Hungarian Lentil Stew

The Hungarian name for this dish is Rántott Lencse Fözelék (say THAT three times fast!)

Anyway, you don't have to speak Hungarian to enjoy this dish. It is one of the all-time family favorites in my family. The scents and flavors take me right back to my grandmother's table - where everyone was welcome and had no doubt that she showed her love with food. This is good comfort food that's also perfect for cold weather because this is stick-to-your-ribs stuff that warms you up. The best part is that it is very easy to make (see below for a tip on how to make it vegan). Here's how:

Ingredients:
1 12oz. package of dried lentils
1 large onions
1 package of Healthy Choice Smoked Turkey Sausage (or any kind of smoked meat)
3 – 4 packets of MBT low sodium beef boullion
2 – 3 tablespoons of flour
2 – 3 tablespoons of paprika
Bay leaves (I often forget and it still tastes good anyway)
Olive Oil
salt to taste
6 – 8 cups of water

Lentils:
Set the pot to boil with the boullion, while you hand-sort the lentils (sometimes rocks or twigs end up being harvested with the lentils). Rinse the lentils in the sink and then put them right in the pot. Bring the pot to a boil and then lower the heat and cover the pot so the lentils cook on a low boil when you prepare the other ingredients.

Sausage:
Slice it in 1/4 inch rounds, and then cut those in quarters to there are many small pieces. This is only necessary to keep any one person from fishing out all the sausage (not that would happen in our house, but just in case...). As soon as the sausage is diced, you can put it into the pot.

Rántás:
The basis for all Hungarian stews begins with “rántás” - finely minced onion, slowly sautéed on a low flame until they are agreeable and pliant like a beautiful woman on a moonlit night after a few glasses of wine. In other words, when they are transparent and nice and soft (the onions that is). Use about 2 – 3 tbsp of olive oil. The French and foodies know this as "roux."

Once the onions are ready, raise the flame, sprinkle in the paprika and mix it up so that the paprika gets toasted to bring out the flavor. Then, sprinkle in the flour (hand sifting with a wire mesh strainer works great) and mix it very well with the spatula. It comes out better if you first mix the flour into a runny paste with a little water and a hand blender and then pour that mixture into the sauteed onions and paprika to finish the rántás. The correct consistency of rántás is thick and pasty, and it should be reddish-orange in color.

Bring it all Together:
Stir the rántás into the lentil soup. Put a few spoonfuls of the liquid from the soup into the saucepan to get whatever is stuck to the pan. Keep stirring the pot until it is well blended and there are no lumps. Bring the heat back down to a low simmer and let it all cook together for another 30 minutes or so. Serve it on a bed of rice (see the post on Feijoada for a tip on how to make good rice).

How to make this dish vegan:

Sausage plays an important role in the flavor of this dish because it adds a smoky flavor. If you use a smoked paprika when preparing the rántás, that will add the smoky flavor and you can forgo the sausage altogether. There is a smoked paprika on the market from Spain called "pimentón," and to my knowledge there is no smoked paprika from Hungary. The brand I buy is called "El Rey de la Vera" (see picture to the left). For this dish, be careful to select the sweet variety ("dulce") because the spicy variety ("picante") as shown is very spicy. Locally, you can find this at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill.

Jó étvágyatt! (That's "bon appetit" in Hungarian.)

Serves appx. 8 adults.

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A Thanksgiving Feast

One of the reasons we moved to North Carolina was to be near family, so it has been a real treat for us to host Thanksgiving dinners for much of our extended family at our house in Raleigh. And, like many folks we know, Lauren and I lead hectic lives, so we try to approach Thanksgiving with an eye to making it as easy as possible, while still trying to make it special.

We have a wide range of food preferences in our family, so trying to cook for this group is a tall order, and the key is to find a favorite of everyone’s and then go from there. Of course, some of the best dishes are those carb-laden comfort food favorites, and inevitably we’ll end up with more than one. One year, instead of green beans we blanched some brussels sprouts, cut then in half and roasted them with an Italian dressing drizzle. Delicious!

Anyway, enough about the context, here’s what we made for our first Thanksgiving in Raleigh, which was declared “the best Thanksgiving ever” by many at the table. Try one or all of these recipes and mix and match with your own.

Here’s what’s on the menu:

• Brined Grilled Turkey
• Red wine-reduction Cranberry Sauce
• Lauren’s Mashed potatoes
• Nancy’s Southern Belle Corn Puddin’
• Mum-mum’s Turkey Dressing (stuffing)
• Szechuan green beans
• Olivier’s salad
• Dessert

Brined-Grilled Turkey
My Thanksgiving turkey is first brined and then grilled. The brining is a process that permeates the meat with flavor and moisture through osmosis and takes at least 24 hours. If your turkey is frozen, thaw it first and then brine it. The result will be succulent and juicy enough so that even non Turkey eaters will ask for seconds.

In order to serve dinner at mid-afternoon on Thursday, I began the brining very late on Tuesday. I took the Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe on Foodnetwork.com and then modified it based on the ingredients we had at hand and anything I thought would taste good. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

12-14 lb turkey (make sure it fits in your biggest pot and can be immersed)
1 gallon Swanson’s chicken broth
1 cup Kosher salt
½ gallon water
½ gallon apple juice
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
5 cloves of minced garlic
4 sprigs of rosemary
1 bag frozen chopped onion
1 big pot to hold all of the liquid and immerse the turkey

• Sauté the onions and garlic with a little olive oil until transparent, then add the rosemary sprigs and peppercorns and heat them for about 4-5 minutes.
• Transfer the onion-garlic-herb mixture to the bottom of the brining pot and add the salt with a cup each of the chicken stock and apple juice and swish it around to dissolve the salt.
• Then put the turkey into the pot and then pour the rest of the apple juice, chicken stock and water to the pot.
• Put it in your fridge and leave it there overnight.
• Allow about 3 hours to cook, so take the Turkey out of the brine right before you put it on the grill.
• I did not put the turkey directly on the grill, but instead in a roasting pan with a V-shaped rack on top of the grill.
• Place the bird breast-down on the rack and then cover it with aluminum foil until 1 hour before taking off the grill (in other words, let the skin get crispy brown but not burnt).
• In order to be sure it was cooked, but not overcooked, I used a meat thermometer that sits outside the cooking area with a probe stuck directly into the thickest part of the breast. ($6.99 at IKEA: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80100406)
• Once the breast temperature hit 153°, I turned off the heat and took the Turkey inside and let it sit undisturbed for 10 minutes or so.
• To serve, I carved the turkey in the kitchen and arranged the meat by dark vs. white on a platter.

Last year, we discovered that the N.C. State University Food Sciences department sold smoked turkey breasts, which we enjoyed quite a bit so we decided to do it again this year. And while it’s certainly delicious, I do have a hankering for my brined-grilled turkey. I’ll have to find a way to fit that in this year…

Winey Cranberry Sauce.

12 ounce bag of fresh cranberries
1 cup of sugar (or 24 packets of Splenda sweetener)
1 cup of red wine (any kind)

• Pour the wine into a pot over medium heat. 
• As the wine warms, add sugar and stir until it dissolves.
• Rinse the cranberries and add them to the warming wine-sugar mixture.
• Bring it to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer and let them cook on a low boil for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally while letting the cranberries pop while cooking.
• Turn the heat off and let the sauce cool on the stovetop. It thickens while it cools.
• NOTE: You can make this cranberry sauce the night before and then heat it up on Thanksgiving day.

This is my own creation and it was so well received I’ve decided to make this a regular on our Thanksgiving table. I used to make it with canned cranberry sauce and a much more elaborate reduction process, and then I realized that making the sauce from scratch is no harder to do than boiling hot dogs. And I am always in favor of doing it the easy way!

Mashed Potatoes
This is Lauren’s favorite and she does it so well that I give her wide berth in the kitchen and don’t get in her way. Part of the key to a great Thanksgiving is to apply economic theory about division of labor and let anyone make part of the meal if that’s what they do best and/or enjoy doing it. There’s plenty of work to go around.

While the turkey is baking, you can make the mashed potatoes first and then keep it heating as described below.

3 pounds of potatoes
1 stick of butter
1% milk
Salt & pepper to taste

• Take 3 pounds of potatoes, peel them and then chop them into cubes.
• Boil them in salted water until they fall apart with a fork (10 minutes or so).
• Drain and then transfer the pieces in large spoonfuls to a potato ricer.
• Rice the potatoes into a large ceramic bowl.
• Slice a whole stick of butter into pats and spread around the bowl so it melts into the potatoes.
• Add salt and pepper to taste (lots of pepper, easy on the salt).
• Get a hand-held mixer and mix 1% milk into the potatoes until the consistency is light & fluffy.
• Suspend the ceramic bowl over a pot of hot water, cover with aluminum foil and stir occasionally to keep warm while you work on the other parts of the meal.

Southern Belle Corn Puddin’
That is not a typo - this dish does not have a “g” at the end because it is truly as southern as magolias or civil war re-enactments. Whatever your sentiments, corn puddin’ is a delicious dish so make it part of your Thanksgiving. This comes directly from Lauren’s family cookbook and is attributed to her mother, Nancy.

2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup milk
3 Tbsp. butter
1 can Green Giant Niblets Corn
1 Tbsp. flour
Pinch of salt

• Pre-heat the oven to 350°
• Beat the first three ingredients together, then add the butter to make the custard.
• Mix gently.
• Drain the corn and dredge it with the flour and salt.
• Fold the corn into the custard.
• Pour into a buttered baking dish.
• Put the buttered baking dish into a pan with a little bit of water in it and all into the oven.
• Bake for 35 – 40 minutes along with the turkey dressing (below) or until the top of the puddin’ is golden brown.
• This can keep warming in the oven covered in foil if your timing is off.

Mum-Mum’s Turkey Dressing (stuffing)

Lauren’s grandmother on her mother’s side is Kitty Edwards, but all her grandkids (and great-grandkids) call her Mum-mum. She grew up in Suffolk, Virginia and last year we celebrated her 100th birthday. Needless to say, she’s a big part of the family and one of her dishes at the Thanksgiving table is the turkey dressing.

5 cups of bread cubes toasted and brushed with melted butter (or go buy 5 cups of Pepperidge Farm unseasoned stuffing mix)
½ cup of celery sliced thin and chopped
¼ cup of onion diced (or a half-bag of frozen chopped onions)
1 egg beaten
10 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp of salt
1 tube of Jimmy Dean “Pork Light” sausage (50% reduced fat) http://jimmydean.com/products/premium-pork-light-sausage.aspx
5 cups of Swanson chicken stock

• Preheat the oven to 350º
• Mix the sausage, bread crumbs and other ingredients in a large bowl.
• Grease a 9 x 13 lasagna pan (or any pan that goes in the oven)
• Press the sausage-bread-etc. mixture into the pan
• Pour the chicken stock slowly over all of it so it moistens everything.
• Bake along with the corn puddin’ for 20-30 minutes until the top is brown.

Szechuan Green Beans

1 big package of frozen Green beans (Trader Joe's french green beans are awesome)
1 tsp Ginger – grated
2-3 cloves of Garlic – minced or pressed
drizzle of Sesame oil
1.5 Tbsp Olive oil
sprinkle of Sesame seeds
Salt to taste

• Lightly steam the green beans in the microwave with a little bit of water and a covered dish (3 min. on our microwave).
• They should still be crisp at this stage.
• Put about 1 Tbsp. olive oil in the bottom of a pan and then drizzle a little bit of sesame oil for flavor.
• Heat the garlic and ginger together to bring out their flavors but not so much that they turn brown.
• Add the steamed green beans and stir so that they are coated.
• Let it cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add salt to taste and then the sesame seeds.
• Mix it all up and serve hot.

Olivier’s Salad

Like me, my brother-in-law knows his way around the kitchen, and he enjoys entertaining and eating. Well, it so happens that he is French, and considering how serious the French are about gastronomy, Olivier does his heritage proud with the most amazing salad dressing. I never tire of eating his salad because the dressing is so flavorful and savory, so we’re always happy when Olivier makes his salad.

The lettuce he uses is romaine, and he adds tomatoes, cucumber slices, carrots and sometimes avocado. This dressing is so good, you can even use it with a bag salad from the grocery store and I guarantee you will have no leftovers. This amount of dressing is enough for a big salad for 10-12 people and there still may be some leftover. It keeps well in the fridge in tupperware, so go ahead and make the whole thing - you won't be disappointed.

For 2 cups of dressing:
8 cloves of pressed garlic
2 tsp of Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
¼ cup of red wine vinegar
2-3 Tbsp of Kraft parmesan cheese (the green can)
1 Tbsp of salt
20 grinds of fresh ground pepper
2-3 Tbsp of dried dill weed
1 cup of extra virgin olive oil (or however much you need to bring it to a total of 2 cups of dressing)

• Mix all the ingredients well with a stick blender until it has a runny paste consistency.
• Add little by little to match the amount of lettuce you have and don’t worry if you have left overs.
• Do not over-dress the salad – I can’t describe how much is too much dressing (which I find unappealing), so taste it along the way and decide for yourself.

Dessert
What would Thanksgiving be without dessert? We’ve discovered that our local farmers market includes some baked-goods vendors that do an outstanding job with pies. So we usually outsource our dessert to those fine and talented folks by getting a pumpkin and a pecan pie and then serving it up with Harris-Teeter Natural vanilla ice cream.

This year, we went to the mountains to see the leaves turn colors and ended up in an apple orchard. Of course we came home with a mountain of apples, so Lauren prepared two apple pies and froze them so we can thaw and bake on Thanksgiving. If it works out well, I’ll post that so you can give it a try. In the meantime, I hope you try one of these dishes for your Thanksgiving. Let me know what you think!

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Arroz con Pollo

I’ll never forget my first business trip to Miami because I left with so many vivid memories because I was able to visit with Michelle and her family. Michelle (Mimi) is Lauren’s best friend and godmother to both of our kids, so that’s makes her like double-family to us. Anyway, Mimi is a mutt like me – she’s Cuban-Austrian-French-American and I am Hungarian-Brazilian-American. And like me, her Latin side dominates because her family's ties to Cuba are strong and recent.

So there I was in the early 1990s, living in Atlanta and Mimi was in Washington and by coincidence we both ended up in Miami at the same time. For her, that always means she gets to visit with her (very Cuban) family. Long story short – I went with her to visit her cousins René and Cristina, Renecito and Christopher and Aunt Inés (Tia Piti). And much to my delight, Cristina made the most delectable arroz con pollo (Cuban chicken with rice) I’d ever eaten.

The food had so many layers of flavor, and then to wash it down with a beer was just the perfect pairing. Cristina later confided to me that she puréed carrots and celery so the boys would not realize they were eating vegetables and her “secret ingredient” is beer. The happiest development here is that this is one of those one-pot meals that’s so easy that it has become a regular favorite here at home.

So here is another great dish that’s easy-peasy and yummy and nutritious. Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Ingredients1.5 pounds of chicken
2 cups of rice
1 large onion diced (or 1 package of frozen diced onions)
6 celery stalks
4 carrots
1 pinch of saffron (.014 oz or appx. 20 filaments)
1 chicken boullion cube
2 cans of Swanson chicken broth
1 beer
1 tbsp olive oil

Start by dicing the chicken meat. The chicken can be either white meat or dark meat. We usually just buy boneless chicken breasts (1 package), but you can make this dish with boneless thigh meat, too. Either way, either buy it boneless or remove the bones (I just think it’s annoying to have to pick out bones from your food).

Drizzle the olive oil in the bottom of the pot and sauté the onions until they are transparent. When the onions are done, add the chicken, stir it all together and cook it on a low flame. While the chicken cooks slowly, start dicing and slicing the celery and carrots.

Once the chicken is cooked, crumble the boullion cube and stir it into the chicken-onion mixture. Then add the beer and bring it to a boil. Add the carrots and celery as a layer on top of the chicken and let the chicken stew slowly in the beer on a low flame while the carrots & celery get steamed and drip their vegetable goodness onto the chicken.

After about 10 minutes of stewing & steaming, stir the celery-carrots into the chicken so it’s all mixed together. At this point, sprinkle the saffron into the pot and stir it in. Rinse the rice and then put that into the pot and stir it all together. Add the chicken broth and then cover the pot to bring it all very slowly to a boil.

Cook it about 10 minutes or so (as long as it takes for the rice to cook), and then stir it all together. Even after the rice has cooked, there still should be a little liquid left in the pot, so cover it and let it cook a little longer and stir occasionally so that it’s not soupy but is still very moist (like the consistency of a risotto). Leave it covered and let it sit for a few minutes on the stove while all the flavors mingle.

Serve it family-style with big dollops on the plate. This is good stick-to-your-ribs food that's awesome on a chilly or rainy day. You can serve it with whatever side dish you like, but this is truly a full meal in a pot. It goes best with beer, but any white wine works fine, too.

A word about saffron:

Saffron is a rare spice that can be quite expensive because it comes from the stigmas in the little flowers of a little crocus native to Asia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron. Fortunately, you only need a little bit to make most dishes, including arroz con pollo. If you find saffron that does not seem more expensive than the other spices on the rack, it probably isn’t really saffron.

With that said, I found that the most reliable and reasonably-spiced saffron comes from a spice company in Miami called Badia. I discovered Badia when we lived in Tampa and the Publix supermarket chain started carrying their spices. All their spices are high quality and reasonably priced, but their saffron is 2-3 times cheaper than McCormick or other brands. This package is enough for a pot of arroz con pollo and it cost $4.99 at Publix. There are no Publix stores in North Carolina, so when I find one when I am traveling, I go in and stock up on saffron.

¡Buen provecho!

Restaurant Spotlight - Peking Gourmet Inn

My dear wife Lauren grew up in Northern Virginia, and as it turns out she and her best friend celebrated almost every birthday at Peking Gourmet Inn (“Peking”) since the late 1970s. This place is so special that we try always to have a meal there when we visit the area. I always knew this place was good, but for years I harbored suspicion that Lauren’s devotion to this place was too wrapped up and dunked in the nostalgic hoisin sauce of happy childhood memories. The tests of time proved my suspicions wrong.

So, as we moved to Dallas, Tampa and now Raleigh, and as we continued to vacation in many far-flung places, we’ve come to appreciate good cooking as well as fine cuisine. And in all our journeys, Peking Gourmet Inn has never lost its appeal for us. And my suspicion of Lauren’s devotion melted away as I became an ardent fan of this place right along with her. And the reason is simple – it’s really all that.

The owners of this restaurant are the Tsui family – Robert, Eddie and Lucy are all siblings that took over the restaurant from their father. Over the years, we’ve had many chances to chat with Robert , who’s also a chemical engineer who helped develop some of their recipes. During one visit we got to taste his hot garlic mustard sauce before he actually rolled it out and I knew it would be dynamite.

We were up in the D.C. area this Labor Day visiting relatives and, of course, we stopped in at Peking for lunch on Sunday and ordered a barrage of favorites. We started with the Peking Duck, which is lean and succulent. As they carve it at your table, you can see them scrape the residual fat off the meat and skin before they present it. Their hoisin sauce is made in-house, and it’s rich and flavorful. The hot garlic mustard sauce is a Peking exclusive and is one of those sauces that’s so well balanced that none of the underlying flavors dominates and the result is truly a delicacy. The garlic sprouts served with the duck are organically grown on their own farm.

Our favorite entrée is the Szechuan Beef Proper – also a Peking exclusive. It’s made with strips of beef and sesame seeds that are dry-fried (no oil) at a very high heat with scallions, carrot strips and hot red peppers. The result is a delectable crispy-chewy dish that’s unlike any I’ve ever tasted. I usually eat it on a bed of rice with hoisin sauce drizzled on top. Out of this world!

Needless to say, a meal like that needs to be balanced out – so usually we eat very light that day and try to stay hydrated and find ways to work off the extra indulgence. I highly recommend Peking Gourmet Inn – it’s worth the trip if you’re in or near Washington, or would like to make it a destination restaurant and build a trip around it. Do call ahead and make reservations because it’s very popular.

George Bush the elder ate there frequently and it became a hit with the whos-who of republican Washington in the ‘90s, so prepare yourself for seeing walls lined with the photos of famous republicans. Under other circumstances, all those pictures would induce stomach cramps for me and Lauren faster than Harry Potter’s scar burning in the presence of Voldemort, but we like Robert, Lucy and Eddie and we also stay focused on our food at this place anyway.

Peking Gourmet Inn is located outside D.C. about a mile away from a Fuddrucker’s that was probably a favorite of George Bush the younger in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia at 6029 Leesburg Pike (phone = 703-671-8088).

Lauren’s Potato-Leek Soup à la Julia

This soup is a perennial favorite with the kids, and it's very good to make on a rainy or cold day because it's so rich. There's enough substance in the bowl, so it's a meal by itself. If you'd like to pair it with other foods as a first course, try using smaller bowls, or simply serve it in smaller portions. At our house, this soup is usually the main event, so we've never actually paired this with other foods.

Ingredients
5 medium potatoes (appx. 4 cups diced)
2-3 large leeks (ends up appx. 4 cups diced)
3-4 cups of milk
1 cup of “Light” sour cream
1 package of pre-cooked bacon (15 slices)
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons of salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon ground pepper (or to taste)

Start by filling a large pot ½ full with water and getting it to boil. While that is heating, start prepping the ingredients. There is a specific way to prepare the leeks à la Julia and it's the only part of the recipe you should follow to a T. Like much of life, everything else is quite negotiable.

Leeks
Cut off the tops of the leeks right below where they start to fan out in its stalk-like leaves. Be sure to leave the roots on the leeks until after you wash them. What will be left is primarily the white part of the leek, along with some of the tender light-green part. Cut them in quarters, but not all the way down to the roots so they stay together while you fan them out to wash out the dirt. Do not skip this step because the dirt is a guarantee, but trust me – it is worth this little bit of extra work. No need to dry the leeks, so just chop off the roots at this point. Slice the quarters into half-inch pieces and drop them into the boiling water.

Potatoes
These are certainly much easier than the leeks, but still some work to peel them. Once peeled, chop and dice into 1-inch chunks and boil them with the leeks until the potatoes break apart with a fork (like making mashed potatoes). It usually takes them about 10-12 minutes to reach that point.

Here is where Lauren departs from Julia’s original recipe. Julia drains the leeks and potatoes and keeps the liquid and adds it back in to make the soup. Lauren simply drains them, puts them in a blender in batches with sour cream and milk and purees it until a rich, creamy consistency. Then pour each batch into the original pan until all of the leeks and potatoes have been pureed. Generally, it takes 2-3 batches with our standard-issue 6-cup blender.

Once the pureed soup is back on the stove, stir occasionally as it warms up and add salt & pepper to taste.

Serve it in bowls and crumple the bacon bits onto the soup, finishing with some shredded cheddar on top. Serve with warm bread and your favorite beverage.


Give this one a try and let me know what you think, especially if you think of a new way to prepare or serve it.

Bon appétit!

Grapefruit Frozen Margaritas

Ever since our friends Johnny & Whitney invited us over for margaritas a few weeks ago, I have been obsessed with an idea - making frozen margaritas with grapefruit juice (instead of lime juice). Lo and behold, Lauren (my faithful accomplice on all of life's great adventures) found the key ingredient this past week at the store (see picture - it actually exists, like frozen orange juice).

Yesterday was the end of another productive but l o n g week at work, so I emailed Lauren halfway through the morning about the grapefruit margaritas and whether or not we should invite some of our friends over for Friday dinner. Aside from simply liking to entertain, I think it's more fun to share food adventures so we can have multiple testers.

(FULL DISCLOSURE: Yes, if I invite you over there's a good chance you will become another guinea pig for my cooking adventures).

Anyway, they turned out as delectable and refreshing as I hoped for, so here's how we did it using our trusty standard-issue 6-cup blender:

• 1/2 can of frozen concentrated grapefruit juice (6 oz.)
• 2-3 cups of ice (just fill the blender until 2/3 to 3/4 full
• 1/2 cup of tequila
• 6 packets of splenda

Yes, it's really that easy. The splenda is key because it cuts the sourness of the grapefruit. If you prefer, you can use sugar. For us, the splenda was within reach when we tested the first batch and it turned out WAY too sour without a sweetener.

The consensus was all positive except for Lauren, who prefers regular margaritas. Our testers included Johnny & Whitney and our other friends Glenn & Eileen. Everyone brought a little something, so we had cheese and baguette rounds as appetizers, then a really nice tilapia with olive oil and cayenne. Then we had a mixed grill of beef shortribs, chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, turkey smoked sausage and yellow squash medallions all served up with a tossed salad.

¡Buen provecho!

Feijoada: Brazilian Party-in-a-Pot

Feijoada (fay-ZHOO-ah-dah) is the national dish of Brazil – a country whose people are known far and wide as fun-loving and free-wheeling. Feijoada is delicious and nutritious and, when done right, it can take some time to prepare. It is associated with good times and having friends come over for lunch and go home at midnight, so for those two reasons, it’s almost always eaten on Saturdays.

[Side note: I lived off-and-on in São Paulo for a little over 2 years and I discovered that Paulistas eat feijoada on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I never got a good explanation for that oddity. Since most other Brazilians don’t understand Paulistas anyway, I’ll leave that one open for you all to share your theories about that one.]

So here is my attempt to share my short-cut ways to make a feijoada as quickly and easily as possible, while retaining the flavor (and having enough energy myself to join the party). Even this way, it’s a fair bit of work so plan on dedicating your Saturday morning to cooking and the rest of the day & evening to enjoying yourself.

Feijoada as a meal has 5 main components:
1. Feijoada - the bean and meat stew itself,
2. Rice
3. Couve (KOE-vee)
4. Farofa (FAH-raw-fah)
5. Fruit

1. Feijoada – work on this first so it slow-cooks while you work on the other dishes.

Ingredients:
1 big pot.
2 bags of dried black beans
1 smoked ham hock (it must be smoked or don’t bother)
1 ring of low-fat turkey sausage or low-fat polska kielbasa - Hillshire Farms or equivalent.
1.5 pounds of well-marbled beef (chuck steak is fine)
1 packet of frozen chopped onions (I LOVE this – no tears)
5 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves – minced or pressed
½ bunch of parsley – finely chopped

** The day before the feijoada (Friday night), hand-sort the beans to be sure there are no rocks or twigs in the bag. Then rinse them in a colander. Soak them overnight in 6 quarts of water. Make sure your pot can hold at least 8 quarts and if not, you might cut this recipe in half and simply have a smaller meal/party, but that would be sad so borrow a pot and do it right. And remember to invite the person who lent you the pot.

Start by slowly heating the pot to a slow boil. Put the bay leaves, the ham hock and chopped parsley into pot. While the big pot heats, cut the beef into small bite-sized pieces and remove all big pieces of fat. Brown the beef in a skillet and remove any liquid from the pan with a turkey baster so the meat gets a nice browning on all sides. Use cooking spray so it does not add any grease. Put the meat into the pot and add water so it covers everything.

In the same skillet, sauté the onions slowly until they are transparent. While the onions are doing their thing, slice the sausage into ¼ inch medallions, and then cut each piece again into fourths. Put the sausage pieces into the skillet and let them hear up with the onions. Then put the whole mixture into the pot.

Cover the pot and let it simmer slowly over several hours while you work on the other dishes. After a few hours, slowly take the ham hock out of the pot so that it does not fall apart in the pot. Put the ham hock to the side and when it cools down you can discard it.

2. Rice – use any kind of rice you like, but authentic Feijoada is eaten with long-grain white rice.

Ingredients:2 cups long-grain white rice
½ bag of frozen onions (save the other half for the couve)
1 Tbsp Olive oil
Salt to taste

I usually take the rice and rinse it with a strainer. Then I take the frozen onions and sauté it with a little olive oil them until transparent in a small pot. When the onions are ready, I put the rinsed rice grains into the pot and mix them around for a minute or two with the onion and oil so the flavors infuse the grains. When the sizzling sound dies down, add a few pinches of salt to taste and 4 cups of water, then bring it all to a boil.

When it reaches a boil, cover and reduce the heat until it stays at a gentle boil. Leave it covered about 15 minutes or so until the water is gone. Stir it with a fork so the onions get well mixed into the rice, cover it again and leave it alone until it’s time to serve.

3. Couve – That’s the Portuguese word for collard greens (KOE-vee), but it’s more fun to say than “collards” isn’t it?

Ladies who walk around saying “couve” can be mistaken for Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen, and guys can be mistaken for WorldCup Soccer Star KaKá, so why not add it to your vocabulary?

Ingredients:1 8-oz bag of frozen collard greens
1 ½ bag of frozen chopped onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ bunch of fresh parsley
There is a way to prepare couve from fresh collard greens so they do not become bitter, and my mom has told me several times how to do it and I can never remember, so do what I do – use frozen collard greens! The frozen collards have never gone bitter on me, so it works.

Sauté the onions with the olive oil in a skillet slowly until transparent. At that point, add the parsley and stir. Then add the frozen collards and stir while they thaw and cook. Don’t worry if the collards are already thawed – let it cook either way. Cooking time after the collards hit the pan is probably only 5 minutes. Once cooked, turn off the flame and you can leave it in the pan covered until it’s time to serve it all.

If you need the pan, just put the couve into a serving dish – it will keep fine while you work on the farofa. Remember to go back and stir the feijoada pot gently from the bottom occasionally so the bottom doesn’t burn and be careful not to break apart the ham hock.

4. Farofa – this is a quintessentially Brazilian garnish that is often prepared and served with other dishes. It’s awesome even on its own.

Ingredients:16 oz bag of manioc flour
1 bag of frozen chopped onions
¼ cup of olive oil
2 large eggs
½ cup of peanuts (can be substituted – see below)
Farofa begins with farinha de mandioca (manioc flour), which might be hard to find outside of NJ, MA or FL, but it’s worth searching for. Ask around where you can buy Brazilian food products and you’ll find mandioca.

Take a bag of frozen chopped onions and sauté over a medium flame in a deep skillet with the olive oil until transparent. Next, crack the eggs into a measuring cup and whip it with a fork, then set the egg mixture aside until you need it in a few moments.

Add the manioc flour to the onion-oil mixture little-by-little and stir with a spatula as it all gets integrated. Stir over the medium flame while breaking up clumps and letting the whole mixture take on a “toasted” consistency.

Clear away the center of the skillet and slowly pour the egg little by little into the clearing and immediately add the flour-onion mixture into the egg. The egg should end up like thin wisps in the mixture like the egg in egg-drop soup. Repeat the process until the whole egg is gone. Keep the flame on medium and keep stirring.

The last part is to let the whole mixture get very hot (but be careful not to burn it) and then add the peanuts. Stir as needed, then transfer to a serving bowl and serve it fresh and hot.

Farofa is as individual as the maker, so peanuts are a particular favorite of Lauren’s and it was a natural for me to make it this way. Some people put chopped green olives in the farofa, and others use raisins, bacon, thin-sliced carrots, a combination – whatever strikes your fancy. Whatever you use should not be large chunks or dominate the farofa in any way, but instead it should add a subtle layer of flavor.

Again, remember to go back and stir the feijoada pot occasionally so the bottom doesn’t burn.

5. Fruit

Serve the whole meal with orange slices or banana. Some people claim the oranges “cut the grease” or “minimize the gas” from the beans. I am not sure either one is the case, but it’s a common way to eat feijoada. It also adds an interesting taste to the overall dish. The fruit is a garnish.

How to serve and eat feijoada:

Even though feijoada is also served in fine restaurants on Saturdays, it is essentially a family-and-friends dish, so serve it up family-style. Take the pots directly to the table and ladle out directly onto your dish.

It’s okay to separate the couve, farofa and fruit, but the feijoada should be served on a bed of rice and not side-by-side with the rice. Even Paulistas know enough to eat it that way.
[Note to my Paulista friends: You know that even the son of a Carioca can't resist a jab or two every once in a while. Alas, my heart has always belonged to Rio...]
Remember that feijoada is not a mere meal, so you have to invite several friends over to enjoy it with you. You will also need lots of music and cold drinks. Choose your favorite beverage, or try caipirinhas – the national drink of Brazil and the first post on this blog. Whatever it is, serve it cold and make sure you don’t run out.

As you might imagine, feijoada is a complex, savory dish with many textures that can be quite heavy. The main issue is that it’s so delicious that almost everyone overdoes it, which is how it turns into a day-long event. Inevitably, everyone moves to the room that has the comfy couches, but the music and laughter continues and the cold drinks keep getting poured and before you know, it’s already midnight.
Don’t resist having seconds and letting it all morph into an event - hosting a feijoada at your house is quite wonderful. Share your feijoada stories with a comment or two below.
Enjoy!

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Favorite Food Spotlight - La Lechera

I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite finds when I run across something really delicious or innovative. Today I'd like to spotlight a product I stumbled upon at my favorite Hispanic grocery store - it's Nestle's brand of sweetened condensed milk called "La Lechera" in a squeeze bottle (yes - a squeeze bottle).


It's the same as any other brand, but what's innovative is the packaging. Gone are the days when you only need a small amount of sweetened condensed milk and you have to open a whole can and then not know what to do with the leftover because the can is not resealable. This squeeze bottle makes it dangerously easy to enjoy sweetened condensed milk in small increments - try it some time in place of jelly in a PB&J and you'll understand the potential danger here.


At this point in time, I am not sure if La Lechera the squeezable is available in mainstream grocery stores, but I know for sure it's available at Compare Foods on Roxboro Rd. in Durham, NC and at International Grocery on New Hope Church Rd. in Raleigh, NC. Go ahead and be adventurous and check out your local bodega - you might be pleasantly surprised at what good service you get. If you do take the plunge, ask for "leche condensada" and see what they show you.

Be aware that "La Lechera" means "Milk Maid" in Spanish, so if you ask for la lechera without giving context, you might be misunderstood. Unless you intend the double entendre, in which case you might be in for another kind of surprise...

Whitney's Tomatillo Salsa

We have these awesome friends that live two doors down from us - Johnny and Whitney and their baby, Tyler. We frequently go to one another's house and share whatever happens to be cooking, usually at the spur of the moment. It usually involves a beverage or two, lots of laughing and taking turns playing Guitar Hero on the Wii.

Anyway, last weekend, they called us over to crack open their newly-acquired bottle of Herradura Tequila for some frozen margaritas. Since it's about 1000° here in North Carolina this summer, the prospect of very cold drinks made with excellent tequila meant that it took me all of a nanosecond to gather up the kids and head over there.

So the margaritas were divine, of course, but what was equally yummy was this humble little bowl of green tomatillo salsa. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am in the middle of a tomatillo kick anyway, but this was REALLY good. And since Whitney is a working mom, she's pretty much already mastered the art of the quick-and-easy-but-still-tasty meal, so I asked her to share her recipe. So here it is for all to enjoy:

1 lb. tomatillos - remove the papery outer layer
1 white onion - quartered
4 garlic cloves
2 jalapeño peppers (remove the seeds)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cumin
1/2 lime - juiced

Roast the first 4 ingredients in the oven at 400° for 15 minutes. When roasted, put all of the ingredients together in a food processor until mixed together. Pour into a bowl and serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

A word about Tomatillos:
They're funny-looking cousins of the tomato that we all know and love, and these have a green and have a papery outer layer. When you cook with them, just make sure to remove the papery outer layer. Our local Harris-Teeter carries them sometimes, and almost all of our local hispanic bodegas or grocery stores always have them.

My all-time favorite hispanic grocery is Compare Foods in Durham (it's part of a small chain, so look them up on the Web). The Durham store is big, clean and well-stocked with wide aisles. I can spend hours there browsing the various foods from all around Latin America and the Caribbean - literally dozens of types of chiles, tomatillos (of course), bottled sodas made with cane sugar (not corn syrup) and even a chipotle mayonnaise that McCormick's makes in Mexico. Compare is on Roxboro Road just north of I-85, set back from the street on the right side heading north. Once you spot it, you'll be surprised how big it is.

Try this Tomatillo Salsa recipe and I'll share your comments with Whitney. Enjoy!

Lauren's Creamy Pesto

Here is a wonderful recipe for folks who like the taste of pesto, but don't like the all the oil in it. My dear wife, Lauren, is one such person, so she set about making her own version of pesto that's less oily. It turned out that her pesto is creamier in texture and taste, and is therefore more versatile. It has now become a perennial favorite. We've had skeptics at our table - both young and old go gaga over this recipe, so I think it's worth sharing.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of fresh basil leaves gently compacted (about 40 - 50 leaves). Here's where you cannot substitute - please do not bother with dried basil. It has to be fresh leaves.
• 1/2 cup of pine nuts (yes - you can use walnuts in a pinch)
• 8 - 10 oz. parmesan cheese in a wedge (can use romano as a subsitute or half-half romano & parmesan)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 Tbsp of olive oil
• 1 cup of milk (we use 2% - just use whatever you have in the fridge)

Blend in a food processor, beginning by grating the chesse. Then add the basil leaves and olive oil, and follow with the garlic and pine nuts. Don't panic if you mix the order up, it will probably taste fine no matter what order you use, but that order works for us. No matter what order you use for the first ingredients, always end with the milk.
Add the milk directly to the food processor little by little and taste along the way. Do not add all of it if you've gotten to the desired consistency with less milk than a whole cup. Feel free to add more basil or cheese if that strikes your fancy. We've found that more than 2 cloves of garlic overpowers the other flavors and if we add more of anything, it's usually the basil leaves.
We usually serve this pesto as a sauce to go over grilled chicken breasts. It can also be used to make pesto pasta. pesto risotto and simply spread over crackers.

Useful tips:

• For storage, use saran wrap to press onto the surface of the pesto inside the tupperware. Like guacamole, this pesto will turn brown with long-term contact with air (even on the inside of a tupperware). Smothered with saran wrap, it can keep for a week in your fridge.
• Most pesto recipes provide for being made with either pine nuts or walnuts. Once we even made this with marcona almonds from Costco and it came out okay.

Let me know what you think!

Homemade Lattes that Kick Butt

Being half-Brazilian, I have had a close relationship with coffee since I was a toddler. In fact, one of our favorite family stories was when my mom got called into the principal’s office when my first grade teacher discovered that my mom was putting coffee in my thermos for lunch. I distinctly remember the principal telling my mother that it’s simply not good for children because it will stunt their growth (one look at me today and you know that was a lie). What was even funnier was my mom going home and then recounting the story to her sister and mother (two other Brazilians). They all looked at each other and wondered “If it’s not coffee – what DO you put in your kid’s thermos??”

Fast-forward 30-odd years and I was living in Tampa, FL with my wife (a tea drinker) and my kids. Our first floor flooded because of a burst pipe and we had to live without a kitchen for several months. During that time, we discovered the various Cuban cafés as we went on a quest to find good breakfast. La Teresita, Pipo’s, El Fogón, Arco Iris and our absolute favorite: El Pilón (since bought by Pipo’s). The Cuban toast at El Pilón was crispy and fresh, but what was truly to die for was the café con leche (a.k.a. latte). In that short period of time, my tea-drinking honey became addicted to Cuban café con leche and we frequently indulged ourselves since El Pilón was right near our kids’ school. All fine & dandy until we moved to Raleigh, NC – a wonderful place to live, but hundreds of miles away from El Pilón.

So this is the story of how I came to make a respectable café con leche at home with my humble drip coffee maker. And I assure you – if I can make this, anyone can. The key is in the details.

The key to a good latte is the coffee, the milk and the process. All three are critical, so try not to improvise until you’ve made your first perfect cup.

The coffee:

• Use an espresso roast coffee – dark and finely ground. The brand I prefer is “Café Bustelo,” which is available at most grocery stores. “Lavazza” and “Illy” are two Italian brands which will also deliver similar results.
• For each cup of water, use a rounded teaspoon (not level and not heaping). You can find the strength that works best for you, but we use one rounded teaspoon per cup.
• If your city has good water (like Raleigh or Tampa), you can use tap water. You might even want to filter it like we do, but I am not sure that matters for the best flavor. If your tap water tastes bad, no amount of filtering will help – use bottled water in that case.

The Milk:

• Pour milk into a pyrex measuring cup – 2 oz for every one cup of coffee. My travel mug holds appx. 2.5 cups of liquid, so I use 4 oz. of milk per travel mug.
• If you sweeten your coffee, put the sugar/splenda/equal/whatever in the bottom of the mug before you put any liquid into it. Once you’ve poured the coffee, do not stir it. The way you pour will do the stirring for you.
• Microwave the milk until it boils and almost overflows with bubbles. On our microwave, it takes 1 minute 20 seconds on power level 9.
  • Once boiled, remove it from the microwave and let it sit on the countertop while the coffee finishes brewing.
  • In order to get a true latte flavor, you have to scald the milk fat and aerate it. In order to do that, you need at least 2% milk. 1% and skim milk do not work – not to mention soy “milk,” non-dairy creamer or any other milk substitute. If you use any of those, don’t read further because this won’t work for you.

The Process:

• Once the milk has sat for a minute or so, it will form a skin on the surface. Pull the skin off with a fork and throw it away.
• Place your mug into your kitchen sink and then slowly pour the milk into the mug from at least 18 inches above the mug. Bubbles will form on top, so leave them alone and do not stir them.
• Next, pour the coffee into the mug from the same height – at least 18 inches above the mug. That will cause still more bubbles so that there is a frothy head on top like a beer.

Pouring the liquids from such a height allows them to become aerated before they land in the mug. The bubbling of the milk in the microwave and the aerated pouring are the steps that complete the distinctive latte flavor that begins with the scalding of the milk.

If you follow these simple steps, you can serve a delicious latte that will turn your tea drinker into a coffee addict. Be sure to serve the coffee freshly poured with the froth still on top, or enjoy it yourself.

Rosemary-Lemon Rice

So my cousin from Virginia called this morning to let me know that she was coming to visit with our other cousins who came in from California and somehow we all ended up at my house. What to do with 10 people suddenly coming for dinner?

I took a bunch of split chicken breasts and dry-rubbed them with a little salt, garlic powder and cumin and then grilled them. My half-Greek cousin made the salad (awesome as usual), and my wife took ciabatta rolls and smeared them with her cream pesto, added sliced tomatoes and then melted mozzarella on top. But even with all that coming together for dinner, I felt that something was missing.

Since rice is such a staple in our family, I wanted to serve rice but somehow it needed to be special. Since it topped out at 95° today, I thought it should be something light and summery (but as usual, I wanted it to be easy). Here's what I did:

I grabbed 4 sprigs of rosemary from the garden, stripped the leaves off the stems and then chopped them finely. I minced 2 garlic cloves and put the garlic-rosemary mixture in a pot with some olive oil and a half-pat of butter and slowly heated them. Then I zested one whole lemon into the pan and let it heat slowly as well while I rinsed two cups of jasmine rice. I drained the rice and put it into the pan with the rosemary-garlic-lemon and stirred it up. After about 30 seconds of sizzling, I put 4 cups of water into the pot and brought it to a boil. At that point, I zested another lemon into the pot, added a couple of pinches of salt, and then finished it out over a long simmer.

When it was finished cooking, I tasted it. It seemed to be missing something, so I put about 1/3 cup of coconut milk into it and it took on a creamy, risotto-like consistency. I transferred it to a serving dish by flaking it with a fork and it became a light & fluffy mound of delicious rice with a delicate lemon and rosemary flavor. The rosemary added green flecks to the rice, making it pretty on the table.

Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

Killer Caipirinhas

Caipirinhas are the national drink of Brazil. They are made with cachaça (ka-SHAS-sah), which is a liquor made from sugar canes. Cachaça is a very strong liquor and most restaurants serve caipirinhas too strong - good for getting very drunk very fast and not at all enjoyable.

I am much more interested in the flavors and textures of what I put in my mouth than getting “schiffaced” (that’s French for drunk), so here is my take on how to make a caipirinha that is both flavorful and refreshing.

Ingredients:

Cachaça
Like most liquors, there’s a variety in quality of cachaça. Chances are in most places outside Brazil, you’ll only find one variety at the liquor store. So buy what you can and enjoy it. Grab it off the shelf with gusto because you’re on your way to a great caipirinha.
NOTE: If you are unable to find cachaça, use vodka instead. In that case, you’re making a “Caipiroshka” (Kie-pee-ROSH-kah). [I know – that sounds like what might be the name of a Russian exotic dancer, but I assure you that it’s a common drink in Brazil.]

Limes
Get the fattest, juiciest little limes you can buy. I’ve found that the rounder ones with thin rinds usually have the most juice. But make do with what you have readily available because you won’t know for sure until you cut it open. If they are not very juicy you’ll just have to use more of them.

Sugar
Plain-jane granulated sugar is what you need. You can substitute Splenda if you want.

Water
If you live in a place with decent tap water, use that. If your local tap water tastes or smells funny, you have my condolences because that’s a quick way to ruin coffee, caipirinhas or anything else. If so, try a Brita filter or use bottled water. Either way, make sure it’s cold and that you have as much water as cachaça.

Ice
The traditional way to serve caipirinhas is with crushed ice, but unless you have an ice crusher it’s a very tedious to crush your own ice. In my humble opinion, it’s just as effective to use reguar cubes as it is to crush the ice. No matter what you do, just be sure to use some form of ice and you’ll have a great drink.

What to do:

1. Chill the ingredients. At least 2 hours before you start mixing, put the cachaça in the freezer and put the limes in the fridge.
2. Before you start mixing, put on your favorite music and turn it up loud. A caipirinha maker in a festive mood will make a great-tasting drink.
3. In the glass of your choice, mix 2 – 3 ounces of cold cachaça with equal amounts of very cold water. The exact amount doesn’t matter, but the proportion does, so mix accordingly so it’s equal.
4. Add 3 full teaspoons of sugar (not rounded and not heaping either). If the sugar bothers you, use Splenda instead, but do not skimp on the sugar because it’s important to get the right taste.
5. Stir it vigorously with a spoon so as much of the sugar dissolves as possible.
6. Now take one entire lime for each drink and roll it in your hands to release the juices. Let it feel the love. Slice it into wedges, and if possible remove the white fibrous center because that can add bitterness to the drink that throws off the flavor. Take each wedge of lime and hand-squeeze it into the liquid, dropping each wedge into the drink. Get as much of the pulp into the drink as you can so it turbo-charges each sip. If your limes are not very juicy for some reason, go ahead and cut up another one and add wedges with abandon. The limes are critical!
7. Stir it again vigorously and get it all mixed up.
8. Then fill the rest of the glass with ice, giving it one last stir.
9. Serve, enjoy and repeat as needed.

Variations:

Just as vodka might be a good substitute for cachaça, you can use grapes instead of limes to make “Caipiruvas” (Kie-pee-ROO-vah).

If you can get your hands on some passion fruit, you can try passion fruit instead with seeds and all. While this drink is not unheard of and Brazilians are well familiar with passion fruit, or maracujá (Mah-rah-koo-ZSAH),there is a no ready-made variation on a name for the passion fruit version to my knowledge, so make up your own.

Please feel free to let me know what you think and if you have any ideas to improve on this recipe. Share your comments whenever you like.

Thanks and enjoy!