Torta Salgado

My coworker, Rocky Gilberti wanted to go home to Brooklyn for the weekend and invited me to tag along. She promised some Brazilian home cooking and I jumped at the chance.

Rocky obviously knows her way around the kitchen. She even taught me a couple kitchen tricks I'd never seen before. She showed me how lighting a candle next to onions being chopped will prevent your eyes burning... now that's a handy bit of knowledge! We were both in full lounge mode and she was dressed more for capoeira than for having her picture taken but as you can see, she was a good sport about it.

She is an art conservator originally from Belo Horizonte in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil. She let me thumb through her mother's Livro de Bruxa, or Witch's Book, a compendium of family recipes going back several generations. Evidently, her mother's copy is a green felt-covered book stuffed so full she had to wrap a belt around it to keep it all together (thus "Witch's Book"). But several years ago, she scanned every page and pieced it all together scrapbook-style as a gift to each of her children. The pages are largely in Portuguese with recipes gathered from many family members (in their individual handwriting) or clipped from newspapers from many decades. What a treasure! The recipe she had chosen for the evening was from page 120, Torta Salgado or Salted Pie.

Torta Salgado
Batter:
2 c. milk
4 eggs
12 tbsp. white flour
5 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. grated hard cheese (Pecorino, Romano, or Parmesan)
Depending on the cheese used, possibly 1 tsp. salt
Blend until smooth and add 2 tsp. dry yeast

Filling:
1 large chicken breast, poached & shredded
1 med. yellow onion, chopped
1 14 oz. can hearts of palm, chopped
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 c. frozen sweet peas
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Saute the onions in some olive oil until translucent, add chicken and the liquid from the can of hearts of palm. Reduce. Add tomato sauce and frozen peas and reduce the standing liquid. Season to taste. Add chopped hearts of palm and chopped hard-boiled eggs. Pour 1/2 of the batter into an ungreased 9x13 Pyrex baking pan. Add chicken mixture into pan, distributing evenly. Cover with remaining batter. Bake at 350 degrees until done, about 30 minutes or until a poked toothpick comes clean.

The result was a light and eggy pie that tasted like rich comfort food of the first order. The hearts of palm were remarkably similar to artichokes in flavor and texture, but with a distinctly Latin flair. She conjectured that they were originally a New World replacement for an unavailable ingredient familiar to Portuguese immigrants but assured me they were absolutely indispensable for Brazilian cooking. She said this is but one of many variations of this dish. There is a ground beef version for which she would probably omit the peas. Her great aunt even made a version with large, fresh sardines.

We talked into the night about the indigenous cultures of Brazil and the fusion of cultures that is Brazil today. Her fiance, Charles, is currently in Brazil helping out finishing her parent's new home and doing a large fresco there. Even though we were both away from our respective sweeties for Valentine's Day, at least we had her marvelous cooking to comfort our pining hearts.