Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. This month’s event is Chinese Bread hosted by Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm . I almost didn't join the fun. For some reason, I hadn't seen the prompt. But, after a quick brainstorm, I realized that it was the perfect time for me to play with some Chinese dumplings. I've always wanted to make them. So, here's the line-up of the #BreadBakers Chinese breads... Chinese Buffet Style Donuts by Palatable Pastime Cocktail Buns by Zesty South Indian Kitchen  Hua Juan (Scallion Flower Ro...

Here we are the June-July 2020 edition of Cook the Books . Claudia of Honey from Rock picked  Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself by Ann Mah.* You can read her invitation: here . On the Page While being annoyingly predictable and about one hundred pages too long, this novel - that is firmly rooted in the chick-lit genre - was a breezy read and an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. The title, Kitchen Chinese, refers to Isabelle's characterization of her fluency in Chinese: Just basic conversation, she explained to her friends. "Simple words I picked up in the kitchen, spending time with my mom. I hardly have the Chinese vocabulary to work as a journalist" (pg. 9). Isabelle ‘Iz’ Lee is of Chinese origin, but she is an American. After being fired from her job in New York for doing a shoddy job at fact-checking a story, Iz ends up moving to Beijing to live with her older sister, Claire, who is a successful attorney there. The two...

This post is sponsored  by Masters Teas and Adagio Teas .  I received complimentary product for the purpose of review . All opinions are mine alone. Based on previous collaborations, my contact at Adagio Teas emailed to see if I would be interested in trying out their new line - Masters Teas * . I couldn't reply 'yes' fast enough. We love tea tasting and the opportunity to try such special teas was one I couldn't resist. Masters Teas was created to share limited edition, small lot teas direct from the farms at which they were grown. I selected eight different teas and am looking forward to sharing my explorations with you. The first tea we tried was the Tai Ping Hou Kui . which was grown by Liang Yu Ming in Huangshan, in the Anhui province of China. The 2019 Tai Ping Hou Kui is grown at over 1000 feet above sea level and was harvested in early May. Can you see the woven or criss-crossing pattern on the leaves? After the leaves are pan fired, they ...

When the family festivities continued, they wanted to do a dinner at my aunt and uncle's timeshare. And they asked if the enthusiastic kitchen elf would make something. He immediately declared, "I'm going to make Lion's Head Soup for them, Mommy." And he did. He brought his own utensils, my pots, and the ingredients. It was a hit! I think the family was impressed with his culinary prowess. 2 lbs ground meat (we used turkey) 1/2 onion, diced 2 cloves of garlic, diced 4 shallots, diced 2 T gluten-free flour 2 T minced ginger 2 T minced garlic 4 T minced cilantro 1 bunch collard greens 1 C roughly chopped oyster mushrooms 1 bunch baby onions with greens, sliced freshly ground pepper 6 T gluten-free soy sauce 4 T toasted sesame oil 8 C organic chicken broth 1. Wash and dry the greens. Cut crosswise into 1/2" strips. 2. In a medium bowl, combine the turkey with the onion, garlic, shallots, ginger, and 2 T cilantro. Mix ...

We traveled, by tabletop to China, last week, but I am just now sitting down to blog about that fab meal. When I was researching what to make for that dinner, I emailed my friend Belle who responded with exactly what I had open on another tab: lion's head meatballs. Taking that as a sign, I decided that was the recipe for tonight. Thanks, Belle. Belle also suggested onion pancakes , so we kicked off the feast with our version of that. Dylan did a great job on them. But really, what 8-year-old wouldn't have a blast squishing dough with a rolling pin?!? Traditionally this Shanghai casserole dish features oversized pork meatballs and greens and is cooked in a sand clay pot. The large meatballs are meant to represent a lion, and the shredded greens its mane. I didn't have ground pork, so I used ground beef. And I had a bounty of greens from my High Ground CSA box that I had picked up that afternoon, so my version used kale and spinach and arugula for the man...

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 ...

One good thing about being wrong about the date of Chinese New Year, I had an extra day to make my mooncakes.  Click here for the recipe.  But, as usual, I can't follow a recipe to save my life...even my own recipes!  My Year of the Rabbit variations: instead of straight wheat flour I used a mix of rice flour, coconut flour, and white whole wheat flour.  And in my red bean filling, I added a dash of ginger syrup and powdered ginger for some added zing.  They are in the oven as I type, we'll see how they turn out.

I made these mooncakes for the class I taught at my boys' elementary school last trimester. We were reading dragon legends from around the world, focusing on a single country per week. I would read the legend, teach a little history or geography about the country, coordinate a craft, and make a snack.  For our China session, these were perfect.  And I thought they would make a great Chinese Lunar New Year treat, so if I have some free time tonight, I'll dig out mooncake mold. There is this story about the moon-cake. Chinese leaders were unhappy being ruled by Mongolians, so they decided to use the Moon Festival to coordinate a rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion ordered special cakes and backed each moon cake with a message, outlining of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. Ingredients Filling: • 1 pound red azuki beans • water • 3/4 cup butter or oil • 1-3/4 cups s...