Tag: brazilian

28Jul

Cajuzinho (almond fudge)

My grandma left Italy in her early twenties to move to Brazil with her fiancé, my grandad. My grandad never stepped foot in Italy again, my grandma only went back a few times.  Although my grandma’s accent still has strong italian vowels, she has immersed herself  into the culture of her adopted country. She loves having papaya for breakfast, tends to her own jabuticaba trees and watches telenovelas. Her cooking has retained strong Italian roots, but most of her original recipes now often take typical Brazilian ingredients. I am now going through that same process, like her I moved to England still young, and I rejected the culture when I first arrived, but after a while I hated being and outsider. I made a big effort to refine the British accent, watch local shows, read the news, ask questions (beans for breakfast?!?!?). I now get the dry sense of humour and how to add just the right amount of milk to breakfast tea. A lot of natives now tell me they wouldn’t even be able to tell I wasn’t English, if it wasn’t for my looks. You would think that after 16 years of effort I would consider this a compliment, but it actually makes
3 mins read
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04Jul

Pastel Caprese

I love London and I hate London. I popped to the capital to meet some friends yesterday, it was the first back there after not visiting for about six months. London always makes me try really hard to fit in, this entails not looking bright eyed at all the sites, at how busy everybody seems to be or how cool and organic their style is. Deep down I want to be one of them but can’t quite pull it off. Londoners are a different breed of people, they move faster and they don’t make apologies for who they are, and the city embraces that. All that hustle makes my blood pump faster. On the other hand I do not enjoy the pressure I feel when I am there, that if you are an underachiever the city will swallow you. I sat next to a lady with a Gucci handbag while she ate her sushi and I tucked into a bar of Tunnocks. I felt so out of place…but why really? A bar of chocolate caramel makes me so much happier than a Gucci bag. And a lot happier than sushi! I think that city would swallow me, I am not
4 mins read
579 Views
27Jun

Batida de coco

I feel that not a lot beats watching football with a great little snack by your side. However a special drink makes all the difference, it helps the most tense of hearts to relax which is no easy feat during the World Cup, these matches are tense! So this week our World Cup recipe is one that is very popular in Brazil, but not as well known abroad: Batida de coco, or coconut smoothie. Don’t know if smoothie is the right word as it contains a little booze, batida would be translated as beat or blitzed. I am pretty sure you’ve all heard that Brazil has some spectacular natural treasures, and when it comes to fruit there are just too many to name it, good news is I start to see them more and more in exotic fruit markets, and that is the case with the main ingredient today: fresh coconut. In the last few years fresh coconut, together with its water, has become the new super food for celebrities, but before that many only ever heard of shredded coconut and coconut milk. So if you ever walk by a market with exotic fruits try drinking the water from the
3 mins read
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20Jun

Mango Caipiroska

It has been a busy week, I have worked 40 hours on top of going to University (I am currently studying to become a nurse) and it was hard to juggle both, let alone think of a social life.  My long hours have meant I have missed a few of the world cup matches, thankfully I have caught glimpses of a few matches while some of my patients were watching it. I rushed home yesterday to catch the second half of the England match (they have a special place in my heart) and was so nervous watching it, almost as nervous when Brazil plays, but they disappointed me when they lost yesterday. But on a brighter note our Seleção has kept their momentum and I can’t wait for our game on Monday. This Caipiroska is the perfect drink for this coming week, not only because of its glorious colours (!) and I am so excited to tell you guys about it! Caipiroska is a vodka version of Caipirinha. For those who don’t know what Caipirinha is, it is one of Brazil’s biggest exports and my favourite drink. It is kinda like a Mojito but better (sorry, Cuba). It is made with Cachaça, a liquor made
3 mins read
783 Views
11Jun

Cheese bread and Chimichurri sauce

Today we continuing with our special posts for the World Cup. This recipe is a true Brazilian tradition, we call it pão de queijo which literally translates to cheese bread. It doesn’t matter where you come from we guarantee you’ll love this snack. Snacks are definitely an essential part of our culture as they are always popular for the mid afternoon munchies or just to accompany a cold beer at the end of the day. Pão de queijo is one of our essential snacks and it’s has a special place in Brazilian hearts, almost as much as football. And amazingly these cheese breads are gluten free! That’s right, they are made with cassava flour which is a root vegetable, it looks like a white potato with a thick brown skin. Although cassava that originates from South America it has been exported to Africa and Asia therefore you will find it in dishes from different cultures. It is this special flour that gives these little rolls its texture: crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. The chimichurri dip however is not a Brazilian recipe but it complements the cheese bread so well. Many people also add butter or even berry jams to it but they
3 mins read
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04Jun

Palm heart empada

With the biggest sporting event coming home to where it spiritually belongs in exactly 8 days, Karla and I have decided to go back to our roots. For the next month we’ll be posting traditional Brazilian recipes, and we’ll get started this week to get you all hyped up before kick off. I have forgotten a lot of things since I was a little girl but the World Cup is definitely not one of them. It is a memorable month of families coming together, missing school to watch the semi-finals and a lot of wonderful snack food. Palm heart or palmito in Portuguese is a very traditional vegetable normally added to salads in Brazil, it is basically the inner core of a palm tree and we buy them in brine. I can’t tell you how happy I was to find it in the supermarkets here when I first moved to the UK, they are tangy and very soft and I love them on a good empada.  It is not a spelling mistake, it is most certainly not the same as an empanada. No, it may look similar but it does not taste the same. It is hard to get the
4 mins read
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