Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I love the idea behind the Crazy Ingredient Challenge (CIC). In the CIC, we are assigned two ingredients to cook and create. Lori of  Lori's Culinary Creations   and Kelly of  Passion Kneaded are our fearless leaders. So, here goes... August's Crazy In gredient Challenge = chili powder and honey Ingredients Lamb 1 rack of lamb splash of olive oil freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper 1 T crushed garlic Glaze ½ C olive oil 1 ½ C chopped yellow onion (approximately 1 large onion) ½ C tomato paste ½ C orange marmalade 1 C balsamic vinegar 1 C organic, raw honey ½ C Worcestershire sauce 1 C Dijon mustard ½ C  tamari 1 C  hoisin sauce 2 T chili powder 1 T ground cumin 2 crushed tepin chiles Procedure Lamb Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add crushed garlic and sear rack of lamb for 1 to 2 minutes on all sides. Set aside for a few minutes. Arrange the rack bone s...

This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking from Julie of White Lights on Wednesday 's pick: Emeril Lagasse's Kicked Up Sandwiches .   This post contains an amazon affiliate link at the bottom - for the book. Our three choices this month were for Almond-Poppy Seed Pound Cake with Lemon Neufchâtel, Turkey Waldorf Sandwich, or Beef Shwarma with Tzatziki Sauce. And, yes, I did pick the latter because of Julie's note: "Who doesn’t want to know what Shwarma is after seeing The Avengers? "  I actually didn't remember the Shwarma reference...from the one time I saw the movie. But my boys - all three of them - were happy to oblige and watch it with me; it was the first time our little one has been allowed to see a PG-13 movie. Gasp! He was so excited...he's ten-and-a-half. I found this still of the Avengers eating shwarma...from the extras of the DVD; we had watch...

from amazon.com This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food .  This post contains an amazon affiliate link at the bottom - for the book. Our three choices this month were for skirt steak, Tres Amigos, and eggplant parmesan. I opted for the second one! Sort of. I have to be honest, I am not good at translating two dimensions (words) into three dimensions (real-life). So, I cannot even imagine what this dish was supposed to look like! Sorry. I'm thinking some kind of rosette: a scallop wrapped in petals of salmon and halibut. In any case, I say that I 'sort of' made it because I skipped the halibut completely and used some fresh gravlax as the salmon part. And, as for my name - Seafood Kisses 'n' Hugs - I thought the scallops looked liked 'O's and I formed the gravlax into 'X's. Love...xoxo...get it? ...

This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking from Julie's pick. Julie blogs at White Lights on Wednesday  and chose a cookbook I've never heard of. So, I was excited to get cooking from it. Julie picked Michael Symon's 5 in 5 cookbook . 5 fresh ingredients + 5 minutes = 120 fantastic dinners. Okay. We had the option to cook his Angel Hair with Corn, Feta & Tomato, Grilled Salmon & Avocado Salad, or Spicy 50/50 Burger. The 5 in 5 is an interesting concept albeit a little deceptive...in my opinion. Maybe it took me 5 minutes to blend the meat mixutre. It definitely took longer than 5 minutes to cook the patties; I don't like to undercook meat. So, while I like the 5 minute idea. It wasn't a reality. Still, the flavors were delicious and dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes is great! I made a few changes: I used a lower fat percentage beef, swapped out fo...

This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking from Erin's pick. Erin blogs at The Spiffy Cookie  and chose a cookbook I've actually reviewed for the publisher:  Breakfast for Dinner  by Lindsay Landis and Taylor Hackbarth, the authors of the Love & Olive Oil blog . Here's my review with three dishes , including Grapefruit-Barley Risotto, Grapefruit-Rosemary Risotto, and Earl Grey Panna Cotta. I was tickled that Erin picked three dishes for Pass the Cookbook that I didn't make earlier. Awesome. We could choose from: Breakfast Sausage Ravioli, Italian-Style Stuffed French Toast, and Lemon Poppy Seed Thumbprints. I opted for the savory French toast as a starting point. I subbed in feta cheese and used greens from our High Ground Organics CSA. This was a delicious dinner! makes 6-8 slices Ingredients For the filling splash of olive oil 2 green garl...

This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking from Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans by Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker. The cookbook was intended to connect people who lost their favorite family recipes when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. The recipes are assembled from local papers that people had clipped and saved throughout the years. After the hurricane, people were hunting for their saved recipes, submitted comments and questions, and other readers did their best to match up the recipes. This book is a collection of some of those. For that reason alone, it is an amazing publication.  As always in this group, we had the choice of three recipes. Our selections this round: Chicken-Sausage Jambalaya, Crawfish in Saffon Cream, or Bananas Foster Pie. I decided to adapt the crawfish option, making a Sea...

This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking from Christiane's pick. Christiane blogs at  The Mom Chef: Taking on Magazines   and chose Sheila Lukins, Julee Rosso, and Sarah Leah Chase's   Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook   for this month. As always, we had the choice of three recipes. Our choices this round: Seafood Lasagna, White Chocolate Mousse with Frangelico, and Vegetable Pot Pie. I thought about making combining two of our choices into seafood pot pies, but went with the lasagna. Even though I just made Lasagna alla Puttanesca for our last Pass the Cookbook reveal, in November, I decided to venture down the lasagna path again because this one: (1) involves seafood and (2) includes an anise-flavored liqueur. Ummm...yum. I'm always in when ouzo, sambuca, or their cousins are involved. The original recipe calls for Pernod. I had St. George absint...

This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking from Mario Batali's Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking . As always, we had the choice of three recipes. Our choices:  Broiled Pumpkin with Apples , Ricotta Copetta, and Penne alla Puttanesca . While the sound of all three made my mouth water, I opted to do a riff on the penne, whipping up a lasagna version of the dish. Given the history of the dish - I'll get to that in a moment - I could call this 'Ladies of the Evening Lasagna.' Now to the history. I've heard a few different versions; the last one is the one I've heard the most...and the one I heard when I lived in Italy. Pick the explanation that you like the best! To begin  puttana is Italian for prostitute. Whore. Slut. It's not a nice word. One explanation of how the dish got its moniker claims that at the end of the evening's business, the prostitutes would beg...

www.sunnyanderson.com It's  Pass the Cookbook  time again...this was all started by Kita, the culinary force   Pass the Sushi blog . This month we had the option of cooking one of three recipes from Sunny's Kitchen: Easy Food for Real Life by Sunny Anderson : Loaded Puff Pastry Sticky Buns, Spicy Macaroni and Cheese, and - the recipe I decided to adapt - Honey BBQ Short Ribs. Here's my... Spiced Ginger Short Ribs Ingredients: 1/4 cup sweet paprika 1 T smoked paprika 1 T garlic powder 1 T freshly ground pink Himalaya salt 1/2 t cumin 1 crushed tepin chile pepper freshly ground black pepper 3 pounds bone-in short ribs 1/2 C ginger syrup Directions : Combine the paprikas, garlic powder, salt, cumin, tepin pepper, and a few grinds of black pepper in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over the short ribs and let rest for no longer than 2 hours at room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 275°F. In an ...

It's  Pass the Cookbook  time again...this was all started by Kita, the culinary force  Pass the Sushi blog . This month we had the option of cooking one of three recipes from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook  by Deb Perelman - Cheddar Swirl Breakfast Buns, Tomato Scallion Shortcakes with Whipped Goat Cheese, or S'mores Layer Cake. I opted to do a twist on her shortcakes; goat cheese is verboten. Bleu is fine, sheeps' milk is fine. But I use goat cheese and they wrinkle their little noses with disdain. I'll expand their palates eventually. For now, I'll respect their 'no goat' preference. Ugly Tomato-Scallion Shortcakes with Parmesan Cream Adapted from Deb Perelman's The Smitten Kitchen For these, I opted to make drop biscuits - instead of rolled - and swapped out the whipping cream for a heartier sour cream. All three boys have this a thumbs up! Success. Biscuits: 2 C + 2 T white whole wheat flour (plus some for dusting) 2 T bak...