Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page  Foodie Extravaganza . We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our  Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board ! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out  HERE . This month, we're celebrating chocolate with Ellen of  Family Around the Table  leading the charge. She wrote: "Share you favorite recipe made with chocolate for chocolate lover's month and Valentine's Day." I decided to share my favorite panna cotta as I've posted too many chocolate cakes within the past few weeks - Double Chocolate Cake with Whiskey Ganache and Nutty Irish Car Bomb Cake . All the Chocolate-y G...

Here we are in the second day of #CranberryWeek hosted by Caroline of Caroline's Cooking . See all the other recipes being shared today as part of Cranberry week - follow #cranberryweek for all the tasty cranberry creations: Apple Cranberry Mimosas from The Crumby Kitchen Cranberry Chicken Salad Wrap from Making Miracles Cranberry Dijon Ham from Cookaholic Wife Cranberry Cider Punch from Sew You Think You Can Cook Cranberry Margaritas from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures Cranberry Orange Wild Rice from Jonesin' For Taste Fresh Cranberry Muffins from Family Around The Table Pickled Cranberries from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Salad with Cranberry, Pear, Walnuts & Gorgonzola from Palatable Pastime If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you'll probably know that I love to pickle things. I have pickled everything from Golden Cauliflower , Peppers , Red Onions , Green Tomatoes , Radishes , and even Blueberries . For this event, I decid...

I was on a deadline last night and the boys were coming home late anyway. So, I wanted a dinner that was mostly hands-off. This requires a little bit of active time, then it goes in the oven, and you don't have to think about it again for over an hour. It was perfect for me to get in some good, uninterrupted writing time. And that crispy duck skin! It's amazing.  The spice blend I used was an Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf special which means that I really have no idea what he put in it. But, from what was left out on the counter, I know it had juniper berries, cardamom, coriander, paprika, and some cayenne. It was deliciously spicy. Maybe use your favorite spice blend... Ingredients 4 duck legs 1 T butter splash of olive oil 1 large onion, peeled and cubed 1 C chicken stock, preferably homemade 1 C red wine 1 to 2 T spice blend (your choice - D whipped up something with juniper berries, cardamom, coriander, paprika, and some cayenne)   Procedure ...

When a friend was hosting a blueberry potluck brunch - the theme is based on what our pregnant friend and her husband are calling their soon-to-be-born baby, Blueberry, since they aren't sharing his real name just yet - and I, naturally, applied it to my brunch dishes. I wanted to serve Salmon en Papillote and decided that pickled blueberries would pair nicely with that. Done. I've made pickled blueberries before. But I wanted to change it up as the onions were a little too piquant for my tastes. So, in this version, I softened the onions before putting them together with the blueberries. Ingredients 1 red onion, thinly sliced splash of olive oil 1 C rice vinegar 1 C apple cider vinegar 1/3 C organic granulated sugar 1 t sea salt 1 cinnamon stick 1 t pink peppercorns 6 juniper berries 2 bay leaves 2 pints organic blueberries Procedure In a small skillet cook the onions in a splash of olive oil until they are softened and trans...

Here we are with yet another recipe post and wine pairing for the week running up to our Valentines #WinePW. Click to read Christy of  Confessions of a Culinary Diva 's  invitation  to the Saturday #WinePW event. We're getting closer! I had venison medallions that I'd purchased from  D'Artagnan Foods . And I wanted to sear them and serve them with  Justin Vineyards & Winery 's Cabernet Sauvignon. I've long been a fan of Justin. And whenever we're in Paso Robles, we stop by. I was also excited to hear that Wine Enthusiast named them 2015 Winery of the Year. Nice and well-deserved! In the Glass.. . I rarely say that a wine is pretty. But this one really, really is! It's clear with almost a garnet glow where the wine hits the glass. On the nose, it's aromatic with both sweet berries and fragrant spices. On the palate, it's sophisticated with savory notes and expertly balanced tannins. What a wine! On the Plate.. . The sa...

It's time for Group B's first reveal of 2016 for the  Secret Recipe Club . Happy New Year! This month I was assigned to  Amy's Cooking Adventures   which is written by - yes, you guessed it! - Amy. Amy and I travel in similar cooking circles, so I'm surprised that I've never made anything from her blog. Till now. So, a little bit about the lady behind the food. She loves to cook and bake. In fact, she runs a second blog dedicated to her sweets. Check out Amy's Confectionery Adventures ! If you are a Star Wars fan, you must check out her Chewbacca Cupcakes  and her R2-D2 Cake . We share a love of that little astromech droid! Here's my purse. I definitely need that cake in my life. Amy has a Master’s degree in Elementary Education and Reading, but gave it all up to stay home with her children. She has three children - two sons on Earth (AKA Dude and Spud) and one angel baby in Heaven. She writes that in her spare time she loves to read, scr...

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 weekend, Jake and I headed down to our friends' ranch to help them pack. And when we were leaving, I noticed a juniper tree at the end of the driveway and made him pull over. We hopped out, plucked some berries, and I told Pia I'd made some 'ranch bitters.' The hand part came when an organic farm sent me some Buddha's Hand citron. 'ranch bitters' became 'ranch hand bitters.' The bitters formula seems pretty simple - bittering agents plus flavoring agents plus alcohol. Cheers. Ingredients 3 to 4 fingers from a Buddha's Hand citron, thinly sliced 3 T whole juniper berries 1 to 2 juniper cones small bunch of sugar pine needles (cut to fit into your jar) 1 t birch bark pieces 1/2 t dandelion root pieces 12 to 14 ounces vodka P rocedure Place 2 T of the juniper berries - whole - into the jar. Crush the final T of juniper berries with a mortar and pestle. Place the crushed berries into the jar. Plac...

We had a fabulous End-of-Fall-Break dinner in the backyard last night. We stayed out till we needed candles, sipped champagne, enjoyed the company, and just took deep breaths because today it's back to the scheduled grind of school, work, homework, projects, and early bedtimes. Here's the genesis of the dinner. I received a phone call from the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf earlier in the day... D: Mom, I'm going to make mussels and fries for dinner. Okay? C: Okay. D: And garlic bread. This is something we ate on the cruise. C: So, I need to stop at the store on my way home from work? D: No, I already went with Daddy. Also, the garlic bread is going to be garlic bread like Daddy likes - a lot of butter and a little bit of garlic. Not like your garlic bread - a little bit of butter and a lot of garlic. Daddy says that your garlic bread can kill vampires. So, almost 18 years into this love affair and Jake still hasn't gotten on board with my lev...