Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month the World Wine Travel writers are taking a virtual trip to New Zealand's North Island. Linda of My Full Wine Glass is hosting. You can read her invitation here . All of these posts will be live between Friday, October 21st and Saturday, October 22nd. Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm: A Fun Halloween Birthday Feast featuring Supernatural Spook Light Pinot Gris Orange Wine Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla: 3 x 3: Triple Porcini'd Polenta + a Three Grape Red Blend from Gisborne Nicole on Somm's Table : “Cooking to the Wine: Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay with Roasted Sheet Pan Chicken and Vegetables” Susannah at Avvinare : “Taking a Look At Waiheke Island Wines” Linda at My Full Wine Glass : “Two Hawke's Bay whites for virtual visit to NZ North Island” I myself had never really explore the North Island and was excited to find a red wine from Gisborne. It might be pretty difficult to read the text in that graphic from winetourism.com. Sorry. Basi...

This really doesn't qualify as a recipe, but it qualifies as a quick and tasty meal. And I know we could all use a few more dishes like that in our repertoire. So, I'm sharing it. It's flexible. Feel free to swap out for whatever pasta, greens, and mushrooms you have in your kitchen.  A quick note: I love porcini mushrooms because they add the heft of meat to a vegetarian dish. And D actually did ask tonight, "what kind of meat is this?" Ingredients pasta 1 bunch lacinto kale, chiffonaded 1 C dried porcini mushrooms 1 onion, peeled and diced olive oil fleur de sel 1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice Procedure Reconstitute your dried mushrooms according to the package. I just soaked mine in hot water for 30 minutes. Reserve the soaking liquid and and use it in your pasta-cooking water. Chop the mushrooms. Cook the pasta in the mushroom water and more, if needed. In a large flat bottom pan cook saute the onions in a splash of olive oi...

What do you do when you have leftover waffles? Make a bread pudding, of course! At least that's what I do. So when my friend made a barnyard-full of buttermilk waffles at her ranch during our mothers' day weekend, I tucked the leftovers into a container and took them home. Tonight, those became the main ingredient in our dinner, a savory bread pudding full of mushrooms, tomatoes, and herbs. Delicious and so, so easy! Here's the basic formula to adapt with whatever you have on hand: leftover bread, veggies, herbs, and enough beaten eggs to moisten the bread. I used: 3 C cubed leftover waffles; 1 C sliced mushrooms; 1/2 C diced tomatoes or tomato sauce; 2 T fresh dill, minced; 1 T fresh garlic, minced; 3 eggs, beaten; and freshly ground pink Himalaya salt and flower pepper. Mix all of the ingredients well until the bread is completely moistened. Press that into a buttered baking dish. Top with shredded parmesan cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven until the ...