Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Okay, reserve judgment, folks. This is not a traditional poutine. I'll be the first to admit that. It's not deep-fried and there are no cheese curds involved. But it is poutine-inspired...and it is delicious! I can't remember where I first heard the word, but I definitely had no idea what it was. Poutine. So, I did some reading. Then I asked one of my favorite Canadian foodie bloggers - Isabelle at Crumb - for a recipe. Here's hers . I loved that she used a duck confit and skipped the curds. I have nothing against curds; I just don't know where to find them and haven't had any reason to make my own. In case you don't know what poutine is...it's a sticky mess of french fries, doused in a light brown gravy, and topped with cheese curds. It's a popular hangover cure in Quebec. Peasant fare peddled out of food trucks. That is until recently. It's moved into the mainstream, a new culinary darling in swanky bars from New York to San Francisco. I...

I originally went to the store to pick up some pheasant for my mom's birthday dinner. I figured I needed to get some French wine to pour with my  Civet de Canard . Then I saw this Autumn Maple, a Belgian-style brown ale, from  The Bruery . And I knew that it was what I was pouring tonight. The Bruery is a boutique craft brewery located in Orange County, California that specializes in experimental and barrel aged beer. Fun! They write: "Our calling is to create beers with character and depth using the simplest and purest of means. We do not filter or pasteurize our beers. Most of our bottled beers gain carbonation through bottle conditioning, allowing carbonation to naturally occur through a secondary bottle fermentation. We strive to use unconventional ingredients, and we will proudly state what we put in our beers." Yep. This bottle definitely has amazing character. Brewed with 17 pounds of yams per barrel it also has cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, m...

It's  Food'N'Flix  time - where we watch movies and head  into the kitchen and cook or bake or make something based on a recipe they actually make in it or just something we were driven to make after watching it. This month's film - A Good Year - was selected by Tina at Squirrel Head Manor . You can see her invitation: here. What a delicious foray into life in Provence! While the wine flows freely and the scenery makes me want to buy a one-way ticket to France, food doesn't have a starring role in the movie. Wine, yes. Food, not so much. The sole exception: dinner at Francis and Ludivine's home. Francis gestures at various home-cooked dishes at the table: caviar of eggplant, headless larks, mushrooms, and, finally, civet of wild boar, marinated in red wine, and blood pressed from the carcass. And that - those few lines - was enough to launch me on a culinary adventure to make a civet for myself.  The only thing I asked my boys: duck or rabbit? Tho...

Funny story: my 9-year-old has a pet pumpkin. He got it at a market at the beginning of the month and it sleeps on his pillow and watches him do his homework. One day I jokingly threatened to cook his pumpkin. I was joking, but Dylan was not amused. So, needless to say...when I served this dinner, the first thing he did was run to his room to make sure that his pumpkin hadn't been a casualty of my pumpkin massacre. Then he announced, "Pumpkin is not coming to the dinner table tonight because I don't want him to see me eating his friends." Fine by me. Somewhere along my pumpkin travels, I saw meatloaf-stuffed mini pumpkins. Maybe I was in the checkout line at the grocery store. Maybe it was in a cookbook. But it definitely wasn't pinned to any of my Pinterest boards , so I decided to wing it. How hard could it be? Turns out...it was a piece of cake...and the perfect dinner for a busy school night. Serves 6 6 mini pumpkins 1 lb ground meat (I used...

Intrigued by this challenge - to write a tweet-sized recipe, including the 8 character hashtag of #140food - I submitted this : #140food Earthy Braised Lamb Shanks. Dredge lamb shanks in flour. Brown in oil. Braise for 3 hours in coffee and beer with shitake mushrooms Here are a few of my favorites! I'm shocked...I could actually follow some of these. What do you think? Repeatable?!? @tkretchmar my anchovy spread: 8.5oz anchovies in oo,3oz pine nuts,.5oz parm ch.,5oz oo,1/2 lemon's juice,3+ pinches chili flakes; stick blend #140food @glutenfreegirl Lunch: toss kale in hot bacon fat with dash of chile flakes, pinch Maldon salt between fingers, squeeze lemon juice. shake skillet. #140food @jayasax blend bunch coriander/mint, lime juice, garam masala, s&p to taste, stir into greek yogurt for Indian Coriander Chutney Dip #140food @lisabnyc #140food Sardines Saor. Crisp floured fish in hot oil. Sauté onions + w. wine. Layer w. pine nuts & raisins...

To go with the warm lobster salad for my dad's birthday dinner, my mom requested braised lamb shanks. I had done them for Thanksgiving last year . So, I did a variation for last night. This time - inspired by a story I'm writing - I decided to braise them in an earthy mixture of coffee, beer, and the soaking liquid from the dried mushrooms. I made a smoked paprika-cherry glaze for my dad's party; for what we ate at home, I left it as a mushroom demi-glace. Ingredients 6 Tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced 1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced eight 3/4- to 1-pound lamb shanks white whole wheat flour mixed with 1 Tablespoon ground cardamom for dredging 2 cups coffee 2 cups beer (I used a coffee stout) 1 Tablespoon honey 1 Tablespoon ginger syrup 1 cup boiling water 1 cup dried shitake mushrooms 2 cups sliced fresh oyster mushrooms freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper Procedure Place dried shitake mushrooms in a bowl an...

When my mom and I were discussing the menu for my dad's 65th birthday dinner, she was thinking lamb. I was thinking lobster. "Well, can we have both?" she wondered. It's your party.  So, that's what we decided to do. I told her that I could roast the lobster and place it on a bed of wilted greens as the salad course.  1 lobster tail per person olive oil freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper 1 leek, trimmed and sliced into thin coins 1-2 handfuls of greens per person balsamic vinegar for drizzling First...to roast the lobster... 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.  Coat the lobster mea...