New Year's Eve Brazillian Dinner
We were in Maine from Christmas until yesterday, with more people showing up as time went on. For New Year's Eve I was in charge of dinner plans for the group, which by then was 24 people. I decided to go in a festive direction for the dinner and went with a Brazilian theme.
I made Feijoada (the national dish of Brazil, a pork and black bean stew)
Moqueca (A Fish Stew from the Bahia region of Brazil)
Oven roasted sweet potatoes and plantains
and a fruit medley with grapefruit, pineapple and mango.
and a large pot of rice.
It was especially challenging because this was the kitchen that I had to work in, not much room, very little counter space, and an anemic, propane range that couldn't generate enough heat to boil an uncovered pot of water.
Luckily I had a crew of able sous chefs, to help peel, chop, sear and stir. Thanks to Julie, Eric and Margot!
I made a lot because the day before we nearly ran out of food at dinner, but everyone absolutely raved about the food. I was so glad everything turned out so well.
Happy New Year everyone.
Amazing how you tackled that marvelous looking dinner with the challenges you faced!! I'd be your sous chef in a heart beat.
Below is the as-made recipe:
FEIJOADA -- BRAZILIAN BLACK BEAN STEW
6 lbs pork (cubed)
2 lb linguica (cubed)(Portuguese smoked sausage)
8 oz thick bacon chopped
3 oz Armour dried beef (chopped fine)
5 large sweet onions (chopped)
2 Tbsp minced garlic
5 29oz can Black Beans (drained)
1 15oz can Refried Black Beans w/ lime
2 Tbsp adobo sauce (optional)
4 chipotle peppers (seeds removed and minced) (optional)
3 cups water
In large pot over medium heat cook bacon until most of the grease is out and the bits are lightly browned, remove bacon from pan and reserve.
Raise heat, and add pork and cook, stirring frequently, until the outside of the pork is completely cooked and lightly browned. Remove from pan and reserve.
Add onions to bacon grease, and cook until onions are soft and translucent. .Add the garlic, the sausage, the dried beef, the adobo sauce and the (optional) peppers and return the bacon and onion to the pan and cook and stir for another 10 minutes.
Add the beans including the water in the bean cans using about 1/2 cup additional cup of water per can to rinse out the cans. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the can of refried black beans and stir it in well.
Keep warm over low heat until ready to serve.
And the Moqueca recipe:
Modified Makeshift Moqueca (serve with rice)
2 lb small raw shrimp (peeled, cut in half)
2 lb talapia (cubed)
3 large sweet onions (chopped)
6 red, orange or yellow peppers (chopped)
3 jalapenos peppers (chopped)
2 28 oz cans petite diced tomatoes (drained)
1 tsp turmeric (for color)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp crushed garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 fl oz lime juice
2 cans coconut milk
Peel shrimp and cube fish. Place fish and shrimp in bowl and cover with lime juice and black pepper.
Chop onion and peppers, cook in olive oil over medium heat in large pan until onion are soft and translucent. Add turmeric, cayenne and garlic and cook and stir for another couple of minutes.
Drain the tomatoes and add them to the pot, and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
Add coconut milk, stir in and bring to a simmer. Hold at a simmer until 10 minutes before time to serve.
Then add the fish and shrimp and the lime juice they were in, stir carefully so as to not break the fish pieces. Continue to simmer until fish and shrimp are cooked.
serve with rice.
Tasty and creative and yummy. Invite me next year. Looks like a great party and lots of fun.
Thanks for posting the recipes -as soon as I saw the pic of the fish stew I was going to ask you for it. Everything looks delicious and great job in cooking in that kitchen.
Bob I remember us talking about moquecas at around the same time. I don't think I ever posted the "recipe" that I used, can't find my notes, and my 7 y.o. daughter "helpfully" cleared the DVR a couple weeks ago which included my original inspiration. Oh well, it's not rocket science. Your black bean stew looks interesting. Not familiar with the dried beef. Is that kind of a jerky? Critical ingredient? Do you use a lean or fatty pork? I'm thinking fatty, like country style "ribs" would be good?
Yes I remember the search for red palm oil to use in moqueca.
I have used everything from country-styles ribs, to pork shoulder, to pork tenderloin. This particular time I use pork sirloin steaks because it was the least expensive.
I'm not sure whether the dried beef is required. The original recipes I started from called for carne seca and mentioned that it could be found in Mexican grocery stores, and said it is somewhat similar to beef jerky. Others commented that a reasonable substitute can be found in most grocery stores and it is best known as a key ingredient in the classic Army recipe something-on-a-shingle. :-)
That's what I typically use, although I'm pretty sure I used less than 3 oz, since I just checked and the jar is only 5 oz, and I surely didn't use more than half of the jar.
A couple of year's ago I club I am in was having a chili cookoff. At the time I didn't have a good chili recipe, but when a friend said she was making white chicken chili, I decided to make the above feijoada recipe. It isn't really close to chili, but to my thinking neither is white chicken chili.
I was astounded when not only was the feijoada not disqualified out-of-hand, but it won second place.
Great looking crew, sounds like so much fun. Awesome way to rock the theme! I'm gonna maybe have to try some of those recipes, great way for me to clean out the freezer from all this MEAT I have stored in there! And I just found some shrimp too!
I just noticed that in the above Feijoada recipe the ingredient list says cans of beans (drained) but the description below says to use the cans, water and all. You can do either, its easier to just use the cans without draining, but I think I prefer to cut the saltiness and discard the water in the can, and then use fresh water to bring up the level for simmering.
I'll fix the recipe above.