RECIPE - Salmon with Sorrel Sauce (Salmão ao Molho de Azedinha)

As mentioned in our most recent post, the sharp acidic bite of sorrel (azedinha in Portuguese) perfectly complements fatty proteins, as the acid cuts into the richness of the protein and prevents the dish from seeming over-rich. This recipe, from São Paulo chef Fred Frank, is a perfect example. Salmon is a fish that is high in fat (but remember - it's the good kind of fat, Omega 3) and is often served with acidic sauces to reduce the sensation of fattiness. Citrus juices and sour berries are common sources of acid in salmon dishes - here the acid is provided instead by sorrel leaves.

Sorrel can often be found in better quality supermarkets and natural food stores, and it can easily be grown in most areas of Europe and North America.

The recipe calls for fish stock and includes instructions on making the stock. If you have access to fish stock or have some in the freezer, omit the portion of the recipe for making fish stock and substitute an equivalent quantity of your own.

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RECIPE - Salmon with Sorrel Sauce (Salmão ao Molho de  Azedinha)
Serves 4

For the fish stock:
8 cups ( 2L) water
2 lbs (1 kg) fish bones, from firm-fleshed white fish (NOT from salmon), well rinsed
1/2 cup thin slices of carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup sliced leeks (white part only)
salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

For the sorrel sauce:
1 cup (250 ml) fish stock (save extra for another use - best to freeze)
1 cup (250 ml) creme fraiche or sour cream
1 large bunch sorrel, stems removed, leaves shredded finely
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
salt and white pepper to taste

For the salmon:
4 pieces salmon, steaks or 3" slices from fillet
salt and white pepper to taste
extra-virgin olive oil to taste
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In a stock pot or large sauce pan, heat the oil, then add the carrots, celery, onion and leeks and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are softened but not browned.  Add the water and fish bones, bring to a boil, and cook at a slow boil for 20 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. Remove from heat, let cool slightly, then drain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, pressing down on vegetables and bones to extract the flavors. Reserve,

In a medium sauce pan combine the creme fraiche or sour cream and 1 cup of the fish stock. Bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes to reduce the sauce by about 1/3. Meantime melt the butter in a small fying pan, then add the sorrel and cook for a few minutes, until the leaves wilt and take on a bright color. Mix the sorrel into the sauce, add salt and white pepper to taste and reserve, keeping warm.

Season the salmon with salt and pepper, then grill or broil just until done and nicely browned.

Serve the salmon, dressed with the sorrel sauce immediately. May be accompanied by mashed potatoes, a potato gratin, noodles, or soft polenta.

Recipe translated and adapted from Nossa Panela Brasil.

INGREDIENTS - Azedinha (Sorrel)

The European herb sorrel, which came to Brazil with Portuguese colonists and which has been enthusiastically adopted by Brazil cooks, is very appropriately named in Portuguese. It's known as azedinha, which can be translated literally as "the little sour one." Anyone who's familiar with the taste of sorrel will know how well that name describes the plant - sorrel's primary taste is a sharp, tangy sourness. (Incidentally, the English name refers to the same characteristic - sorrel derives from an old French word surele, meaning "sour.")

The sour taste of sorrel (Rumex acetosa) is due to the presence of oxalic acid in the plant. In high concentrations, oxalic acid is toxic and can be fatally poisonous, although it would almost be impossible to eat enough sorrel to receive a toxic dose. Spinach also contains oxalic acid, though in a lesser quantity than sorrel. The only food plant that has dangerously high concentrations of this acid is rhubarb and in rhubarb oxalic acid is only found in the leaves of the plant, which are not normally eaten. Rhubarb stalks do not contain the acid. Black tea also has oxalic acid in low concentrations.

Sorrel grows well in most regions of Brazil with the exception of the tropical rain forest zone in the the country's north. It's used most frequently in parts of Brazil where there is a population whose ancestries can be traced back to Europe - to Portugal, Spain or Italy in particular. Sorrel is used to flavor soups stews and sauces, dishes whose flavor can be lifted and freshened by a hint of acid. Adding sorrel to a dish has the same effect as adding a squeeze of lemon or lime juice - it cuts fatty richness and perks up the flavor of the dish's protein component.

In the next post, Flavors of Brazil will publish a Brazilian recipe for grilled salmon with a sorrel sauce.

RECIPE - Salt Cod with Cashew Nut and Herb Crust (Bacalhau com crosta de ervas e castanha de caju)

The Lenten season is as good a time as any for Flavors of Brazil to feature salt cod (bacalhau). Historically, the dietary restrictions imposed by the Church during the 40 days leading up to the holiday of Easter meant that meal options were either vegetarian or fish. And also historically, problems or transport and refrigeration meant that fresh fish was not available to many people. The solution to this problem? Salt cod, which can be kept at room temperature for long periods of time with spoiling. Plus, it only needs refreshing in lots of fresh water to return to an edible state.

Today, transportation and refrigeration problems have diminished drastically for large sectors of the world's population, but people still eat salt cod. Not because they have no alternative, but because they love it. It's especially cherished in communities where there is a strong historical and culinary tradition associated with salt cold - Italy, Spain and Portugal being only some examples. In countries, regions and cities of the New World where these communities exist, so does salt cod.

If you don't happen to have an Italian or Spanish, Mexican or Brazilian background, salt cod might not be in your current culinary vocabulary, but I recommend you try it. You just might surprise yourself and develop a taste for this fish. Properly prepared, the fish is not overly-salty, though it retains a hint of saltiness no matter how long it's been soaked (an extremely light touch with the salt shaker when seasoning it is recommended). Its flesh is substantial and rich but doesn't taste oily or greasy. It combines with all sorts or ingredients in a stew or chowder, yet can stand on its own, only minimally garnished.

Here's a Brazilian recipe for salt cod with a crust consisting of fresh herbs and cashew nuts (castanha de caju). The presence of the nuts alone is enough to signal the recipe's Brazilian origin. In tomorrow's Flavors of Brazil, we'll publish a recipe for a casserole featuring this versatile fish.
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RECIPE - Salt Cod with Cashew Nut and Herb Crust (Bacalhau com crosta de ervas e castanha de caju)
Serves 8

salt cod
3 lbs (1.5 kg) good-quality salt cod - thick cut fillets
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 bay leaf
10 sprigs fresh thyme
10 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
fresh-ground black pepper to taste

crust
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2/3 cup roasted, unsalted cashew nuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup good-quality bread crumbs
1/2 cup loosely-packed, chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup loosely-packed, chopped green onion
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
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48 hours before serving begin to soak the salt cod. Cover it with cold water and refrigerate. Soak for 2 days, changing the water several times a day. Drain the fish.

Place the fish, cut into serving size pieces (see photo) in a large casserole or lasagne dish. Add the garlic cloves, the bay leaf, the thyme and parsley sprigs on top of the fish. Add pepper to taste. Pour the olive oil over then refrigerate the fish for a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) then roast the fish, in its casserole or lasagne dish for approximately 30 minutes, or until the fish is tender and just begins to flake. Remove from the oven, discard the herbs, remove and save the garlic, then reserve the fish, keeping it warm. Peel the garlic cloves, then mash them, reserve.

While the fish is cooking, heat a good quantity olive oil in a large heavy frying pan, then add the chopped onion and fry until the onion is lightly golden. Add the mashed, roasted garlic, the chopped cashew nuts and the bread crumbs and stir to coat all the ingredients with oil. If the mixture is too dry, add more oil, but not so much as to make a paste. Stir in the chopped parsley and green onion.

Cover each piece of fish with several spoonsful of the cashew mixture, covering the top entirely. Return the fish to the oven and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and crunchy.

Serve immediately.

Recipe translated and adapted from gula.com.br

INGREDIENTS - Untangling Basil in Brazil (Manjericão and Alfavaca)

If you look in almost any English - Portuguese bilingual dictionary you'll find that the English word "basil" is translated into Portuguese as "manjericão." One multilingual dictionary translates manjericão into a number of languages such as French (basilic), English (basil), Italian (basilico) and German (basilienkraut). However, when I go to my local supermarket here in Fortaleza, or any fruit and vegetable market anywhere in Brazil, the plant that is labelled manjericão is not what I know as basil, or as basilic or as basilico.

Manjericão certainly has many of the same flavor elements that basil does, and the overall taste is quite similar. The appearance of the plant is very different, though. Instead of large, glossy, bright green leaves it has small, velvety leaves that are a somber green in color. I've come to rely on manjericão in many recipes that I use that call for basil. Even when raw basil is included, I've been able to substitute manjericão without changing the overall flavor of the dish. But my culinary curiousity always made me wonder why Brazilian "basil" didn't look like the plant I was used to.

In researching various foods for Flavors of Brazil, I've come to realize that the only wayto make certain that the English word and the Portuguese word  for something refers to the same species is to try to find the scientific name for each and see if they are the same. Doing a bit of internet-digging I discovered that I was right - dictionaries notwithstanding, basil (Ocimum basilicum) and manjericão (Ocimum gratissimum) are not identical. They do belong to the same genus, Ocimum, so they're related, which explains the similarity in taste, but they are not the same thing.

Using the scientific names as a starting point, I thought I'd see if there was a word in Portuguese that correctly translated basil, and one in English that correctly translated manjericão. It turns out that these words do exist. The plant that we know of in English in basil is known in Brazilian Portuguese as alfavaca and in Portugal they call it manjericão-de-folha-larga. I've run across the name alfavaca in Brazilian cookbooks and gastronomy magazines, but have never seen it in supermarkets or markets. I was curious as to what it was but since it wasn't available to me, I didn't bother to try to find out. Now I know. Conversely, the plant called manjericão is called African basil in English, or in Hawaii where it is naturalized, wild basil.

My guess is that these two herbs, with similar tastes, differ in choice of climatic conditions for cultivation. The basil that is familiar to English, French and Italian speakers grows best in Mediterranean climates - hot, dry summers and cooler, sometimes rainy winters. The manjericão that Brazilians prefer would seem to be a tropical variety, cultivated here, in Africa and Hawaii.

All of which is interesting from a botanical and linguistic viewpoint, but perhaps less so from a culinary one, as I see no reason why the two plants are not totally interchangeable for all culinary purposes. The only exception might be in something like an Italian salada caprese, where the bright red tomato, white mozzarella and vivid green basil mimic the colors of the Italian flag. In that case, it would be worth walking past the manjericão in the produce section and search out some true alfavaca.

INGREDIENTS - Ora-pro-nobis

The name "ora-pro-nobis" is not Portuguese; it's Latin, and means "pray for us" in that language. It refers to a cactus that is much appreciated in the traditional cuisine of Brazil's Minas Gerais state. No one can say for sure where the unusual name came from, although legendarily it was given to this particular plant when it was being harvested in the garden of a Catholic father, and the harvesters overheard the father praying when they were picking the leaves.

The plant itself is also unusual, as it is a climbing cactus, with spiny non-succulent stems, and flavorful leaves. Picking the leaves from the plant is an art, due to the spines on the stems. The plant flowers beautifully, but briefly, as the flowers often last only one or two days. The subsequent fruit is a small, yellow, rounded and waxy berry - from this fruit derives the English common name of this plant, the Barbados Gooseberry.

The leaves are used fresh, or they can be dried for later use. They are used to flavor salads, soups and sauces. In traditional recipes from Minas Gerais, ora-pro-nobis is often combined with chicken or ground meat dishes. In addition to being delicious, ora-pro-nobis is rich in protein, vitamins A, B and C, calcium, phosphorus and iron. Because of this iron, ora-pro-nobis has long been used in Brazil as a folk remedy for anemia.