Brazilian Stuffing

My husband and I loved a Brazilian restaurant that closed down in Peabody a few years back. Everything there was amazing and we were completely devastated. None of the other Brazilian rodizios we have tried since have been able to hold a candle to it. I absolutely loved the stuffing that they served!

I'm not a big fan of beans at all. I'm not sure how it is that I totally love this dish! My recipe is purely trial and error until I achieved a similar taste. I have no idea if it's culturally authentic, so please don't hold that against me. 

2 eggs, beaten

1 medium white onion, minced

1 package chorizo, sliced

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 can kidney beans

Seasoned breadcrumbs

1/2 cup beef or chicken broth

1 Tsp butter spread

In a skillet, melt butter. Add onions and saute until they begin to caramelize (10 minutes). Turn the heat up to high and add the beaten eggs. Quickly and constantly stir the eggs with a spatula until cooked. Add the broth. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the sausage. The sausage I use is pre-cooked so I'm just warming it up. 

Drain and rinse the kidney beans. Remove skillet from heat and add the beans. Mix well. Chop the cilantro into small pieces and add to skillet. Stirring constantly, begin to add the breadcrumbs. I usually end up using about 2 cups in total. You want to soak up all the liquid, coat all the items, but not have dry breadcrumbs in excess inside your pan. Knowing the consistency you want isn't necessarily the easiest thing. It's really just trial and error. 

I've had stuffing at other Brazilian BBQs that have been different. Some are much drier versions using much more breadcrumbs. Some have vegetables mixed in such as carrots, corn, peas, of green beans. The recipe above is my favorite take on it. Feel free to add items to your liking. 

Locanico

Locanico is a traditional Greek sausage known for its citrus tastes. Most of them are made with lemon or orange so I tone those tastes way up when making them.

1 package locanico

zest and juice of half an orange

1 Tsp lemon zest

1 Tsp lemon juice

2 Tsp honey

Open the sausage package and slice the sausages into appetizer sized pieces (1/4-1/2 inch thickness). Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray. Add sausages and honey and toss to coat them. You can achieve a more even coating if you microwave the honey a bit. Add the zest and juices and toss again. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until browning and bubbly. Simple!

Pizza Pasta Pie

When I came across this dish on Pinterest, I knew I had to come up with my own version of it. What a fun and exciting dinner that any child and adult alike would get a kick out of! It's the taste of pizza, with the comfort food of pasta, beautified into a pie! Yum!

 

1/2 box dry spaghetti

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups of tomato sauce

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

2 Tsp garlic powder

1 Tsp onion powder

2 sausage links, cut into 1 inch pieces

12-15 slices pepperoni

1/4 cup chopped peppers

1/2 cup chopped onions

 

Recipe Adapted from Culinary Couture Blog

 In a bowl, mix ricotta cheese with the spices. This was a strictly personal addition for me. Ricotta cheese has never been my thing so, when I cook Lasagna and similar dishes, I spice it up really well.

Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray and cook sausages, onions, and peppers over medium high heat for 10-12 minutes, or until browned.

Lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray and set aside.
Cook the spaghetti for the shortest time indicated on the package, al dente. Drain, rinse under cold water, and shake well to remove excess water. Pat down the top with a few paper towels. Toss in a large bowl with egg and the gratedcheese.

Press the spaghetti firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate to form the bottom of your pie. I found that refrigerating the pie for a bit kept it together better when cutting slices.

Spoon ricotta mixture over the spaghetti and spread evenly along the bottom.

 Spoon the meat mixture over the ricotta and fan out the pepperoni slices on top. Top with tomato sauce. Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until heated through. Remove from oven and let stand for 10-15 minutes before cutting into it.

Thank you to my friend, Alyssa Gray for the last picture as I left this dish for her to serve and didn't see the finished product.

Broccoli and Rabe Sausage with Orzo

The other day I ran into Stop & Shop to pick up a few things. I really never shop there so I decided to look around a bit. I found this great broccoli and rabe sausage! I mean look at the colors in the photo below, it just looked so good. I searched Pinterest for some inspiration on sausage dishes but didn't come up with much. I actually really didn't even know what rabe was!
 

(räb) A vegetable plant (Brassica rapa) related to the turnip and grown for its pungent leafy shoots. Also called rapini.
 

I sent myself into the kitchen and came up with this little gem that my husband raved about.

1 lb broccoli and rabe sausage

(or really any sausage if you can't find something like this)

1/2 box cooked orzo

1/2 cup white wine or cooking wine

1/4 cup milk

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup chicken or beef broth

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped onions

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups steamed broccoli

Parmesan cheese (to taste)

Cook orzo to package directions and steam broccoli (I did use a Fresh n' Steam package because it was all I had at the time). Chop up the sausage links into about 1 inch pieces and saute over medium heat until thoroughly cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped onion and garlic.

 

I love cooking with garlic and onions, so I buy minced garlic to keep in the fridge and cut up an onion or two at the beginning of the week and keep it in an onion saver to cook with it.

 

Let the oil from the sausage caramelize the onions a bit and then you can begin to assemble your sauce in the pan. Add the oil and stir and then add in the chicken broth. After a few minutes of simmering, add in the wine.

 

I used a Pinot Grigio, which just happened to be the "3 buck Chuck" from Trader Joe's my husband was working on in the fridge at the moment.

 

The last steps are adding the milk and flour to cream up and thicken your sauce. If you don't trust yourself adding the flour directly to the pan and being able to avoid any lumps, mix it ahead of time in the cold milk and then add them. I cooked this sauce as a reduction so I simmered everything for about 10 more minutes on medium-low and then tossed in the broccoli and the orzo. Add some Parmesan cheese to top this and you have one delicious original meal!

 

 

Hindsight:

(My plan is to add tips to my recipes. I tend to experiment a lot and not usually follow recipes so if I discover something along the way in writing these, I'll share the tips here.)

My husband likes everything with "light sauce", so I tend to cook that way. If I make this dish again, I'd like it a bit saucier. I'd up the recipe on everything in the sauce by 50% so you might consider doing that.