Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Today we are heading into the third month of the Kitchen Matrix Project, after Mark Bittman's  Kitchen Matrix  cookbook. You can read about it:  here . This month, I picked the recipes for the month am I'm very excited about the dishes and the bloggers who are joining me. This week, I picked 'Quick Stocks + 9 Ways' for the group. If you don't have the cookbook, Bittman's quick stock recipes are available online at the New York Times: here . An InLinkz Link-up Don't get me wrong, I still love the three-day stock I make with beef bones for my homemade pho, but I am thrilled to have an option that can add depth to a dish in the length of time it takes to bring a pot to boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Bittman's guidelines say to use a pound of fresh mushrooms and a few dried ones. I used fresh shiitakes, dried candy caps, and added onions and carrots. This was quick and delicious. And, I chopped up the mushrooms, etc. and folded...

It's time for Fish Friday Foodies' October event. We are a group of seafood-loving bloggers, rallied by Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm , to   share fish and seafood recipes on the third Friday of the month.  This month, Caroline of  Caroline's Cooking  is  hosting. Here was her challenge to the group: " As fall is upon us and winter all too soon, let's create some pasta dishes with fish and seafood. Whether it's a quick midweek meal for a busy school day or a comforting weekend feast, pair together your favorites." As I was researching possibilities, I came across fideuà which is essentially paella made with pasta instead of rice. Then I came across a  Fideuà Negra and I was sold. I am more than a little enamored with anything that includes cuttlefish ink! Oh, about the name - fideuà is usually made with short lengths of dry pasta called fideus . Since I couldn't find any of that, I opted for some gluten-free spaghetti noodles...

Here we are at April's #thebookclubcookbookCC event. It's hard to believe that we only have three more months in this year-long journey to explore - and cook from -  The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors  by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp.* Judy, Vicki, and their publisher,  Tarcher-Penguin ,  have provided the hosting bloggers with copies of the book plus copies to giveaway each month of the project. Woohoo. Incredibly generous. This month Sarah at  Things I Make (for Dinner)  has selected  Girl With a Pearl Earring  by Tracy Chevalier.** Click to read  Sarah's invitation . She shared the recipe for Griet's Vegetable Soup, but invited us to find inspiration in any of the pages. On the Page... While the boys were playing around the lake during our week in Tahoe earlier in the month, I stayed by the fire and finished this book in one sitti...

There was no question in my mind what I was going to do with my homemade crabshell stock : risotto! And since risotto is always my "use-whatever-you-have" kinda dinner, I had an onion, fresh shitake mushrooms, and purple cabbage. Feel free to use whatever you have in your fridge. Be creative! Ingredients  makes 8 servings 1 onion, peeled and diced 2 T butter splash of olive oil 2 C sliced fresh shitake mushrooms 1 C sliced purple cabbage 2 C arborio rice 1 C Jade pearl rice* 6 C  homemade crabshell stock  (or whatever stock you have on hand) 2 C boiling water 8 oz marscarpone cream juice from 1 lemon roasted lobster (I used 1/2 tail per person for topping the risotto) fleur de sel freshly ground pepper *I didn't have enough arborio rice on hand, so I supplemented with Jade pearl rice. This is flexible. You can make it with rice or even barley! Procedure Bring your stock and water to a boil. Then reduce it to a simmer and keep it on a burner...

Do you make stock with your poultry carcasses? I do! So, after I cleaned our bounty of crab , I decided to make a seafood stock with the shells. This recipe is flexible. Use whatever vegetables you have on hand. I had carrots, an onion, kale stems, and herbs. Just know that if you use too many greens, your stock will have a verdant hue. Ingredients crab remnants 1 onion, quartered 3 carrots + carrot greens 1 bunch kale stems handful of fresh herbs water Procedure Place all of the ingredients in a large soup pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Gently simmer the mixture on low for 10 to 12 hours, skimming off any foam as needed. Remove stockpot from heat and let cool for 1 hour. Strain stock and transfer to mason jars. I used this in a risotto and topped it with roasted lobster . Delicious.