Mushroom risotto

My mum taught me how to get this right after she attended a chef's masterclass explaining how to prepare risottos. A real treat for when Júlia is away, as one of the few things that she doen't like is mushrooms.  Júlia, thanks for going to the Algarve so that we can all enjoy this lovely dish.

Ingredients for 5 or 6

1 chopped onion
1 clove garlic
olive oil
400 grams fresh mushrooms
50 grams dried mushrooms (melange forestiere or whatever)
1 1/2 cup arborio rice
1 cup white wine
3 litres chicken or duck or vegetable stock
salt
pepper
a bit of parmesan cheese
a knob of butter

1. Pour boiling water over the dried mushrooms and let them soak while you do the rest
2. Stir fry the onions in olive oil in a large, deep casserole and mix until golden
3. Add the garlic whole
4. Add the fresh mushrooms chopped and keep stirring until soft
5. Add the rice and keep stirring
6. Add the wine and keep stirring until it evaporates
7. Add the dried mushrooms and water used to rehydrate them
   
   

This is where you stop if you have to wait for guests or journalist husbands who tend to arrive late at home. Half an hour before you serve dinner: 

1. Pour a ladle of  boiling stock over the rice and keep stirring until it evaporates
2. Keep mixing
3. Pour some more stock and keep mixing
4. Carry on until the rice is cooked   
5. Last of all, mix in the parmesan and butter

Serve with a green salad

Pasta with fresh tomato and basil sauce

This is a very simple dish which tastes much better in summer, when tomatoes ripen in the sun and you can pick fresh basil from your garden or (in my case) a pot on your kitchen window. Why a recipe for something as simple as pasta and tomato sauce? You'll find out the answer once you've tasted this recipe my mother taught me. But you have to do exactly as the recipe says. Don't cheat by using tinned tomatoes or not peeling and seeding them.

Ingredients (for five)

• 10 sun-riped tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• 8 fresh basil leaves
• salt

1. Using a knife, draw a cross on the skin of each tomato and place them in a bowl
2. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes and let them stand for 5 minutes
3. Meanwhile, peel and chop the garlic and put it in a saucepan with a generous amount of olive oil.
4. Remove the tomatoes from the water and peel them with your fingers (the skin will come out easily)
5. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the seeds with your fingers and chop the rest.
   
6. Heat up the olive oil with the garlic and, when the garlic starts to "dance" in the oil, add the tomatoes
7. Chop the basil leaves and add them last, together with the salt
   
8. Cook for around 10 minutes
9. Serve with any kind of pasta, cooked al dente.
   

Hearts of palm roll (folhado de palmito)

Long time no posts. Not that I haven't been cooking... it's just that I haven't had much time to write things up. But this recipe is a must, as it is a big hit here at home. Unlike what the name suggests, it's not fancy or difficult to prepare. The only problem might be that, if you don't live in Brazil, it's not always so easy to find a tin of hearts of palm.

Ingredients (for five)

• 1 large tin hearts of palm
• 4 tomatoes (fresh or canned)
• 1 large onion
• 1/4 cup white flour
• 1/3 cup cream or milk
• 1 ready-made packet of puff pastry (preferably rectangular)
  
• olive oil
• parsley
• salt
• cayenne pepper
• sugar
  

1. Chop the onion and stir-fry it in olive oil in a medium-sized pan
2. Chop the tomatoes very finely and add them to the onions; keep stir-frying
   
3. Chop the hearts of palm coarsely and add them to the tomatoes and onion then lower the heat
   
4. Chop the parsley and mix it in
5. Season with salt, cayenne pepper and a half a teaspoon of sugar
6. Sprinkle the flour on top and mix everything well until you get a thick paste
7. After around two minutes, dilute your thick paste with the milk or cream until it looks nice and creamy
8. Turn off the heat and let the hearts of palm cream cool
9. Open the puff pastry, put the the hearts of palm cream in the centre of the rectangle and fold sides of the pastry into a roll.
   
10. Bake in a medium-hot oven for around 25 minutes.

Serve with white rice and salad.

Feijoada for vegetarians

We're not vegetarians, as you might have guessed from other recipes in this blog, but I made a resolution that I would try to eat less meat this year. Not because of animal rights or because it will make me healthier, but just because eating meat in smaller quantities and less often is a small contribution to the environment.

I began making this feijoada when when we were living in Oxford and I had vegetarian friends over for lunch. It's much lighter and just as tasty, so now I always prepare it this way. I serve it with Portuguese chorizo suasages on the side for those who are not vegetarians. A practical meal for a large group of people.

Ingredients (for around 12)

Beans

• 500 gram black beans
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• salt

1. Wash the beans and soak them in a large container with cold water overnight
2. Transfer them to a large casserole, cover with water, add the bay leaves
3. Cook in low heat for around 2 hours (DO NOT ADD ANY SALT YET)
4. When the beans are soft, chop the onions and stir-fry them with the garlic in olive oil and pour them over the beans
5. Add the salt last and cook for another half hour

Farofa

• 2 cups cassava or manioc flour
• 100 grams bacon strips (optional)
• 10 green or black olives
• 1 clove garlic
• olive oil
• salt

1. Fry the bacon strips in a skillet with a generous amount of olive oil
2. In the meantime, remove stones from the olives and chop them coarsely
3. Chop the garlic very finely
4. When the bacon is brown, add the olives and the garlic
5. When the garlic starts to smell nice, add the flour and salt
6. Stir in low heat for a few minutes until the farofa darkens a bit

Couve

• 2 or 3 packets of shredded kale or spring greens
• 1 red chilli pepper
• 4 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• salt

1. Chop the garlic in coarse pieces and fry it in olive oil in a large casserole or wok
2. Add the chilli whole
3. When the garlic starts dancing in the oil, add the shredded kale or greens and salt
4. Stir-fry until cooked

Serve with white rice, grilled chorizo sausages, slices of fresh orange and tabasco.