A New Sort of Monkey Bread

I'm going to share a recent read, The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister, and a recent food creation, with a very loose          connection. Well, maybe connections would be that the ingredients in the Monkey Bread were all essential, and that both the book and the recipe were delicious. I loved them both.  And, I just noticed that this is actually book 1 of a series, so looking forward to reading her next, The Lost art of Mixing.

The novel is about a basically self taught chef and restaurant owner who opens up her premises once a month, on Mondays, the day the restaurant is closed, to a small group cooking school.  Of course, all of the students, in the manner of a Maeve Binchy story, are revealed in their unique characters and situations, and come together, helped by the learning experience and the creating of good food.

From the Publisher's Weekly:

"In this remarkable debut, Bauermeister creates a captivating world where the pleasures and particulars of sophisticated food come to mean much more than simple epicurean indulgence. Respected chef and restaurateur Lillian has spent much of her 30-something years in the kitchen, looking for meaning and satisfaction in evocative, delicious combinations of ingredients. Endeavoring to instill that love and know-how in others, Lillian holds a season of Monday evening cooking classes in her restaurant. The novel takes up the story of each of her students, navigating readers through the personal dramas, memories and musings stirred up as the characters handle, slice, chop, blend, smell and taste. Each student's affecting story--painful transitions, difficult choices--is rendered in vivid prose and woven together with confidence. Delivering memorable story lines and characters while seducing the senses, Bauermeister's tale of food and hope is certain to satisfy. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"

Chocolate Cake with SECRET GF INGREDIENT

I am posting about this cake for two reasons.  One, due to being absolutely ashamed of myself for neglecting this blog.  Have not been posting consistently, and mean to change that.  Secondly, not only was that cake totally delicious, but gluten free.  Now I'm not "normally" a gluten free person.  My husband, Bob, thinks it the joke of the year to ask at the Natural Foods store if he can have some of that free gluten that's going around.  But when our local supermarket coupon booklet came in the mail, with a GF cake on the cover, that was my heads up, knowing I would be having a group of women over, one of whom is, yes GF.

The Chocolate ganache icing was simplicity itself, consisting of just cream and chocolate chips.  The recipe called for coconut milk, but if you have an opened container of cream on hand, I figure go with it.  And, truly the taste cannot be beaten.  Unless you are also lactose free.

Feijoada - A Brazilian Feast for Daring Cooks

This is not to be confused with Black Bean Soup, which I and probably most of you have made many times.  What we have here is a cultural happening, a Brazilian feast comparable to Thanksgiving, for which one dish is not sufficient.  You don't just serve turkey.  At Thanksgiving there should be cranberries, sweet potatoes, stuffing....etc. etc.  Right?  It's like that.

Rachel Dana was our October 2012 Daring Cooks' Challenge hostess! Rachel brought Brazil into our lives by challenging us to make Feijoada and Farofa along with some other yummy side dishes traditionally served with Feijoada, which is a delicious black bean and pork stew.

Accompaniments to the main dish are Farofa (made with cassava flour), collards, (in my case kale since there were no collards) Vinaigrette (sort of pickled salad), sliced oranges, rice, and hot sauce.

For the pork in my Feijoada, part of it anyway, I used a "shoulder blade?" acquired by my friend Nancy's husband, from a naughty, roving wild boar, caught disturbing their gardens, and who came to a well deserved rest in our stew pots.

 I brined that chunk of meat with fresh sage, juniper berries, peppercorns and garlic.  And along with the blade, I used pork sausages and bacon.  All the meats are fried and browned separately before being added to the nearly cooked beans.

With this meal, it helps if you prepare it on a relatively free day.  I did it mostly Saturday, and spread out the prep time, doing things early and setting them aside.  Soaking the beans and brining the pork was begun the night before.

And actually,  I made my kale dish the night before as well.  We had some with our steaks  and there was plenty left to reheat for this extravaganza.  I like the method of par-boiling, after removing the stems and slicing thinly, then quick stir-frying in olive oil with garlic, salt and a bit of lemon.

In the morning while my beans started cooking, I made the garlic and onion base (see recipe below) and then the Vinaigrette.

This is a lovely, colorful side which can rest until dinner, conmingling flavors in the fridge while you rest between fixing all the various parts of your meal.

The Farofa comes together very quickly, while your stew is in the last few minutes of simmering or just sitting there all nice and hot with a cover.

I have to say that the Feijoada surprised me a bit, there weren't a whole lot of additional flavoring agents aside from the pork, beans, garlic and onions.  But the flavor rocked.  Just awesome.  Altogether, a marvelous meal and cultural experience as well, thanks to Rachel, our intrepid Brazilian leader. All her recipes will follow.  Everything you need for your own authentic feast.

Brazilian Shrimp Stew - Moqueca de Camarao - with Black Beans

Two dishes going out to Joanne (also known as the Energizer Bunny), for her Regional Recipes get together, featuring Brazil this month.  Since I had  black beans that needed to be used muy pronto.  And, shrimpies in the freezer, whipping up some Feijoada to go with a Brazilian Shrimp Stew,  was  definitely doable.

The stew was slightly adapted from a recipe in Ruth Reichl's Gourmet Today, They substituted black pepper for the malagueta pepper and I used Hawaiian chili pepper.  Also, an orange and a yellow bell pepper for the green one, being what I had on hand.

As far as dendê oil goes, with a bit of research, I realized that it is not a product of coconut palms or coconuts, as I had assumed, but of a particular African oil palm, Elaesis oleifera if we're being scientific, grown in Africa and in Brazil.  The oil is thick, dark, reddish-orange (like the nuts) and strong-flavored. Extensively used in cooking in West Africa and in Brazil, particularly in Bahia.  I love how trying the foods of other lands introduces us to flavors and ingredients we would never have known.  Now, if only I can find some dendê oil, to try..  And, preferably without paying a $45 shipping charge.  Using a bit of turmeric for the color was my substitution.

Moqueca de Camarao originates from the  Brazilian state of Bahia, hot and tropical, as it is located below the equator.  Most dishes from Bahia, called “comida baiana”, are very spicy, just as in many other hot places of the world.  Probably to fire up our drooping taste buds.  I think the Black Beans dish, or Feijoada, is popular all throughout Brazil, though it also originates from the south east of the country.  In preparing that recipe I was inspired by a video demo at Cuca Brazuca.  However, I didn't add in all the hog bits.  Just a little Canadian Bacon for some pork flavor.

For lovely visuals of Bahia, Brazil, check out this site. You may decide to visit and try their food first hand.