Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This week the Wine Pairing Weekend Bloggers are looking at Vinho Verde. Since it's summer and their price points are so attractive, I decided to do a nice exploration of a few bottles of Vinho Verde Rosé. The Broadbent Vinho Verde Rosé was the fourth bottle I opened and poured. I will be sharing more about the wine and my tasting notes during the upcoming #WinePW event. For now, here's the recipe with which I paired it... Kimchi Dubu Jigae (Kimchi-Tofu Stew) This is a flavorful, spicy soup guaranteed to make your belly happy and banish winter from your mind. And it's super quick to make! I used to call this soup Kimchi Soondubu Jigae ; but a Korean friend told me "it should be Kimchi Dubu Jigae rather than soondubu . Soondubu refers more specifically to tofu soups made with soft tofu that kind of disintegrates into the soup base a bit like potatoes do." Thanks, Kathey! Also, now that my husband is mostly plant-based, this is my vegetarian versio...

We are never without a jar of homemade kimchi in our fridge. Seriously. It's been a favorite of the boys for years, so I always try to keep them stocked up. Two pluses: you can use cabbage that's a little past its prime - it's a good use for cruciferous veggies that may have languished a little too long in the veggie bin - and it's super fast - it's ready in less than a week! So, on the off chance that they eat the last of a jar without letting me know, they'll only be without for a week. At this point, I've shared plenty of versions of my kimchi. But I decided to post this one because this is cabbage that D grew himself...in his Personal Project Garden . Ingredients 1/2 C salt  enough warm water to submerge all the cabbage pieces cabbage, sliced or chopped into bite-sized pieces  (he says this is Napa cabbage, but it's unlike any Napa cabbage I've ever seen) 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and pressed 1" fresh ginger knob, gr...

We are never without a jar of homemade kimchi in our fridge. Seriously. It's been a favorite of the boys for years, so I always try to keep them stocked up. Two pluses: you can use cabbage that's a little past its prime - it's a good use for cruciferous veggies that may have languished a little too long in the veggie bin - and it's super fast - it's ready in less than a week! So, on the off chance that they eat the last of a jar without letting me know, they'll only be without for a week. At this point, I've shared plenty of versions of my kimchi. But I decided to post this one because of the purple Napa cabbage I'm using. I picked up this head from our new-to-us CSA (community-supported agriculture) box from Robina's Organics . And I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful head of cabbage. Believe me: that is not a sentence I ever thought I'd utter. But the bright purple was luminous and I couldn't stop staring at it...

When I was preparing for our annual family camping trip last month, I started asking friends for book recommendations because between the hikes, the canoe rides, and family meals, I tend to spend several hours of the day in my hammock! And someone recommended  Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.* So, I bought a copy. On the Page I really enjoyed this book - so much so that I slowed my pace of reading towards the end because I didn't want it to end. There were so many threads of stories from a fishing village in Korea to Japan and to America and back to Tokyo. However, I also found the story incredibly tragic. Pachinko is a sprawling saga that spans almost eight decades. It begins with Sunja, a teenager, who runs a boarding house with her widowed mother. She meets a fish broker who seduces her, gets her pregnant, and, then, tells her that he has a family in Japan. Her reputation is preserved when a missionary staying in the boarding house offers to marry her and raise the ch...

Soup Saturday Swappers is one of my favorite groups, started by Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm , I always end up with recipes to try. I love being part of this creative crew. This month Sally of  Bewitching Kitchen  is hosting. And she wrote: "Please share a soup that soothes your soul and chases away those winter blues!" There are a lot of different soups that fit the bill. I thought about making another version of Canh Suon Khoai Tay (Vietnamese Spare Rib Soup) ; or Unaş from Turkmenistan; French Onion Soup is a family favorite that hasn't been on the table in a few months. But, in the end, I was inspired by some fresh cabbage I had from a local farmer. The Winter Soup Pots An InLinkz Link-up Kimchi Dubu Jigae (Kimchi-Tofu Stew) This is a flavorful, spicy soup guaranteed to make your belly happy and banish winter from your mind. And it's super quick to make! Also, please note that a Korean-speaking friend told me that my title wa...

Gimjang  is the traditional process of preparing kimchi. This is not that. I'm pretty sure actual Koreans wouldn't consider this kimchi either. But, it's similar to what I buy in the refrigerated section at Whole Foods...and they call that kimchi. So, I'll do the same! There's a Korean saying:  "There are as many types of gimchi as there are holes in the ground." Reason being that that's how gimchi/kimchi is traditionally made. A friend who lived in Korea for many years informed me that traditional kimchi is made in fall, left in kimchi pots in the ground for several months during winter, to ferment naturally. Although most Koreans now, she wrote, have special "kimchi refrigerators" - sort of like wine fridges - that keep the kimchi at the right temperature until it's ready in spring. Wow. I want one of those! So, my version of fermented cabbage may be the furthest possible process from authentic  gimjang , but it tastes great a...

Kimchi burgers are a family favorite. So, after D and I finished our loop of the property on the Deuce Coupe, I whipped up these yummies for our anniversary lunch while we waited for Jake and R to finish their rides. Ingredients  makes 6 slightly larger than 1/4 pound burgers  1 pound organic, grass-fed ground beef (we used a 15% fat) 1/2 pound ground pork 2 T ginger syrup 4 cloves garlic  3 T gluten-free soy sauce or tamari 1 T chile sauce 1 t toasted sesame oil freshly ground pepper freshly ground salt Also needed buns (I used a mixture of gluten-free, regular, and pretzel), bell peppers, kimchi Procedure Prepare grill. Combine all but the last two ingredients and the extras. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions, shaping each into a 3/4" thick patty. Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray and grill on each side until your preferred level of doneness. Grill the peppers and toast the buns, too. ...

The  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge  is in full swing and we have entered our second month. I am hopping between three or four different books this month so far, but this is the one that landed on the top of the stack and is the first one I've finished: Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen  by Edward Lee.* My Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf and I love snuggling up on the couch and watching the episodes of Mind of a Chef that feature Chef Edward. It's Season Three in case you were wondering! Actually I bought the cookbook specifically because we are enjoying the show. We stream the episodes on NetFlix since we don't have any TV stations. And while we enjoy his episodes, I really loved his book. More of his story-telling comes through and more of his passion about food. It's a stunning book with accessible recipes. In addition to the incredible recipes, the book itself is a great read. Chef Edward has an authoritative voice and his narra...