RECIPE - Pasta with Chicken and Palm Hearts (Massa ao Molho de Frango e Palmito)

Although there is probably no other ingredient that is more Brazilian than palmito (palm hearts or hearts of palm), for palm trees grow almost everywhere in Brazil and Brazilians have been eating palm hearts since long before the days of European settlement on these shores, it is also an ingredient that is relatively easy to find in most corners of the world.

In Brazil, palmito is often eaten fresh in those areas that have commercial cultivation of palm trees, but in most of the country palmito is eaten conserved in water or brine and preserved in a can. It is the canned palm hearts that can easily be found on supermarket shelves in North America, Europe, or Asia. At one time, in the early stages of the globalization of cuisine, canned palm hearts were considered exotic and strange, and they were relegated to the "gourmet" shelf in markets and supermarkets. They were also very expensive. Today, they're easy to find, usually near the olives, capers and canned artichoke hearts, and though they couldn't be considered cheap, the price is no longer exorbitant.

This Brazilian recipe for a light pasta dish that highlights palmito is an excellent way to serve up a can of palm hearts. Although the flavor of palmito isn't super strong, it often becomes a favorite food of those who come to know it. This dish is a perfect introduction for those unfamiliar with palm hearts, and a welcome treat for those who are already familiar with it.
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RECIPE - Pasta with Chicken and Palm Hearts (Massa ao Molho de Frango e Palmito)
Serves 6

500 gr package Italian pasta - your choice
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb (450 gr) boneless chicken breast, poached, cooled and shredded or cubed
3 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 Tbsp chopped green olives
1 14-oz (300 gr) can hearts of palm, sliced into rounds
2 Tbsp chopped green onion, green part only, for garnish
salt to taste
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Prepare the pasta according to package directions or to taste.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a medium frying pan. Add the garlic, chicken, tomatoes, olives and green onion, and cook over medium heat for three minutes, or until the garlic is transparent but not browned and the tomatoes begin to break up. Season with salt to taste, then reserve, keeping warm.

When the past is cooked, drain it thoroughly, then put it in a large decorative serving bowl. Add the chicken/palm heart mixture and toss gently to combine everything. Sprinkle the green onion on top and serve immediately.

RECIPE - Rice Vermicelli Salad (Salada de Bifum)

The thin, elongated rice noodle known as rice vermicelli in English and as bifum in Portuguese, has been taken to enthusiastically by Brazilian cooks in recent years, and has established a place in the Brazilian pantry.

This is partly due to historical and demographic reasons (click here to read more about Japanese immigration to Brazil) and also due to the fact that in the tropical heat of Brazil a type of pasta that doesn't need to be cooked and which is perfect for making light salads is just what contemporary chefs, professional or domestic, are looking for. A salad made with bifum isn't highly caloric, as it can be very lightly dressed with little oil. The noodles themselves, being made with rice, do not contain gluten, which is an added bonus.

Many Brazilian recipes for bifum are distinctly Asian in style and in ingredient choices. This salad, for bigum salad perked up with bell peppers, hearts of palm and pork tenderloin exhibits both Asian and Brazilian character, and is perfect for a lunchtime main course when the day is just too hot to eat something warm.
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RECIPE - Rice Vermicelli Salad (Salada de Bifum)
 serves 2

6 oz. (150 grams) pork tenderloin
1 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
6 oz. (150 grams) dry packaged rice vermicelli (bifum)
1/2 small red onion, cut into thin slices
1/2 small red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 small green bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 small Japanese cucumber, cut into julienne strips
1 stalk, heart of palm, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup chopped cilantro and green onions mixed
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 tsp finely minced fresh ginger
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Preheat a deep frying pan, preferably cast-iron over medium heat. Add the oil and when it's very hot but not smoking add the tenderloin and cook quickly, turning the loin to sear the outside completely. Cook for abour 5 minutes, then remove from heat, let cool, cut into julienne strips, and reserve.

Put the dry rice vermicelli in a large glass or metal mixing bowl. Pour very hot (not boiling) water over to cover and let stand for about 10 minutes, or until the noodles have softened and are pliable. Taste one or two to make sure they are completely softened, but still al dente. Drain thoroughly and reserve.

In a small jar with a tight lid, combine the soy sauce, vinegar and ginger. Shake will and let stand for a few minutes for flavors to blend.

Put the reserved noodles in a large decorative salad bowl. Top with the pork strips, the onion, bell peppers, cucumber, heart of palm and cilantro. Toss gently to distribute the dressing, then serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS - Bifum (Rice Vermicelli)

Although the thin, long noodles made from rice and known in English as rice vermicelli originated in south-eastern China, this pasta is an integral part of many Asian cuisines and can be found from India, through Southeast Asia, and on to China and Japan. It is probably most commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, however, and its name in Cantonese, mifen, has made its way to Brazil, where the noodle is most commonly known as bifum. It is also occasionally marketed under this same name in English-speaking countries, though the package will likely also refer to the contents as rice vermicelli.

As Brazil doesn't have a tradition of Chinese immigration, bifum came to this country by way of Japan. In the early 20th century large numbers of emigrants left Japan to find their fortune in the coffee and orange plantations of São Paulo state, and today the city of São Paulo has the largest ethnically Japanese community in the world outside Japan.

Brazilians have taken enthusiastically to Japanese food, and even many small towns in Brazil have a sushi restaurant, probably the only non-Brazilian restaurant in town. Bifum noodles have found a place in Brazilian domestic kitchens as well,something that sushi hasn't accomplished - as elsewhere sushi is considered restaurant food in Brazil.

Bifum can be found in most Brazilian supermarkets, in the pasta aisle, right alongside the spaghetti, lasagne, and macaroni. Brazilian home cooks make use of bifum in stir-fries and in salads, as it can be served hot or cold.

Preparing bifum for cooking is simplicity itself. The noodles do not have to be cooked. They only need to be soaked in hot water for about 10 minutes, and then they are ready to be stir-fried or tossed with a dressing and some chopped meats or vegetables in a salad.

One note of caution: there is another type of Asian noodle that is similar in size, shape and packaging that is made with mung bean flour, not with rice. In English, it is called bean-thread or cellophane noodles. This noodle is also known in Brazil, though really only in areas with a Japanese population. It is similar to bifum, but not close enough that it can be substituted for bifum in recipes.

RECIPE - Tomato and Sun-dried Beef Pasta Sauce (Molho de Tomate com Carne de Sol)

This recipe, an Italo-Brazilian hybrid, comes to Flavors of Brazil from the website of year-old Brazilian TV food network, Chef TV. Just over one year old, the channel has amassed an impressive collection of recipes, Brazilian and international, on its website, where it's also possible to stream the channel's programming. (Click here to read more about Chef TV).

The recipe was created by Chef Fernando Gualtieri, one of Chef TV's program hosts. His show, called Risoto, Pasta & Sugo is devoted to Italian cuisine and its considerable influence on Brazilian cooking. In this recipe he makes a classic Italian meat-based tomato ragù using Brazil's carne de sol, a salted and partially dehydrated beef, in place of the fresh beef used in the classic ragù bolognese.

Carne de sol is uniquely Brazilian and gives this pasta sauce an unusual and wonderfully delicious flavor. Carne de sol is not easy to source outside Brazil, but an acceptable home-made carne de sol can be made anywhere, as long as one has a freezer. Instructions for making carne de sol at home can be found in this post from Flavors of Brazil, from February 2010.
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RECIPE - Tomato and Sun-dried Beef Pasta Sauce (Molho de Tomate com Carne de Sol)
Serves 4

1/2 lb (200 gr) carne de sol
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
14 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 medium fresh tomato, peeled, seeded and cubed
1 cup light beef stock
1 green onion, green part only, chopped
fresh-grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
salt to taste
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Starting a day before cooking, soak the carne de sol in cold water in the refrigerator, changing the water at least three times during the 24 hours. When ready to proceed, drain thorough and pat dry. Cut the beef into small cubes, then coarsely chop - do not grind or over-chop, the meat should have some substance.
Reserve.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan, then cook the garlic until it just begins to brown - do not let it burn. Add the chopped meat and brown thoroughly, adding a bit more oil if necessary. Add the canned and fresh tomatoes and the beef stock, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the sauce until the beef is very tender and the sauce is thickened.

Add the chopped green onion to the sauce, and immediately remove the sauce from the heat. Let stand a minute or two, then serve over pasta of choice, topping with grated Parmesan if desired.

RECIPE - Spaghetti with Zucchini and Shrimp (Espaguete com abobrinha e camarão)

Today, we decided to post the following recipe from the Brazilian women's website Mdemulher for two reasons. First, because yesterday's post concerned one of the main ingredients, abobrinha (zucchini in English - or should we say Italian?). And the second is that in this season of major feasts and parties, there are always one or two nights where there's no event planned. Nights when, in fact, you couldn't abide another massive buffet or a roast the size of a small village. For those nights, this light, simple and utterly delicious recipe for pasta with a shrimp-and-zucchini sauce is perfect.
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RECIPE - Spaghetti with Zucchini and Shrimp (Espaguete com abobrinha e camarão) 
Serves 6

1 medium zucchini (or two small ones)
1 1/2 lb (750 gr) medium shrimp, shelled and cleaned
juice of one lime
2 cans tomato sauce
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp finely-chopped garlic
1/2 cup (100 gr) freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 Tsp butter
1 lb (500 gr) spaghetti or other long pasta of your choice
1 pinch sugar
salt and pepper to taste
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Wash the zucchini thoroughly but do not peel it. Cut the zucchini into julienne strips (most easily done with a mandoline). Reserve. Rinse the shrimp in cold fresh water, drain, put into a bowl and sprinkle with the lime juice, tossing gently to mix in the juice. Reserve.

In a medium saucepan, heat two Tbsp of the olive oil, fry half of the chopped garlic in it until softened but not browned. Add the tomato sauce, milk, parmesan cheese, butter, pinch of sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for a few minutes, then remove from heat. Cover the saucepan and reserve.

In a frying pan, heat the remaining two Tbsp of olive oil. Add the remaining garlic, fry for a minute or so, then add the julienned zucchini. Continue cooking just until the zucchini is al dente. Remove from heat, put the zucchini in a bowl, and reserve. Reserve the frying pan for cooking the shrimp later.

 Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to package directions.

Just before the spaghetti id some, reheat the frying pan gently, add a touch more oil if necessary, add the shrimp and toss for a few minutes or until the just turn opaque and pink. Do not overcook.

Using a large decorative serving bowl, place the cooked and drained spaghetti in the bottom of the bowl. Pour the tomato sauce over, sprinkle the zucchini on top, then finish with the shrimp. Grind a bit of black pepper on top, if desired and serve immediately.

Happy World Pasta Day 2011 (Feliz Dia Mundial de Macarrão)

We've just learned here at Flavors of Brazil that today, October 25th, the entire planet is celebrating World Pasta Day. This date was chosen because it marks the anniversary of the first World Pasta Congress held in Rome, naturally, on October 25, 1995.

Although the origins of pasta are halfway around the world from Brazil in ancient China, and it was the Italians, not the Portuguese, who spread the love of pasta around the globe, Brazil loves pasta just as much as anyplace else on Earth. Call it massa, macarrão, espaguete, lasanha, or anything else you want it, just be sure to eat one of the most basic, most delicious and most variable foods that has blessed the human race before World Pasta Day ends at midnight.

And if you want to toast your pasta while you eat it, make sure it's with a nice dry red wine!

RECIPE - Cappelleti alla Romanesca

This recipe for cappelleti in a cream-based sauce with ham, mushrooms and peas, was made invented in the 1950s in São Paulo, Brazil - not in Rome as the name would lead you to believe. But whether it was born in the Old World or the New World makes little difference to most Brazilians, who've taken this recipe to their collective hearts. Especially kids - this is a tremendously kid-friendly dish.

It's also a recipe that's very easy to make and requires little time or technical skill. Perfect for a quick supper.

One note - the recipe calls for creme de leite, a type of cream that, though common in Brazil, isn't available in many parts of the world. (click here for information about creme de leite).The dish can be very successfully made with sour cream or crème fraîche , or a mixture of the two.
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RECIPE - Cappelleti alla Romanesca
Serves 5
10 oz (300 gr) fresh, meat- or cheese-filled cappelleti
1 pint (500 ml) creme de leite (see above)
1/4 lb (100 gr) cooked ham, cut into small cubes
1/4 lb (100 gr) fresh white button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 lb (100 gr) fresh or frozen small peas, cooked
butter to taste
salt to taste
fresh-grated parmesan cheese
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In a large pan of boiling water, cook the cappelleti as directed. When cook to the al dente stage, drain, refresh in plenty of running water, then reserve.

Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan melt the butter, then sauté the mushrooms until they are softened. Then add the ham and peas and cook for an additional minute or two. Add the creme de leite, season for salt, then increase the heat to reduce the sauce slightly. When reduced, add the reserved cappelleti and cook, stirring carefully, until the cappelleti are heated through.

Remove from heat, place in a large serving platter, and pass at the table, with grated parmesan in a small bowl at the side.

Cappelleti alla Romanesca - A Fake-Italian Brazilian Specialty

Brazil is full of Italian restaurants, like the rest of the world. Brazilians are, on the whole, not terribly adventurous eaters, and even in the big cities of Brazil you'll not find the huge range of ethnic restaurants that you'd find in New York, Paris, London or Vancouver. But two foreign cuisines have won a place in Brazilians' hearts - Italian and Japanese. Both cuisines are ubiquitous in Brazil - a fact that largely stems from immigration patterns - and both find their purest Brazilian expression in São Paulo - also due to those same immigration patterns.

The typical Brazilo-Italian restaurant - the casual, trattoria-style, not the upmarket contemporary style - boasts a menu which is heavy on pizza, pasta and standard Italian-inspired meat and fish dishes. Not all that different from the New Jersey red-checked tablecloth version. Nor are the choices of pastas all that different from what folks in the northern hemisphere know and love - the pastas are spaghetti, linguine, penne, rigatoni, lasagne etc. and the sauces are bolognese, pesto, amatriciana, arrabiata and puttanesca.

There's one pasta dish that's almost always found on the menu in these establishments, cappelletti alla romanesca, and it hadn't dawned on me until this morning that I'd never seen it offered outside Brazil. In today's Estado de S. Paulo newspaper I read an article on Italian foods found in Brazilian restaurants that really aren't Italian at all - they were invented in Brazil. And there it was as the prime example - cappelletti alla romanesca.

This dish, which basically consists of a plate of meat-filled cappelleti sauced with a combination of chopped ham, peas and mushrooms in a cream sauce, turns out not to have traveled across the Atlantic in the collective memory of Italian immigrants to Brazil, but rather to have been created by a Brazilian chef, Giovanni Bruno, in the 1950s.

In the 50s, Bruno was the chef at a famous restaurant in Bela Vista, São Paulo's Little Italy of that time. The restaurant itself, Gigetto, had opened in the 1930s and is still open, and perpetually packed, today. During chef Bruno's time at Gigetto, the restaurant was a hangout for artists, musicians, actors and assorted hangers-on. Today, it's mostly populated by tourists.

Giovanni Bruno

From the day that cappelleti alla romanesca first earned its place on Gigetto's menu it has never been removed. It's still the most popular menu choice there, and in the years since it's debut it has spread around the country and can be found from Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil to Boa Vista in the far north and everywhere in between. Sr. Bruno himself has long since moved on from Gigetto and now owns Il Sogno di Anarello, another São Paulo Italian restaurant, where he continues to serve - you guessed it - cappelleti alla romanesca. In 2011, Sr. Bruno celebrated his 74th birthday, and his 60th anniversary in the restaurant business.

Now that I'm aware of the story of this dish of pasta, I'm going to look out for it on Italian menus outside Brazil. I'm curious - it's conquered Brazil, but has it traveled beyond Brazil's borders? I don't know, but intend to find out.

RECIPE - Pasta with Bottarga (Massa com Bottarga)

One way to serve bottarga, in a traditional Italian manner, is to make a simple dish of pasta, olive oil, parsley and garlic then sprinkle super-fine shavings of bottarga over the dish just before serving. The sharp salty tang of the fish roe makes the dish redolent of the sea, and the its simplicity highlights the flavor profiles of all of the ingredients.

Whether you make this dish with Italian bottarga, or with Brazilian bottarga from Santa Catarina, you're likely to convince even the most wary diners that bottarga, just like its more famous cousin caviar, is worth every penny that it costs - which is likely to be quite a few as this is definitely a luxury item.

This dish would make the perfect first course for an elegant dinner-at-home. Follow it, as the Italians do, with a perfectly cooked piece of meat accompanied by a small serving of sauteed spinach, then a fruit salad for desserts. Light, sophisticated and absolutely delicious.

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RECIPE - Pasta with Bottarga (Massa com Bottarga)
Serves 4

10 oz (300 gr) good quality durum wheat penne, or other pasta shape as preferred
1.5 oz (40 gr) bottarga, freshly grated
3 cloves garlic
handful Italian parsley, finely chopped
extravirgin olive oil
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Use a medium-sized heavy saucepan. Thinly slice the garlic, then fry in about 3 Tbsp. olive oil over very low heat until transparent but not browned. Reserve.

Cook the pasta in a large amount of salted water, according to directions, or to taste. Drain completely, then immediately add it to the saucepan containing the garlic and oil. Then add the chopped parsley and mix everything together, delicately but completely.

Divide the pasta among four plates, then sprinkle each with a quarter of the grated bottarga. Serve immediately, with freshly ground black pepper.

Recipe translated and adapted from Boca no Mundo on O Dia Online