Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I've been dreaming about lamb tagine. Silly, because I don't own a tagine. But, with the last of the lamb from the EcoFarm Butchery Seminar (click to read my piece -  From Carcasses to Culinary Masterpieces  -  for  Edible Monterey Bay ), I decided to make lamb stew...tagine-style: slow cooked and braised at a low temperature. I braised the lamb in chicken stock and red wine for three hours - until it was buttery soft and easily cubed with a spoon. I left it in the cooking liquid that remained. To the pot, I added in 2 C  ratatouille , 1 C green olives, and 2 red pears (cored and cubed). I simmered the stew until everything was soft and hot. Then I seasoned it with ground cardamom, freshly ground salt and pepper, and served it with some crusty bread. This had all the characteristics of a tagine, without being cooked in the tagine pot. It was exactly as I envisioned dinner!

Another night. Another breadless morning tomorrow...unless I bake something to put under their ham and cheese in their lunchboxes. I decided to make a green olive-thyme round with some lemon olive oil. Can you tell that I'm quite smitten with my We Olive lemon olive oil? Maybe I should have gotten all three bottles' worth of that! 3 C all-purpose flour 1 T active dry yeast 1 t freshly ground pink Himalaya salt 1 C warm water ¼ C lemon olive oil 1 C green olives 2 springs of fresh thyme Place the water in a large mixing bowl. Float the yeast on top and allow it to bloom for about 5 minutes. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil and mix until a ball forms. Knead in green olives and leaves from the thyme sprigs. Shape the dough into a flat round, adding only enough flour to allow you to handle the dough. Cover it and let it rise in the warmest place in your kitchen while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let it rise as long as you can. Brush the loaf with water, sp...