Get a taste of Rio with these delicious Brazilian dishes, courtesy of chef Leticia Moreinos Schwartz — the perfect way to celebrate carnival in your own home.
Recipe: Feijoada (meat and black bean stew) (on this page) Recipe: Pudim de Leite (Brazilian crème caramel) (on this page)Feijoada is one of the most famous dishes in Brazil. It is a serious gastronomic dish, but also a simple one: a big stew of black beans with lots of different kinds of succulent meats cooked inside. In Brazil we use wild cuts, even pigs ears, pig feet, and oxtail. So let yourself go when it comes to the kinds of meat you'll be using. There is a world of meats beyond steaks, ribs and shoulders to explore and this is the perfect dish to venture into the land of unfamiliar cuts. For this recipe, we are staying in safe territory with more familiar cuts such as chuck, sausage and pancetta. Any direction you go, feijoada is well worth it.
Place the beans in a very large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Turn heat to medium, and cook, covered, for 1 hour, until the beans are just cooked but not too mushy. The water will be dark but still clear. Remove from heat and set aside. (You can cook in the beans in a pressure cooker if you want to save time, and it will only take you 15 to 25 minutes).
Meanwhile, start preparing the meats and vegetables. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Pour 2 tablespoons of oil in an extra-large Dutch oven pan large pan over high heat and sear the meat, sausage, and pancetta in batches until nicely browned on all sides. Transfer to a large bowl and cover tightly with aluminum foil to keep moist.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil (or more if necessary), and add the onions, celery, leeks, shallots, and scallions and cook, scraping the brown bits left in the pan, until tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to blend with other vegetables.
Add the beans and bring to a boil. Add the meats and any accumulated juices left the bowl. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, paprika, Tabasco and Worcestershire, all to taste. Cover the pan and simmer at low heat until meat is very tender, about 3 hours.
Serve with rice, collard greens, and orange sections.
Makes 8 to 10 servings
Place the sugar and water in a clean heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook the sugar over high heat without stirring, until it turns into an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes.
Pour the caramel into the cake mold and swirl it around making sure the caramel evenly covers the whole bottom of the pan. You don't want to have any concentrated lumps of caramel in any part of the pan. Be advised that the caramel will continue to cook once it's off the heat, so work fast. Set the pan aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 350˚F.
Mix all the ingredients for the flan in a blender or (ideally) a food processor, until smooth.
Carefully and slowly pour it into the prepared caramel pan. Transfer the caramel pan to a large roasting pan and fill it with warm water so that it comes half ways up the sides of the pan. Carefully transfer the roasting pan to the center of the oven and bake until the custard is set, about 45 to 55 minutes.
Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Transfer the custard pan to a wire rack. Let it cool at room temperature then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. It's important to invert the flan only when it is chilled completely, otherwise it might break.
When ready to serve, run a smooth knife around the inside of the cake pan. Place a large rimmed serving platter on top of the cake pan, and holding the pans together with both hands, quickly invert the flan onto the platter. Hold the pans so for at least 1 minute to make sure all the juices of the caramel fall onto the platter.
How to cook caramel: The many stages of caramel can affect the taste of this dessert (or, for that matter, any dessert that calls for caramel). When you cook sugar to make a caramel, always start with a little bit of water and make sure the sides of the pan are very clean. Any impurities in the pan or in the sugar will appear in the caramel, which is tragic because caramel is one of the simplest, most beautiful things in pastry making. Once you start cooking the caramel, it will take a few minutes to start getting any color, but as it starts turning golden brown, it goes from light to dark quite fast.
A light caramel will give a sweet and mild caramel taste. A medium caramel will give the prefect balance of sweet and velvelty. A dark caramel will taste bittersweet and sometimes that is exactly what you need in a recipe. Really, caramel is a matter of taste.
Makes 6 to 8 servings
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