Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Here we are the first post for October in our Kitchen Matrix Cooking Project. You can read more about that here . This month, I picked the recipes and we're starting this Bittman's Finger Foods Generator. And it is the quintessential example of this recipe model: ingredients suggested, combinations up to you, and really everything else is up to you, too. Here's what the others made for this topic... An InLinkz Link-up Bruschetta and crostini are some of my favorite go-to appetizers. They're easy...and incredibly flexible. I've made Fig and Olives Bruschetta , D has made Roasted Strawberries Bruschetta , and we even made a Sea Urchin Crostini one time. So base + spread + finishing touches. rustic baguette mascarpone (I bought mine today, but we love homemade mascarpone ) honey-candied lemon slices basil, thinly sliced bee pollen for garnish

One of  March 2015 challenges  for the  Jamie Oliver Food Revolution  Ambassadors ( I'm the Monterey #FRD2015 rep! ) is to... Go Meatless. Meat Free Week in the United Kingdom is March 23-29, 2015. While I knew that I didn't want to go meat free for the entire week - we are traveling that week and have friends staying with us - I planned to, at least, do some Meatless Mondays during the month of March.  We have very few allergies in our family and I try really hard not to voice the words "we don't eat ____________." That includes meat. I prefer to clarify my restrictions; "we don't eat chicken that's been treated with hormones and antibiotics" or "we don't eat cattle from feed lots." But we can all stand to reduce our meat intake.  Back when I was a vegetarian, for more than half a decade, I had a chart on my refrigerator about what foods to combine to make complete proteins: grains + legumes or greens + seeds, for e...

One of  September's challenges  for the  Jamie Oliver Food Revolution  Ambassadors ( I'm the Monterey #FRD2014 rep! ) is to celebrate! Celebrate...with cake! Late last year, my kitchen elves wanted to help me for a blogging event and voted for cake. Hummingbird Cake. Since Jamie will be sharing his, I decided to share mine. One of the boys had ordered a slice of Hummingbird Cake somewhere at sometime. I did some reading about Hummingbird Cake and a friend who lives in Tennessee sent me an article along with a recipe. Hummingbird cake is a spiced banana pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting that's been a southern favorite since the mid-19th century. The first known publication of the recipe was in the February 1978 issue of  Southern Living.  Click to see:  the original recipe .  That same year, it won the 'Favorite Cake' award at the 1978 Kentucky State Fair. Here's our version... Ingredients Cake 2 C white whole wheat ...

When I was trying to decide what to put underneath my marinated grilled octopus, I thought: risotto! Normally risotto is my "use-whatever-you-have" kinda dinner, but I asked my boys what they thought. Jake said mushrooms, D suggested lemon, and R wanted mint. Sounded good. So, I made a mushroom-lemon-mint risotto. Ingredients  makes 8 servings 2 cloves of garlic, minced 2 T butter splash of olive oil 3 C sliced fresh mushrooms (I used a medley of mushrooms from Far West Fungi that included canary oysters, "regular" oysters, and shitakes) 2 C arborio rice 2 C farro* 6 C stock 2 C boiling water 8 oz marscarpone cream juice and zest from 1 lemon marinated grilled octopus (recipe to come) fleur de sel freshly ground pepper 1/2 C fresh herbs (I used mint and parsley) *I didn't have enough arborio rice on hand, so I supplemented with farro, an ancient variety of wheat. This is flexible. You can make it with any kind rice or even barley! Proce...

After our attempt at sipping bone broth , I decided to cook with my  Organic Bone Broth  from  Pacific Foods * instead. I thought about dishes where the broth is a prominent part...not just an ingredient. The two I came up with: soup and risotto. But, as it is the warmest part of our summer, soup was out. I decided to make a simple risotto. And, wanting the flavor of the bone broth to shine, I didn't use anything else that would really overwhelm the flavors; I opted for a carrot, celery, onion, and pancetta risotto. Easy peasy! Ingredients  makes 8 servings 1 onion, peeled and diced 2 carrots, diced 2 celery stalks, diced 2 T butter splash of olive oil 3 C arborio rice 6 C organic bone broth 2 C boiling water 8 oz marscarpone cream fleur de sel freshly ground pepper Procedure Bring your stock and water to a boil. Then reduce it to a simmer and keep it on a burner adjacent to your risotto pan. Melt 2 T butter with a splash of olive oil i...

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...

Tonight I made a seasonal risotto topped with leeks, asparagus, and oyster mushrooms. I love the meatiness of the  mushrooms, the silkiness of the leeks, and the sweet grassiness of the asparagus. Apologies in advance for the lack of measurements. I really, really do not measure when I make this. Here's a link to Jamie Oliver's Basic Risotto . That will get you on the right path with the measurements.  The secret to risotto, as Maria told me, is stirring:  usa il cucchiao...sempre.  Use your spoon...always; keep stirring. Maria was the cook for the Nuzzo family who was ordered to teach me all her recipes. Then she was fired and I was tasked with cooking for the family six days a week. Thankfully she didn't blame me for the impossible situation and we stayed close throughout the year that I was there. And sometimes when I cook, I hear her instructions in my head. Make risotto with whatever you have on hand!  I used leeks from High Ground Organics ...

This round Deb, at Kahakai Kitchen , selected   Baking Cakes in Kigali  by Gaile Parkin for our December-January  Cook the Books  project. While it was a quick read, it definitely didn't earn a place among my favorites. I wanted to like this book. I really did. Angel Tungaraza: is a mother, grandmother, cake architect, and pillar of her community. She keeps secrets. She plans weddings. And she is raising her grandkids as her own after her children's deaths. She is a Tanzanian living in Rwanda. That sounded like the makings of a robust page-turner. However, the book left me wanting more. Lots more. For the character who was waiting on eggshells to see if her boyfriend's other pregnant girlfriend bore a son or daughter - thus determining which woman he would marry - she was just waiting...when she could have been furious, angst-ridden, nervous, jealous, and more. There was plenty of breadth in the cast of characters, but all of them lacked depth. Even Angel, ...

Though I had originally planned to make cremeux for Nonna's birthday dessert, I heard - through the boys - that she wanted Tiramisù. Okay. I learned how to make this in Italy...from a woman who didn't speak English. That has to be authentic, doesn't it?!? The other thing I learned from her: use what you have...don't run out to the store if you already have something that will work. So, last night, I didn't have brandy. I used a mixture of Grand Marnier and Jenn's homemade apricot liqueur. That's definitely not traditional, but I think the flavors worked well! Layer 1: ladyfingers moistened with an espresso + Grand Marnier and apricot liqueur mixture (with a 2:1 ratio) Layer 2:  zabaglione  (4 egg yolks + 4 T organic granulated sugar cooked over a double boiler until frothy) + 4 egg whites beaten until peaks form + 1 T apricot liqueur Layer 3: 1 tub marscarpone cream + 1/3 C espresso Layer 4: unsweetened whipped cream + un...

Everyone has a 9-11 story. Just as, depending on your age, everyone remembers where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated or where they were when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. As I wrote, everyone has a 9-11 story. Here's mine. I wrote most of this on the 10th anniversary of that life-changing day. But - at the bottom - I get to the food part, the reason I'm posting this on this blog today. Flight 77 made an indelible mark on my life. When Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, claiming nearly 200 lives, including the life of Suzanne Calley, I lost a great friend and mentor. I watched her husband, Frank Jensen, grieve. I watched my husband grieve. And I grieved myself. Jake and I were in Cabo San Lucas with friends for a week-long vacation when we began to see news footage of the Twin Towers in New York burning. Because we were in Mexico, all of the reporting was in Spanish. Later we discovered an English-speaking channel. An...

Tonight I made a seafood risotto with crab, black truffle cream, and lemon zest. The secret to risotto, as Maria told me, is stirring:  usa il cucchiao...sempre.  Use your spoon...always; keep stirring. Maria was the cook for the Nuzzo family who was ordered to teach me all her recipes. Then she was fired and I was tasked with cooking for the family six days a week. Thankfully she didn't blame me for the impossible situation and we stayed close throughout the year that I was there. And sometimes when I cook, I hear her instructions in my head. Make risotto with whatever you have on hand! Tonight I used kale, herbs, pancetta, squid, scallops, and shrimp...and topped it with some crab from a friend's friend. Thanks, Bret! And thanks, my love, for cleaning the crabs for me. I helped; I poured him an oatmeal stout. I stirred in some black truffle cream and tossed some lemon zest on top to make the flavors really sing. For the risotto: saute your ingredients - gr...