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.

North Sudanese Lamb

Lovely friend and neighbor Kim dropped by some amazing food that was made by a woman she works with, a refugee from Northern Sudan.

Kim has given me some amazing food from the different populations she serves with her work at Heartland. Last time she brought me the cooking of a Karen man from Burma... curried goat and deep-fried(?) hard-boiled eggs. Very very very tasty.

Today is Northern Sudanese Lamb. I love dishes like this. Clearly made with love and straight from the heart, this was simultaneously mysterious and comfort food. The thick sauce was full of spinach and a variety of spices that continue to elude me as I keep tasting it. It is exotic but mostly, you can taste tradition. You get the distinct sense that the air smells very different where this came from, the quality of light is different...

Home cooking from far-flung locales is about the best food in the world. Thanks, Kim!

Tulie Bakery

My friend Kate is opening a new bakery and I got some of the test pastries last night! Oh boy, were they good... I can't wait to spend money there. I went by today and the space looks great. She looks tired but really happy. Kate says they'll be opening slowly starting next week. The website will be http://tuliebakery.com/
I got croissants and morning buns.

The croissants were robust and buttery. I decided to take them over the top. Stefanie's coworker had given us some wild duck breasts minus the skins. I guess it's easier to field harvest just the breast of the duck. But I didn't really know what to do with them without the fatty skin. S. found some duckfat in a tub from Liberty Hts. and so began a perfect storm. I sliced about 8 duck breasts and put them in a little glass casserole with a far too generous scoop of duckfat, some minced shallots, salt and red wine. An hour and a half later, they became this rich, tender almost-pate. So rich, almost like liver without the mineral flavors. I dolloped the duck onto hunks of the croissants. I love rich food but these should seriously be controlled! Too too good. My tummy still hurts a little.

For breakfast, I had the morning bun and coffee. The buns are really an ideal breakfast food. Sweet but not too sweet, spice... just right, with a hint of orange. Ridiculously peckish to the point of probably being dangerous. So good.

It's good to have good friends who love good food.

changing leaves

pictures from East Canyon last week... such nice colors.

I've been doing tomatillo sauces this week too!

I'll fry a couple pieces of bacon, remove the bacon then throw a chopped onion into the hot grease. Fry that up golden or a little darker then add a bunch of chopped tomatillos, salt and sprinkle with some smoked paprika, barely cover with water and cook until the tomatillos change color and get a little transparent... like 10 minutes. I then put that into the blender with some fresh cilantro and a couple of fresh garlic cloves and then blend. Viola! No chiles for Ms. Slade's palate.

Tomatillo's stickiness is always a bit of a wonder for me. They will just sudse and sudse under the water. I like husking the papery chinese lantern shells. They look so fresh and new under their husks.

In one batch I put a dollop of that Indian Patak's Garlic Relish in the blender too. It totally transformed the distinctly southwest flavor of salsa verde into a light and delicate indian sauce, very... ummm... authentic tasting... sophisticated. Like salsa verde was adopted and raised in India, some blend of karma and fate making it a new native. still have some if you want a taste? I served that on some salmon on a bed of baby arugula and lettuce dressed with lemon juice and a bit of walnut oil, my preferred blend for arugula. Yum yum.

Your canning story is lovely. Can't wait for more. Mmmmmm. Elderberries. Wanna read, wanna taste.