Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Laissez le bon temps rouler!  I forgot to put the andouille sausage in my Sweethearts' Seafood Boil   last weekend, so I had a pound that was begging to be used. And I had a jar of RED spice blend from  Voodoo Chef *  that was sent to me for participating in an online event earlier in the month. Put those together - and given that today is Mardi Gras - the culinary lightbulb of inspiration blinked: Red Beans and Rice! It's easy; it's filling; and, most importantly, it's delicious. Note: mine is not a traditional red beans and rice recipe. I throw in whatever veggies I have on-hand for a nutritious, one-pot meal. Thanks to our High Ground Organics CSA for keeping my fridge stocked with fresh, amazing produce. Ingredients 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and diced 1 large leek, trimmed and diced 3 or 4 small carrots, diced 4 celery stalks, diced 2 T butter splash of olive oil 1 pound cooked andouille sausages, halved and sliced 1 bunch kale, thinly sliced ...

There was no question in my mind what I was going to do with my homemade crabshell stock : risotto! And since risotto is always my "use-whatever-you-have" kinda dinner, I had an onion, fresh shitake mushrooms, and purple cabbage. Feel free to use whatever you have in your fridge. Be creative! Ingredients  makes 8 servings 1 onion, peeled and diced 2 T butter splash of olive oil 2 C sliced fresh shitake mushrooms 1 C sliced purple cabbage 2 C arborio rice 1 C Jade pearl rice* 6 C  homemade crabshell stock  (or whatever stock you have on hand) 2 C boiling water 8 oz marscarpone cream juice from 1 lemon roasted lobster (I used 1/2 tail per person for topping the risotto) fleur de sel freshly ground pepper *I didn't have enough arborio rice on hand, so I supplemented with Jade pearl rice. This is flexible. You can make it with rice or even barley! Procedure Bring your stock and water to a boil. Then reduce it to a simmer and keep it on a burner...

For some reason, Presidents' Day wasn't on my radar. I knew the boys were off school, but it just didn't register why they were off today. So, I completely failed on our annual Presidents' Day Hoe Cakes breakfast . Whoops. I decided to make it up to them with a festive dinner. I read a couple of articles about presidents' favorite dishes, then decided to create a menu based our nation's first gourmet (president): Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson traveled abroad extensively and knew a great deal about different cuisines. He was enthusiastic about his garden and it housed more than 250 varieties of herbs and vegetables,150 varieties of fruit. Many of them were considered exotic, and some - such as the tomato - were even thought to be poisonous by most people at that time. Jefferson was not a vegetarian though he rarely ate meat. In fact, he consumed very few animal products at all.  When he did, this dish was one of his favorites: Chicken Fricassee. It's...

Years ago I hosted a sushi-rolling party for my running group. We were 'on a roll' toward a half-marathon and I wanted to celebrate our successes. We were also celebrating a friend's birthday, so I made a Sushi Cake. Well, it was a cake that looked like sushi... I considered doing something like that for this month's  Food'N'Flix   dinner. I had chosen  Jiro Dreams of Sushi   for the group, after all. But, honestly, after watching the movie twice I just felt completely deflated. I was not inspired to cook anything; all I wanted to do was hop on a plane and go to Sukiyabashi Jiro .  I considered taking a trip to the local fish market for both ingredients and inspiration, but ours pales in comparison to the Tsukiji Market. Then I toyed with making a noodle dish like the one the apprentices were eating in the kitchen...something like ramen. No matter what I put on the table, nothing would look as delectable and fresh as his creations. When I started watc...