Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Though a cognate for what comes out of a bright yellow squeeze bottle, this relish has very little in common with that Easter egg-colored condiment.  Mostarda  is a chunky  agrodolce  (sour-sweet) sauce made with whatever fruit you have on hand and is a delicious topping for everything from cheese to roasted meats. Inspired by this passage in Crystal King's The Chef's Secret* , I added two different mostarde  to our Ab Ovo Usque Ad Mala Thanksgiving menu. "'The mostarda you probably know is made with all sorts of fruits, such as figs, raisins, and pears, but in Venezia the mostarda is made with quince, which you can't always find in Roma. Bartolomeo would always lament how much better the mostarda was in Venezia'" (pg. 153). I served the two different mostarde with three different game sausages. This quince-apple mostarda went nicely with the duck and the boar sausages while my cranberry-orange mostarda complemented the venison sausages r...

Though a cognate for what comes out of a bright yellow squeeze bottle, this relish has very little in common with that Easter egg-colored condiment. Mostarda  is a chunky agrodolce  (sour-sweet) sauce made with whatever fruit you have on hand and is a delicious topping for everything from cheese to roasted meats. I decided to use a combination of rhubarb and strawberry for my sweet-sour combo, though I don't typically like those together. The fennel, honey, strawberries, and carrot top greens came from our High Ground Organics CSA. Ingredients 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and diced 1 T crushed garlic 1 t brown mustard seeds splash of olive oil 2 T honey (I used the honey from Keith Kimes's Apiary) 4 T vinegar (I used a pomegranate vinegar) 1/2 C water 1 t ground mustard 1 t prepared yellow mustard 1 stalk of rhubarb, trimmed and sliced 1/2 C organic strawberries, hulled 2 T carrot top greens, triple-rinsed and rough chopped 2 pinches sea salt flakes P...

For the first course of Nonna's birthday Crème de la Crème dinner...we poured Holman Ranch 's 2012 Virgin Chardonnay. Click to read about the first time I tried the wine: The Magical Caves at Holman . I warmed two small brie rounds and one goat cheese brie in the oven.  For the larger round, I sliced it in half while cold, then I filled it with a Fennel-Cherry Mostarda . I heated it till soft to the touch. To serve, I spooned more of the mostarda over the top. As surprise tidbits, Riley served some of the mozzarella he had made with Nonna - more on that soon! - while he was home sick from school yesterday. He wanted it on crackers with a kalamata olive and a piece of basil leaf. And Dylan opened up a jar of his Pickled Green Tomatoes . This was the first time we've tried them. They were a fabulous part of our antipasto plate.

Though a cognate for what comes out of a bright yellow squeeze bottle, this relish has very little in common with that Easter egg-colored condiment. Mostarda is a chunky agrodolce (sour-sweet) sauce made with whatever fruit you have on hand and is a delicious topping for everything from cheese to roasted meats. 1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and diced 1 C morello cherries juice from 2 oranges 2 T raw organic honey 2 T vinegar (I used a cherry balsamic vinegar) 2 t water 1 t ground mustard 1 T brown mustard seeds 2 pinches sea salt flakes In a large flat-bottom pan, place all of the ingredients - except the salt flakes. Whisk in the ground mustard until completely dissolved. Simmer for 50-60 minutes, until the fennel is almost translucent and the sauce syrupy. To finish, season with salt. You'll be seeing this on top of warmed brie for the appetizer course of my mom's birthday dinner this week.

Though a cognate for what comes out of a bright yellow squeeze bottle, this relish has very little in common with that Easter egg-colored condiment. Mostarda is a chunky  agrodolce (sour-sweet) sauce made with whatever fruit you have on hand and is a delicious topping for everything from cheese to roasted meats. 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and diced 1 T crushed garlic juice and orange segments from 2 oranges 2 T raw organic honey 4 T vinegar 2 t water 1 t ground mustard 2 T carrot top greens, triple-rinsed and rough chopped 2 pinches sea salt flakes In a large flat-bottom pan, soften the garlic and fennel in a splash of olive oil. Once softened, add in the orange zest, orange juice, honey, vinegar, and water. Whisk in the ground mustard until completely dissolved. Simmer for 50-60 minutes, until the fennel is almost translucent and the sauce syrupy. To finish, stir in the carrot top greens and season with salt. You'll be seeing this tomorrow on my Easter cheese tr...