Ipanema Bitch

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...

If I had to pick the first one, it would be Nestle's table cream . It is like heavy cream, just 10 times better. If you are cooking a savory dish, you should remove the "water" by placing it in the refrigerator (never the freezer, the thing does not freeze well) for 1 hour, the "watery stuff" will separate. But if you are using it for a dessert (or on top of a fruit, or on coffee), use it straight out of the can, it is to die for.  Recipes below:

We are not counting calories, just deliciousness! Ingredients: 1 package of fettuccine pasta Nestle table cream 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup parmesan (real, not processed) grated cheese Salt Freshly grated pepper (not fresh? will not make it!) Cook it: Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt when water is boiling. Add fettucine pasta. Cook according to package directions (I like Barilla). Drain; cover and set aside. IN a large skillet, melt butter. Stir in cream, cheese, salt and pepper (be careful on the salt, the cheese gets salty) Cook over medium heat 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. When hot, stir in fettucine. After 1-2 minutes, when pasta is hot, serve accompanied by extra cheese and pepper for sprinkling, if desired.

T his was my favorite recipe when I was a kid, There are thousands of versions in Brazil, but this one beats them all. Adding cream instead of sour cream is a Brazilian "invention". We are kinda "creative". INGREDIENTS Butter Vegetable oil 2 lbs filet mignon or beef tenderloin steaks, cut into small cubes and seasoned with salt and black pepper to taste 1 finelly chopped onion 1 clove of garlic 1 large can on button mushroom or slivered mushrooms 2 tablespoons of cognac (to flambée) 1 can Nestle table cream (you can use heavy cream, but will not be the same) 5 tablespoons ketchup 2 tablespoons mustard 1 tablespoon flour Worcestershire sauce COOKING IT: In a medium pan, sautée unseasoned meat (a little at a time so it does not release a lot of water) in high heat with butter. Add salt and pepper and mix. Add Cognac and flambée until the flames die out. In a another pan, brown onion with garlic and add to the meat . Add the ke...

I met Amy for the first time on a street in Paris, and she was angry about politics and would not stop talking, I thought she was fun and invited her for coffee and we've survived a lot of Parisian problems, including "What do you serve Roman Polanski when he comes by" together. She's been an important part of my life since then. One of Amy's kids just got arrested on a Criminal Sleeper charge (partying too hard, confusing your friend's crash pool house with the neighbors' pool house) and now he just lost his cell phone in Shanghai, on a nerd study program. Last year they were all in a Safari in Kenya, not a tour, the real thing. You gotta love this family. After my kids, Amy's kids are the best in the world. And her kids like my cooking, a lot. Believe it or not, their favorite from my repertoire is Brazilian rice and beans. I am considering Fedexing it. Amy does not cook, but she asked me for the recipes last week, so I guess one of the other ...

My friend David loves flan. Sometimes, he even dreams about it. David used to own this large company, so every Christmas they used to have a potluck dinner, and trying to make "the boss" happy, all latin women in the company would bring their own secret recipe family flan. David tells me he never tasted any flan there that compared to the one below. This is the real thing, the one that used to come in the cans of condensed milk 30 years ago. AH! Flan should NEVER be eaten with fruit. The only thing you can eat flan with is caramel sauce. Brazilian Milk Pudim (flan) Ingredients: A. Caramel sauce: 1 1⁄2 cups of sugar 2 cups of water B. Flan: 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (the best one is "La Lechera " from Nestle. I buy it at the Norwalk stop and Shop or any Hispanic market. If you can't find it, Magnolia is second best) 1 can of milk of full milk (use the can from the condensed milk to measure the milk) 3-4 eggs (de...

Another one from the London times...no curry powder in the authentic curries! I shared this recipe with a friend recently and she loved it so much she called it "Shrimp Curry Hero" (she made it with shrimp - in this case reduce cooking time from 15 to 10 min) Her picky kids loved it, so do mine. Ingredients 4 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped 5-6 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped 6 tbsp vegetable oil 3 bay leaves 5 cm cinnamon stick 8 cardamom pods, crushed in a pestle and mortar 4 cloves ¼ tsp black cumin seeds (or regular cumin seeds) 130g/4½oz onions, peeled and finely chopped 1 tbsp ground coriander 1 tbsp ground cumin 3 tinned plum tomatoes, chopped 1.5 kg/3lb 5oz chicken pieces, skinned and cut into serving portions ¼ - 1 tsp chilli powder ¼ tsp salt 3 tbsp single cream 250ml/8 ¾fl oz water Method Put the ginger, garlic and 3 tbsp water in the container of an electric b...