Last Chapter of Iracema - Pastels Fritos and a Hunger Strike

"The Mayri, which Martim founded on the riverbanks within the shores of Ceará flourished. The Word of the true God budded in the savage land, and the holy Church-bells re-echoed through the valley; where once bellowed the Maraca."

 
Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  Created Specifically for Ben Killen


Pastels Fritos
(Fried Shrimp and Cheese Treats)


1 lb cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut into small pieces
1 lb faux Catupiry cheese
1 bunch Fresh parsley, chopped
20 Goya Empenada wraps 
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying

Mix the filling together over low heat to keep the cheese smooth.  Spoon filling into the center of the wraps, fold the wrap in half and seal by crimping the edges with a fork.  

Flip the treat over and crimp with a fork on the other side as well.  Heat the oil over high heat and fry the treats until they are golden brown.  

They are quite good.  And there is a whole tupperware full of them just for Ben.  


About the book:  


My final reaction:  You have got to be kidding me!  The good news is that she did not kill her own brother.  Apparently she just wounded him.  He comes back to see her in her loneliness and just when you think he's about to kill her to fulfill their father's prophecy, you realize that she's actually going to die of a hunger strike.  Martim goes away to make her safe and she, the daughter and sister of warriors, can't stand to be alone with her son and she dies.  She almost kills the son in the process.  "The daughter of Araquém at last began to feel that her veins were drying up, and withal her life, embittered by sorrow, rejected the nourishment which might have restored her strength. Tears and sighs had alike banished the smile and the appetite from her beautiful mouth."  When Martim comes home, triumphantly having kept his own Portuguese people from invading, you would think she'd get better, but no, "Iracema rose no more from the hammock where the afflicted arms of Martim had placed her. The husband, whose love was born anew with paternal joy, surrounded her with caresses, which filled her soul with its former happiness. But they could not bring her back to life. The stamen of her flower was broken forever."  And she expires.  And in his grief, he goes back to Portugal and returns with a conquering army.  


Pro-colonial literature is lame. 

Chapter 29 - Roast Chicken, King Style, Stuffed with Farofa and I am Almost Done with this Darned Book

"Woe to her! ... The blow had struck home to her heart, and, like the Copaíba, wounded in the core, she shed tears in one continuous stream"

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  The Brazilian Table by Roberts and Roberts

Roast Chicken, King Style, Stuffed with Farofa

For the dried fruit farofa:


1 1/2 cups dried fruit (apricots, figs, plums), roughly chopped
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup garlic, pressed
3 cups cassava flour
1/2 cup onion confit
1/4 cup scallions (omitted accidentally)
Salt and pepper to taste


Soak the fruit in the hot water for 5 minutes or until soft, then discard the water.  Heat a skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter and oil and saute the onion for 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute for another 3 minutes, add 1/2 the fruit and sate rapidly mixing well.  

Pour the cassava flour through your fingers slowly, stirring constantly.  Don't just dump it in as I did, though, I'm not sure it would have made any difference.  Lower the heat and keep moving the flour from side to side for about 5-8 minutes.  Add the remaining fruit, onion confit, and scallions (unless you forgot to buy them).

For the chicken:

1 whole chicken
2 cups chicken stock
2 large onions, cut into eighths
4 tbsp melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Rub the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.  Stuff the bird with 4 cups of dried fruit farofa.  Truss it up and bake it on the rack of a roasting pan on its back, and fill the pan itself with stock and onions.  Baste with butter every 20 minutes, and bake for 50 minutes.  Lower the heat to 375 and bake an additional 20 minutes without basting with butter.  Use a conventional thermometer to check for doneness (I used to advocate the digital thermometers, but broke up with them after my last overcooked turkey).  


This is roughly how the cookbook says to make this dish.  But since I already had some boneless, skinless thigh meat in the freezer, I defrosted that instead and made it my way.  Basically, the process was pretty much the same, except that I pounded out my chicken to a uniform thickness and wrapped it around the farofa, using some kitchen twine to keep it all in place. 

Kitchen helper Jay was in charge of chopping onions, making chicken stock, and taking pictures.  

I know I said in an earlier post that I would never make farofa again, but this recipe seemed to be moister, closer to actual stuffing as we know it.  Sadly, it still feels as though you are eating flour.  Again, the flavor was great, but Jay and I were adamant that it would have been much, much better if we'd put all that dried fruit into a cornbread stuffing mixture instead.  

About the book:


Nothing has changed since my last post (1 hour ago).  Brazil is still going to be invaded by the Portuguese for 300 years and Iracema is still going to die.  Ain't love grand.

Chapter 29 - Coxinha de Galinha and History is Written By the Victors

"'Poti has arrived at the cabin of the great Maranguab, father of Jatobá, and has brought his white brother to see the greatest Warrior of the Nations.' The old man only opened his heavy eyelids, and passed a long but feeble, look from the grandson to the stranger. Then his chest heaved and his lips murmured— 'Tupan wills that these eyes should see, before being quenched, the White Hawk side by side with the Narceja.'"  (Editor's Note:  "O gavião branco, the white hawk, whilst Narceja is the snipe. Batuireté in thus calling the stranger, and speaking of his grandson as a snipe by comparison, prophesied the destruction of his race by the whites. These are the last word he speaks.")

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  The Brazilian Kitchen by Leticia Moreinos Shwartz

Coxinha de Galinha

(Chicken Fritters)

For the filling:


1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup shallot, minced (omitted because while at the store I thought I had one at home...)
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 pickled sweet red pepper, drained and finely chopped
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded
2 tbsp mayonnaise
3 tbsp chives, chopped


Heat the oil over medium high heat.  Saute the shallots (if you bought them) until they are tender, add the garlic and peppers and heat through.  Mix the pepper mixture with chicken, mayo, and chives.  Chill until you're ready to assemble the fritters.

For the fritters:

1 cup plus 2 tbsp of chicken stock
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp turmeric (optional, but I included it, gives a nice flavor and rather dramatic yellow color)
1 cup flour, plus extra for kneading
A plate of flour, a plate of lightly beaten egg whites, and a plate of bread crumbs for dredging 
Oil for frying


Heat the soup stock in a casserole pan.  Add the oil, and turmeric (I omitted the salt because I use already salty bouillon cubes).  Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously for one minute to dry the dough.  

For the next step, you could knead it on your own, but I highly suggest a food processor with the bread kneading attachment.  The dough is remarkably sticky, and when the processor is done with it, (about 5 minutes) it will closely resemble the color and texture of play-doh, except with a much more pleasant smell.  Scrape the dough out onto a well (stressing WELL) floured surface and knead by hand into a flat disk (it will still be hot, so I just let mine sit for about 10 minutes before touching it).  When it has reached room temperature, roll the dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick.  Use a 3 inch round cutter (or the widest glass you have, in my case this is only about 2.5 inches) to make your rounds.  

To assemble the fritters:


Fill each round with just under a tablespoon of filling.  Lift up and pinch together 2 sides.  Then gather the other edges to meet in the middle, making a "beggar's purse."  This can then be elongated gently to make the "classic drumstick shape" at which I failed miserably.  The dough, again, is very sticky, I kept some on hand for emergency repairs whenever my filling poked out, which happened quite often.

Once the fritters are shaped, coat each one in flour, dip it in egg white, and then coat it in bread crumbs.  Heat the oil over high heat and fry until golden and crispy.  Keep warm until the sauce is ready.  

For the cheese sauce:


1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups Catupiry cheese (a web site told me that if you can't find this, you can make faux-Catupiry cheese by melting together 2 blocks of cream cheese with close to a pound of Meunster cheese.  It's actually pretty tasty)
2 tbsp chives, chopped
Black pepper to taste


Heat the stock in a sauce pan over medium-low heat.  Add the cheese and whisk until it is completely melted and integrated into the stock.  Add the chives and season with pepper. This is the dipping sauce for the fritters and it's pretty delicious. 

The cookbook says this is classic Brazilian bar food, so I made it to celebrate the triumphant return of our friend Anthony.  He was laid low for a bit by some medical issues, but is feeling back to his old self, for which we are thankful.  The fritters and the cheese sauce got a little cold on the trip to our favorite haunt but this didn't stop them from being devoured by the company.  They even got compliments from a stranger whose seat we'd unwittingly taken and to whom I offered snacks in recompense (sorry Ben, I guess that guy ate the 2 that should have gone to you).  

About the book:

There are some prophesies that are written after they have come true.  In this case, the passage I cited above is used to show undoubtedly that the Portuguese Martim was meant to take over Brazil.  And not just a small part of it, he gets bored with his wife, his friend Poti, his hunting and fishing and hiking around.  We are told that he is filled with "ambition."  And poor Iracema speaks her own prophecy, "When the White Warrior's son has left the bosom of Iracema she will die, like the AbAtil, after it has yielded its fruit. Then he will have nothing to detain him in a foreign land."  But she is mistaken, she is not going to be cast off for a "white virgin" but for the entire land of her very own people.  As with the prophecy of Batuireté, who has stayed alive only to see the conqueror of his land, Iracema's will most likely also come true, as it is equally written by a victor, seen through the lens of hindsight. 

Chapter 22 - Arroz e Feiao and A Great Battle is In the Making

 "Wine appeases the thirst of the body, but breeds another and a wilder thirst in the savage mind."

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  The Brazilian Kitchen by Leticia Moreinos Shwartz

Arroz e Feião

 (Rice and Beans)

For the Rice:

2 cups white rice (or brown Basmatti, if that's what you happen to have on hand)
2 tsp salt
4 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed

Rinse the rice in cold water.  Bring 4 cups water to boil in a pot and add the salt, oil, garlic, and rice.  Follow the package directions (for brown rice, it's 50 minutes, for regular white rice, it's usually 25 minutes, for boil-in-a-bag minute rice, it's usually one minute, if you believe in such things).  Keep the rice warm until the beans are ready.

For the beans:

2 large cans of Goya beans (or you can soak a pound overnight, but I'm way too lazy for that) complete with their juices
1 medium onion, chopped
3 bay leaves
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 package of good, salty uncooked chorizo sausage (this was my own addition, for protein and flavor) 

Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat, remove from heat and slice into 1/2 inch portions (or so).   Add olive oil to the pan juices and saute the onions over medium heat.  Add the beans and their juices, bay leaf, and Worcestershire, salt and pepper to taste.  Return the sausage to the pan and simmer the mixture for at least 20 minutes.  

Serve the beans and sausage over the rice.  Delicious.  We served ours alongside some oversteamed broccoli, but recommend that you time yours a little more carefully.  We also had some Caipirinhas with simple syrup (Thank you Julie!).

And some Pao de Quijo while we were waiting for dinner to be ready.  

Special thanks to kitchen helper Jay who I'm told enjoyed the leftovers.  My own leftovers are slowly disappearing; this is one of those dishes that actually tastes better the longer it sits all together.  


About the book:


There's a big fight brewing over Iracema and her treachery.  They fought a little battle, the Tabajara's lost many men.  It's not 100% clear, but I think the former-maiden killed her own brother, who was on her side until she gave up the goods.  They have run away to the Potiguaras and she actually has the nerve to be sad and ask Martim to take her away from the village of those who murdered her brethren, as though she had nothing to do with it personally. What a brat. 


I'm a little bored by this book, which is why I haven't had a lot to say about it.  Currently, Iracema and Martim are about to found their own village, which I gather is the basis of the Brazilian mythology, their village being the very first "Brazilian" village. What fun for colonization!

Chapter 22 - Bife a Cavalo, Farofa, Cenoura com Molho de Abacaxi e Passas, and Fear of the Dark

"The old Pagé, who had watched all night, talking to the stars, and conjuring the bad spirits of the darkness, entered furtively into the wigwam."

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  The Brazilian Kitchen by Leticia Moreinos Shwartz
               Brazil:  A Culinary Journey by Cherie Hamilton

Bife a Cavalo

(Steak with Fried Eggs)

4 8 ounce rib eye steaks
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter
4 eggs
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/4 cup shaved parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste


Salt and pepper the steaks on both sides.  Pour the oil and butter into a large skillet and saute the steaks over high heat.  Cook them to your taste, which for me is rare, about 3 minutes on each side.  

Remove the steaks from the pan, cover with foil and rest.  Back in the skillet, reduce heat to medium and crack each egg into the pan.  Cook until the whites are set but the yolks are still soft, 2-3 minutes.  

Place the each egg over a steak and recover with foil.  Add the shallots into the pan juices and cook over medium heat, swirling the pan, about 1 minute.  

Serve the steaks and eggs with shallot butter, steak juices, and parmesan on top.

Absolutely delicious.  It's a little tight getting the timing right so your steak doesn't get cold, but the dish is superb looking when it's finished. 

Farofa

(Toasted Cassava Flour with  Dendê Oil)

2 cups cassava flour (also called manioc meal or tapioca flour)
1/4 cup dendê oil (or olive oil if you can't get dendê oil)
1 large onion, minced
2 eggs hard boiled and chopped (optional and omitted because we already had eggs in this meal)
1/4 cup chopped black olives (omitted as an oversight - I don't like them, but I did chop some and then forgot)


Heat a skillet over medium heat and toast the cassava flour.  It will turn a light brown color.  

Place the flour in a bowl and heat the oil over medium heat.  Saute the onions until they are golden. Return the flour to the pan and stir to coat it completely in the oil.  It will retain a flour-like consistency.  It will not turn into a porridge even if you add extra oil as we did.  Serve at room temperature garnished with eggs and olives, if you so desire.

This dish is extraordinarly un-American.  It's flour, kids.  Flour with a tasty, unique flavor, but flour all the same.  It's dry in your mouth and grainy on your tongue.  Props to kitchen helper Julie Nariman who took a second helping.  It was good when you took a bite of the Farofa with a bite of the steak, but I will not ever cook this recipe again.

Cenoura com Molho de Abacaxi e Passas

(Carrots with Pineapple Sauce and Raisins)

1 cup finely diced fresh pineapple
1 cup pureed fresh pineapple mixed with 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup raisins (calls for golden, but I used a mixture of raisins)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp white wine vinegar
pinch of turmeric
pinch of cinnamon
3/4 pound carrots, shredded
2 tbsp mayonnaise (omitted as everything else we were eating was already pretty rich)
1/4 cup fresh chopped chives (omitted from the grocery list accidentally)
Salt and pepper to taste


Bring the pineapple and water to a simmer over low heat.  Add the diced pineapple, raisins, mustard, and vinegar.  Cover over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the raisins become soften and the mustard dissolves.  Add the spices and season with salt and pepper.  Chill the mixture completely and fold in the mayonnaise (or not).  Mix with the grated carrots and serve chilled.  

The steak and the salad was delicious, the farofa I never need to see again.  You can see from the picture, it's just a pile of flour with a little bit of onion in it.  Julie and sister Julie were well fed and happy with the results, the one egg that broke in the pan suited sister Julie to a T as she doesn't care for wet yolks.

The meal was accompanied by the rest of the Portuguese wine and newly improved Caipirinhas.  Improved because kitchen helper Julie Nariman taught me how to a make a simple syrup that ensured the sugar wouldn't sit at the bottom of the glass!

Kitchen helper Mindy helped me experiment on the leftover carrot salad by adding mayo to a small portion of it.  We decided not to add it to the rest as it stood up well by itself and it was gobbled up at Jay and Ben's rooftop barbecue the following night.



About the Book:

Universal fear of the dark!  It's so clearly the reason why we have streetlamps all over the place, even in closed down parking lots at night.  In the Tabajara culture, the Page, or wise man, sleeps all day in his village wigwam so that he can chant and pray all night.  He is warding off the evil spirits of the dark and keeping his people safe.  A sort of primitive lamplighter.

Chapter 22 - Fish Paupiette with Crabmeat, Brazilian Style, Rice wtih Dende Oil Bechemel Sauce - and Some Women Trip Over Themselves to Fall

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  The Brazilian Table by Roberts and Roberts

Fish Paupiette with Crabmeat, Brazilian Style

For the Sauce:



1/4 cup of olive oil 
3 medium onions coarsely chopped
5 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 16 ounce can stewed tomatoes
1 yellow and  2 red roasted peppers, cut into large squares
2 cups fish stock
1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 bay leaf


Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onions over medium heat for about 3 minutes or until soft.  Add the garlic and stir well.  After 2 minutes, add the cilantro (you don't want to over cook the cilantro, or it will turn brown).   Add the tomatoes and peppers, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, allow to cool, then puree in a food processor until smooth.  Return to the pan and bring back to a simmer.  Add the stock, coconut milk, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring back to a simmer and cook for three minutes before you add the paupiettes.

You can roast your own red peppers at home by blackening their skin in the oven, on the grill, or directly on your gas burner, if you're brave enough, then soaking them in cold water and peeling off the skin.  Alternatively, you can just buy them from the deli or in a jar.  Since it was so hot, I looked for them in the jar, couldn't find any, and made the recipe without them.  The sauce was a little more pink than red and I imagine a lot less piquant, but still delicious. 


For the Fish and Filling


2 egg whites
10 ounces of crab meat
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp cayenne pepper
6 scallions, blanched in boiling water and chilled in an ice bath
1 cup roasted peanuts, chopped
6 fillets of hake, yellow tail, or king fish


Lightly whisk the egg whites and mix with the crab meat.  Season with salt to taste.  Pound your fish to a uniform thickness using a meat tenderizer if you have one; I find a coffee mug actually achieves somewhat better results, but that might just be because I don't own a meat tenderizer (thank you Tim Ostrander for teaching me that trick when we were back at UMass!).  Lay one scallion out, cover with one fish fillet, and cover the fish fillet with 2 tablespoons of crab filling (or as much as you can stuff into it - I have a clear tendency to overstuff).

Roll the fish around the crab, tie off with the blanched scallion, and voila! Paupiette!  

Make the rest of the paupiettes and distribute them around the pan of sauce, making sure they are completely submerged.  Cover the pan with parchment paper and poach paupiettes for 20 minutes over medium heat. 

I could not find hake, yellow tale, or king fish anywhere.  It was 102 degrees the day I was making this recipe and I wasn't up for any kind of fish market adventure.  I used fillets of Sole, which have a terrifying hard ridge down their center that I refuse to believe can ever be edible.  As a result, I cut them in half, sliced off the bony ridge and made mini-paupiettes.  This process caused me to use up all my blanched scallions and attempt to use raw ones to make up the difference.  It didn't even pretend to work. I also had a lot of leftover crab meat which I simply added to the sauce to make up for the lack of roasted peppers.  It was delicious.  

Rice with Dendê Bechemel Sauce

4 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil
4 tablespoons of flour (I use Wondra for sauces and gravies because it's wonderful!)
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons dendê palm oil (which I cannot find anywhere so I just used some white truffle oil)
4 cups hot cooked rice


In a sauce pan, melt the butter with the olive oil until it foams.  Add flour and stir to form a roux.  Slowly pour in the milk a bit at a time, whisking between each pouring to prevent lumps.  Continue whisking until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.  Fold in the dendê (or truffle oil, or walnut oil, or whatever flavor you think will compliment the fish) and simmer for another 4 minutes.  

Mix the sauce into the cooked rice. 


To serve it all, make a small round of the rice mixture and place a paupiette (or 3 mini-paupiettes) on top.  Surround the rice with a generous helping of the coconut-tomato sauce, then sprinkle with the peanuts that I forgot to buy. 

Kitchen helper Julie (and best sister alive) was instrumental in chopping onions, arranging emergency uncooked scallion ties, and most importantly, making the now requisite pre-dinner Caipirinhas.  

We also tried out some Portuguese wine I'd been saving for a special sister visit:  

The recipe was pretty complicated but the pay off if you want to be fancy is worth the effort.  It's an impressive dish that was enjoyed by sisters and as leftovers all around.  


About the book:


Women just have the worst reputations!  And according to male writers, they've been earning it for themselves since Eve ate that damned apple.  This time, there wasn't even a snake to blame.  As a consecrated virgin, she can't have sex or she'll be killed:  ""The love of Iracema is like the wind of the desert-sands; it kills the flower of the forest," sighed the virgin."  She knows this, Martim knows this, and as much as he wants her, of course he does the right thing and keeps his hands off her.  But, to ensure that he sleeps and only dreams of her, rather than waking in the night and taking her, he asks her for the dream wine that the braves use to see their future.  He drinks it and of course dreams of her, practically sleepwalking through all the motions of the act of love. She, seeing that he is dreaming of her, takes off all her clothes and lies next to him.  Just like that, the little seductress gets herself de-Virginized and doomed to death for her troubles.  What a foolish thing to do!

Martim wakes up, scandalized, fearful, and afraid for her, ashamed of the dishonor he has unwittingly brought to his host's wigwam, but still retaining his dignity, honor, and place in the world. As with Adam and Eve,  it wasn't the man's fault; the woman made him do it.  He can sing with the Ramones that it feels like "somebody put something, somebody put something in my drink!"

Incidentally, despite the fact that she is no longer a sort of vestal virgin, she is still able to perform her sacred duties at the feast, distributing the dream wine to the warriors without any mishap or ill effect from having given it up.  That fact sort of calls into question all the taboos that claim sex will ruin your life, career, and ability to distribute dream wine... 

Chapter 14 - Iscas de Pirarucu ao Molho Floresta and Every Town Has a Doomed Love Story

"God keep thee safe, stout bark, amidst the boil­ing billows! God steer thee to some friendly bight! May softer breezes waft thee, and for thee may the calm jasper seas be like plains of milk! But whilst thou sailest thus at the mercy of the winds, graceful bark, waft back to that white beach some of the yearning that accompanies thee, but which may not leave the land to which it returns."

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  Brazil:  A Culinary Journey by Cherie Hamilton

Iscas de Pirarucu ao Molho Floresta

(Fried Fish Cubes with Garden Sauce)

For the Fish:


2 lbs bonesless fish fillets (I used Cod and Catfish) cut into cubes
2 limes cut into slices
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cup flour
Oil for frying


For the sauce:


1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1/4 cup lime juice
1 green bell pepper
5 cherry peppers, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
2 tsp white vinegar
1 cup olive oil
1 small hot pepper, seeded (optional)


Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bag and marinate in the fridge for 20 minutes (longer is fine).


Put all the sauce ingredients into a food processor and process until mixture resembles a colorful pesto (I couldn't find cherry peppers so substituted a red bell pepper and omitted the hot peppers for my mommy).  

Discard the limes from the marinade, dredge the fish cubes in flour, and fry until golden brown.  

Serve with toothpicks or as finger food with the garden dipping sauce.

Basically, this dish was quite tasty.  We served it cold, not wanting to heat up Jay's kitchen during our super hot 4th of July party, and that was fine too. They were better when they were warm.  Personally, I think the catfish was better than the cod, but I forgot to take a poll of what everyone else thought.  There was a good deal of the sauce left over and the book says it can be used for any of the fried treats I've already made (I bet it would have helped with the Black Eyed Pea Fritters!).  Jay and I are planning to use the rest of it on some pasta or grilled chicken, since it really is very similar to pesto. 

About the book:


Yes, I have finally started reading my Kindle again.  And here is a little prelude to my take on the story:  When I was in India, I visited a town called Dona-Paula (incidentally, also a Portuguese Colony) and that town boasted a whole love story of two young people who couldn't be together so they threw themselves into the sea.  My friend Monish told me that every town in India has a story just like that.  Apparently, Brazil has them too.  Iracema is the Brazilian version of Pocahontas and Dona-Paula all rolled into one and seemingly based on fact, though there is no mention of Iracema in Martim Soares Moreno's Wikipedia article.


We meet our hero - the white warrior (Portuguese Martim) as he is being cast about on the sea, his only companions a large mastiff and a small boy.  It is understood that Iracema (the Tabajara Vestal Virgin; she of the Honeyed Lips - which is a direct translation of her name but which doesn't take into account the fact that she can talk to birds) is already missing from his life.  We then flash back to the beginning of their romance which starts with her bathing naked and shooting Martim in the face with an arrow.  He reflects on his wound thus, "The young warrior had been brought up in the religion of his mother, wherein Woman is a symbol of tenderness and love. He suffered more in his soul than from his wound."  That's a manly man who can stand up from an arrow to the face, a sort of Portuguese Henry V.  Naturally, we have some culture clashing between the warrior and the warrior woman.  He is confused by her warrior-woman status and becomes even more distraught as he learns that she fully expects to protect him from the warriors of his tribe who know that he is really friends with an enemy tribe, the Potiguaras (the narrator informs us that they are derisively called "the shrimp-eaters"). 


Clearly, this can only end badly. Well, badly for the woman; history tells us that it works out pretty well for the Portuguese for a few hundred years. 

Chapter 1: Pao de Quiejo and I'm Halfway Through The Deathly Hallows

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  Pao de Quiejo by Chebe

This isn't a recipe per se; it's a mix of sweet cassava flour and sour cassava flour.  Amazon.com graciously filled my need for this ingredient.  All you have to do is add 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, 2 tbsp of water, and 2 tbsp of oil.  Mix and knead it all together and roll it into tablespoon sized balls.  Bake it at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and it's absolutely delicious.  

One thing I would do differently is to turn them a few times while they are cooking so that they brown a bit more evenly on all sides and not just on the bottom.  Thanks to friend Ray for modeling them during our sci-fi movie night.  

Chapter 1: Acaraje, Bolinho de Macaxeira Recheado, and Still Reading Through Harry Potter Series

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  Brazil:  A Culinary Journey by Cherie Hamilton

Acaraje

(Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)

5 cups black eyed peas
2 large onions
1/2 cup dried shrimp
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp salt
Oil for frying


I could not find dried shrimp so I used canned cocktail shrimp, which I imagine gave much, much less flavor to this dish.  In the original recipe, you soak the shrimp in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain and pat them dry.  Then you just dump it all into a food processor and mix until it is uniform consistency.  

I was entertaining a vegetarian so I processed the beans, scooped out some mixture and added flour, then fried these into little tablespoon sized balls.  These fried up nice and brown and crispy with no problems.  I then added the canned shrimp to the remaining bean mixture and processed until smooth.  I tried to fry up a batch in my seriously hot oil and they turned into mush.  I added some flour and voila, perfectly fried, though rather bland tasting Acaraje. 

Not the best Brazilian dish by a long shot.  Guests politely ate them, but I suspect that's because they looked good and fried not because they actually tasted good.  I do think the dried shrimp would have added a lot more flavor.  They are supposed to be served with a fish sauce that seems super complicated to make for just an appetizer, so we improvised with cocktail sauce and a yogurt garlic sauce.  The next fried treats that we made were far, far more delicious.

Bolinho de Macaxeira Recheado

(Beef-Stuffed Manioc Balls) 

For the Dough:


2 lbs manioc (cassava or yucca)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I added extra)


For the filling:


1/2 lb ground beef
1/4 cup minced onion 
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tsp black pepper

Oil for frying

Peel the manioc root and remove the woody core.  Cut into cubes and boil in water until very tender (just as you would to make mashed potatoes).  Drain and cool.

While the manioc is boiling, heat a skillet over medium high heat and saute all the filling ingredients together (I added the parsley last so it would retain it's nice green color).  Drain the beef mixture and set aside to cool.

When the manioc is cool, mash it with a potato masher (which I don't have) and by no means attempt to mash it with an electric hand blender, (despite the fact that I've successfully done just that before) it will overheat your blender and throw the circuit breaker on your entire kitchen.  Should this occur, run and get your kitchen helper to assist you in locating exactly which breaker was flipped, flip it back, and resume regularly scheduled cooking by kneading the remaining dough ingredients into a thick dough.

Generously flouring your hands, as the mixture is a bit sticky, roll the dough into balls, flatten them, and fill with about a tbsp of the ground beef mixture.  

Close the dough over the filling and roll back into neat little balls. Heat cooking oil over high heat and fry until golden.  

  
Drain on a paper towel and enjoy!  

They were devoured  by Jay and Ben with a garden salad (the former who deserves thanks for helping me to roll them out and whose hands can be seen above modeling the perfect beef/manioc dough ratio - mine were always a little overstuffed).  The leftovers were popped into a microwave at work for about 30 seconds and again eaten up quickly to rave reviews.  

Chapter 1: Bifes Enrolados and The New Kindle Arrived, But I'd Already Started Re-reading Harry Potter Books

Book:  Iracema by Jose de Alancar
Recipes:  Brazil:  A Culinary Journey by Cherie Hamilton

 Bifes Enrolados

(Beef and Ham Rolls)

2 lbs round steak, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup port or red wine
1/2 lb sliced boiled ham (we were fancy and used prosciutto)
8 hard boiled egg yolks
1 tbsp mustard
6 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup black olives, chopped (omitted by me)

Pound the steaks into a uniform thickness.  Mix the wine, garlic, salt and pepper into a marinade and marinate the steaks overnight.  

The following day, mash the egg yolks, 3 tbsp of the butter, and mustard, then season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Remove the beef and reserve the marinade.  

 
Cover each slice of beef with a slice of ham,  then spread on a few tablespoons of the egg mixture.  

Roll the each slice of beef and tightly secure with kitchen twine on both ends.  

In a deep casserole, heat the remaining butter over medium high and brown the rolls on all sides.  Add the reserved marinade to the pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.  Remove the lid and continue to simmer for another hour or until the beef is very tender.  This is Cooking Light's quick method for braising beef and I find that it never fails to produce tender meat.  Remove the rolls, cut away the strings, and cover to keep warm.  The recipe calls for just pan gravy, but we thickened it a bit with some flour and milk and ran it through a sieve to remove the lumps.  Serve with gravy and a steamed green vegetable - the gravy was just as good on the broccoli as it was on the beef rolls.  

I have to admit, when I realized this was a "boiled beef" recipe, I got a little nervous. Every time I make boiled beef I have fears of recreating my stepmother's stringy, impossible to chew beef stew.  My stand by offer to buy a pizza if the meal turned out badly was pooh-poohed as my Alabama guests were sure it would be delicious.  Jay and Ben loved the meat and gravy, Obe just went right for the meat; but everyone agreed, this is a good recipe.  I would make one tiny suggestion though, since my AC really only reaches the living room and bedroom, this is seriously a fall/winter dish for all the heat in generates in the kitchen.