Farm chicken with polenta

Another traditional recipe from my region. I had a huge craving this week and had to make it. The family loved and although I cooked a lot of food, there's nothing left.

This recipe asks for farm chicken or cock. Since I didn't have any of those at home and my craving wouldn't allow me to wait for the next day, I cooked a regular chicken, but instead of using a pressure cooker, I cooked it for 2 hours in low heat.
The chicken/cock:

1 big pan
2 onions, finnely chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cubes of chicken stock
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tbspoons of soy sayce
1 tspoon of cumin
1 tspoon of pepper
1 tspoon of ground nut meg
1/2 tspoon of safron
1 lime, squeezed
3 chilli peppers, chopped
parsley and chives (as much as you want)
salt
the chicken: dismembered
Put all the ingredients on a pressure cook (if using farm chicken or cock) for 20 minutes. Don't add water or oil.

Polenta

2 cubes of chicken stock
500g of cornmeal
1 onion, finnely chopped
1 tomato, choppoed
2 chilli, chopped
200mL of coconut milk
parsely, chives and spring onions (as much as you want)
salt

Mix all the ingredients with 1/2 littre of  water to boil the 2 chicken stock cubes, 1 tbspoon of butter and 1 tspoon of salt. Add the cornmeal little by little until it is dissolved. Lastely, add the coconut milk and mix it up until it's time to serve (30 min of mixing at least). This polenta tastes very differently because of the coconut flavour. The other ingredients you use to top the polenta and decorate the dish.

Okra and corn stu

6 corn cobs - remove the corn from the cobs
1 tbspoon of oil
250g of chopped okra (about 1cm each piece)
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of water
1 tspoon of paprika
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
parsley, chives and spring onions (chopped)
salt

Cook everything for 15 min. I tend to add a lot of ground pepper for it releases the flavour of the fresh corn.
Serve it all with white rice
 
Pic: http://stat.correioweb.com.br/arquivos/divirta/materias2007/dondurica_interna_menorrr.jpg

Navarin de mouton

I found this recipe here and cooked it yesterday, for lunch. Really delicious

Long, slow cooking ensures that the stewing lamb or chump chops become very tender in this lamb stew.


ingredients

serves 4

Dripping or lard for frying

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed with 1/2 tsp salt

1 - 1 1/4 kg (2 - 2 1/2 lb). stewing lamb or 4 chump chops, trimmed of fat

Flour for coating

Freshly ground black pepper

396 g (14 oz) can tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced

2 turnips or approx. 1/4 kg (1/2 lb) swede, peeled and chopped

1 bouquet garni

1 tsp spoon sugar

Freshly chopped parsley to finish



method

1. Melt a knob of dripping or lard in a flameproof casserole. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently for 5 minutes or until golden.



2. Coat the lamb in flour seasoned with black pepper. Add to the casserole and brown quickly on all sides. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato puree, then add the remaining ingredients except the parsley.



3. Bring just to the boil, then cover with a lid and transfer to a warm oven (160‚°C/325‚°F or Gas Mark 3). Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on the cut of lamb used (stewing lamb will take longer) or until the meat is tender and almost falling off the bones.



4. Taste for seasoning, discard the bouquet garni and sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.



5. Serve with creamed or jacket baked potatoes with soured cream and snipped chives.

American apple pie

Dough:

2 cups of flour
2 tbspoons of sugar
150g of butter
4-6 tbspoons of water


Mix the flour, sugar and butter with 2 forks or a potato masher. Add the water little by little until you get a soft, homogeneous dough.

Filling

4-5 acid apples, cut in thin slices
cinnamon
1 cup of sugar
butter
1/2 lime

Put the slices on a bowl and squeeze the lime on them (to prevent them getting brown). Add the sugar, cinnamon and butter mix it all very well.

On a pie tray (better if it has removable bottom), spread the dough with your fingers (remember to leave some behind to make the cover). On a clean counter, sprinkle flour and open the left over dough, in the shape of a circle, big enough to cover the pie.

Fill the pie tray with the apple slices, putting them all in the same direction until you fill the bottom. Procede in the same maner until you are out of slices. Spread the juice that is left behind in the bowl on top of the apple slices. Cover with the dough circle and merge the edges of the pie in the tray and the cover. With a knife, cut little incisions in a radial fashion (about 5 to 7 will do) so the vapour can escape. To make it look better, you can spread some egg yolk on the cover, to give it a brown look after it's baked

Bake it in medium heat (170C) for about 45 min or until golden

As an alternative, you can use bananas and walnuts for the filling and serve it with squirty cream.

Pic: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_glhcWuoAD5U/SlfiMSoWpGI/AAAAAAAAAds/Ke6Jnzbk-7Y/s400/torta+de+ma%C3%A7%C3%A3.jpg

Spaghetti carbonara

20 min
Serves 2

250g of spaghetti
butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
2 eggs
140ml single cream
25g of parmesan, grated

Boil the pasta following the instructions in the bag. Heat a knob of butter in a small frying pan and cook the onion, garlic and bacon for 5-7 minutes, until golden. Turn off the heat and add the cream.

On a bowl, crack the eggs and stir it with a fork. When the pasta is done, drain it and put it on top of the eggs, while hot. Stirr it with a fork so the eggs mix with the pasta and cook. Add the cream with garlic, bacon and onion, stirr it and finish with the parmesan and some black pepper on top.

Pic: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vlJYelP1oaU/Sj78NcFkGMI/AAAAAAAAATI/6mTHVD9a4C8/s320/carbonara%2Bprato.JPG

super crunchy roast chicken wings

As I said in a previous post, I always buy a whole chicken and cut it myself. Which means I tend to cook my favourite parts and end up with lots of chicken wings in my freezer. I've tried loads of different ways of preparing it but the reception was always lukewarm. Until I decided to roast them as I describe below, which hit a spot here in my house. Ever since then, we look forward to have enough chicken wings to prepare this.

At least 8 chicken wings
soy sauce
1 lime or lemon (I prefer lime)
rock salt

This is as easy as it gets:

Defrost the chicken wings over night and before preparation (while you get the other things in the cupboards), spray them with a lime (or half a lemon). This is to dehidrate the skin and make it crunchier. Put them on a roasting tray and put some soy sauce on them. The sauce is NOT for flavour but to give them a brown irresistible look when roasted. I use one drop on each wing and spread it on the top surface.
Sprinkle them with rock salt.
Roast for 45 min in 180C.

That's it. It should be so crunchy that you can actually eat the tips of the wings, the bones just fall apart.

It's finger food and kids love it (and it's healthier than the fried version). I generally serve it with coleslaw, salad, bread... things like that

Creamy ladyfingers pudding or "triffle", brazilian style

My mother makes a perfect one and I've been craving this for some time now. Like all puddings in Brazil, it's very sweet and british palates might not like it (although my family loved it)

For this one you'll need

custard:
1 can of condensed milk (save the can, you'll need it to measure other ingredients)
2 cans of milk
3 yolks
1 tbspoon of corn flour

Filling:
1 or 2 packs of ladyfingers (the crunchy ones)
1 can of milk
2-3 tbspoons of cocoa (depends on how much you like chocolate)
1 tspoon of corn flour

Cover:
3 egg whites,
1 can of double cream

How to prepare:

Custard:
Mix the cornflour with a bit of milk and put it aside. In a pan, mix the yolks, the milk with the corn flour, the rest of the milk and the condensed milk. Let it boil and thicken. You want sort of a runny custard, not too thick but not too runny either. A thick cream when cold is what you are aiming for.
Put it in a lasagna dish sort of tray (we use one that is square, about 15cm each side) and let it cool down.

Once it has cooled down a bit, prepare the filling:
mix the milk with the cocoa and dunk each ladyfinger on it, let it soak a bit and then put it on top of the custard. Cover the custard with cocoa drenched ladyfingers. When you are done, add the cornflour to the cocoa and let it thicken a bit on a hob (again, aiming for a thick cream) and let it cool down. To speed up things I put the pan in a bit of water. When it's about skin temperature it's good enough and just throw the cream on top of the ladyfingers that have been lined on the custard. Let it cool down while you prepare the cover.

Whisk the egg whites and until they are firm (you turn the bowl upside down and they do not fall). To help, always add a small pich of salt to the egg whites before you start whisking them, for it makes it fluffier. Continue whisking and slowly add the can of double cream and 1 tbspoon of sugar. Try it and check if you think it needs a bit more sugar (remembering that the custard and the ladyfingers layer are already very sweet). If you want more sugar, add only 1 more tbspoon and that's it.

Spread this home made "squirty cream" on top of the ladyfingers layer and put the tray in the fridge. It is better when it spends the night there, to make it firm and keep it there until serving time.

This recipe goes a long way and it's easy to make. You can decorate it (if you want) with chocolate or cinamon on top, but we just serve it simpler, like I described.

If you think it may be too sweet (although children will love it to bits), you can make your own custard without the condensed milk.

Chocolate Lady Finger Cake

Starch (to starch clothes)

I have a thing for cute embroidered table cloths, tea towels, tray covers, etc... Besides cooking I also love cross stitch (I'll probably post some of my craftwork here one day). And nothing better to conserve my beautifully stitched table cloths than starching them. Not only they look better on the table, starching also prevents wine and sauce stains, making it easier to clean.

Here's a recipe, just like grandma used to make it.

For general starch:
1 tbspoon of corn flour
1 tspoon of salt (to prevent bugs getting to fond of chewing your beautiful things)
1 littre of water

Mix it all in a pan, stirring constantly let it boil (it will become more transparent). Mix it up with the rinsing water....
Here's a problem: in Brazil we normally use washing machines that are vertical, allowing us to open the lid and mix it with the rinsing water. In England however, they all have little circular side doors... And there's no way I can open them.

Brazil

England

What I do is, wash it all normally, prepare the starch, put a bit of water in the bath tub (enough to soak everything I need to starch in) and mix a bit of fabric softener and starch on it. It is much more trouble, I agree, so I tend to let all my "to starch" pile accumulate a bit and do it all at once.

For strong starching (when you really want them stiff): instead of 1 tbspoon of corn flour, use 2.

Also, if you want it a bit starched (like men's shirts) but not too stiff, you can prepare the mix, let it cool off and put it into a spray bottle, spraying the shirt or whatever you want while ironing.

Pics http://happyhomemaker88.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/washing-machine.jpg
http://user.img.todaoferta.uol.com.br/R/Q/EM/PY3WI5/1244433346169_bigPhoto_0.jpg