Om Nom Nom Again

**Warning to my photographer friends** The pictures included were shot hastily (and rudely) in the middle of dinner. One of those “Oh my gosh! I almost forgot to document this” moments. Anyway, they’re awful pictures, but I’m including them anyway!

Last night was awesome. International Night again, and this month we’re doing Brazil. This is great, because I’ve got insider information this time, since Matt’s younger brother Mike served smack in the heart of Brazil on his mission. He helped plan the menus, and between his info and my looking over several different recipes, I was able to do my first recipe-free International Night! You have no idea what a big deal this is to me. Recipes are my comfort zone, but yesterday I really felt like I had a handle on the dishes planned. Here’s last night’s menu:

Feijoada
Steamed rice
Fried yucca
Brazilian salad
Guaraná
Mosse de Maracujar

Feijoada (pronounced fay-ZWHAH-da) is the Brazilian national dish. It’s a black bean stew with various meats in it. Basically, it was what the po’ folk made with the cheap leftover meats they could afford. Mike tells a harrowing tale of finding a hairy pig snout in his first feijoada in Brazil. YUMMY. The recipes all say, basically, that feijoada will take two days and ten different kinds of meat that are definitely NOT at your neighborhood store. Mike said just slap together some canned black beans and some kielbasa and you’re good to go. I found a happy, Amy-sized compromise between the two. I didn’t add enough beans, so mine came out more like meat stew with some beans, but according to Mike the spirit of the dish (and the flavor) was maintained, and it was seriously tasty. SERIOUSLY bad for you, but seriously tasty. NOTE: I had read in one recipe that carne seca added “depth of flavor,” which intrigued me, but then went on to read you can only find it at specialty stores and maybe some Mexican grocery stores, which discouraged me. Don’t know why; Simi Valley must have ten different Mexican grocery stores. We ended up shopping at a Brazilian grocery store (in Culver City – totally worth the 35-minute drive) which happened to have carne seca, so I grabbed it. It’s like bacon made of beef. Beef bacon. Anyway, it did indeed add depth of flavor, but you could totally skip it and be fine. Minus the heart attack, of course.

Amy’s Shortcut Feijoada aka Heart Attack Stew



1 lb bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
¼ lb carne seca, sliced thin
2 yellow onions, chopped
½ lb smoked sausage (I used a Portuguese Linguiça), sliced
1 cheap ham steak, bone and giant globs of fat removed, cubed
3 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Chicken broth
Farofa (Toasted yucca (aka manioc or cassava) flour) for serving (optional)

Put a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the bacon and carne seca. Cover and let render for a couple minutes. Remove lid, raise heat to medium high, and cook and stir until the meats are cooked through (but not crispy), and any water has evaporated. Use a slotted spoon to remove meats to a plate and set aside for now. Good luck not snacking on those.

Put all the onions in the pot (yeah, I seriously left ALL that fat in there) and cook them until they look good to you.

Add the sausage and ham, and cook until they’re heated through and have added some of their goodness to the onions.

Add the bacon and carne seca back in. Add the beans. Add a little chicken broth to help it along. Stir it all up. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally (and smashing some beans in the process), until heated through.

Serve with white rice and farofa (to sprinkle on top – I liked it). Serves 8-10.


Our Brazilian market also had a bag of frozen yucca. If you’re unacquainted, it’s a root veggie used pretty much everywhere but here. It’s white, with a nice mild, almost sweet flavor. Makes amazing fries!

Yucca Frita


They went fast.

Slice yucca somewhere between ¼ inch and ½ inch slices. You can slice against the grain for rounds, or lengthwise for something closer to a French fry shape. I did the latter, and removed the tough yellow fiber that runs along the center. Cook in salted boiling water until tender, and then remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Put about a half-inch depth of vegetable oil into a skillet, place over high heat, and fry the yucca fries until crispy. Remove to a cooling rack placed over a baking sheet to drain. Salt lightly. Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside; I love those little buggers.

Next time I’ll try frying them in peanut oil, since these stayed white instead of the more usual golden. Still yummy, though!


For the salad, Mike suggested something similar to the salads we’ve had with a few other countries now. Here’s what we had last night.

International Night Salad



3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and sliced
½ of a sweet onion, chopped

Place all in a bowl and toss with a vinaigrette-type dressing. Last night it was a splosh (technical term meaning maybe a third of a cup, maybe? I don’t remember) of apple cider vinegar with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Whisk into submission, pour over veggies, and toss gently. Very refreshing accompaniment to a heavy stew.



Guaraná (pronounced gwah-da-NAH) is a flipping tasty soda from Brazil. If you can find it, awesome. Be aware that it’s made from the guaraná berry, which is a natural source of caffeine. The drink is considered by some to be an “energy” drink. I tell you this because they don’t list caffeine as an ingredient, I guess since it just comes naturally from the berry. But, oh man, is it tasty. Love me some gauraná!



Our dessert was Mosse de Maracujar, which is Passion Fruit Mousse. That’s the recipe I posted yesterday. It honestly took maybe a minute and a half to put together, and was the perfect light ending to a heavy meal. So great for summer! Here’s the history behind the recipe I ended up with:

Most recipes I found called for fresh passion fruit, and scooping out pulp and removing seeds and mashing and blah blah blah. Then I found a couple of versions using the juice concentrate, but the complaint of the natives was that it was too sickly sweet. The recipe I worked from called for equal parts whipping cream and sweetened condensed milk, so I just used a LOT less sweetened condensed milk and VOILA! Mike said it was spot-on, so there was happiness all around. If you can’t find passion fruit juice concentrate, try it with another sweet/tart juice like orange or lemonade or limeade concentrate. I’m so going to try all three before this summer is out!

Don’t ask how the diet’s going. I’ll die happy and well-preserved, and that’s all that matters right now.