Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Whenever it's Spring, I find myself cooking with lots of asparagus. And it got me thinking about hosting a Spring soup event for the Soup Saturday Swappers that is organized by Wendy of A Day on the Life on the Farm . I asked to host this month and I wrote: "Winter is loosening its grip on the world...and our produce. Let's create and share some soups that feature the darlings of Spring. Think fennel, peas, and whatever tickles your fancy." I decided to go with asparagus, but first... The Spring Soup Pots An InLinkz Link-up Ingredients 2 to 2-1/2 pounds asparagus, ends trimmed 4 Spring onions, outer layer peeled away  olive oil freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper 2 C organic chicken broth 2 T ground almonds organic lemon for garnish Procedure Preheat oven to 400F. Place the asparagus spears and Spring onions into baking pans. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes. Turn the ...

I was trying to think of a dish, or two, that would complement my Lemon-Herb Compound Butter . I settled, first, on fish...because I had some cod filets in my fridge. Ingredients serves 4 4 cod filets 2 spring onions 6 to 8 baby Dutch yellow potatoes (or whatever you have on hand) juice from 1 lemon 2 T fresh dill, roughly chopped olive oil 4 thin slices of  Lemon-Herb Compound Butter Procedure Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Wash and dry your potatoes. Slice them thinly and toss with olive oil. Lay them in the bottom of a baking dish and roast them for 16 to 18 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, trim the ends off the spring onions and slice them thinly lengthwise. Lay the onions on top of the potatoes. Place the cod filets on top of the onions. Sprinkle them with fresh dill, then drizzle them with the lemon juice and a splash of olive oil. Roast them for another 16 to 18 minutes. The fish is done when it is firm to the touch. Be careful not t...

Inspired by Shocking Delicious's  Basil Honey-Dressing recipe , I was so excited to use the honey I just got from our  High Ground Organics  CSA box this week. Thanks for the eucalyptus-wildflower honey from Keith Kimes! Click to read about Keith Kimes's Apiary on High Ground Organics's farm: here . Also, I added in more herbs, even using the carrot top greens, from my CSA. Ingredients 1 roasted spring onion, papery parts removed 1/2 C basil leaves, destemmed 1/2 sprig of fresh, organic oregano leaves, destemmed 1 T fresh chopped mint 1 T fresh chopped carrot greens 1/4 C honey (I used a local eucalyptus-wildflower honey from Keith Kimes) 1/3 C olive oil 1/4 C vinegar (I used a champagne-mimosa vinegar) Procedure Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until dressing is smooth. There will be small green flecks - like herb confetti. Pour into a jar and refrigerate before serving. This keeps for a week, or more, in the refrigerator. You'll ...

No need to wait for Valentines' Day to treat my boys to a lobster dinner! But this would make a delicious celebration of romance...on any day of the year. 1 lobster tail per person olive oil freshly ground salt Preheat the oven to 350F. Using kitchen shears, cut each lobster tail down the back, stopping at the last segment before the tail piece. Bend back the tail until you hear a loud crack. Slip a knife between the meat and the bottom membrane, freeing tail meat from the shell. Pull the meat up and over the shell, closing the shell shut beneath it. The tail meat, then, piggybacks on top of the shell. I have only done this one time before, but Sasha - of Global Table Adventure - provides a  video  if you need more help. Coat the lobster meat with a generous coating of oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 1-2 minutes per ounce of weight, if fresh. It might take longer if the tail is frozen. I placed the cooked tails on a bed of braised greens, sp...

I had received a bunch of lavender from a friend awhile back, hung them to dry, and emailed her today to find out if they were organic so I could use them in this recipe. B: Gotcha!  Friend's garden and she tells me no pesticides. :) C: Thank you! Riley's making a Croatian recipe that calls for chicken, lavender, and prunes. Go figure. B: That sounds.....unique.  Let me know how it is! C: 'Unique' that's code for 'OMG, I can't believe anyone would eat that!' ;) I tried to dissuade him from using the prunes, subbing dried cherries or something like that instead. You know what my 10-year-old said? "Mom, I LIKE prunes." Okay. I didn't realize that anyone actually liked prunes. B: That's hilarious.  It will probably be delicious! Well, it was delicious. Interestingly enough, the prunes didn't taste like prunes. They had a shitake mushroom-like texture and weren't sweet at all. Here's how we did it.... First Riley p...

Here we are on part two of cooking for Riley's Mothers' Day Tea Party: veggie frittata. I wasn't sure what veggies I would have in my fridge on cooking day. And I had Spring onions and kale from my CSA box and leftover turnips that I had roasted with beets. I lightly sauteed the onions and kale and layered all of that in a buttered baking dish, topped it with some shredded parmesan cheese.  I poured in beaten eggs and seasoned it with freshly ground pink Himalaya salt and flower pepper. Bake in a 350 degree oven till the egg is set, approximately 45 minutes. Slice when cool.

When I signed up to bring some treats to Riley's Mothers' Day Tea Party, I was vague: 'veggie tart' and 'veggie frittata.' I wasn't sure what veggies I would have in my fridge on cooking day. Tonight was the night. And I had Spring onions and fresh dill from my CSA box and some crimini mushrooms and cluster tomatoes. So here we go...we started with a flaky, buttery crust scented with fennel pollen... 2 C white whole wheat flour 1/2 C butter 1/2 C cold water 1 t fennel pollen Use a pastry cutter to blend the butter into the flour and fennel pollen. Add the cold water and mix lightly until it forms a ball. Roll the dough out and lay into a tart pan. Then I layered in lightly sauteed Spring onions, sliced mushrooms, and shredded asiago and mozzarella cheeses. Into the beaten eggs, I folded fresh dill and fresh parsley. Then I poured the egg mixture over the veggies and pressed halved tomatoes into the egg. Season with freshly ground pink H...

When I was doing research for our Chinese cooking around the world adventure, Belle suggested "onion pancakes." I envisioned a sort of onion latke when I read her email. But after doing some reading, I realized it was, in fact, a flaky dough disc studded with scallions. That was much more palatable since we aren't huge onion fans in this household. I started with this recipe . And it was perfect timing since I just picked up our High Ground CSA box that had some gorgeous spring onions. Ingredients 2 C all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting work surface 1 C boiling water Up to 1/4 C toasted sesame seed oil 2 C thinly sliced spring onions Procedure Place flour in large mixing bowl and slowly add in the boiling water until it just comes together. Transfer to a floured work surface and knead a few times to form a smooth ball. Place in a bowl, cover with a damp towel, and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.  Divide dough into four ...

Traditionally this salad is made with romaine leaves. I used what I had - red-leaf lettuce from our High Ground Organics CSA box. But the onions and lemon provide all of the flavor, so I figured we were staying true to the taste of the original salad. Jake and I were both surprised at how much we liked this combination; it was very fresh with the lemon juice. It's hard to even really call this a recipe, but it was tasty and we will definitely make it again. 1 head red leaf lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces (the original recipe calls for romaine lettuce) 1 bunch spring onions, chopped 2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered (the original recipe calls for the eggs to be sliced) pink Himalaya salt and flower pepper, freshly ground to taste 2 T extra virgin olive oil 1 T lemon juice

Mei quin choi is like a baby bok choy, so I used it in an Asian-inspired stir-fry, making use of a few other goodies in my CSA box: Spring onions and broccoli shoots. I softened thinly sliced Spring onions in a splash of olive oil, added the broccoli shoots (the smaller side-shoots from the main, central shoot that is normally harvested for sale) and quartered mei quin choi. I seasoned the veggies with a splash of soy sauce and a splash of sesame oil then removed them from the pan. I seared sea scallops, then stirred in black beans and the seasoned veggies.