Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month, I hosted the online Movies & Munchies group and asked the crew to watch Letters to Juliet. You can read my invitation here . Our group is small and mighty, but the posts always make me hungry. The Recipe Round-Up Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm shared her  Mushroom Spaghetti . Wendy shared: "There was quite a bit of food inspiration.  When the film first starts Sophie is hand fed fresh spaghetti by her fiance.  When they first arrive in Verona her fiance is going to a conference about truffles and is very upset when Claire can't understand why he would want to sit in a class about mushrooms.  He corrects her, dispelling the notion that truffles are just a mushroom. Mushrooms show up again at the end of the film convincing me that I wanted to make a pasta recipe that starred mushrooms." Terri of Our Good Life posted Letters to Juliet Inspired Mushroom Risotto . Terri sets the stage: "A group of Italian women, Juliet's secretaries, answers ea...

Remember our road-trip tradition of ice cream ? You know you're a fanatic when you actually plan your stops around ice cream shops, right?!? Well, we are just back from a filthy but fabulous camping trip around northern California. 1200+ miles. 10 days. 4 state parks. 1 national forest. Miles on foot. Miles and miles on bikes. Tons and tons of memories and - most importantly for this post - 4 planned ice cream stops. As we traveled and tasted, we decided that we needed a new scale for judging these goodies. It's not like we're comparing Penny Ice Creamery to Baskin Robbins...all of the stops were organic, seasonally -flavored creations. And all were comparable in price, so we knocked that out of consideration. Also, we were evenly split on ice cream versus gelato. We ranked them based on (1) innovative flavor combinations; (2) execution of said flavors; and (3) texture. Here are the stops, in order... [then I'll give you ranking at the end!] Arcata Scoop 106...

I have been woefully absent from the Food Matters Project this summer, but I vowed to myself - and to one of the founders of the project - that I would post again soon. This week's assignment read: "WILD CARD! In celebration of 6 months of life for this project, now’s your chance to go back and post any recipe you’ve missed." I knew this was my week to get back in the saddle. I skipped two weeks ago, when we were assigned a raspberry-cabernet sorbet, because I didn't read the recipe. I just saw 'sorbet' and didn't feel like dusting off my sorbetiere . Then, when reading through the fantastic, creative takes on the sorbet, I realized that you could make Bittman's recipe without an ice cream maker. Click here to see what everyone made - look in the comments. I was instantly smitten with Lena of Mrs. Garlic Head's blueberry-gin ice cream sandwiches , Sarah of 20somethingcupcakes' frozen peach-basil sangria , and Meg from My Wholefood Romanc...

I had a few stalks of rhubarb in my fridge and some gorgeous, fresh eggs that my husband got from the owners of the house he's been working on; I thought to myself: what a perfect weekend to whip up a batch of gelato! So, I dusted off my sorbetiere and stuck it in the freezer for the requisite 24 hours to make sure that that magic gel inside is completely solid. Step one: Make a rhubarb compote Trim and thinly slice rhubarb. I ended up with about 8 cups. Stick it in a large flat-bottom pan and cook with 1 C organic, granulated sugar until you have a compote. Place this in the fridge and let cool for several hours, or overnight. Step two: Make a custard In a stainless steel bowl over a pot of simmering water, whisk together 4 egg yolks, 1/2 C organic granulated sugar, 2 C heavy cream, and 1 C milk. Cook in the double-boiler until a custard forms. The mixture should coat the back of your spoon. Place this in the fridge and let cool for several hours...

My favorite gelateria in Rome is owned by a man we lovingly dubbed the Gelato Nazi. Like the infamous Soup Nazi in New York, this man would banish you to the end of the line if the combination of flavors you ordered wasn't up to his liking. Tonight we picked up some pints of Ciao Bella at the grocery store. The Blackberry-Cabernet sorbet paired very well with the Belgian Chocolate gelato. Che squisito! When I make my own gelato...here's where I start. 2 C whole milk 1 C organic heavy cream 4 egg yolks 1/2 C organic raw sugar 1. In a medium saucepan, mix milk and cream. Warm until foam forms around the edges. Remove from heat. 2. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until frothy. Gradually pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture gels slightly and coats the back of the spoon. If small egg lumps begin to show, remove from heat immediately. 3. Pou...

When we were last in Italy - sadly that was ten years ago - Jake had a rule: " tre gelati ogni giorno " (three gelati everyday).  No matter where we were, be it bustling Palermo, sleepy Ustica, or my favorite city in the world (Rome), we found a gelateria three times a day, plunked down some lire , and indulged.  My favorite is ficchi (fig); Jake preferred nocciola (hazelnut). So, when we came home, we hunted high and low for a good gelateria.  You would think with the number of Italian immigrants in this area that someone would be making genuine and delicious gelato.  But if there is one such establishment here, we haven't found it.  Instead I invested in a gelato maker and played with all sorts of recipes. What we did stumble across on one trip to Berkeley is a teeny tiny ice cream shop whose imaginative flavors always make my head spin.  Thankfully the line is always out the door and I have lots of time to peruse the options.  So, whe...