Gaucho-style Churrasco w/ Chimichurri Sauce

If you've ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse, called a churrascaria, you know that grilled meats are extremely popular in Brazil. Churrasco (pronounced tchu-RAS-ku) roughly translates as "barbeque" in Portuguese, and it's the favored cooking style of southern Brazil's cowboys, called gauchos, who grill their meat on metal skewers. A popular condiment for the meats, often grilled with simple marinades or just a good coating of salt and pepper, is chimichurri - a vinegar sauce with many variations.

For tonight's dish, I decided to base it on a recipe by one of my favorite TV chefs, Tyler Florence, who tends to make his international dishes as authentic as possible. He uses a skirt steak, but we had a pork tenderloin in the freezer, so... He also marinates the meat in olive oil for about a half hour, but I skipped that step to lighten up the calories a little.

Honestly, most times I grill, I only season the meat with Montreal steak seasoning, pressing it onto the surface to help hold it in place. This time, though, I rubbed the tenderloin with a garlic clove and one of the juiced limes before I sprinkled on the seasoning, just to highlight a couple of the flavors in the chimichurri.

At any rate, make your sauce and let the flavors blend while you grill the meat. Serve it with your favorite sides, or pick some Brazilian favorites like - you guessed it - rice and beans. Either way, you're going to have a great meal.

We served ours with some of last night's leftover greens and fresh sweet corn. Here's how we made it:

5 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
1 bunch fresh oregano, minced
Juice of 2 limes
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Mix the first 6 ingredients in a bowl. Whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper to your preference. Set the sauce aside at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Season and grill your meat to the desired level of doneness. Spoon the chimichurri over each serving, and dig in!

Feijoada & Couve à Mineira

I mentioned Brazil's "national dish" when I announced the destination on Sunday. Even though feijoada (pronounced fey-zho-AH-dah) is traditionally served as a hearty Saturday afternoon dinner, we've got plans that day so I made it today instead!

Because I used canned beans, I was able to cook it just an hour - far less time than the typical 3 hours it takes if using dried beans. That left a lot of excess liquid in the pot, which certainly wouldn't have been there had we used dried beans but was needed to cook the meat, so keep that in mind. I kept the meats authentic and used pork, beef and chourico. (Also, at least one of the meats apparently should be smoked, but I'd say you can always add a drop or two of Liquid Smoke if you need it.)

With so many flavors of meat, including spicy sausage, this stew doesn't need a lot of additional seasonings - just onions, garlic and bay leaves, and the ever-present salt and pepper, of course.

Like many southern and Latin Americans, it turns out Brazilians also love "beans and greens," because the usual accompaniment for feijoada is couve à mineira, or simmered greens. We skipped the second side dish, which is called farofa (made with toasted manioc flour), since I didn't have time to find it and we honestly just don't need that much food! But, we did serve it with orange slices, as recommended, which are wonderful - along with the slightly acidic greens - at cutting through the richness of the meat.

All in all, this is a wonderful meal. You definitely won't leave the table hungry! Here's how I made it:

Oil
1 lb stew beef
1 lb pork, also cut in cubes
1 lb chourico sausage, cut into chunks
2 onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
2 bay leaves
Water
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot or Dutch oven. Brown the meats in batches, if necessary, and set it aside. Remove any excess drippings from the pan, leaving just a tablespoon or so. Brown the onions till golden before adding the garlic and satue for another minute. Add the beans, meats and bay leaves to the pan and pour in just enough water to cover it (remember, you don't need extra to cook the beans unless you use dried ones). Bring to a boil, the reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour, till the meats are tender.

While the stew is cooking, you can prepare the greens.

Oil
1 small onion, diced
A mix of collard greens and kale (about a pound in total), chopped
1-2 cups stock or water (based on your preference)
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Hot sauce, to taste

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a deep skillet. Add the greens in batches till wilted. Then, add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about a half hour or so till the greens are cooked.

Serve the stew over rice with the greens and orange slices. Then, go for a nice long walk, because you'll be stuffed!

Moqueca

I've been craving seafood, so my first dish Brazilian is a coastal favorite. This fish and coconut milk stew/soup (pronounced moo-KAY-ka) is from the coastal Bahia state, where African roots feature heavily in the regional cuisine.

We used cod, but any firm white fish will work - even salmon would be delicious. An alternate version of this dish - moqueca de camarão - uses shrimp, but mussels, scallops or another shellfish also would work just as well.

This stew/soup is surprisingly light and fresh tasting, considering the only liquid comes from coconut milk. You could lighten up a full batch even more by substituting a cup of broth or water. I made a half batch, which yielded 3+ servings for us, so if you're feeding more people, be sure to double the measurements I cite here. Here's how I made it:

¾ lb firm-fleshed fish (cut into chunks) or other seafood
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp salt
Oil
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cherry peppers, seeded and minced
3 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 can (13 oz) light coconut milk

Combine the fish, lime juice and salt in a glass (non-reactive) bowl and let it marinate for a half hour. Meantime, heat a little oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Saute the onions and bell peppers till golden and beginning to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cherry peppers and saute for another minute or so. Then, add the tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, till they begin to soften and break down. Pour in the coconut milk and the fish, with its marinade, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes till the fish is cooked. Serve immediately, over rice if desired.

Week #18: Brazil

Brazilian food isn't entirely like that of its neighbors in South America. Being so large and geographically diverse, locally grown ingredients developed many regional cuisines. Signature dishes for which the country is known have evolved from foods prepared by the country's indigenous population through the arrival and influence of Europeans and the African slaves that came with them.

Staples of the Brazilian diet include black beans, farinha and rice, which are featured in most meals, and other favorites include pine nuts (a primary export), cassava, hearts of palm, okra, açai, peanuts and chourico.

The country's "national dish" is known as feijoada, a meaty bean stew - particularly popular in the urban southeast - that I might just have to try... In the coastal states, seafood takes center stage in many recipes, so I'll try to find something from there, since we've got some fish in the freezer.

Well, I won't give away any more surprises, so you'll just have to wait to learn more. I'll be cooking my first dish tomorrow night! Stay tuned!