Recipes

Caipirinha

  • 1 small lime
  • 1 heaping Tbsp sugar (more or less to taste)
  • 2 oz cachaça (Brazilian cane alcohol)

Preparation:
Quarter the lime and place the pieces into an Old Fashion style glass. Add sugar and use a pestle or other blunt instrument (the handle of a screw-driver works great) to thoroughly press the juice from the lime and muddle it all together. Keep the lime pieces in the glass. Fill the glass with crushed ice. Add cachaça and stir.

Caipirissima: use light rum instead of cachaça.
Caipiroska: use vodka instead of cachaça. The author’s favorite 🙂

Covi (Collard Greens)

  • 2 bunches of collard greens
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • Olive oil to fry
  • Salt to taste

Preparation:
Wash and dry collard greens. Remove leaf stems. Roll leaves tightly together and cut the roll crosswise into thin strips (so you end up with thin collard strands). Fry in a skillet with olive oil, minced garlic and salt to taste.

Farofa

  • 2 cups farinha (light manioc flour)
  • 3 hard boiled eggs coarsely chopped
  • 3 bacon strips fried and copped
  • ½ cup black or green olives coarsely chopped
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 1-2 cloves garlic minced (or no garlic – depending on taste)
  • 4 – 8 oz  butter (depending on taste)
  • 1 Tbsp Palm oil  (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Boil the 3 eggs until hard (12 minutes).  Once cooled, peel and chop. In a skillet, fry the bacon until crisp. Remove from the skillet and chop into small pieces.  Discard the oil.   Add butter to the skillet and saute onion and garlic on medium-low heat until soft (not brown). Add farinha and cook until slightly toasted (appx. 5 minutes). Stir in other ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.  Serve warm.

Feijoada (Traditional meat version)

  • 5 cups dry black beans
  • 1 Ham hock
  • 1 pound pork ribs
  • 1 pound pork loin
  • 1 pound Linguiça (Brazilian sausage)
  • ½ pound carne seca (dried beef) (optional)
  • ½ pound slab bacon
  • ½ pound beef tongue (optional)
  • ½ pound pork tail and ears (optional)
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large onions
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • ½ cup parsley
  • 4 Bay leaves
  • 2 dry red chili pepper (to taste)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Prior to cooking:
Soak carne seca 24 hours, changing water three or four times.
Soak beans in a separate container overnight in cold water.

Cooking: (time: appx. 4 hours)
– Drain the soaked and place in a large pot and cover with water (1 inch above level of beans).
– Add the ham hock and bay leaves to this, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for two hours.
– As soon as the beans start simmering, boil the meat (whole pieces – do not cut up) in a separate container for 30 minutes. Discard this water when done.
– Add the partially cooked meat to the beans above as soon as possible. Continue cooking the beans and meat together until the end of the 2 hour period. Add water as needed to keep everything covered. Skim off any excess fat that builds up on the top.
– The stew has now cooked for 2 hours.
– In a separate skillet, add oil and sauté onion and garlic until soft. Add parsley, chili pepper, salt and pepper. Add this sauté to the pot of beans and cook everything for an additional hour.
– The stew has now cooked for a total of three hours. Skim off any excess fat.
– Remove all the meat from the pot and cut into smaller pieces (not too small). You can discard the ham hock at this time.
– Also remove 2 cups of the cooked beans from the stew and puree.
– Return the meat and pureed beans back to the pot and cook for another 30 minutes – until done.

Serving:
Remove some of the bigger pieces of meat from beans and serve on a separate platter. You can also grill or fry some thin beef cutlets to go with this meat.
– Serve the bean stew in a large bowl with rice and other dishes on the side.

The complete feijoada dinner (feijoada completa) is served with the following dishes: Fried steak (strip steak or whatever type you like), Brazilian style rice, covi (collard greens), farofa, molho picada (tomato salsa), and slices of orange on the side (to clean the palate). This dish is normally eaten on Saturday for lunch (allow several hours for drinking, eating, and napping).
Note: Feijoada is the people’s dish. Pretty much anything goes. Use whatever type of meat you like, or no meat at all, and it will be just fine. You can’t go wrong.

 Moqueca Napolitana

 Fish:

  • 1 ½ pound fish fillet (cod, bass, snapper, or mackerel). Cut across the fillet into thick strips.
  • ½ pound shrimp (shelled and deveined)

Fish Marinade: (not necessary but improves taste)

  • ½ cup lime juice
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • salt and pepper

Place fish (not shrimp) in a bowl, add marinade ingredients and mix. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Sauce:

  • 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
  • 3 cloves garlic (minced)
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 2 small green bell peppers (1 finely chopped, 1 cut into rings)
  • 2 med. tomatoes (1 chopped, 1 cut into thin wedges)
  • 2 green onions (chopped)
  • 3 ea Malagueta peppers (finely chopped). Add more or less for the spiciness desired. You may substitute with any hot peppers.
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ cup cilantro plus more for garnish (remove stems and chop).
  • 1 T palm oil (at room temperature)
  • 1 – 12oz. can coconut milk
  • 6 oz. (1/2 can) condensed tomato soup (more or less to taste)
  • 6 oz. water (or coconut milk)

Cooking:
– Sauté onion and garlic with olive oil in a medium skillet until soft (not brown).
– Add chopped bell peppers, chopped tomato, green onion, malagueta peppers, salt and pepper. Sauté for about five minutes until soft.
– In a separate pan, combine coconut milk, tomato soup and water. Heat until simmering.
– Add fish, shrimp, and the cilantro to the skillet. Stir all together and spread evenly over the pan. Do not fry.
– Immediately add pepper rings and tomato wedges to the skillet, and then pour the coconut/tomato sauce into the skillet to cover the contents in the pan.
– Bring to boil and then simmer on low heat (without lid) for approximately ten minutes. Do not overcook the fish.
– Just before it’s done, drizzle the palm oil into the skillet.
– Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle the remaining cilantro on top as garnish.

Serve with penne pasta (or rice). Goes great with any green leafy vegetable as a side dish.

Molho Picada  (Salsa)

  • 2 cups red tomatoes (seeded and finely chopped – ¼” or less)
  • 2 cups green bell pepper (seeded and finely chopped)
  • 1 cup onion (finely chopped)
  • ½ cup parsley, leaves only (finely chopped)
  • ½ cup white wine vinegar
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • salt to taste

Preparation:
Mix all together and chill prior to serving.

Steamed Rice (Brazilian Style)

  • 2 cups long grain white rice
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 clove garlic (minced)
  • 4 cups water (boiling)
  • Salt to taste

Preparation:
In a sauce pan, add oil and sauté the onion and garlic until soft (not brown). Add rice and salt and stir until warm (do not brown). Add boiling water, stir and cover. Cook on lowest heat for fifteen minutes. Turn the heat off and let the pot sit covered for an additional five minutes. Do not remove the lid during this twenty minute period!