted to use the gorgeous and amusingly-named Dinosaur Egg pluots and asked for her vote: frangipane tart, galette , or flaugnarde . She asked for clarification on the flaugnarde - I said it's basically a clafoutis but not with cherries - then she opted for the frangipane tart. Perfect...because that's what I was leaning towards anyway. Dinosaur Eggs are pluots - a hybid of an plum and an apricot - and a hit with almost every kid I know. For the name alone. But the taste is amazing, too. And since we noshed through all of the ones in my fruits bowl this week, I handed my dad some cash and asked him to pick up a bag-full for me at the farmers' market while I was at work on Friday. When I picked up the boys and my dinosaur eggs, I asked my dad, "Do you remember from which farm stand you got these?" Bla...

"You know there are some families that only go to church on Christmas and Easter?" Yes. "Do you think we could be a family who only eats white flour on Christmas and Easter?!?" Fine. I think I was in such a good mood at having located rhubarb that I assented...with a smile...and whipped up a rhubarb frangipane tart with a white flour crust. Tart crust 2 C white flour 1/2 C powdered sugar pinch of salt 3/4 C butter Mix the flour, sugar and salt; rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in 1 teaspoon of water with a fork until the mixture forms a ball. Roll out between two pieces of parchment paper. Press gently into a tart pan. Prick crust with a fork to prevent bubbling. Bake for 20 minutes at 350, or until a light golden brown.     Frangipane 1/2 C ground almonds 1/2 C sliced almonds 1/4 C organic granulated sugar 1/4 C powdered sugar 2/3 C melted butter 1 large egg Mix every...