Culinary Adventures with Camilla

For a family who has no real culinary traditions for Thanksgiving, save our adventurous tradition, quail seems to make its way to our table almost every year. Done a different way each year, of course. So, this year, in line with my page to plate Thanksgiving theme, I served 'tequila mockingbird'. You know...after To Kill a Mockingbird. Ingredients 8 quail (the ones I found this year were deboned) 1/4 C tequila (I used a Buddha's Hand-Infused Tequila ) 1/4 C ginger syrup 1/4 C olive oil 1/2 C freshly squeezed orange juice 1/4 C freshly squeezed lime juice (I used fresh Bearrs lime) 1 T ground coriander 1 T ground smoked paprika 1 t sea salt 2 T fresh, rough-chopped cilantro Procedure Whisk all ingredients together - except for the cilantro - and marinate quails for at least 6 hours, longer is better. Grill over hot coals. Serve hot with a sprinkling of fresh cilantro and more salt, if desired.

Are you celebrating  National Kale Day ? While I normally don't celebrate food holidays - think National Cream Puff Day on January 2nd or National Taffy Day on May 23rd or National Cake Day on November 26th - I actually really love National Kale Day. Earlier this week I received from Maitake mushrooms from a friend whose family owns a farm in the Central Valley. Fun! I decided to incorporate those sweet and meaty fungi morsels into our celebratory kale salad. Too bad my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf is out of town for Fall Break. He's the best kale salad massager I know! So, I was left to my own devices to incorporate our favorite Fall green into a salad. Ingredients serves 2 2 C lacinto kale, thinly sliced 1 T olive oil 1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped 1/2 C fresh cilantro, chopped 2 C Maitake mushrooms, separated 1 t sesame oil 1 t soy sauce (or gluten-free tamari) 1 T freshly squeezed orange juice Procedure Place kale in a large mixing bowl. Add the olive oil....

To go along with our Buttermilk Pumpkin Scones   this morning, I used the rest of my homemade pumpkin puree for some smoothies. Ingredients  serves 4 1-1/2 C pumpkin puree (how to make pumpkin puree:  version 1 ,  version 2 ) 1 C organic orange juice 1/2 C ice cubes 1 C plain yogurt dash of ground cinnamon dash of ground cardamom dash of ground nutmeg dash of ground ginger 1 T honey Procedure Blend everything together. Serve immediately.

For the second week of my Eat a Rainbow class, the theme was orange. One of our dishes was a Thai Carrot Salad. They shredded, they chopped, they destemmed, they chopped some more, they measured, and they whisked. Great job, guys! Ingredients 6 C shredded carrots 1 T freshly chopped cilantro 1 T freshly chopped mint 1 C chopped peanuts (we used roasted, unsalted peanuts) 1/4 C rice vinegar 2 organic limes 1 organic orange 3 T pure maple syrup 1/2 t red chili pepper flakes Procedure Juice the limes. Zest the orange, then juice it. Place the first four ingredients - carrots, cilantro, mint, and peanuts - in a large mixing bowl. Place the remaining ingredients in a mason jar. Shake the dressing ingredients to form an emulsion. Pour the dressing over the carrot mixture and toss to coat. Let marinate for as long as you can...at least 15 to 20 minutes. We didn't have that much time, but it was still tasty. Also, some of the kids liked...

I was so excited when I saw two pumpkins in my High Ground Organics CSA last week. Pumpkin season always brings delicious autumn soups. Then I received some intriguing duck bacon from one of our event sponsors:  Maple Leaf Farms Duck . I stirred in some fresh herbs from another sponsor -  Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices   - and called it dinner. Pumpkin + bacon + herbs = the perfect #10DaysofTailgate soup! Woohoo. I really wanted to call this a pumpkin 'bisque'; that sounds more sexy than pumpkin 'soup'. But then I did some reading and realized that you can't categorize something as a bisque unless it has fish stock as its base. So...this is pumpkin  soup  made with fresh pumpkin puree. Ingredients 12 ounces Maple Leaf Farms Duck bacon (or whatever bacon you have) 1 T minced garlic 3 C pumpkin puree (click to see how to make your own puree ) 3 carrots, chopped 6 C organic chicken stock 1/4 C freshly squeezed orange juic...

It's here, it's here. It's finally kick-off day for our 10-day event full of tailgating goodness: #10DaysofTailgate. I wrangled over 20 creative bloggers who will collectively be posting over 120 recipes to inspire your tailgate menus for the entire season.  Check back throughout the rest of the month as we'll be posting recipes daily from now till the end of September. Annnnnddd...there's a huge giveaway for fourteen lucky readers. Keep reading! I decided to start with our favorite grilled bite: lamb lollipops. I love them. But I especially love that all I do is hand the meat to Jake, my Grill-Master, and it comes back exactly the way I wanted it. Thanks, my Love! Ingredients rack of lamb, sliced into individual pops 1 T minced garlic 1/2 C orange juice + 1/4 C  1/2 C beer 1 T ginger spread 1 T El Diablo Hot & Spicy Mustard * , Mango fleur de sel to taste Procedure For a few hours, or overnight if you think about it early enough,...

Pickled beets are a family favorite, so I had to have them at my Pickle Bar this past weekend. I had purchased chioggia beets, thinking that they would be brightly colored and clearly striped. Some were lightly pink and others were creamy white; but none of them were a combination of both. Boo. These are ready to eat after 24 hours, but I let mine pickle for 48 hours. They were fantastic. Ingredients 3-4 beets, trimmed 1/2 C apple cider vinegar 1/4 C freshly squeezed orange juice 3/4 C water 3 T organic blonde coconut sugar 1 T salt (I used some large-grained  Monterey Bay Garlic Sea Salt ) 3 cloves minced garlic 1 t fennel seeds 1/2 t whole cloves 1/2 t mustard seeds Procedure Steam the beets over boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool till you can handle them. Peel and slice to 1/4". Layer them in your jars. Place all of the other ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil and, then, simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Pour the liqu...

Ix'ni Pec is a zesty Mayan salsa similar to a Mexican pico de gallo . I just used whatever fresh tomatoes and peppers I had from our High Ground Organics CSA. Mine wasn't particularly spicy, but it was delicious! We served it on top of nacatamales for our Pre-Popul Vuh Picnic last weekend.  Ingredients 1 T vinegar (I used a white vinegar) juice from 1 orange juice from 2 limes 1 small red onion, peeled and diced 2 banana peppers, deseeded and diced 1 hatch chile, deseeded and diced 1 C fresh tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes, but use what you have) 1/4 C organic cilantro leaves, chopped pinch of fleur de sel freshly ground pepper Procedure Place all of the ingredients - except for the salt and pepper - in a small mixing bowl. Blend gently and let stand for 15 minutes to blend flavors. To make this more spicy, just hotter peppers such as a habanero or jalapeno. Serve at room temperature. This salsa stays fresh for up to 3 hours. If y...

When I saw #peterbsbrewsandbitescontest - a cooking contest to create an appetizer using one of their brews - announced on Peter B's Facebook page , I   was instantly inspired. I wanted to create a dish showcasing my favorite Peter B's brew: Legend of Laguna IPA. I am definitely not a hop-head; I am typcially not a fan of IPAs. But the first time I tasted the Legend of Laguna IPA, in a tasting flight, I was enamored. It was my favorite of the six for sure. I went back to try it a second time and had the same reaction: I love the citrusy, everygreeny taste! It's bright without being too bitter. I'm definitely a fan. So, to play on those orange and pine flavors, I created some carnitas-topped polenta cakes made with citrus juice and pine honey. If you're local, here's a link to all the places you can purchase bottles , and the brew pub also has growlers & growlettes to go! Here we go...what I made for #peterbsbrewsandbitescontest... N...

Get ready...I'm about to show my age. Do you remember these popsicles? On the rare occasion that my mom and dad gave me money for the ice cream truck on a hot summer afternoon, these are the popsicles I would get.  I didn't eat chocolate at the time, so I always opted for this one. My friends and I would hear the music coming around the housing development, grab our coins, and sprint over to the truck from whichever front yard we were playing in. We would crowd the ice cream man, waiting impatiently for him to pull our selections out of the cooler. Then we would plunk ourselves down on the curb and greedily devour our summertime treats.  I whipped up this 50-50 chia pudding for breakfast this morning and was instantly transported back to those summers with these flavors.  My boys were intrigued, but each played with their serving, adding in more orange juice. R preferred the 70-30 ratio while D said that 60-40 was his preference! So, we got in a goo...

After seeing 'wheat pie' mentioned on Cake Boss , the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf wanted to give it a try. I read a few different recipes and came up with this. We didn't have whole wheat berries, so I subbed in barley. The verdict: it's a little dry. But I'm not calling it a flop because the flavors were great! We'll try again. For the  Pâte Brisée This should make enough for the top and bottom of a 10" tart. Ingredients 2-1/2 C all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling 1/2 C finely ground almond flour 1/2 C organic powdered sugar 1 C butter, very cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes 5 T freshly squeezed orange juice Procedure I don't have a food processor, so I use a pastry blender and do it all by hand. Or the kitchen elves do it!  Place the flour, ground almonds, powdered sugar, and cold butter in a large bowl. Use the pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add orange juice in 1 T...