Christmas Special 2

This is just a quick one to tell you what Brazilians eat on the actual Christmas Day. Now, I haven’t been to every house in this country to check the pots and pans, so my research is not representative of the whole nation. I based it on one, heavily Portuguese-influenced, family (yes, my BF’s family).

Starter:

Strips of aubergine, courgette, onion, green pepper, tomatoes – baked in the oven and soaked with extra virgin olive oil. Simple and delicious. Served cold with bread. Not only during Christmas, by the way.

Main course(s):

There was bacalhau (100% Portuguese tradition) – dried salted cod that you later soak and prepare in one (or more) of the 365 styles your family tends to prefer. We had bacalhau in olive oil with garlic, on a bed of boiled potatoes, eggs and roasted green peppers, garnished with olives. The fish was so juicy and springy that I could barely keep myself from having a second helping.

But I also wanted to try pernil. In simple terms, it was a huge roasted pork leg. Nothing too fancy, but the flavouring made the meat succulent and soft at the same time. Mmmm...

Good Lord, I nearly forgot about the soup! Caldo verde. Served all over Portugal and, apparently, in some Brazilian families. The clear version is a broth prepared with pork sausage and bacon. The green part (verde) is provided by special kind of dark-leaved cabbage. There is also a creamy version – you just add mashed potatoes which give the soup a rich mushy texture. Delicious.

Dessert

I barely had room for it! It may not look too appetising, but this pudding was heavenly! Very light, I suppose it’s made from nothing more than milk and sugar.

 If you think I stopped there, you’re wrong. I had to try these:

Why? Because I had made them! These are Polish cookies. They don’t really have a special name, but their buttery taste is what makes them special. And I want to give special thanks to Milena for the recipe. OK, I’m done. Go enjoy your New Year’s Eve, if you haven’t already started to party. See you in 2012!!!

Christmas Special – Where are the strawberries?

I realise you may still be digesting your Christmas dinner turkeys, roast potatoes, carps, herrings or whatever your family tends to have, but this is exactly why I want to tell you about Christmas in Brazil. Before you switch from your table-sofa-table-sofa-bed routine to New Year’s Eve preparations.

Let’s start with Christmas Eve. It’s not exactly a big thing in the UK whereas in Poland that’s what Christmas is all about: the huge evening meal on 24^th December. Here in Brazil, it’s something in between. Where I am (the outskirts of São Paulo), it was a simple family dinner, with one dish. A few relatives were invited. I had been told that the father would prepare something special - camarões no morango, prawns with strawberries. How exciting, I love prawns! Never thought you could serve them with this particular fruit, but hey, I’m open to new culinary experiences.

On the day, I got a little confused when I saw this in the oven:

In Poland we serve soup in bread, so I suppose you can serve prawns in a pumpkin. It looked really appetising. A white creamy sauce was poured next to the steaming rice, garnished with freshly chopped spring onions. The smell of garlic made my mouth water.

I sat down with my plate, ready to stick my fork in. But then I remembered. Strawberries! Where are they? I looked intensely at the pink bits but they were nothing more than cooked prawns. Still confused, I quietly asked my boyfriend. He started laughing. It was camarões na moranga – prawns in a pumpkin. The closest thing to strawberries was my red face...

P.S. I absolutely loved the dish. It was one of the tastiest homemade foods I have eaten so far. No strawberries, true, but the mushy pumpkin bits did the prawns just as well.