Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Our grilling adventures have not been limited to the savories. The other night we grilled some apricots for dessert, serving them with some organic blackberry ice cream and a raspberry beer. To grill the apricots, I halved and pitted them, rubbed them with butter, sprinkled them with cinnamon, ginger, and raw sugar. Jacob tossed them on the grill just enough to caramelize the topping and soften the fruit.

Because I love to create a colorful plate, I gravitate towards vibrantly hued foods - rich golden beets, purple potatoes, dark leafy greens. I recently discovered red quinoa at the grocery store and it's been a staple in my shopping cart ever since. The Incas held the crop to be sacred, referring to quinoa as 'chisaya mama', or 'mother of all grains.' It's definitely a Mann-family favorite; we love it. I make a simple pilaf with my quinoa, tossing in nuts of some kind and a dash of sea salt and a splash of olive oil. This pilaf had toasted, but unsalted, pistachios for a lovely red and green addition to my plates.

Who knew that the only thing I had to do to get Jacob to cook dinner was to get the man a grill?!? Had I known that, I would have done it years ago. He's been on a roll! We're making our way through "The Art of the Grill" as well as experimenting because, as we all know, I can't follow a recipe to save my life. Here's our Espresso-Salt Filet Mignon...a nice cut of meat in a dry rub of finely ground, dark roasted coffee, sea salt, and ground pink peppercorns. Cooked to medium rare and served with some grilled calcot onions and rosemary potatoes. Wow!

Delicious with plain couscous or as a condiment on Middle Eastern flatbread! And so easy to make... Butter, 12 ripe tomatoes, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, rosewater, honey, and black sesame seeds. Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat. Add tomatoes, salt, spices, and rosewater. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer until most of the moisture has evaporated, about 40 minutes. Add the honey, mix well and cook for another 15 minutes. Stir in sesame seeds. Store in a sterlized jar for up to one week.

Use whatever seafood you have - make sustainable choices, please! For this b'stilla I used Pink Shrimp (wild-caught, from Oregon), Bay Scallops (farmed), Mussels (farmed), Pacific Cod (longline-caught, from Alaska), Squid, and Shrimp. Saute onions, garlic, mushrooms with the seafood, except the shrimp. Season with lemon juice, salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin. When seafood is almost cooked, add fresh, rough-chopped taragon. Layer six sheets of phyllo dough is a large sauce pan. Fill the dish with the seafood mixture, drained of its sauce. Fold the overhanging pastry towards the middle and cover with a second layer of filling. Cover with the remaining pastry sheets and form a seam by folding the pastry over the edges and tucking inside the rim of the dish. Seal the seam with egg yolk. Overturn the pie onto a flat baking dish. Brush with melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees till the phyllo dough is browned and crisp, probably about 35 minutes. In the meantime, marinate large...

This is so easy and so delicious. Just be sure to give yourself enough lead time if they're for a specific dinner; they need to be in the jar for at least three weeks. Wash the lemons well. You can use any lemons, I suppose, but I always use Meyer lemons because the rinds are softers and lemons have more juice. Cut the lemons into quarters, leaving the attached only at the stem end. Pack the cuts generously with salt. Put a couple of tablespoons of salt in the bottom of a jar and pack the lemons in layers, sprinkling a thin layer of salt between each layer of lemons. Push the lemons down firmly to pack them tightly and to help express some of their juice. Add a bay leaf, or two, a few whole cloves. Cover them with water. Finish with a layer of olive oil. Cover the jar tightly. Leave at room temperature, in the dark, for at least three weeks.

Since it's Jacob's birthday, I asked him to pick the culinary adventure for this month. He opted for Moroccan. On the menu... Flatbread with Tomato Jam, Roasted Spiced Eggplant Puree, and Spiced Butternut Squash Puree Seafood B'stilla Vegetable Couscous Lamb with Zucchini and Fresh Mint Honey Wheat Pudding Recipes and photos coming. It was a hit! Brian, Pia, Jenn, and Mike were debating whether or not this trumped January's South African foray to earn the distinction of 'best dinner of the year'.