Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Some background about Dylan and his fear of crocodiles... it's my fault. We watch too many nature documentaries. A couple of years ago we all went to Costa Rica for Fall Break and to celebrate my parents' birthdays. One of the days, we headed toward the Pacific side and there was a bridge with crocs down below. We (the adults) thought it would be neat to walk across it. If you look closely at the body language - Riley was interested in viewing the crocodiles down below; Dylan wanted nothing more than to cross that bridge and get back in the vehicle. Dylan was the only one of us that recognized the site as the exact spot we had seen on one of our documentaries about the giant crocs. He was terrified. Whoops. Parental fail: traumatizing your kid by watching something educational. These creatures do look pretty menacing, don't they? Needless to say, he wasn't interested in finding out how someone could get close enough to catch one, much less eat one. ...

We're into the Ns in our  Cooking Around the World Adventure , as we take advantage of longer summer evenings and lack of homework and a schedule. I held off cooking this for a few days because, frankly, 'grilled bush meat' wasn't high on my to-try list nor was 'neck of mutton' or 'ostrich carpaccio.' I figured that crocodile meat was off the list as possible anyhow. And I was feeling too lazy to head off in search of ostrich meat. I know that I can find it; I just hadn't had the time. Country:  Namibia . Fun Facts : Namibia is the second least densely populated country on earth - after Mongolia. There are just over two million people living in a country which is half the size of Alaska. The Namib desert, at 80 million years, is the world’s oldest desert. Namib means “open space”. Fish River Canyon, , formed about 500 million years ago, is the second largest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon – it is 100 miles long, up...

On Sunday we went to a Bastille Day party where - to our delight - everyone was prompt and all of the food was amazing! Grandpa Pete brought what he called Lava Dogs. They were delicious. But he wouldn't reveal his secret recipe, so I put out a call for the recipe . So when he came into the office today, I asked him again. Though he hemmed and hawed for a little bit, he finally revealed his secret recipe: equal parts mustard and jelly. That's it. For the large batch that he did for the Bastille Day party, it was: 3 jars of French's yellow mustard 2 jars of Welch's grape jelly 1 jar of jalapeno jelly All cooked together in a large saucepan, until completely liquidy. Then poured over the mini dogs in a crock pot and simmered for 3 hours. I remember my mom making meatballs in a ketchup + jelly mixture. Maybe that was a 70s thing. Odd...but delicious.

Another trip to the farmers' market this Sunday morning inspired me to make some more jam. This time with apricots. I wanted to change it up, so I added a dash of ground curry powder and some of my friend's homemade apricot liqueur. The boys declared it my best jam ever ! Apricot-Curry Jam 10 C pitted, halved apricots 1 C organic granulated sugar 1/4 C water 2 T homemade apricot liqueur 1 t pure vanilla extract 1/2 t ground curry powder 1/4 t ground cardamom 2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice Wash, dry, and chop your fruit. Cook your jam. To make the jam, place the fruit, liqueur, water, vanilla extract, and sugar into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue to cook, stirring the jam constantly, for about 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in your spices. Hold the jam at a constant simmer, checking frequently to make sure the jam isn’t scorched at the bottom of the pot. After 15 minutes, check to see if your jam has set by ...

On Sunday we went to a Bastille Day party where - to our delight - everyone was prompt and all of the food was amazing! We were asked to bring an appetizer to share. I brought an onion galette and some wine. Grandpa Pete brought what he called Lava Dogs. They were delicious. All I could get out of him was that it involved mustard and (some kind) of jam...and that he had to drive to several different stores to find 100% beef mini dogs. So, I'm putting this out there, dear readers, does anyone have a recipe that sounds vaguely like this: hot dogs in a sweet, spicy mustard sauce? I'd be eternally grateful. Please. Pretty please. Or I'll just have to go harangue Grandpa Pete for the recipe.

Frittata, in Italy, is usually a Sunday dinner kinda thing  that uses up all the leftovers from the week. And since it's almost CSA delivery day again, I whipped up a veggie frittata for a post fossil-hunting picnic. 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced 2 C collard greens, chiffonaded and blanched 6 carrots, sliced into thin coins 1 zucchini or yellow summer squash, julienned 2 T fresh basil freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper 8 eggs splash of milk 1/2 C shredded parmesan Butter your baking dish and layer in your veggies. Sprinkle with cheese. Top with eggs beaten with milk. Sprinkle with freshly ground sea salt and pepper.  Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. Uncover and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Let cool slightly. Cut into squares and serve warm or cold.

Use the Sweet Focaccia Dough: here . Then press slices of plum into the top of the dough. Sprinkle with organic granulated sugar. Put the dough in the warm place until it has doubled in size again, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising a second time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Generously sprinkle the top of the focaccia with some more sugar and lightly drizzle a little more olive oil on top. Bake the dough until the top of the loaf is golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let it cool before cutting and serving. *Update 7/26/2013: Adding this recipe to Close to Home's  Friday Food Frenzy .*