Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Lynn of Savor the Harvest is hosting the World Wine Travel bloggers this month. We are headed to South Australia and focusing on the white wines of the region. Read her invitation here . If you are reading this early enough, feel free to join in our Twitter chat on Saturday, March 26th at 8am Pacific. Follow the hashtag #WorldWineTravel and be sure to add it to anything you tweet so we can see it. Here's the line-up of the articles by the writers... Crushed Grape Chronicles  (Robin) discusses “Jim Barry Wines – 3 Generations making Clare Valley Riesling” A Day In The Life On The Farm  (Wendy) pairs “South Australian Chardonnay with Pesto Bruschetta Chicken” Culinary Adventures with Camilla (Camilla) shares “Asparagus-Leek Velouté + Naturalis Sauvignon Blanc 2020” Enofylz Wine Blog  (Martin) digs into “Pewsey Vale – Eden Valley’s Original Riesling Monopole” AdVINEtures  (Chris & Allison) is exploring “South Australia Riesling” MyFull Wine Glass   (Linda...

For the soup course for our  Ab Ovo Usque Ad Mala  Thanksgiving menu, I was inspired by this passage in Crystal King's  The Chef's Secret* -  "Soups of cauliflower, mushroom, and leeks simmered for the better part of the day. When I finally made my way home that day I was exhausted" (pg. 200). This soup is fairly easy to make. The longest process is to caramelize the onions and the leeks though it is largely hands-off. Don't skip this step, however, as it add a delicate sweetness to the dish.You can also make this soup the day before you need to serve it. Also, I was serving a dozen guests. You can easily halve this recipe to serve a family of four with some leftovers. Ingredients serves 12 2 organic cauliflower heads 1 onion, thinly sliced, approximately 1 C while raw 2 to 3 leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced, approximately 1 C while raw olive oil 1/2 C half and half or heavy cream 3 C organic vegetable broth water, as needed freshly ground ...

Laissez le bon temps rouler!  I forgot to put the andouille sausage in my Sweethearts' Seafood Boil   last weekend, so I had a pound that was begging to be used. And I had a jar of RED spice blend from  Voodoo Chef *  that was sent to me for participating in an online event earlier in the month. Put those together - and given that today is Mardi Gras - the culinary lightbulb of inspiration blinked: Red Beans and Rice! It's easy; it's filling; and, most importantly, it's delicious. Note: mine is not a traditional red beans and rice recipe. I throw in whatever veggies I have on-hand for a nutritious, one-pot meal. Thanks to our High Ground Organics CSA for keeping my fridge stocked with fresh, amazing produce. Ingredients 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and diced 1 large leek, trimmed and diced 3 or 4 small carrots, diced 4 celery stalks, diced 2 T butter splash of olive oil 1 pound cooked andouille sausages, halved and sliced 1 bunch kale, thinly sliced ...

Evelyne, of  Cheap Ethnic Eatz ,  is kicking off the 2015  Food'N'Flix  events. We watched, or rewatched as the case may be,  Bridget Jones's Diary.  Click to see  Evelyne's invitation . This post contains an affiliate link for the DVD and the book - on which the movie was based - at the bottom.  On the Screen... It's been years since I've seen this movie. And, to be completely candid, I wasn't too excited about watching it this month. I don't remember being entertained or amused by it oh, so many years ago. I haven't read the books; I'm not a huge fan of romantic comedies; and I typically avoid chick-flicks at all costs. I know...I'm no fun. So, I approached this re-watching with some supreme skepticism and evident caution, sprinkled with a wee bit of dread. Let's just be straight: this theme has been done and redone. It's predictable. It's dreadfully clichéd. But it is also a complete delight. Yes, I actually...

I am so rarely in front of the camera. But my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf grabbed my camera as I was heading to the table to serve the Osso Buco. And I told him I'd use the photo. I've made osso buco a handful of times, including Jamie Oliver's Ossobuco with Bean Ragout  and a lamb osso buco , but I was inspired to do osso buco this year for Thanksgiving because, well, I am anti-turkey. Sorry...I know that's almost un-American. Osso buco , literally means, hole in the bone. So have your butcher cut the shanks into 1" to 2" lengths that have the bone - and marrow - showing. I was so excited to finally get to use my brand-new Dutch oven. So, so happy. Ingredients serves 6 six 2" osso buco-cut beef shanks flour for dredging 3 T butter 2 T olive oil 2 leeks, cleaned, trimmed, and chopped 3 carrots, chopped 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped 6 C organic chicken stock (it should come about 2/3 of the way up the sides of th...

Ackk! I never realized that was still sitting in my drafts folder. Sorry. Last month I hosted a 10-day blogging event for which Maple Leaf Farms Duck  and  Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices *  were sponsors. While I made this during that event, I haven't had the chance to share the recipe until now. Feel free to use whatever ground meat and herbs that you have. Ingredients 1 pound ground duck (I used  Maple Leaf Farms Duck ) 1 leek, trimmed and diced 1 T minced garlic (I used  Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices ) splash of olive oil 1/2 C organic chicken stock 2 C cooked rice 1 T basil (I used Gourmet Garden) 1 t oregano (I used Gourmet Garden) 1 beaten egg 1 C shredded parmesan cheese, divided 6 to 8 peppers, depends on the size of the peppers Procedure In a large, flat-bottom pan, saute the leeks and garlic in a splash of olive oil until they soften and begin to caramelize. Add in the ground duck and cook completely. ...

It's #SundaySupper time again. And this round we are stuffing, rolling, and wrapping. What a fun theme! I considered stuffing grape leaves, tomatoes, peppers, and even apples. But in the end, I wanted to make something with eggplants.  A couple of years ago, I hosted an eggplant dinner for two friends' birthday celebration; I called it 'Ode to an Aubergine.' Little back story: one of our friends claimed to not like eggplant. I took the challenge to come up with an entire dinner menu made with eggplant...from Eggplant Boats to Creamy Eggplant Soup and Braised Lamb Over Eggplant Puree to dessert. Yes! Even dessert. I made an Italian dessert - Melanzane al Cioccolato  - with eggplant and chocolate. And, of course, I ordered eggplant hats for everyone. The dinner was a wild success and the eggplant-averse friend declared, to my delight, Okay, I like eggplant now! So, for this edition of #SundaySupper - Stuff, Roll, Wrap - I decided to do my own versi...

Malfatti are "badly formed" dumplings made with ricotta. These are so simple to make and pillowy soft. Traditionally  malfatti  are made with spinach, but I use whatever greens I have in the fridge and I had some dinosaur kale from my CSA box this week. 2 C whole milk ricotta 1/2 C grated parmesan cheese 3 T Italian parsley, chopped 2 C dinosaur kale, thinly sliced 1 leek, thinly sliced zest from 1 lemon 1 egg freshly ground sea salt and freshly ground pepper corn flour for dusting 1/2 C heavy cream juice from 1 lemon olive oil smoked paprika Saute the kale and leeks together until wilted. Let cool. Spread the cream in the bottom of a baking dish, add the lemon juice, smoked paprika, and a splash of olive oil. Blend till mixed and covering the bottom of the dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place all of the other ingredients - except the corn flour - in a large mixing bowl. Blend with a fork until everything is well i...

While I love participating in the Secret Recipe Club , there are very few blogs that make me scratch my head and think: really, would those ingredients go well together?!? This month, I have the absolute pleasure of being completely introduced to, baffled by, and intrigued with the recipes at  Recipe Taster  by Alessio. A self-described Renaissance man, his curriculum vitae include advanced degrees in Physics, jewelry design, and an obvious penchant for putting together outrageously creative flavor combinations. In that vein, I selected a recipe that included two ingredients I would never have thought to put together: chocolate and calamari. Yes, I really did write chocolate and calamari in the same sentence; and I actually cooked them in the same dish. Check out my inspiration ! "Weird is good" reads his post. Indeed. Sometimes weird is just weird. In this case, I have to agree: weird is good. I made a few adjustments based on what I had: I skipped the lovage and swappe...

I had received a bunch of lavender from a friend awhile back, hung them to dry, and emailed her today to find out if they were organic so I could use them in this recipe. B: Gotcha!  Friend's garden and she tells me no pesticides. :) C: Thank you! Riley's making a Croatian recipe that calls for chicken, lavender, and prunes. Go figure. B: That sounds.....unique.  Let me know how it is! C: 'Unique' that's code for 'OMG, I can't believe anyone would eat that!' ;) I tried to dissuade him from using the prunes, subbing dried cherries or something like that instead. You know what my 10-year-old said? "Mom, I LIKE prunes." Okay. I didn't realize that anyone actually liked prunes. B: That's hilarious.  It will probably be delicious! Well, it was delicious. Interestingly enough, the prunes didn't taste like prunes. They had a shitake mushroom-like texture and weren't sweet at all. Here's how we did it.... First Riley p...

More excuses...last week we were out of town for Spring Break and we had two friends along for the adventure. While I had planned the dinner, printed the menus, and purchased - and lugged - the ingredients with us, I did not fully understand what adding two more people to the table would mean in terms of time management and getting things from the kitchen to the table. So, I did not get many photos of the food before the hungry little kids dug in and began devouring everything on their plates. I guess that's a good thing...but not for my blogging. Soupe à la Noix de Coco Camerounaise (Cameroonian Coconut Soup) This is a traditional Cameroonian recipe for a soup of potatoes, onions and leek in a coconut base. I skipped the leeks but added carrots and celery; also, I left it chunky and skipped the blender. It was a hit. Everyone polished off their bowls and everyone asked for seconds. 3 diced carrots 3 sliced celery stalks 1 diced onion 6 cubed red potatoes ...