Around The World: Pork and Black Bean Stew

This recipe was made on a night when I was making two other dishes -Brazilian Collards and Brazilian Potato Salad (see upcoming posts!).  It was a little crazy in the kitchen that night.  I spent about an hour and a half cooking only to have my kids....okay, mostly my son, not eat anything.  I was also going to the gym that night after my husband got home from work so I only took a taste of each dish when plating for the kids, since I didn't want to work out on a full stomach!  So I ended up eating dinner at around 9 PM.  This dish turned out more like a soup than a stew.  The flavors were good, even with the black beans, which I'm not a huge fan of.  I liked the addition of chorizo, since I don't often cook or eat it.  I could see this being a good meal on a chilly fall or winter day. Over the summer in 90+ degree heat.....not so much!

Pork and Black Bean Stew
recipe from allrecipes.com by MICHELLE0011

Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 large onion, chopped
1 (12 ounce) pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 (19 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 chorizo sausages, cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1.Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat, stir in garlic and onion, and cook a few minutes until the onion softens and turns translucent. Remove the onion, and place into a saucepan. Pour the remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil into the skillet, and place over medium-high heat. Add cubed pork, and cook until well browned.

2.Meanwhile, pour 3/4 of the black beans along with 1/4 cup water into the bowl of a blender, and pulse until finely chopped, but not quite smooth. Pour whole beans and bean puree into saucepan along with pork cubes, chicken stock, chorizo, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Around The World: Picadinho'A Brasilie

Happy 4th of July!  I have scheduled recipe posts only for the next couple of days while I'm on vacation with the kids at my parents beach house in Rhode Island.  Unfortunately, my husband recently started a new job and has no vacation time.  Since this is a yearly vacation tradition, I had to take the kids!  Plus, my sister and her husband and daughter, and my brother will all be up during the week, so it should be a good time!

As we continue our tour of Brazil I made this recipe.  I ended up halving the recipe, which I posted here, since the original recipe served 8.  The day I made this my son was sick with a 102+ temperature and not into eating.  Not that I think he'd eat this even if he was feeling well! This is not a quick recipe to make.  The onions were first caramelized, which takes 15-20 minutes.  Honestly, you couldn't tell in the dish that the onions were caramelized.  I think they could just be sauteed for a few minutes and it would taste very similar.  But, there's a lot of simmering.....like altogether over an hour.  I don't really know of any substitutions for red wine, so I ended up opening up a bottle.  The red wine added flavor to the dish but the rest of the mostly full bottle went to waste, since neither my husband or I are big wine drinkers.   I served this over white rice.  My daughter was picking out the onions and tomatoes....so it took her awhile to eat.  Overall, we weren't big fans of this dish.

Picadinho'A Brasilie
recipe from allrecipes.com by Woman Whisking

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onions, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 pound ground beef
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 eggs
1/2 (15.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup red wine

Directions:
1.Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onions and garlic, and cook until the onions have caramelized to a deep, golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir frequently as the onions cook. Meanwhile, place the ground beef, bell pepper, eggs, tomatoes, and parsley into a mixing bowl; mix until evenly combined.


2.Add the meat mixture into the caramelized onions, and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook and stir until the beef is crumbly and no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the red wine. Continue simmering, covered, until the liquid evaporates, about 1 hour.

Family Rating: So-so.

Children's Book Review: Lucky Luis

Lucky Luis
Written by: Gary Soto
Illustrated by: Rhode Montijo
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2012

from goodreads.com:
At Little League, Luis is catching fly balls, stealing bases, and hitting like a champ. But there is a problem: he thinks he's getting good luck from the snacks he samples at the supermarket before every game. Then one day his mom goes directly to the field and he has a horrible practice. The day she skips the stop at the store before a game, he strikes out twice.

Luckily, Luis's father understands and convinces him that practice and concentration matter much more than any superstition.

* It's hard to explain to kids what a superstition is. When I got this book from the library I didn't realize that this is what the book was about.  I thought it was a little weird that Luis' superstition was eating the free samples from the grocery store.  Our grocery store doesn't have daily free samples so the kids couldn't really relate to Luis' superstition.  And when they heard about Adan not changing his socks all season they thought that was pretty gross.  Baseball also plays a large part in this book, so for young fans this may be a good pick.  There are also several Spanish words throughout the book.  Overall, I thought that this book was only so-so.

Family Rating: So-so. 

Around the World: Oven Baked Sweet Plantains

Our family has had plantains, prepared as both sweet plantains and tostones from a local Puerto Rican eatery.  I have only made them a couple of times though.  Yes, the ingredient list for this recipe couldn't get any simpler.  Plantains and cooking spray, that's it.  While I was slicing the plantains up, my kids wanted to know what I was cutting.  They thought they were bananas.  I told them that they were plantains and that they were similar to bananas.  It wasn't until now that when I checked Wikipedia that I discovered there is no formal botanical  distinction between bananas and plantains.  The difference is how they are consumed, where bananas are usually eaten uncooked and plantains are usually cooked.  Regardless, my kids were eating the raw plantain slices up like there was no tomorrow.  I had to tell them to stop so that I would have enough for dinner!  Unfortunately, these plantains were ready before the chicken and rice were.  I snuck a taste right after they came out of the oven and they were crunchy and delicious!  By the time I got around to actually eating some with dinner they had gotten cold and chewy.  While my son still loved them my daughter wasn't a fan of the plantains once they were cooked.  I would definitely think about making these again but would make sure that I eat them right after they came out of the oven!

Oven Baked Sweet Plantains
recipe from food.com

Ingredients:
4 very ripe plantains (yellow skin with spots of black)
cooking spray

Directions:
1 Preheat oven to 450°F.

2 Coat a nonstick cookie sheet with cooking spray.

3 Cut the ends off of the plantains and peel.

4 Cut each plantain on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices.

5 Arrange in single layer and coat tops with cooking spray.

6 Bake, turning occasionally, for 10-15 minutes, until plantains are golden brown and very tender.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Children's Book Review: Mouse Mess

Mouse Mess
Written and illustrated by:  Linnea Riley
Published by:  The Blue Sky Press, 1997

from goodreads.com:
Internationally acclaimed cut-paper artist Linnea Riley presents the delicious tale of a mouse in search of a snack who create chaos in the kitchen. Young readers will relish the midnight snacks and marvel at the antics of a mouse who loves crumbly cookies and crunchy cornflakes!

* When the family goes to sleep, it's time for little mouse to find some food.  Told in rhyme, this story tells and shows the mouse making a big mess as he finds and eats his snack.  The kids had read this book with my husband earlier in the week. Before I even began reading they told me that the mouse is "naughty."  When I got to the end (hopefully not spoiling it too much for you) I was annoyed that the mouse left the big mess!  Can you tell I hate messes?!!!  Overall, I thought it was an okay read, but the illustrations, made of cut paper, were interesting. 


Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Around the World: Arroz Branco

I often make rice.....in a rice cooker.  Put the rice in add the water and in about twenty minutes the rice is cooked!  I don't know if I would have ever bought myself a rice cooker, but a friend gave it to me as a present when I was in college.  According to sonia-portugese.com, most Brazilians eat rice with beans for lunch and dinner every day.  I'm not a big bean eater, but regardless, I don't think I could eat the same thing every day!  I have to say that this dish is super simple with few ingredients.  The sauteed onion and garlic added nice flavor to otherwise plain rice.  We all enjoyed this as an accompaniment to a not so flavorful chicken dish.

Arroz Branco
recipe from sonia-portuguese.com

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of oil
1 (small) chopped onion
1 (small) clove of crushed garlic
1 cup of rice
1 1/2 cup of boiling water
1 teaspoon of salt

Preparation:
1. Sauté the onion and the garlic in hot oil.

 2. Add the rice and stir-fry well.

 3. Add the water and the salt.

4. Let the water boil for some minutes.

5. When the water level drops, cover the pan and lower the heat.

6. When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and let the rice rest for about 10 minutes.

7. Put the rice in a bowl and serve.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Around the World: Brazilian Chicken with Coconut Milk

When going through recipes in preparation for Brazil, my daughter requested a chicken dish.  I found most of the recipes online, mostly from allrecipes.com.  They either had "Brazilian" in the title, like this recipe, or had reviews by people of Brazilian heritage.  Therefore, I cannot validate the authenticity of these recipes as being truly Brazilian.

Most of the Brazilian recipes that I found and made called for cayenne pepper and/or jalapeno peppers.  To make the dishes child-friendly I omitted those ingredients.  Unfortunately, by omitting those ingredients I think I took away a lot of the flavor, which I think was sadly the problem in this recipe.  I have to say this dish was quick and easy to make.  I served it with Arroz Branco (see tomorrow's recipe) and Oven Baked Sweet Plantains (see Tuesday's recipe).  I think with the cayenne pepper and jalapenos that the original recipe called for this dish might be tasty.

Brazilian Chicken with Coconut Milk
recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com - by MLYIN

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

Directions:
1.In a medium bowl, mix the cumin, turmeric, and coriander. Place the chicken in the bowl, season with salt and pepper, and rub on all sides with the spice mixture.

2.Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place the chicken in the skillet. Cook 10 to 15 minutes on each side, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat and set aside.

3.Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet. Cook and stir the onion and garlic 5 minutes, or until tender. Mix in the tomatoes and continue cooking 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk. Serve over the chicken.

Family Rating: So-so.