Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month Jane from  Always Ravenous  is hosting the Wine Pairing Weekend bloggers for a fun look at California food and wine pairings. She's calling the theme: Tasting California: Cookbook Tour paired with California Wines. Initially she wanted us to work with  What’s Gaby Cooking: Eat What You Want: 125 Recipes for Real Life  by Gaby Dalkin, but the book isn't released until next month; in any case, you can read Jane's invitation post:  here .  My official event post will be coming out later this week, but I decided to do some bonus California pours. And I had a 2018 Castle Rock Rosé of Pinot Noir from Monterey County in the fridge. I decided to make an Indian-spiced fried chicken. I'll get to that in a bit. In the Glass At just over $10 a bottle, this wine easily qualifies as an everyday sipper. It boasts a beautiful salmon color. Additionally, its herbal aroma and medium body make it an incredibly satisfying pour. The texture was smoo...

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page  Foodie Extravaganza . We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our  Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board ! This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love invited the Foodie Extravaganza bloggers to share their favorite nacho recipes. She writes, "November 6 is National Nachos Day. Let's celebrate by sharing our favorite nacho recipes, both traditional and creative!" The #FoodieExtravaganza Nacho Bar Beef Fajita Nachos Compuestos from Food Lust People Love Beer Brat Nacho s from Palatable Pastime Breakfast Nachos from Tara's Multicultural Table Chorizo Nachos from Karen's Kitchen...

Here we are in November for another installment of our #EattheWorld project, being spearheaded by Evelyne of  CulturEatz . Here's  her challenge . In February we kicked off the project with  Cuba ; in March we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a tabletop trip to  Ireland !  Thailand  was our April destination. May had us headed to  Kenya . You get the idea. Last month Evelyne invited us to a special edition: #EattheWorld for Halloween . What spooky, delicious fun! And, this month, we are continuing our culinary nods to international festivals by posting Indian recipes in honor of Diwali. Diwali Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights and is celebrated every autumn in this hemisphere. From my limited research, the festival symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. That is much needed in this day and political climate. So, while I'm always up for learning about different internat...

I was recently at an event where a gingerbread cake was served with cubes of fresh persimmon scattered over the top. One of the guests asked, "What's a persimmon?"  Before I could answer, another guest answered, "It's a tree pumpkin." I almost spit my wine out I was laughing so hard. But it made sense! And, now, my family and I jokingly call these 'tree pumpkins.' A friend gave me an entire box full of tree pumpkins. I decided to turn them into a condiment to serve along side some pan-seared pork chops. Chutney is one of our favorite condiments to serve with meat and it's so, so easy. Ingredients  makes approximately 3 pints 3 to 4 pounds Fuyu persimmons, peeled and sliced (approximately 8 C) 1 to 2 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced (approximately 1 C) 1" knob fresh ginger, peeled and grated 1/3 C organic dark brown sugar 1/2 C water 1/2 C white wine 3/4 C organic apple cider vinegar 1 T whole brown...

One of my good friends makes amazing butter chicken. Really outstanding. It's sort of legendary in our circle of friends.  D will come home, gushing that his friend - her son - brought butter chicken for lunch. In the lunchroom, her butter chicken holds the highest value. And K leverages it well in their mid-day food bartering. "I think you need to give me one more strawberry since it is butter chicken." She even brought some over last year on April 26th which is Jake's birthday and he opted for that instead of the dinner I had planned. No worries...I have thick skin. And, over the years, all of us have asked for her recipe. She finally assented and printed out copies for us in June. It has taken me this long to actually make it. I bought the chicken this weekend, but time got away from me. Then, yesterday, I swore that I wasn't going to turn on the stove - it was 95 degrees in Monterey - but the boys insisted. This is my version with slight ...

It's time for Group B's March 2016 for the  Secret Recipe Club . This month I was assigned to  The Hobo Kitchen   which is written by Ellie. Ellie was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas and lived there until she was 16.  She moved to the United States in the late 90s and has been here ever since.  As the name of her blog suggests, she happily resides in Hoboken, NJ. When she first started blogging in 2008, she blogged at The Bitchin' Kitchin', but rebranded and The Hobo Kitchen was born. You can follow her on social media: on Facebook   and on  Twitter . When I started to delve into her recipe index, I was tickled to see three categories of cupcakes. Three. Seriously. Boozy, Savory, and Sweet. That's a girl after my own foodie heart. I looked at her Bahamian recipes;  Peas 'n' Rice , Sweet Potato Mallow , and Fire Engine   all called my name. But, we love Indian flavors in our household, so her Indian-Style Meatballs won ...

Chicken Tikka Masala is a family favorite. I know, I know, we have a lot family favorites. But lamb, on the other hand, has really only been a favorite with the talls in the family. I'm not sure I can still call us that, given that our 13-year-old sprouted this summer and is taller than I am. But, you know what I mean. Recently, however, both boys have asked to try lamb from our plates. And both have liked it. So, this past weekend, we made a huge pot of Lamb Tikka Masala. Winner, winner, lamb dinner! Ingredients 2 to 3 T garam masala* (see recipe below) 2 t salt (I used some red Hawaiian salt) 1/2 t toasted, ground cumin 1/2 t toasted, ground coriander 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper 1 to 2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and cut into 1" cubes 1 C plain coconut milk yogurt (my husband is currently dairy-free, use plain yogurt if you wish) 1/4 C olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 T grated fresh ginger 1 t grated fresh turmeric...

This is based on a North Indian way of cooking chickpeas ( chole ); it's basically a chickpea-tomato curry flavored with ginger and garam masala . I added a handful of wild arugula at the end for a little bit of California flair. 2 C cooked chickpeas 1/2 onion, diced 2 T minced garlic 2 t minced ginger olive oil 4 tomatoes, diced 2 C wild arugula 1-2 T garam masala salt to taste In a large flat-bottom pan soften the onions, garlic, and ginger in a splash of olive oil, traditionally this would be done with ghee or clarified butter. Add the tomatoes and simmer until the tomatoes are reduced to a chunky sauce. Season - to your tastes - with the garam masala . Stir in the chickpeas and simmer to heat through. Toss in the greens, turn off the heat, and let wilt. If needed, add salt to taste. This post is shared on Carole's Chatter: Food for Friday - Curries ! Thanks, Carole, for the invitation to link this up.