Moqueca de Peixe

With Easter fast approaching I have decided this week’s recipe will be a typical one for Easter in Brazil: Moqueca de Peixe.  

It is typical for Brazilians to abstain from red meat on Good Friday as a penitence to God, so in most families you will find a fish dish being served. Moqueca is a dish that has afro-indigenous origins and has many variations across Brazil’s five regions. It is also a part of the culinary of another lusophone country: Angola.  

Ingredients:  

• 1kg of sea bass in cubes  
• Salt and black pepper to taste 
• 1 lemon juice 
• 3 tbsp palm oil 
• 2 sliced onions 
• 4 ripe diced tomatoes  
• 1 green pepper cut into slices  
• 2 glasses of coconut milk (400ml)  
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander 

Directions:  

Season the fish with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Put the oil palm in a large saucepan and make layers of onion, tomato, pepper and fish. Add coconut milk and the coriander. Cover the saucepan and bring it to low heat for 30 minutes. Bom apetite!  

Mariana

Escudella i Carn d’Olla

This popular dish is a type of “Cocido” made with different vegetables and types of meat, in which the main meat is the “pilota”, an albondigón that is cooked in the broth of the stew and cut to distribute among the diners. The Escudella itself is the soup resulting from boiling.

Ingredients for 8 people FOR BROTH AND MEAT:

1 chicken housing

4 wings, chicken neck and gizzard

¼ of chicken

400 g of morcillo or contraculata of veal

2 bones of the calf knee

400 g of veal rib

1 lamb knuckle

200 g of belly bacon

1 pig’s nose

½ ear

1 foot of pork

1 pork spine bone

1 dry ham bone

2 white sausages

2 black sausages

1 leek

1 branch of celery

1 parsnip

1 turnip

½ green cabbage or pot

4 medium carrots

4 medium potatoes

250 g of chickpeas (should be soaked the day before)

4 liters of natural mineral water

Salt

Optional: 1 ball of floured lard (about 50 g)

FOR THE MEAT PILOTS:

250 g of minced beef

250 g of minced pork

30 g of pine nuts

1 egg

50 g bread crumbs

2 c.s. of chopped parsley

Salt

Black pepper

Flour

Optional: 100 g of bacon

PASTA:

400 g of large galets (typical Catalan pasta similar to conchshells or sharks but larger in size)

Preparation of escudella i carn d’olla

In a large pot, put the chicken carcass, the wings, the neck, the gizzard, the hen, the beef sausage, the bones of the knee, the rib, the lamb, the bacon, the pig’s nose, the ear , the foot, the bone of the spine and the ham bone with the natural mineral water.

Optionally, if you want to use lard, add a floured ball at this time. Bring it to the boil over medium heat and froth well to remove all impurities that have released the meat. Cook the meat 1 hour. Add the leeks, the celery, the parsnips, the turnip, the carrots, the chickpeas (put in a sachet so that later we can separate them easily), bring it back to the boil and froth.

Salt lightly (without passing, it is better to rectify salt at the end) and boil all together with very slow heat for 2 more hours. Meanwhile, prepare the meat balls. Put in a bowl the ground beef and pork with the pine nuts, the egg, the breadcrumbs and the chopped parsley. Season and knead until a smooth paste is obtained.

Make 80 gram balls with lightly floured hands and give them an oval shape. After 2 hours, add the cabbage, skinless potatoes, balls and sausages to the pot and boil for another ½ hour. To cook the pasta, strain part of the broth in another pot, and boil the pasta following the manufacturer’s instructions. Serve the soup (escudella) and, in a separate tray, the meat of the stew (carn d’olla), the meat balls, the vegetables and the chickpeas.

Gloria

Escalivada Catalana

The escalivada can be eaten throughout the year. It is a perfect alternative to salads. They are: peppers, aubergines, extra virgin olive oil, etc. Definitely healthy ingredients.

Our version of escalivada is based on the authentic Catalan escalivada but with personal contributions that make it very tasty. They are little tricks with which it is an original and delicious escalivada. And those tricks are in the ingredients, but also in the sauce. Since on the one hand we substitute onion for goat cheese, we add anchovy and also vinegar with chopped garlic. The result is a healthy and exquisite dish.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Eggplant

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 can of quality anchovies

2 slices of goat cheese

2 cloves of garlic

Extra virgin olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt

PREPARATION:

We wash the vegetables, dry them and grease them with olive oil.We grill them in the oven for 45 or 50 minutes. In the middle of the previous process we turn them over. When they have cooled we peel them, remove the seeds and cut them with scissors in small pieces on a tray.

In a bowl we put 9 tablespoons of aove, 3 of Modena vinegar and salt.We beat it and add the chopped garlic cloves very small. We pour it on the vegetables, we remove everything and let it soak one or two hours. At the moment of serving, add some anchovy fillets and a bit of goat cheese. Optionally you can toast the cheese a few minutes, small pieces in a pan without oil, over a couple of minutes on each side.

Ready to eat and enjoy!

Pierogi Recipe

Because of the large immigration that happened in Brazil it is not uncommon to see families preparing dishes from various countries in the world. Today I will teach you a Polish recipe that my family cooks: Pierogi.  

Pierogi is largely popular in the South of Brazil, where most Polish immigrants have taken root, besides being found at Polish family gatherings this delicious dish is also sold in typical Brazilian street fairs.  

This famous dumpling can have salty or sweet filling, like for example Sauerkraut, cheese, mushrooms, spinach, strawberries, peach, apple etc but the most popular one is mashed potato with ricotta and fried onion.  

Ingredients: 

(for the dough) 

• 1 kg of wheat flour 
• 3 eggs  
• 3 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tbsp of salt  

(for the filling)  

• 1 kg of ricotta  
• 1 kg of potatoes  
• Salt 
• Parsley  

Directions:  

(for the filling)  

Cook the potatoes and once it is done mash them with a fork. Add the ricotta and mix it until it is creamy. Add the salt and the parsley and mix it a little bit more. Set it aside.  

(for the dough)  

In a large bowl, add the eggs, flour and olive oil and mash until the dough is smooth. Using a roll, open the dough like a cake. Cut the dough, add the filling and model it by passing a fork at the edges. Cook in about two litters of boiling water for five minutes.  

Mariana

Chicken Basquaise: French recipe

Famous recipe from the south west of France based on chicken and peppers. It is very delicious and easy to cook. Peppers melt in the mouth and the chicken has the taste of the peppers. You will impress all of your friends with this typic French recipe ! 

What you need: 

1kg of chicken

3kg tomatoes

500g of red and green peppers

2 oignons

2 cloves garlic

14cl of white wine

salt & pepper

1/2 « bouquet garni »

olive oil

First step:

cut in little pieces the oignons, garlic, and tomatoes

then in thin slice the peppers

Second step: 

Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in in a casserole. Brown the onions, garlic and peppers. Cook for 5 minutes.

Step 3

Add the tomatoes to the casserole, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 20 min.

Step 4

In a frying pan, brown the salted and peppered chicken pieces in olive oil.

Step 5

When they are golden, add them to the vegetables, cover, add the bouquet garni and the white wine and go for 35 min of cooking.

It is often served with rice.

Bon appétit !

Julie

Recipe of calçots: Catalan speciality

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This tender onion has its origin in the interior of Catalonia, has been popularized by its sweet taste and its texture in the rest of the country.

Preparation of the calçots:

There is a well-established ceremonial for this barbecue. Calçots are roasted, then, they are put on newspaper to keep the heat. Finally, they are served on the table in a clay tile.

How to eat calçots:

Arrange the calçots in one or two baking trays, without piling them. Wrap them in newspaper and let them rest for 10 minutes so that the heat finishes cooking them. Serve with romesco sauce and eat with your hands.

Recipe of the Romesco sauce to go with calçots

Ingredients

1 head of roasted garlic

4-5 roasted tomatoes

100 gr of roasted and ground almonds

30 gr of toasted and ground hazelnuts

80 cl of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 glass of vinegar

1 ñora (meat soaked)

Salt

chopped parsley

Gloria