Ipanema Bitch

When I moved to the US, I was surprised by the number of people who thought Fondue had to be cheese, and cheese only. I do not know why, but we love meat fondue in Rio. You have to turn your air conditioner at the highest setting, or wait for the 2 days a year where the temperature reaches 65F to eat it, but we even have "medieval" style restaurants (with cold stone walls and a killer air conditioning system) so we can enjoy it. When a couple gets married in Brazil, you can be sure they will get about 10 fondue sets, go figure. If I have less than 15 people for Christmas Eve dinner, I always have a fondue—Brazilian traditional Christmas food is very similar to Thanksgiving, and I just had turkey 3.5 weeks ago.   I set up a very colorful table, with 1 fondue set per 3/4 people (the picture here was for the leftovers the following day, just our own family and to meet my daughter's new "boyfriend").  I always forget to take pictures at my own parties, ARGH. ...

This is the best kind of potatoes for meat or chicken fondue. If you don't eat bacon, substitute it for a handful of Gruyere cheese. Ingredients : 1/2 lb smoked bacon 2 lbs of chopped onions 2 lbs of starchy potatoes (I like Yukon) Method : Put the unpeeled (washed) potatoes in a pan of salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes, they shouldn't be completely cooked. Better to be undercooked than overcooked. Drain, layout in a single layer and cool overnight or at least 4 hours. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and cook the bacon until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan cook the onions until soft and beginning to brown at the edges, add more olive oil if needed. Add to the bacon. Peel and shred the potatoes on a box grater into a wide bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and 10 good turns of fresh ground black pepper. Add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and 10 good turns of fresh ground black pepper Add 1/2 cup of t...

As much as I love cooking, some days I just cannot get myself together to do it. For those days, I have a few "quick and easy" Brazilian recipes that save my dinner from being something that came from a box.  This one is a great family please, even my daughter, who will not eat bacon, removes the bacon after it is cooked and really enjoys it — the chicken absorbs the flavor. Rub the ketchup all over the chicken so it is fully coated “Reconstruct" the thighs into their original shapes in a glass dish Bake at 350/375°F for about 30 minutes, until bacon is crispy on top INGREDIENTS (Yep, that's only 3): Boneless and skinless Chicken thighs Ketchup Slices of Bacon (1 per chicken thigh) --> --> COOKING IT: TIPS There will some liquid on the dish. It will have a lot of the fat of the bacon, so you can remove it, reduce it and use it for a recipe that requires bacon or duck fat, works g...

Before visiting Italy, I used to think bolognese sauce was way different, like tomatoes and meat. Girlfriend, was I wrong. I am lucky I got the recipe from a Florentine book. The flavors in this sauce are very rich, and I like that it uses vegetables (that get cooked for very long) and my boy still loves it. It is not an intensive tomato based sauce, even though it uses a lot of tomatoes, and once you try it, it is hard to order it at a restaurant and be happy, so it is a dangerous recipe. It takes a long time to make, so I make a ton of it at once, it freezes very well. I also use left overs for a lasagna recipe, will post it soon.... Ingredients (I usually will cook 3 times this recipe at once) One onion One carrot One stick of celery  parsley 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 300g minced meat (I like to combine pork, veal and beef, but sometime just do plain turkey and it also works fine) 100g chicken livers (it looks weird at first, but wi...