Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Nonna! So, last night I asked the boys if we should bake her a cake. They both shook their heads. Pie, they decided. Okay . Pumpkin pie. Okay . And you have to roast some pumpkins while we do our homework. Oh, okay. The boys delivered her pie this morning on their way to school. I didn't have any pumpkins, but I had two kabocha squash from our High Ground Organics CSA . So, while they boys finished up homework, I made some kabocha puree. I've always called it a Japanese pumpkin. Close enough. Ingredients for one 11" pie 2 C all-purpose flour 1/2 C white whole wheat flour 1/2 C finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour 1 C butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes dash of ground cinnamon 3 to 4 T ice water 3 to 4 T Frangelico 4 C kabocha puree (make a puree like this: click here ) 4 eggs 2 C organic heavy whipping cream 1/2 C organic granulated sugar spices to taste (D used some ground ci...

After the boys' day crabbing on Friday, we had several fresh crabs. We were talking about what to make. "We always makes crab cakes," D complained. "Can we make a crab pie instead?" Crab pie? "You know, Mommy...like a chicken pie, but with crab!" Oh, like a pot pie. Okay. First, we cooked the crab and cleaned it . Then, we got to cooking. Ingredients  for a dozen pot pies 1 batch Pâte Brisée (click name to go to my recipe post) 1 onion, diced 4 carrots, sliced 1 zucchini, diced 1 C shelled peas 2 C dinosaur kale, chiffonaded 4 C cooked, cleaned crab meat 1-2 C seafood broth beciamela sauce* juice from 1 lemon 6 fresh sage leaves, minced     *for the  beciamela  sauce: 2 T flour 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 C half-and-half 1/2 C seafood stock or clam juice salt to taste Procedure For the  beciamela  sauce: Melt butter in a small saucepan and add the flour. Whisk to create a roux. Pour in the half-and-half and seafo...

Galettes are basically pies, but super-cool looking. You may never make regular pie again. Sorry, pie. I signed up to bring veggie galettes for the staff appreciation luncheon at school last week. I'm finally getting around to posting the recipes. Whoops. It's been a busy week. I started with my recipe for  Pâte Brisée .  [Click name to go to the recipe post.] Line a work surface with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat, lightly dust with flour and dust the top of the dough with flour. Roll the dough into a rustic 15-inch circle, adding more flour, if necessary, to prevent sticking. Transfer the crust to a baking dish lined with the parchment . Leaving a 2-inch border, fill the crust - I made one with kale, zucchini, onions and mozzarella and another with carrots, potatoes, and parmesan - and fold up the edges to make a free-form galette. Drizzle the top with olive oil, sprinkle it with freshly ground sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake in a 42...

D's beloved piano teacher is leaving the area. And he wanted to bring her a rhubarb pie on her last day. We made this for her...it made one 6" galette. Pâte Brisée   Ingredients 1-1/4 C all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling 1/4 C finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour 1/4 C organic powdered sugar 1/2 C butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes 3 to 4 T ice water Filling Ingredients 2 stalks of rhubarb, trimmed and sliced 1 T all-purpose flour 1 T organic coconut sugar Procedure I don't have a food processor, so I use a pastry blender and do it all by hand. 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 ice water 1 T at a time, until mixture just begins to clump together. If you squeeze some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, ad...

Our sweet little Jetty-Boo has a broken collar bone. Needless to say, he's home from school this week. So I told him that Aunt Camillala (not a typo, that's what he used to call me) would make him whatever dessert would make him smile. Less than 10 seconds later, Pia texted me: "He said olallieberry or rhubarb." Since olallies aren't in season, it had to be rhubarb. I have to admit that I did think Brian had something to do with his choice. But, no, rhubarb actually is Jet's favorite. Then I told him that he didn't have to share with Daddy. He said, "Good!" The decorations were D's idea. I actually wanted to try to cut a jet out of pie crust. D was insistent: "No, Mommy. We need to make a 'j' and two Darths." Done. Ingredients 2-1/2 C organic pastry 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 2 T  limoncello ...

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...

I was already making a pie for Brian - click here for that post - and I knew that my three would object if they didn't get a pie, too. But I ran out of sugar, so this is a honey-kissed version. Here goes... For the  Pâte Brisée for two pie crusts 2-1/2 C all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling 1/2 C finely ground blanched cashew or cashew flour 1/2 C organic powdered sugar 1 C butter, very cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes 2 T  limoncello 3 to 4 T cold water I don't have a food processor, so I use a pastry blender and do it all by hand. Place the flour, ground cashews, 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 limoncello and cold water 1 T at a time, until mixture just begins to clump together. If you squeeze some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and cut again....

There's a story about this pie. There's always a story, right?!? We are getting ready to participate in the Run or Dye 5K next weekend. Not just us, but the Garneaus. Jet really wanted to do a race, so Pia got them all race entries to Christmas. I got a text on Christmas morning. All it said was: I blame you! Yeah, okay. Now that we're one week away, Pia and I began talking about what we should wear. If you aren't familiar with these races, they call themselves the most colorful 5Ks in the world. As you run along the route spectators toss safe, eco-friendly, plant-based powder dye at you...at every kilometer. Fun! So, we decided that we would wear white shirts and colorful socks. Colorful, mismatched socks. My family's are on the left. Pia's family's are on the right. Brian objected. Until...Brian texted me a photo of rhubarb. "I'll do anything for a rhubarb pie!" he texted. Anything? "Yes, anything!" You'l...

Tomorrow I'll post a photo of this sliced and ready to devour! My littlest Kitchen Elf loves watching Cake Boss . Ever since he discovered it in our Netflix stream, he's been (borderline) obsessed. And he is slowly making his way through the seasons when he has a chance. In one episode, Buddy and his baking crew make what they called 'pastachote.' At least that's what it sounded like to D.  "Mom, it's a Southern Italian pastry. You had to have had it when you lived in Italy!" he insisted. "Can we make it?" First, I don't love sweets, so if I ever did see that pastry in Italy, I probably didn't buy it. And since I don't love sweets, I didn't learn to make very many while I lived there.   Tiramisù is an exception; that I made many, many times while I was there...and many, many times since. Second, what on Earth are you saying?!? That doesn't even sound Italian!  Then I remembered that Italian-Americans have an irrit...

When looking at different recipes and menus for a Game of Thrones themed luncheon for Brian , I came across photos for Jon Snow's Pork Pies. I didn't delve too far into what made them special; I just decided to make some fennel scented meat pies with an absinthe crust. Yum! Absinthe Pâte Brisée 2-1/2 C all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling 1/2 C finely ground blanched cashews or cashew flour 1/2 t fennel pollen 1 C butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes 3-4 T ice water 3-4 T abinsthe fleur de sel Place the flour, ground cashews, fennel pollen, and cold butter in a large bowl. Use the patry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 T at a time, alternating with the absinthe, until mixture just begins to clump together. If you squeeze some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and cut again. Note that too much w...

When one of my best friends invited us over for dinner, and said that it was a birthday celebration for her mom, I offered to bring something for dessert. I wanted to use the gorgeous and amusingly-named Dinosaur Egg pluots and asked for her vote: frangipane tart, galette , or flaugnarde . She asked for clarification on the flaugnarde - I said it's basically a clafoutis but not with cherries - then she opted for the frangipane tart. Perfect...because that's what I was leaning towards anyway. Dinosaur Eggs are pluots - a hybid of an plum and an apricot - and a hit with almost every kid I know. For the name alone. But the taste is amazing, too. And since we noshed through all of the ones in my fruits bowl this week, I handed my dad some cash and asked him to pick up a bag-full for me at the farmers' market while I was at work on Friday. When I picked up the boys and my dinosaur eggs, I asked my dad, "Do you remember from which farm stand you got these?" Bla...

For what was a bittersweet Bon Voyage! party this weekend, I signed up to bring two Veggie Galettes. This is quickly becoming my potluck go-to. It's fairly easy and always seems to be a hit. I started with my recipe for  Pâte Brisée .  [Click name to go to the recipe post.] One regular and one gluten-free. Line a work surface with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat, lightly dust with flour and dust the top of the dough with flour. Roll the dough into a rustic 15-inch circle, adding more flour, if necessary, to prevent sticking. Transfer the crust to a baking sheet with the parchment or baking mat in place. Leaving a 2-inch border, fill the crust - with caramelized onions, fresh herbs (I used thyme and Italian parsley, roughly chopped) sliced parboiled potatoes, and a handful of parmesan cheese - and fold up the edges to make a free-form galette. Drizzle the top with olive oil, sprinkle it with freshly ground sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake in a...