Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I have cured salmon before, but one day when we were at a robotics competition I saw someone curing salmon with beets. Sorry! No one was curing salmon at the robotics competition, but staying in a hotel is the only time I can watch the Food Network since we don't have any television stations at home!  Now I can't remember who it was or what show it was on, but I loved the resulting color. So, I decided to give it a try myself. I simply adapted a previous salmon curing recipe that I love. Ingredients 1 C coarse sea salt 1 C raw turbinado sugar 1 t ground black pepper 1 organic beet, finely grated 3 springs fresh thyme aquavit (a Scandinavian alcohol flavored with caraway seeds and star anise) 2 pieces of wild-caught salmon, well matched in size and shape, if possible Procedure Mix the salt, sugar, pepper, and beets together. Divide into thirds. Spoon a third of the mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and place one of the salmon pieces on top of it, ...

While I have a subscription to a few cooking magazines, I rarely read them. But, every once in a while, I'll thumb through one while I'm eating lunch at work.  And one day, a few years ago, I saw salt-cured egg yolks. They caught my eye because I thought they might be a good substitute for bottarga , cured fish roe. I finally got around to making them. I did a small batch because I wasn't sure how it would work...or if we would like them. The verdict: this works well and it's an intriguing addition to dishes. Ingredients  1/3 pound kosher salt 1/3 pound organic granulated sugar 4 large eggs Procedure Blend the salt and sugar together in a large bowl and transfer half of the mixture to a square dish and shake gently to settle into an even layer. Using whole, in-shell eggs, make 4 evenly spaced indentations in the bed by pressing bottom of egg gently into mixture. Crack eggs, separate yolks from whites, and gently place yolks to ind...

Welcome to Day Four of #CranberryWeek, hosted by Caroline's Cooking and A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures . We'll be sharing cranberry-inspired creations all week long in celebration of national cranberry day.  Search #CranberryWeek to keep up to date and follow the #CranberryWeek Pinterest board for more cranberry inspiration. But first, see all the other cranberry recipes being shared today: Apple-Ginger Cranberry Sauce from Palatable Pastime Broccoli Salad with Cranberries from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks Cranberry Blondies from Cindy's Recipes and Writings Cranberry Caipirinha from Caroline’s Cooking Cranberry Oat Smoothie from Sew You Think You Can Cook Graavilõhe from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Roasted Shallot Cranberry Chutney from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures Warm Cranberry Spread from Family Around The Table As I've been trying to offer savory cranberry recipes with an international bent, I decided to try my hand at a Scandina...

Here we are with my final bonus recipe post and wine pairing for the week running up to our Valentines #WinePW. We're getting closer! Click to read Christy of  Confessions of a Culinary Diva 's  invitation  to the Saturday #WinePW event. It's so easy to cure salmon, but, for some reason, I don't do it very often. My favorite, up till now, was probably my Absinthe-Scented Gravlax . This - Rosé-Cured Salmon - just might have usurped the title. In the Glass... All of Balletto Vineyards' wines* are made from sustainably farmed estate vineyards located throughout the lower third of the Russian River Valley. Balletto is one of the few Russian River wineries to be 100% estate grown and estate bottled; they specialize in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. I used the 2014 Rosé of Pinot Noir in the salmon and poured the 2012 Brut Rosé with the final dish. Both were elegant, balanced, and delicious. About the 2012 Brut Rosé...it is produced in the méthode traditionne...

Making my own gravlax had never occurred to me. Until I heard a quick recipe mentioned on NPR's The Splendid Table . I was on my way to Huckleberry Hill for a hill work-out, but it haunted me during my run and I swung by Whole Foods on my way home to pick up some wild-caught salmon and give it a go. Here's a link to the recipe as posted on thesplendidtable.org. I used it as a starting point, but made several modifications to fit the ingredients I had in my kitchen. 1/2 C coarse sea salt 1/2 C raw turbinado sugar 1 t ground black pepper 3 springs fresh dill splash of absinthe 2 pieces of wild-caught salmon, well matched in size and shape, if possible Mix the salt, sugar, and pepper together. Spoon a third of the mixture on a piece of plastic wrap and place one of the salmon pieces on top of it, skin-side down. Put half of the remaining salt mixture on top of the salmon. Drizzle the filet with absinthe. Sandwiching the fresh dill in between, fit the other piece o...

To celebrate the end of the school year, Jake and I took our new 2nd grader and 4th grader to Cantinetta Luca in Carmel. And despite the fact that they seriously need some Italian lessons (bread is pane - with one 'n' - not panne ; grapes are uve , the word they use is not any word I've ever seen, ever; bruschetta is pronounced brews-ketta, not brew-shetta) I thoroughly enjoy the food. Plus, how can you beat pizza or pasta and gelato for five dollars for the boys? The carpaccio appetizer is as gorgeous as it is delicious. Bresaola , air-dried beef, is served with arugula, shaved pecorino, and drizzled with olive oil and fresh lemon juice. From the two accounts I can find for the name of this dish, both reference a painting. Venetians claim that carpaccio was invented at Harry's Bar when, in the 1950s, a countess was told that she should only eat raw meat. The owner, Cipriani, named the dish - raw, sliced beef with a mustard sauce - after painter Vittorio Carpacc...