SHRIMP MOQUECA

Posted in Brazilian cooking, Seafood by sallybr

It’s time for me to post something typically Brazilian. For those who are not familiar with Brazilian cooking, this dish is a great introduction. It originates from Bahia, a very beautiful Brazilian state, where Summer never ends. Most dishes from Bahia, or as we say “comida baiana”, are very spicy, just like in other hot places of the world. The warm climate goes hand in hand with a ton of pepper, which helps get the sweat going…

The only exotic ingredients for moqueca are coconut milk and dende (a kind of palm oil). These days one can find coconut milk rather easily – I advise you to buy brands from Thailand and make sure it is NOT the sweetened version. I feel a bit queasy just imagining a moqueca made with sweet coconut milk.

At the risk of receiving hate mail from Brazilians, I will share with you my recipe for shrimp moqueca, which does not include dende oil, for two reasons: first, I am never able to find Brazilian dende here. Second, I actually do not mind a moqueca made without it. With this last phrase, I’ve infuriated the whole population of Bahia (more than 14 million people), and 95% of all other Brazilians (about 168 million folks).

If you are still with me, allow me to show you a slightly unconventional, but delicious moqueca recipe… And, by the way, if you want to listen to the correct pronunciation of the word, click here to listen to the very writer of this blog saying it in native Brazilian portuguese 😉

moqueca1

SHRIMP MOQUECA a la Sally
(receita em portugues ao final da proxima pagina)

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil (or a mixture of dende oil and olive oil)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup roasted red bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, minced
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes (I like to use fire roasted, they work very well in this dish)
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup coconut milk
hot pepper sauce (Tabasco, Sriracha)
fresh cilantro to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare a mild brining solution mixing 1 quart water with 1/4 cup kosher salt and 1/4 cup sugar, plus the juice of half a lemon. Submerge the shrimp in the solution for about 15 minutes (see my comments). Remove shrimp from brine, rinse briefly and dry on paper towels.

Saute the onion in olive oil until it starts to turn golden, add the red bell pepper, garlic and fresh cilantro and saute for a few minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes with their juices, cook for 5 to 10 minutes to marry the flavors, and add the shrimp. Cook just until it turns opaque, add the coconut milk, reduce the heat to low, and cook until everything is heated through and the sauce is smooth. Do not let the coconut milk boil too much or it may separate (it will still taste delicious, but it will look curdled). Add hot pepper sauce, taste, adjust seasoning and right before serving add more fresh cilantro and the juice of the other half of the lemon.

Serve right away over white rice.

Bom apetite! 😉

for comments and more photos, click here

10Jul2009

BBA#9: Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Loaf

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Nine breads down, thirty-four to go!

From cinnamon rolls we follow a similarly delicious path, to a cinnamon-raisin-walnut-loaf (that’s quite a mouthful!). Running the risk of eternally jinxing myself, I’ll say that making this bread was a piece of cake, especially considering that I threw caution to the wind and halved the recipe again.

Peter Reinhart offers two variations to the basic recipe: a sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar before rolling the dough into a loaf (creating a beautiful swirl in the center of the bread), and a light coating with melted butter plus cinnamon-sugar on top after baking. I decided to skip the swirl, as both me and beloved prefer to go light on sweets. But the sweet crust on top was impossible to resist, so I complied.

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The dough was very nice to work with, smooth, soft, and rose quite well. But, you don’t have to take my word for it… Just follow the link for additional photos.

click here to see more

8Jul2009

The Garden

Posted in General by sallybr

My dream garden is exactly half a mile away from our home.

TheGarden

Our running route passes the garden at the beginning of the run, when our legs are fresh and eager to go. It also stands as a nice landmark for our return home, a gentle reminder of “only half a mile to go”.

I have my first glimpse of “The Garden” on the left side of a narrow shortcut. During Spring and Summer lots of flowers hang halfway through the path.

shortcut

Over the years I’ve developed a craving to see it, no matter the season, it is always beautiful to me. Sometimes I do not feel that much like running, but the thought of “The Garden” makes me go for it.

Garden3ready

Its beauty is in the many small details…

Garden2r

Garden6r

click here for more…

5Jul2009

Tomato Confit with Arugula and Zucchini

Posted in Salads, Veggies by sallybr

The recipe comes from “Simple to Spectacular”, a great cookbook by Vongerichten and Bittman. The book picks one basic ingredient and shows 3 or 4 recipes of increasing complexity. I was looking for a nice dinner salad and came across their “tomato confit” series.

The tomato confit is essentially a slow-roasted tomato, but if you say you made “tomato confit”, your friends will be a lot more impressed. 😉

The preparation of the confit might seem too long, because you need a couple of hours to make it. But it’s 120 minutes of just waiting for the oven to perform its magic…no work. Plus, it is a low oven (275F) that won’t overheat your kitchen. Trust me, the results are worth every minute of the time. If you are not yet convinced to try this recipe, then make sure to read my additional comments.

tomatobefore

Choose ripe (but not overly ripe) tomatoes, make a small cross-cut on their skin, drop in boiling water for 20 seconds, then shock them in cold water to peel them easily. In the oven, together with garlic, thyme, and olive oil, they will be transformed into delicious bits of sweet and juicy red jewels that will amaze your taste buds and shine in many different kinds of recipes. Yes, I am in love…

click here for the full recipe and additional comments

2Jul2009

A PIE FOR YOUR 4th OF JULY

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

This year is very special for me, as it will be my first 4th of July as an American Citizen! I went through the Naturalization Ceremony on May 29th, a day I will never forget. Of course, I am looking forward to this weekend…

To share with you our favorite recipe for a very American pie, I introduce a guest blogger: my beloved hubby, who is much MUCH better with sweets and desserts in general than me.

Mom’s cherry pie. I grew up watching the women of the family make all kinds of fantastic sweets in the kitchen, including apple dumplings (mom), fudge (sisters), taffy (grandma), and a whole lot of cakes and pies (mom, grandma, aunt Mildred). I wasn’t a participant or apprentice in the creation of these delicacies, except for stirring the fudge, pulling the taffy or (happily) cleaning the beaters. Nevertheless, the memories gave me the interest to make a few sweet things on my own. Here’s a 4th of July pie that you and your kids will never forget…

4thofJulyPie

The Joy of Cooking is my kitchen bible, and here’s the Rombauer-Becker recipe for a fruit pie
(p. 650 of 2nd ed):

BERRY OR CHERRY PIE WITH FRESH FRUIT

1. Line a pan with pie dough (see below), or buy a frozen crust

2. Prepare, by picking over and washing, 4 cups of berries or fresh sour cherries – let them drain thoroughly or even spread them on a towel to dry. For the 4th of July pie we made two pies, and prepared 4 cups of fresh blueberry filling and 4 cups of fresh cherry filling, then appropriately divided them between the two pies.

3. For each 4 cups of fresh berries or sour cherries, combine 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, 1/12 T lemon juice, ½ t cinnamon, and 2T quick cooking tapioca. Mix and then mix with the berries by gently stirring. If don’t have a source of fresh sour cherries, as we did while living in Michigan (the Traverse City Cherry Festival is Jul. 3-11 this year), then buy a couple of cans and use 3 (drained) cups instead of 4. If the canned cherries are sweetened, then reduce the sugar in the cherry filling to 2/3 cup.

4. Let the fruit mixture(s) sit for 15 min or more while you preheat the oven to 450 F.

5. Fill the pie shell(s) with the berries or cherries. For the 4th of July pie, use a couple of pieces of heavy paper or cardboard to confine the blueberries to one quarter of the pie shell, then take the paper/cardboard out. Cut 2 T butter into pieces and distribute it over the berries.

6. Roll out some dough (see below) and cut lattice strips or the stars and stripes; assemble on the pie

7. Bake at 450 F for 10 min, and then reduce the heat to 350 F for an additional 40 min, until the pie is golden brown.

In case you are tempted to buy a frozen pie crust, please read this article (you can also read it for inspiration). To make the pie dough use your favorite recipe, but if you don’t have one, Sally recommends you use this.