Frango con Creme de Milho

As you can see, my interest in Brazilian food continues. And there is so much to be interested in! The food, like the culture, is very diverse. But one delicacy that shows up time and again is deep-fried food, something that appears in every culture, it seems, from Chinese to Italian.

This particular recipe turned up on both my Face Book and Twitter accounts from a Brazilian recipe site that has the best food pics around. They also do a lot of simple recipes that can be put together in minutes as well as a few more involved ones such as this is.

I did take liberties with the recipe, something I generally will never do until I've made per the instructions. I detest canned corn! I usually freeze corn every year and if I don't, I use only good quality frozen corn, something that is not too hard to come by. In every other way, I followed the recipe as if it were handed down from God himself. That being said, there are a few ways I will change the next time I make it.

The recipe calls for chicken breast, a cut which I think must be chosen for dishes that will be cooked quickly as it dries out in an instant. Since you want to make sure the filling is heated through completely, you must leave the fritter in the oil long enough for the heat to penetrate. Unfortunately, this can mean that the outer coating of white meat will get a little too dry.

On that account, I think I will use thigh meat the next time or perhaps experiment with ground turkey.

The other thing I may change will be to add some cheese to the sauce.

Also, the original recipe calls for molds for the filling. I just used regular muffin tin molds.

I hope you get around to make this.

Chicken Fritters with Cream of Corn

ingredients


½ cup milk
1 can of corn with water
1 tbsp butter
½ onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon flour
salt and chopped parsley to taste
2 pounds chicken breast, diced and then briefly pulsed in the food processor, seasoned with salt and pepper
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups coarsely crushed corn flakes


Creamed corn

1 - In a blender put ½ cup of milk and a can of corn with water and mix quickly (or function "pulse") leaving a few pieces of corn. Reserve.

2 - Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a pan and saute
chopped onion until soft. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and cook for 1 minute.

3 - Add the reserved corn mixture and cook until slightly thickened. Season with salt and chopped parsley to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

Assembly

4 - Take small patty molds coated with oil, line the bottom and sides with finely chopped chicken breast. In the center of the pan place the creamed corn and cover with a layer of chopped chicken breast. Place in freezer for 30 minutes to firm.


5 - Remove the chicken from the freezer molds, unmold and dip into eggwash and then in crushed cornflakes. Fry in hot oil until golden. Remove and drain on absorbent paper. Serve at once.

Season for Soup

More and more I see that the markets are starting to carry Black Tuscan Kale. If you don't see it with the regular kale, check in the organic produce section which is where they have it at Andy's in Sebastopol, CA.

If you happen to have a vegetable garden, try growing some of this. It does quite well here in Northern California where we've planted it in the Fall with very good results.

The first recipe on the last show uses this in a classic Northern Italian soup called Ribollita. But if you can't get your hands on black tuscan kale, you can certainly use the regular kale instead. I might add that this freezes beautifully.

Ribollita

8 ounces dried cannellini beans
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 pound pancetta, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
8 cloves garlic, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1 dried Calabrian hot chili pepper or dried chili flakes to taste
1-28-Ounce can tomatoes and their liquid, chopped
1 small head savoy or regular white cabbage, chopped
2 bunches of kale (preferably Tuscan black), chopped
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups stale bread, crusts removed

Use one of two methods to cook the beans. Either soak them in water overnight, drain, cook in fresh water adding salt to taste only after tender or
Bring to boil in a large pot. Let boil for two minutes, turn off heat, cover, let sit for 1 hour, drain and proceed as in above with fresh water.
In a large pot, saute onions and pancetta in the oil until onions are translucent. Add carrots, celery, garlic, chili and a little sprinkling of salt and saute until vegetables are tender.
Add tomatoes, cabbage and kale and simmer, stirring, for 10 minutes.
Drain the beans, reserving their cooking liquid. Puree half the beans with some of their liquid and add to soup with the remaining whole beans.
Add stock and enough of the liquid from the beans to equal 8 cups.
Bring to boil and reduce to simmer and continue to cook for 20 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste
Add bread and simmer 10 more minutes mashing the bread against the side of the pot with the back of a wooden spoon to break it up some.
Serve with grated cheese and a drizzle of olive oil in each bowl.

I looked at several different Brazilian soups before settling on this one. I think it was the combination of beans, sausage and collards that really crave something like this as a heart and tummy warming soup. Such a combination also seems to just sing Brazil as they are classic staples in the Brazilian diet.

Brazilian Bean Soup

1 pound cooked red beans
1/2 pound linguiça or 1/4 pound dried chorizo
1 bunch collards, chopped
1/4 cup oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 carrots, diced
1 cup small shells, macaroni or other soup pasta
Salt

In a large pot, bring 4 cups of water to boil and add beans and sausage.
Cook for 30 minutes removing sausage and beans and reserving the liquid.
In a clean pot, saute onion and garlic in the oil until onion is translucent.
Add potatoes and reserved cooking water from the beans and simmer until potatoes are tender.
Puree adding water if too thick.
Add collards and carrots cooking until carrots are tender.
About 10 minutes before the carrots are done, add pasta and diced sausage.
Correct for seasoning and serve.

I owe my recipe for Corn Chowder to my mom's old neighbor Jillian, a woman originally from Wales who still makes this for friends and family to great cries of praise. I have changed a few things such as the addition of bacon and increase of cheese. (You can never have enough of either!) This does make a lot and if you're watching the calories, make it once and send the rest home with company.

Corn Chowder

1/2 pound good quality smoked bacon, chopped
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 potatoes, cubed
Salt
Pepper
2 cups corn, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups whole milk
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Saute bacon in a large pot. Add celery, carrots and onion and saute until tender. Add stock and heat to simmering. Add potatoes and cook until tender. Add corn.
Make a béchamel of the butter, flour and milk. Add cheese and stir until it melts and blends with the sauce.
Add to vegetable mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper.

I also wanted to include a Bay Area classic which was born in San Francisco but which has certainly traveled the world over in popularity and interpretation.

Although there are several theories as to how Cioppino got its name (ranging from the ridiculous to the more sensible) everyone agrees that it was the invention of Italian immigrant fisherman in San Francisco. This particular version is based on one from our own local-boy-who-made-it-big, Guy Fieri.

Ciappino

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cups diced onion
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced fennel
1 red bell pepper, diced
8 large cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
6 cups passata, or equivalent of canned tomatoes passed through a food mill
1/2 cup clam juice
Juice of 2 lemons
4 cups water
3 bay leaves
3 dried Calabrian chilies (chopped)or 3 tablespoons dried chili flakes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ounce Sambuca liqueur
4 pounds Dungeness crab, cooked, cleaned, cracked and broken into pieces
2 pounds little neck clams, cleaned and scrubbed
2 pounds firm white fish such as cod or halibut cut into 2-inch pieces
2 pounds shrimp, shell on, deveined
1 cup chopped parsley
Fresh bread

In a large stock pot over medium heat, add oil and saute onions, fennel, bell pepper and garlic until soft. Add tomato paste and cook until caramelized. Add wine, tomato sauce, clam and lemon juices, water, bay leaves, chili, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and liqueur to sauteed vegetables and simmer for 1 hour. Add crab and simmer for 20 minutes. Add clams and simmer 5 minutes longer. Add cod and continue to cook for another 4 or 5 minutes without stirring.
Finally, add shrimp and cook until it turns pink. Stir in parsley and serve with bread.

The last recipe on the show I didn't give any measurements for as it's a totally thrown together recipe that I literally chop-and-throw into the soup pot! But it's good, hearty and healthy!

Chicken Vegetable Soup with Pasta

1 quart purchased chicken stock

1/2 onion, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1/2 cup soup pasta such as pastinne, stelline or orzo

1 egg

2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Large pinch of dried thyme

Bring stock to a boil, add vegetables and thyme, lower heat and simmer until they are tender.

Add pasta of choice and simmer until tender.

Beat egg and cheese together and drizzle into simmer soup stirring.

As I mentioned on the show, Monday, I hated cauliflower as a kid. I think the first time I ever ate it willingly was when it showed up on the table hidden under a lake of yellow cheese sauce. Now what kid could resist that? (Don't answer I know there are hard core veggie haters in this world.)
I think a big part of my strong dislike for a lot of veggies had to do with their executions. Boiled or just steamed does not do it for me. That is the sort of fare hospitals serve (and airlines used to).
I think I really grew to love this vegetable when I started learning Italian cooking. So many wonderful combinations for this native Italian vegetable.
Anything in a gratin dish with béchamel and cheese becomes magic in my mouth! But don't stop there. Add bacon, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes and I'm in the throes of ecstasy! Those are the ingredients in the Brazilian treatment of cauliflower gratin pictured above which I made on Monday. I will not go into a treatise on Brazilian food here but suffice it to say that Brazil's rich immigrant history make it's cuisine just as precious!

Couve-flor Gratinada

1 cauliflower
2 oz of bacon into small cubes
2 oz of dried tomatoes into strips
2 oz canned mushrooms
1 cup parmesan grated
2 oz of Mozzarella grated
2 cups ) of milk
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Grating of fresh nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Melt butter, add flour and stir until golden. Add milk,
stirring vigorously. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, 2/3 cup of parmsan and
set aside.
Fry the bacon. Add tomatoes and mushrooms. Reserve. In a
baking dish, place the cooked cauliflower followed by the béchamel, bacon mixture and topped with cheese. Bake until golden.

Another of my favorite recipes for cauliflower is also a grantinee with the addition of eggs and ham. It's one that will disappear quickly from your table. Again, it's got béchamel and cheese so what's not to love?

Cauliflower Sformato

1 medium cauliflower
2 tablespoons butter plus more for the baking dish
Béchamel of 1 tablespoon butter, 1 1/2 tablespoons flour and 1 cup milk.
2 extra large eggs, beaten well
1/4 pound boiled ham, julienned
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Grating of fresh nutmeg
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Wash, trim, separate into florets the cauliflower and boil in salted water until tender. Drain well and set aside.
Melt butter in a large skillet and add cauliflower turning the pieces so each is coated. Remove to bowl and let cool.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Make béchamel and add all but 1/4 cup in with the cauliflower. Add eggs, ham, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and 2/3 cup of the cheese mixing well.
Butter baking dish and turn mixture into it spreading the contents smooth.
Spread the remaining béchamel over, sprinkle remaining cheese and dot with small pieces of butter.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a golden crust forms on top.
Let cool some before serving.

I can't tell you for sure whether the next recipe is from Puglia or Sicily as the pasta used (orecchiette) is definitely a Puglian classic but the ingredients sing the song of Persephone, the goddess who returns to the island of Sicily every spring. In any case, this is a recipe I come back to time and again. If you want to tempt the goddess to return soon, drizzle a little truffle oil (black or white) on your serving. I don't know who wouldn't come back from the underworld for a taste!

Orecchiette in Cauliflower Sauce

1 head cauliflower, divided into florets
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 anchovy fillets, rinsed
4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 dried Calabrian chili chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes)
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 pound orecchiette
Grated pecorino

Cook cauliflower in plenty of salted, boiling water until tender. Remove with slotted spoon. (Do not discard water.)
Heat oil in a large skillet and add anchovies, mashing them into the oil with the back of a wooden spoon until they dissolve.
Add garlic and chili and cook briefly. Add cauliflower and mash into pan with the back of a wooden spoon.
While you are cooking the above, cook the pasta in the same water in which you cooked the cauliflower adding water if needed.
When pasta is done, transfer to the skillet with a slotted spoon.
Add some of the pasta water to sauce if needed to thin it out.
Garnish with parsley and serve with pecorino cheese.

Mesclado de Cholcolate

Posted a picture of this Brazilian chocolate torte and my iphone went dinging like I'd hit the jackpot at Twin Pines Casino!

I was amazed at how easy this is to make. Goes together in no time at all and is perfect for an afternoon indulgence.

Mesclado de Chocolate

100 grams butter

3 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

300 grams butter cookies, coarsely crumbled into nuggets.

100 grams of dark chocolate, melted

100 grams of white chocolate, melted.

In a sauce pan, melt the butter and add honey, stirring well to combine.

Add cocoa powder and stir well to combine.

Fold in cookies.

Pour into a 22 cm, buttered cake pan. Press down on mixture and smooth out with back of wooden spoon.

Pour dark chocolate over top to completely cover smoothing it out with an offset spatula

Pour white chocolate onto the center and with the tip of a wooden skewer, make a pattern of your desire.

Refrigerate for at least one hour or until set.

Remove cake and garnish with cinnamon stick and candied cherries if desired.

Bread Salad

The other day while looking over the last of the season's tomatoes, my mind went back to this past summer and to the recipe that sustained me, that let me enjoy the offerings of the season while helping me improve my health and drop a lot of unwanted pounds.

In a recent blog, I mentioned admiration for generations past for taking something that many of us will now throw away (stale bread) and do something remarkable with it. I mean really, Americans pay good money every November for bags or boxes of stale bread (white or corn) with which to stuff their turkeys.

My biggest tip on making bread salad is to use a dry, crumbly type of bread. This will soak up the juices making a thick dressing which adds to the wonderful texture of this salad. The amounts I am going to give are not exact as this is something that I never measure.

Bread Salad

1 pound string beans, cleaned, cut into two-inch pieces, cooked and cooled

1 large red, yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded, deveined and diced

1 cup sweet red onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 cucumber, peeled, halved, scooped of its seeds and diced

2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

3 or 4 slices of bread dried to a crumbly stage

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can good quality tuna (preferably imported from Italy) packed in olive oil

Combine vegetables and beans and mix well.

Crumble bread into salad and mix.

Whisk oil and vinegar together, add and mix

Season with salt and pepper, add tuna and mix to combine.

Stuffed Peppers and Stuffed Cabbage

I wanted to post a picture of the peppers from this recipe as I made them last week but greedily devoured them before they had a chance to pose!
This is a picture of my sister and her partner's pepper crop from this year. A very beautiful array! As I mentioned on the show, if you can't get the long Italian variety of Bull's Horn peppers, you may try Hatch chilies if they are still available. Even if you must use regular bell peppers, try the recipe. I would use either red, yellow or orange. I don't think the taste of green peppers goes with this. Also, if using bell peppers, allow them to bake a little while longer as the flesh is much thicker.

Stuffed Italian Peppers


1/2 cup Arborio rice
8 long Italian peppers
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 pound ground veal
1 large egg
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
Few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dry oregano~
3 cups of my Sicilian tomato sauce (Recipe follows)

Cook the rice in salted boiling water for about 12 min. Drain and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven too 400°F.
Cut stems from the peppers. Deseed and devein.
Heat some of the oil in a small skillet and fry the onion just until it wilts.
Remove to a bowl along with the meat, egg, cheese, parsley, oregano and rice and mix well to combine.
Stuff the peppers with the mixture.
Pour some oil in the bottom of a baking dish, place the peppers in it and place in oven for 20 minutes turning the peppers every 5 minutes or so until they are lightly brown.
Pour in enough of the tomato sauce to barely cover the peppers and bake for an additional 40 minutes. Let set 10 minutes before serving.

Sicilian Tomato Sauce

1 quart of passata or one 28-oz can and one 14-oz can of plum tomatoes passed through a food mill.
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste (optional)
1 dried Calabrian hot pepper, chopped (or chili flakes to taste) (optional)
One bunch of basil

In a pot, place the passata, oil and garlic and let simmer for 25-30 minutes.
Add salt and sugar (if using) to taste.
Turn off the heat and let basil steep for a good five minutes.
Remove garlic and basil and strain through a mesh strainer pressing with the back of a wooden spoon to let the sauce drip back into the pan.

As I mentioned on the show, I lost my original recipe for stuffed cabbage leaves. This is not a bad one and I've used it several times. But just a word to the wise cook: Do not keep recipes in a regular manila folder unless you really don't want them!!!!
Nuff sed!

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

1 pound ground lamb
1 large egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
1/2 cup water
1 large carrot, grated
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Several grinding of fresh black pepper
1 head cabbage
One 28-ounce can tomato puree
1 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Juice of one lemon

Core cabbage and plunge into salted boiling water until the first layers of outer leaves are tender. Remove from water, let cool slightly and remove limp leaves. Repeat the process until you have 12 leaves for stuffing. Save any leaves not big enough for stuffing. Set aside.
Mix together the meat,egg, breadcrumbs, rice, water, carrot, garlic, salt and pepper and set aside.
Heat the tomato puree, water, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice in a large skillet until sugar is dissolved.
Trim the thick bottom off the leaves to make sure they are supple enough to roll.
With the bottom of the leaf facing you, place some stuffing in the leaf and bring the sides in then roll it up away from you. Place it seam side down in the skillet. Repeat with the remainder of the leaves.
If there is not enough sauce to cover the rolls, add water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours shaking the skillet every so often to make sure the rolls do not stick.

Stuffed Artichokes and Eggplants

I think we are all pretty lucky to come from a line of people with good imaginations and a good sense of thrift.
Where we have no problem with tossing out things we feel useless or not fresh enough to bother with, our forbears did not have that luxury of wastefulness but had to use everything to make the food go as far as it could. And we are the ones who enjoy the fruits of those imaginations. The idea of sausage alone bears this out!
But the lowly bread crumb is what makes these two recipes so special. Who would have guessed that old bread could be elevated to such magnificence except the wise person who could not afford to throw it away? I wonder how many of us still buy bread crumbs in the can while tossing out that loaf that got moldy or too stale? (Raises hand. lol)
It really only takes a few minutes to chop it in the food processor and let it dry out on a baking sheet. And you can pat yourself on the back afterwards.
However you do it, breadcrumbs are the stars of the next two recipes along with some important supporting members of course.

Stuffed Artichokes

3 medium artichokes
1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons parsley, minced
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese
1 anchovy fillet, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Extra virgin olive oil, enough to moisten the mixture

Take the artichokes by the stem and smash each one on the top of the counter allowing the leaves to spread.
Cut off the stems, peel them and mince them. This you will later add to the stuffing mixture.
With a kitchen shears, cut off the points of the leaves and discard.
Mix all the ingredients together and put some of the stuffing in between the leaves.
Add enough water in a pot to come up 1 1/2 inches. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle a few chili flakes in.
Add artichokes so they sit upright. Cover and steam for about 45 minutes or until tender adding more water if it gets too low.

Stuffed Baby Eggplant

8 Japanese or baby eggplant (around 8-9 inches long)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
1/4 cup unflavored bread crumbs, lightly toasted
Salt
Pepper
Enough extra virgin olive oil to moisten
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced thin

Trim tops of eggplants, split lengthwise and cut a deep crisscross in each cut side without going down to the skin.
Mix together the garlic, parsley, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Moisten with olive oil.
Stuff each eggplant with some of the mixture making sure to get it into the crevices.
Place in a large skillet and drizzle with olive oil making sure some gets into the bottom of the skillet.
Cover and turn heat to medium high.
When they are tender enough to pierce with the tip of a paring knife, close the heat, top with cheese and replace the lid until the cheese melts.
Serve with good crusty bread to soak up the flavorful oil that will result in the bottom of the pan. This can be poured around the side of the platter on which you will serve the eggplant.