Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Petit Piton refers to two different things on Saint Lucia: a mountain and a national dish. I don't quite get the connection, but I'm going with it. Petit Piton is one of two mountains overlooking Soufrière Bay in southwestern Saint Lucia. It lies towards the middle of the bay, south of Soufrière, north of the larger mountain Gros Piton in the Piton Mitan Ridge. Petit Piton measures 2461 ft tall while Gros Piton is larger by about 150 ft. As for the national dish...it's basically a stir-fry with some herbs and brightened by a squeeze of citrus before serving. The recipes I found specified "meat, potatoes, and mixed vegetables." I used what I had - carrots, green beans, asparagus, and cabbage. 1 lb ground meat (I used ground turkey) 1 onion, peeled and diced 2 T butter splash of olive oil 2 carrots, chopped 2 C asparagus, chopped 1 C green beans, chopped 1/2 C shredded green cabbage 4 potatoes, diced 1/2 C freshly chopped parsley 1 T marjo...

 Bol Renverse (translated as Upside Down Bowl) is a popular Mauritian dish with Chinese roots. It's really versatile. You can add any vegetables you want and you can use any meat that you want. I found recipes that used cabbage; I had chard. And the boys were reading about the religious breakdown of Mauritius and noted that Hindus don't eat beef while Muslims don't eat pork. So, we went with chicken. 2 C cooked sticky rice 3 chicken thighs, deboned, deskinned, and thinly sliced 1 Spring onion, trimmed and thinly sliced 4-5 shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced 1 bunch of chard, thinly sliced 3 carrots, cut into coins 1 egg per person Cooking: (1) Make a stir-fry with all of the ingredients except the rice and eggs. Season with soy sauce and thicken, if desired, with a little bit of flour or cornstarch. (2) Beat the eggs with a splash of water or milk and cook into a flat omelette. Now here's the fun part: assembling your bol... 1. In a small serving bowl, l...

It's my turn to host  The Food Matters Project  once again. This dish - inspired by Mark Bittman's Stir-fried Fennel with Grapefruit and Shrimp - is pulling triple duty as my Food Matters post, a post for #BrunchWeek, and a wrap-up of my adventures in cooking with flowers for the book review I did for Quirk Books of Cooking with Flowers  by Miche Baker of  Mali B Sweets . Well, my review was done, but I still had flowers to use. So, the orchid-addition is more gratuitous than anything else, but they are pretty and they do actually taste good. Still, they won't make or break this stir-fry; feel free to skip them. I also added dandelion greens because I had them leftover from my CSA box from Fogline Farm . I never miss the chance to add a handful of nutrient-rich greens to our food. Another quick note, whenever I buy seafood - which is multiple times per week - I try to be diligent about making sustainable choices. Here's what the Seafood Watch told me about sh...

I'm so excited to be kicking off #BrunchWeek with this gorgeous, delicious dish - inspired by Mark Bittman's Stir-fried Fennel with Grapefruit and Shrimp. This dish comes together quickly, looks gorgeous, and tastes fantastic. It'd be a wonderful addition to any Mothers' Day brunch array or a summer picnic because it's just as good chilled as it is fresh out of the pan. It is pulling triple duty as a post for #BrunchWeek,   my Food Matters post , and a wrap-up of my adventures in cooking with flowers for the  book review I did for Quirk Books  of  Cooking with Flowers  by Miche Baker of  Mali B Sweets . Well, my review was done, but I still had flowers to use. So, the orchid-addition is more gratuitous than anything else, but they are pretty and they  do  actually taste good. Still, they won't make or break this stir-fry; feel free to skip them. I also added dandelion greens because I had them leftover from my CSA box from  F...