Krakatoa

I found this recipe here, but I found his explanation a bit too complicated so I adapted a bit.

Right, first you bake a sponge cake (your favourite recipe). I used this one.

Right, next, i softened a tub of ice cream a bit (15 sec on max in the microwave). I'm making a smaller cake here, but i was enought for 6-8 portions.

Cut the edges of the sponge cake, making a circle (the size you want your krakatoa base). Make a small amount of sugar syrup by boiling about 1/4 cup (60 ml) water with 2 tablespoons sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let it cool completely, then add a good pour of your favorite liquor. Wet the sponge cake base with the syrup.

Add the ice cream balls (the height you want). I used about 8 balls. Model them roughtly in the shape of a mountain.

Take it all back to the freezer and make the meringue with 6 egg whites and 6 to 8 tbspoons of sugar. Save half of one egg shell for later.

Remove the cake from the freezer and spread the meringue all over the top and sides. Bury a half an egg shell in the top, open side facing outwards and smooth the meringue up and around it. Put it back on the freezer until it's time to serve.

Brown the volcano in an pre-heated oven at very high temperature (260 C, gas mark 9). It shouldn't take more than a minute or two to 'cook'. You can finisht it with a blowtorch since it looks more dramatic with slightly-burnt edges.

Fill the egg shell with liquor that's at least 40% alcohol. Turn off the lights, and ignite the liquor. Cut the cake with a narrow, long knife dipped in very hot water

Spirals in union (Uniao em espirais)

Time of preparation: 2-3 hours

Dough:
3 cups of flour + 1 cup to work with the dough
3 yolks
1 tbspoon of sugar
1 tspoon of salt
1 envelope of yeast
1 cup of warm milk

Put the flour in a bowl and make a cavity in the center. Add the other ingredients and kneed it very well. Let it rest for an hour.

Filling
2 tbspoons of grated coconut
1 cup of sugar
2 tbsppons of butter

Mix it all until you get a cream. Set it aside.

Syrup
1 cup of milk
1 cup of sugar
1 tspoon of vanilla
1 tspoon of ground cinnamon

Boil it all to thicken a bit.


Once the dough has grown, remove a small piece and open it with the roll, about 0.5cm thick and cover the base of a round cake tin with a removable base. Open the rest of the dough, in the same thickness and spread the filling over it, with a knife. Roll the dough like a suiss roll and cut in small spirals of 3 cm of thickness.

Put the little spirals very close together, with the cut side up, on the covered cake base. Wait for its volume to double (about another hour) and bake in a preheated oven (gas mark 5) for around 25 min or until baked. When it's baked, turn off the oven, spread the syrup on top of it, evenly and put the pie back in the oven, waiting for it to cool down.

Salada de maionese (Brazilian potato salad)

This is another recipe that goes well with barbecue. It also goes wonderfully with roasted chicken, fry chicken, etc.

Time of preparations: 45 min

5 medium sized potatoes, cooked and chopped in cubes (about 1.5cm)
2 medium sized carrots, cooked and chopped in small cubes
100g of green beans
2 apples
200g of ham (sliced thick: ask at the counter to cut it 1 cm thick. One slice or two will do), chopped in small cubes
150g of peas
250g of mayo
2 eggs, cooked and chopped finnely
200g of olives (with no seeds), chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
chives and parsley
salt/pepper

When the cooked ingredients have coolled, mix all the ingredients (but the mayo). Put them in a serving bowl and add the mayo to taste: can be just a bit or a lot. Check for salt and add more, if you want. Leave it in the fridge untill serving time. Serve it cold.

Vinagrete (Vinaigrette)

This is a brazilian recipe. Whenever we have a barbecue, this accompanies the meat. This is a big recipe for about 6 people. If I'm just doing it for 2 people, I reduce it 3 times.

You can eat vinagrete with meat, on top of white rice or inside a roll of bread.

3 tomatoes
1 tspoon of sugar
salt
1/2 onion
chives and parsley, chopped finnely
4 tbspoons of olive oil
8 tbspoons of white wine vinegar


Cut the tomatoes and onion in small cubes. Put it all in a bowl and add the salt and sugar.
The best way to do this is on the previous day and keep it in the fridge, so the flavour will be absorbed. But you can also make it one to two hours before use.

Chow Mein

Time of preparations: 40 min
4 portions

1/2 broccoli head
4 packs of noodles (the cheap ones)
2 tbspoons of corn flour
50ml of shoyu
1 onion, chopped lenghtwise
6 leafs of chard, chopped
1/2 head of cauly flower
400ml of chicken stock
1 carrot, chopped lenghtwise
100g of peas
oil (enought to fry)
300g of chicken breast, chopped in small pieces

In a wok, heat up the oil and fry the chicken. Add the cauly flower, the peas and the carrot and let it cook for 3 min. Put in a bowl. Put the wok back on the fire, with the chicken stock and let it boil. Add the chicken and the cooked vegetables, plus the broccoli, chard, onion and the shoyu. Cook it for 5 minutes and add the corn flour, dissolved in a bit of water.

Meanwhile, after cooking the noodles (following the instructions), drain it and fry them in hot oil. Put them in a big bowl and cover with the cooked veggies and chicken. Serve it hot.

Mince alla parmeggiana

500g of minced meat
1 onion, finnely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
salt
chives
parsley
oil (to fry)
oregano
2 eggs
bread crums
Tomato sauce.
muzzarela or cheddar
parmesan (grated)

In a bowl, add the minced meat, the salt, onion, tomato, parsley, chives and mix it well. Make little steaks with the mixture, and dunk it in the egg (whisk it in another bowl before anything) and then in the bread crums. Fry it (about 2 min). Put the little steaks in an oven-proof dish and put slices of muzzarela or cheddar on top.
In a pan, make your own or heat the tomato sauce. When it is done, spread it on top of the cheese and sprinkle it with oregano and parmesan. Put it in the oven (gas mark 5) until the cheese melts.

Garlic and oil pasta (Spaghetti alla agli e olio)

15 min
5 portions

500g of spaghetti
5 cloves of garlic
50g of butter
1 tbspoon of extra virgin olive oil
herbs: basil, oregano, parsley, chives, thyme
salt
ground ginger
1 leaf of bay laurel

5 min before the pasta is done cooking, start preparing this recipe.
"grease" the plates with one clove of garlic before chopping them all (finellY)
In a hot pan, add the butter, the olive oil, bay leaf and the chopped garlic. Drain the pasta and put it in the pan, adding salt, the herbs, the ginger and mixing it thoroughly.
Use some herbs to decorate the plate and serve it hot.

First class chicken (Frango nota 10)

This recipe was the most requested in 2008 on a brazilian show like GMTV. We tried and it is absolutely delicious. But I got to warn you, it is caloric.

Time of preparation: 40 min

1kg of chicken breast
salt and pepper
2 cloves of garlic, grated

24 slices of honey cooked ham
24 slices of muzzarela (but cheddar works too)

500ml of tomato sauce mixed with 200ml of water

500ml of double cream
1 can (medium size) of sweet corn

200g of cream cheese, or requeijao, if you can find it (a brazilian cream cheese)
100 g of parmesan, grated

1/2 cup parsley, finelly chopped

Cut the chicken breast, making small long chuncks, with the length of the slice of ham and the width of your finger. We are looking to make little cannellonis here, rolling the chiken breast in the cheese and ham. Season these chunks of breast with salt, pepper and the garlic.

To make the cannellonis: take 1 slice of ham and cover it with 1 slice of cheese. paralell with the longest side of the cheese, place one breast chunck and roll it (lenghtwise): the ham should be the outter part. Repeat the process with all the other chicken chuncks.

In case you haven't yet, mix the tomato sauce with the water and put half of that mixture in an tall oven-proof dish. Put the cannellonis on the bottom, very close together, in the mix of tomato sauce and water. When you finish it, dump the rest of the tomato sauce/water mix on top of it all.

Place the oven-proof dish in a tray with water and place it in a pre-heated oven (gas mark 6) to cook for around 25 min.

Meanwhile, in a blender, mix the double cream and the sweet corn (drained) and blend it for 10 seconds. The aim here is to keep some chuncks in the sauce.

Take the oven-proof dish out of the oven (leaving the oven on) and spread the corn cream on top of the cannellonis and the sauce. On top of the corn cream, spread spoons of cream cheese (it can be irregular, for the cheese will melt and spread). Generously sprinkle the parmesan and the parseley and bake it to brown/melt. Serve it with white rice.

Oatmeal and raisins cookies

American recipe that I found here:

Time of preparation: 40 min
A lot of cookies from this recipe!

3 1/2 cups of rolled oats
1 1/2 cup of raisins
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of butter
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 egg
1 tspoon of baking soda
1 tspoon of vanilla extract
1 tspoon of salt
1 tbspoon of cinnamon

Right, the first difference from the video is that I abolished the use of coconut and I used cinnamos. I tried it first as the chef suggested but I didn't like the result. This way was better (according to my husband!)

So, first, mix the sugar and the butter until you get a cream. Add the egg and the vanilla extract, the baking soda, flour, salt and cinnamon. Mix it thouroughly. Turn off the mixer and add the raisins and the oats and mix it with a spoon.

Make a small ball with the contents of about 2 tbspoons of the mix and bake it on a silicon tray or on a teflon sheet, gas mark 4 or 5 (I had to use 6 for 15 min).

Tuna pizza

Time of preparation: 20 min
4 portions

For the base, follow the instructions here.

The topping:
1 can of tuna
1/2 jar of tomato sauce
2-3 tbspoons of sweet corn
2-3 tbspoons of peas
200g of cheddar, grated

Mix the tuna and the tomato sauce, with a fork, tearing the chuncks of tuna. Spread this mixture on top of the pizza, sprinkle it with the cheese. On top of the cheese, sprinkle the sweet corn and the peas. Bake for 10-12 min.

Steak parmegiana - I

There are different versions for steak parmegiana, but this is the simpler one, and it is the traditional recipe in my family. I'll post the other version later on.
This is a family recipe and it is absolutely delicious...but it may give you the meat sweats.

Time of preparation: 30 min
4 portions

4 steaks (best if it is rump cover steaks)
4 to 5 slices of bread
1/2 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, finelly chopped
2 tbspoons of olive oil
tomato sauce, 1 jarr
basil (about 1 tbspoon)
1 cube of meat stock
oregano, about 1tbspoon
pepper
muzzarela (but chedar works too)
parmesan

Right, heat up the oil, fry the onion and garlic and add the tomato sauce, meat stock, oregano, basil and sauce. Let it cook for 10-15min in low heat. In a oven-proof dish, spread the slices of bread, covering the bottom of the dish. You can rip another slice to cover the corners. The best way is to cover the whole bottom. Sprinkle some oregano on the slices and give it a dash of olive oil.
Meanwhile, season the steaks (but don't put too much salt, since the tomato sauce will go on top of them) and fry them. When ready, put one steak on top of each slice of bread. Put a slice of muzzarela (or chedar) cheese (or more if you like cheese a lot) on top of of the steak. Repeat the process with the other steaks. Cover it all with the tomato sauce, making sure it covers all the bread (the bread has to be wet with the sauce). Sprinkle grated parmesan on top of it all and take it to a gas mark 6 oven for 20 min (until the cheese browns/crispy). Serve it hot.

It goes wonderful with salad and white rice.

potato gnocchi

Time of preparation: 1 hour
6 portions

This is my dad's favourite and my grandma made the best I've ever had. My mum used to engage our help in the kitchen whenever she made the gnocchis and this may be an idea for children in the kitchen.

Gnocchi:
6 medium potatoes
1 cup of flour
salt

Sauce:
1 jar of tomato sauce
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tbspoon of olive oil
2 cubes of meat stock
500g of minced meat
grated parmesan

Cook the potatoes until soft. Drain, peal and mash them, while hot. Little by little, add the flour and salt. Kneed it well. It will always be sticky, but it can't be too sticky. Spread flour over the counter and put the gnocchi dough on top of it. Roll it making little gnocchi snakes, like children do with playdoh. Cut each snake in pieces of 2cm more or less.
In a big pan, boil water seasoned with salt. When the water boils, add the gnocchis in the water one by one. They are done when they float. Fill another big pan with cold water and put a colander inside it, under water. Put the gnocchis, fresh from the hot water in the cold water, for a thermal shock.
Drain it well and put the gnocchis in a oven-proof dish.

Sauce

Heat the olive oil, fry the onion and add the meat and the cubes of stock. Stirr and when the meat is cooked, add the tomato sauce and let it cook for 4 more minutes. Put it on top of the gnocchi, sprinkle grated parmesan on top and take it to the oven for 15-20 min. Serve it hot.

OBS: My grandma used to make Gnocchi a Romana: instead of using only tomato sauce, you use also white sauce. This is my favourite.
The way to do is this: you put the gnocchis on the oven-proof dish, and with the help of a spoon, make a cavity in the middle of them, where you put the white sauce. After that you put the tomato sauce on top of it, gently, in order to hide the white sauce. This way, we only find it when the first person gets a portion. Don't stirr the sauces, they will combine in a beautiful way!

Caipirinha

Today is friday, alcohol dose day for us, and we are making the most famous alcoholic drink in Brazil: caipirinha. You can click on the link (it will open a wikipedia page) to know the history of the drink.

First things first. We have a guest writing this entry. Although I'm brazilian, I'm ashamed to admit that I'm no good in preparing this. My husband (who is english) has mastered the caipirinha and is going to write the rest of the post.

Ok, if you want the true brazilian drink, you need cachaça or aguardente (they are the same thing) and you can find them in alcoholic beverage stores. If you can't get your hands into some, you can also use vodka, although the name changes for caipiroska, or you can use rum (Caipiríssima).



Now, here's.....Phil!

Caipirinha's are deliciously refreshing, quite deceptively so as they are more alcoholic than you think.....
The first time I had a caipirinha was in Sao Paulo after a 11 hour flight from lisbon (that i actualy went Stanstead - Porto to Lisbon to Sao Paulo over 2 days) It was my first time in Brazil, the day before i was about to meet my girlfriends parents and ask them for her hand....
Vanessa took me to a streetside bar on a hot and humid Sao Paulo street, and she told me i must try a caipirnha, i was game for anything, and oh my god it was good, and i was already in love with brazil.
I had to learn to make one, so i could be accepted by my in-laws when they visit... So here goes.

Ingreedients
You will need a small tumbler glass for each drink
Limes (one per drink)
Crushed Ice - lots
Sugar - LIght brown sugar is best, but nrmal white cane sugar works fine too
Cachaça

Preparation
Roll a lime on a chopping board, putting as much weight as you dare (without busrsting it) to free up the juice of the lime.
Chop off the top and tail of the lime, to reduce the amout of peel we end up with.
Cut the lime into 6ths. Place 3 pieces of the lime into the bottom of the glass (predominately peel side up), sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar ove the lime. Place the remaining 3 pieces of lime
in the glass as before and sprinkle another spoon of sugar ontop.
Next take a muddle (or rolling pin) and crush the lime and sugar in the glass using a slight twist, continuing untill the lime-juice and sugar solution comes above the level of the lime-skins.
next fill the glass up with crushed ice. and poor on as much cachaça as you can fit in the glass.
you can either serve this with a straw, so you can suck the sweet and sour solution off the bottom. or you can stir (gently as the glas will be very full) and just drink out the glass, or you can shake it in acocktail shaker and serve.

Feel free to add more sugar to taste, as every lime is different. you're looking for a balance between the sweet and sour.

Enjoy on a hot summers evening...

My first comment!

Hello! I'm very happy today because I got my first comment! If you ever try the recipes described here, I'd like some feedback! All the recipes you see were cooked for my family and I only post the ones approved. As you can see, I'm brazilian (with italian and german ancestry) who lived in Portugal and now in England. So I try to summarize a bit of everything here. Altough people associate brazilian cuisine with exotic spices (and that is true for north/northeast Brazil), most of southern brazilian cuisine is mild and quite adaptable for different cultures. I do like spicy food too, evey now and then, but I couldn't eat it in a regular basis. What you see here is really what I cooked the day I posted. I hope you all enjoy!

Sheperds pie

Time of preparation: 35 min
4 portions

I found this recipe here


2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
500g minced lamb
1 large onion, finely grated
1 large carrot, finely grated
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato puree
thyme (I used the dry one)
rosemary, ditto
250ml red wine
300ml chicken stock (I used one cube of chicken stock diluted in boiling water)
1kg of potatoes (for the mash)
50g butter
2 egg yolks
Parmesan, for grating

Preheat the oven to 180˚C/gas 4

Heat the oil in a large pan until hot. Season the mince and fry in the oil over moderate to high heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir the onions and carrot into the mince then grate the garlic in as well. Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree and herbs and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the red wine and reduce until almost completely evaporated. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the sauce has thickened

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain then return to the hot pan over low heat to dry out briefly. Pass them through a potato ricer then beat in the egg yolks, followed by about 2 tbsp grated Parmesan. Check for seasoning

Spoon the mince into the bottom of a large ovenproof dish. Using a large spoon, layer the mashed potato generously on top of the mince, starting from the outside and working your way into the middle. Grate some extra Parmesan over and season. Fluff up the mash potato with a fork to make rough peaks. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown

Here's the thing: After I put the stock, mine wouldn't get thick, so I cheat using 1 tbspoon of flour to thicken the meat sauce. Also, I tried this recipe with bovine mince (Cottage pie) and I think it actually tastes better.

Rocket, cheese and sun-dried tomatoes pizza

Time of preparation: 35min

Topping:
sun-dried tomatoes
6 tbspoons of tomato sauce
salt
oregano
200g of ricotta
200g of mozzarella
rocket leaves (as many as you want)

Dough
1/2 cup of milk
2 tspoons of butter
1 tbsponn of baking soda
1 cup of flour
1 tspoon of salt

Mix all the dough ingredients and kneed it until homogeneous. Open it with the roll, making 4 pizza bases or a big pizza. Bake it (gas mark 6) for 12 min.

Spread the tomato sauce on top of the pizza, distribute the muzzarella, mixed up with the ricotta. Top it with the rocket leaves and the sun-dried tomatos. Bake it again for another 8 min.

Filled lettuce

time of preparation: 30 min
2 portions

1 big head of lettuce
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 big onion, grated
1/3 cup of chopped parsley
1 tbspoon of butter
1 cup of minced meat
1 cup of water
1 cube of beef stock
1/2 cup of grated parmesan
1 tspoon of ground pepper
1 egg
1 tbspoon of tomato puree
1/2 cup of bread crums
salt (if necessary)

separate and clean the lettuce leaves. Reserve the big outter leaves and chop the inner ones.
Fry the garlic, onion and parsley on the butter. Add the chopped lettuce, the meat, water, beef stock and pepper. Let it cook. When it dries, add the cheese, the egg, tomato puree and the bread crums.
Fill the big lettuce leaves with the mince and serve.

French bread (pão francês)

Time of preparation: 4 hours

1/2kg of flour
15g of yeast (2 envelopes)
15g of salt (2-3 tspoons)
20g of sugar (1 tbspoon)
1 tbspoon of butter
300g of water

Dilute the yeast in warm water with the sugar. Mix all the other ingredients. Kneed the dough, stretching it forward with your palms, folding it on itself. The dough has to be elastic, not sticking to the hands, looking light and sponge like. If
necessary, add more water and flour.
Let it rest for 2 hours. Kneed it again and prepare the bread in the shape you want. Put it on a greased baking tray. If it is sticky, put more flour on top of the dough. Let it rest for another hour.
Bake it in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 min.

IMPORTANT: in order to make the crust while it bakes, you need to put a smaller tray in the oven with a bit of water. It needs water vapour to bake.

Fried rice cakes (bolinho de arroz)

Time of preparation: 25 min

2 cups of cooked white rice
1/2 cup of grated cheese
1/2 cup of milk
1 tbspoon parsley
1 tbspoon of chives
1 tbspoon of baking soda
1/2 cup of corn flour
1/2 cup of flour
3 eggs
oil (enough to fry)


Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Fry 1tbspoon of the mixture in hot oil, allowing it to golden on both sides. Put it over kitchen towel to drain. Can be served hot or at room temperature, as snacks.