Culinary Adventures with Camilla

As we work on cutting back on carbs and eating more omega-3s, I whipped up a quick salmon dinner on this busy weeknight. Lay this on top of a bed of steamed lentils and you have a filling, healthy meal. Ingredients serves 4 1 to 1½ pounds salmon fillets (I prefer local, wild-caught) freshly ground black pepper juice from 1 organic lemon 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 1 T olive oil water Tapenade 2 C whole olives (I used a combination of Picholine and Niçoise) 3 t brined capers 1 t brine from the capers 3 to 4 anchovies, olive oil-packed 1 large clove of garlic, minced zest from 1 organic lemon juice from 1 organic lemon olive oil Procedure Sprinkle the salmon fillets with a little pepper and place them flat in the bottom of a rimmed pan. Pour in enough water to come up halfway on the fish and add the garlic. Bring to a simmer on medium heat. Cover and poach for 5 to 10 minutes. Length of cooking time will depend on the thickness of t...

Jake and I are celebrating 16 years of marriage tomorrow. Sweet sixteen. On one hand that feels like a lifetime; on the other, it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. In this past sixteen years, we've had two boys, lived in two states and five different houses, and juggled probably a dozen different jobs between us. We've traveled to Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona; we've visited Italy and Costa Rica. We've SCUBA'd, zip-lined, canoed, and tangoed. It's been an amazing adventure. But it's also been work. A lot of work. Don't let anyone tell you that marriage is easy. Maybe that is what makes the celebrations all the more sweet. So, why cheesecakes? you ask. Well, we had seven cheesecakes at our wedding instead of a traditional wedding cake. So, it seems a fitting way to commemorate the occasion. Last year I rallied some blogging friends to help me celebrate my 15th wedding anniversary. I was only ...

I received a special delivery of some voluptuous, sweet red onions from the organic garden at my boys' school this weekend; I decided to try and use not just the onions, but the greens. The onions you'll see in a different recipe, but for this savory pie, I trimmed to only use the turgid parts of the greens. I drizzled them in olive oil and roasted them in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Pastry 3/4 C orange juice 3/4 C olive oil 4 C white whole wheat flour 2 1/2 t baking powder Filling 2 C pitted, sliced black olives (avoid olives preserved in vinegar) 2 roasted onion tops, diced 1 roasted fennel, thinly sliced 1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese 4 T olive oil Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, mix all the pastry ingredients and knead to make a soft dough. Let stand while preparing filling. Mix olives, onion tops, fennel, and cheese. Toss with olive oil. Split dough in half and roll out each to 1/2 inch thick circle. Spoon the filling on...

I love Pi Day...almost as much as I love pie. And instead of last year when I only realized it on 3.14, I'm planning ahead. Looking for inspiration. What's your favorite pie? Here are some possibilities for my table on Pi Day... Savory Pies Seafood B'stilla Cypriot Olive Pie Sweet Pies Chocolate Silk Pie Apple Pie with Gingerbread Crumbles

We've made  Eliopitakia  (Cypriot olive pies) at home, but today I made them with a dozen 3rd through 5th graders. And they did an amazing job. Too bad I didn't get to try any! They feasted, then they asked if they could take some home. At the end of the class, there was nothing left for me to try. Must have been good. Thankfully my boys were up to v.2 and we made another one for dinner tonight at home! Pastry 3/4 C orange juice 3/4 C olive oil 4 C white whole wheat flour 2 1/2 t baking powder Filling 2 C pitted black olives (avoid olives preserved in vinegar) 1 onion, peeled and sliced 1 C fresh herbs, thinly sliced (we used Italian parsley and rosemary today) 4 T olive oil Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, mix all the pastry ingredients and knead to make a soft dough. Let stand while preparing filling. Caramelize onions. Mix olives and mint to onions and toss with olive oil. Split dough in half and roll out each to 1/2 i...

Having won a recipe contest through We Olive, I roped some friends into joining me and my family at the Paso Robles Olive Festival, an all-day celebration of all things olives. We sipped olive oils, bent olive branches into crowns, spooned olive jam onto olive oil crisps, slathered olive oil lotion onto sun-baked skin, and cooled off with olive oil ice cream – topped with balsamic vinegar. What we didn’t do, that I thought we would: taste olives. You know, the actual fruit. I envisioned tubs of green, almond-shaped cerignola ; slightly wrinkled, almost midnight gaeta olives; and the green picholine to the purplish liguria all swimming in their pools of delicious brine. It was an odd omission, considering the name of the festival – it’s not the Paso Robles Olive Oil Festival, after all – and it had me craving slightly salty, meaty olive morsels. But I thoroughly enjoyed the day, surrounded by olive growers, their delicious products, and some...

Eliopitakia (olive pies from Cyprus) are typically hand-sized. But D, kitchen elf o' the day, decided that he wanted one big pie...and he wanted it to read 'Mann' and have a heart on it. Okay!    Ingredients Pastry 3/4 C orange juice 3/4 C olive oil 4 C white whole wheat flour 2 1/2 t baking powder Filling 2 C pitted black olives (avoid olives preserved in vinegar) 3-4 pearl onions, peeled and sliced 1 C fresh mint, thinly sliced 4 T olive oil Procedure Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium bowl, mix all the pastry ingredients and knead to make a soft dough. Let stand while preparing filling. Caramelize onions. Mix olives and mint to onions and toss with olive oil. Split dough in half and roll out each to 1/2 inch thick circle. Spoon the filling onto one of the circles, lay the other circle on top. Press the edges to seal tightly. And pinch together to make a design.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 4...