Culinary Adventures with Camilla

One afternoon last week Jake came home with some treats for me: a bunch of peonies and a bag full of Meyer lemons. Sweet! Yep, the man certainly knows the way to my heart: flowers and food. I promised to make him his favorite lemon curd, but wanted to try something new as well. So, I started with this Lemon Marmalade recipe from BBC's Good Food . Ingredients 10 organic Meyer lemons 8 C water 3 C organic granulated sugar 4 whole cardamom pods Procedure Wash the lemons and place them in a large stock pot covered with 8 C of water.  Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and simmer for 2½ hrs or until the lemon skins are tender and can be pierced easily with a toothpick. When the lemons are cool enough to handle (I let mine steep overnight), remove from the saucepan.  Halve the lemons and remove the seeds – reserving the seeds and any juice that comes out during the process. Cut the lemon peel and flesh into thin strips. Put all of this, incl...

I have made carrot marmalade before. And when I saw the purple carrots in my High Ground Organics CSA box last week, I knew that I wanted to make a purple carrot marmalade for Food Revolution Day . I am urging people to Eat a Rainbow after all. Ingredients 1 whole vanilla pod, split down the middle 4 cardamom pods, crushed 1/4 C maple syrup 1/2 C organic dark brown sugar 10 carrots, scrubbed and shredded (I had 6 purple, so I added 4 orange) 4 C water 1 T ginger juice Procedure To make the marmalade, place the vanilla, cardamom, maple syrup, water, ginger juice and sugar into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add in the carrots, bring to a boil again. Continue to cook, stirring the jam constantly, for about 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, hold the jam at a constant simmer, checking frequently to make sure the jam isn’t scorched at the bottom of the pot. After 15 more minutes, check to see if your jam has set by running a w...

For the first course of our Easter feast, I served some brie toasts smeared with carrot marmalade . Bread + Brie + Carrot Marmalade

Looking for something to do with my carrot marmalade, I decided to make thumbprint cookies for tomorrow. 3/4 C butter, at room temperature 3/4 C organic granulated sugar 2 egg yolks 2 C white whole wheat flour 1/2 C ground almonds zest and juice from one blood orange Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in the egg yolks until incorporated. Stir in the flour and ground almonds until a flaky dough is formed. Add in the zest and juice, gently working the dough until it forms a ball. Pinch off pieces of dough and form into small balls, about the size of a walnut in its shell. Place each ball onto the baking stone or baking sheet, pressing a "thumbprint" into the center of each and slightly flattening. (The cookies will not spread, so make them the size that you want!) Add about 1/2 t to 1 t of whatever jam or jelly you have on hand to each thumbprint and bake until golden brown, about 20 min...

I was inspired to make some carrot marmalade because tomorrow is Easter. You know...Easter...bunny...carrots...sweet. Well, that's how my brain works anyway. I found carrot marmalade recipes that included brandy, lemon juice, and even bitter almonds. I decided to make a version that used a whole vanilla pod, four cardamom pods, saffron liqueur, and a handful of the carrot top greens. Don't toss those greens, they are herbaceous and nutritious...just be sure you rinse out all of the dirt! Ingredients 1 whole vanilla pod, split down the middle 4 cardamom pods, crushed 1/4 C raw organic honey 1/2 C organic raw sugar 10 carrots, scrubbed and shredded 4 C water 1 handful of carrot top greens, triple-rinsed and rough chopped 2 T saffron liqueur (substitute brandy, if you wish) Procedure To make the jam, place the vanilla, cardamom, honey, water, and sugar into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add in the carrots, bring to a boil again. Cont...

This is my first month participating in Taste and Create . The recipe of hers that I picked for inspiration - Honey Orange Pork Tenderloin - would have been easier if I remembered to bring orange marmalade. I was making this while we were out of town last week. Instead of going to the store, which certainly was an option, I decided to make some marmalade with the citrus I had: pink grapefruit. 1/2 C grapefruit marmalade (thinly sliced grapefruit, organic granulated sugar, and water) 3 T pear vinegar 3 T soy sauce 1 1/2 T minced fresh garlic 1 1/2 t organic raw honey 2 T olive oil 1 lb pork tenderloin freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper Preheat oven to 350°. Combine first 5 ingredients, whisking well and reserving 2 T marmalade mixture for later. Heat an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and swirl to coat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add pork to pan; cook 5 minutes or until nicely browned on all sides. Brush with 1/4...

When my two pounds of organic cacao nibs arrived yesterday, I began to search for unique ways to use them. I stumbled across a recipe for a shallot-beer marmalade , brain-child of former Chez Panisse pastry chef David Lebovitz. And, thus, begins my culinary adventures with cacao. Of course I can't leave well-enough alone and had to do my usual tweaking. He uses prunes which I will happily skip. And I'll add what Dylan calls "those salty little beans." 8 large shallots, peeled and sliced 2 T olive oil big pinch of smoked sea salt a few turns of freshly-cracked black pepper 1/2 C beer (I used a Mission St. Brown Ale) 1/2 C organic granulated sugar 2 T unsulphered molasses 3 T balsamic vinegar 8 calimyrna figs, destemmed and quartered 2 T capers 1 heaping T organic raw cacao nibs In a medium-sized heavy-duty skillet or saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the shallots over moderate heat with a pinch of salt and pepper, stirring frequently, until they’re soft and wil...

I've had the Simply Quince cookbook by Barbara Ghazarian for years and never had a great source for this exotically fragrant fruit...until today. When we were having dinner at some friends' house, Dylan waltzed in with his hands full of quince. I have never been so excited about a fruit. And that's saying something. So we hauled a wagon out to the tree and loaded it up. I hadn't planned to do anything with them tonight, but all the way home, the sweet scent was intoxicating. I was inspired. I flipped through the cookbook and settled on a simple quince marmalde. The book explains that marmalades originated in Portugal where cooks added citrus peel sto a quince base. I cannot wait to break into one of these jars tomorrow morning. 3 C water 2 C organic granulated sugar 6 C fresh quince (peeled, cored, and grated) juice from 3 key limes 1 t pure vanilla extract Put the water and sugar into a large heavy-bottomed pan. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Add quin...