Pão de Queijo (Brazillian Cheese Bread)

My friend Gal is from Brazil and she has made Brazilian Cheese Bread many times.  I have wanted to attempt to make the rolls, and I finally did.  The local asian market I go to had the tapioca flour needed to make these the traditional way.  I found the real Brazilian cheese at a Brazilian market that Gal recommended.  The typical recipe is yummy, but my husband and I agreed they were bland, so I added more cheese.  

These are delicious warm served with the Feijoada (Black Bean Stew).  My husband
 will tell you they are great in soup.

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Milk
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 cups (10 ounces) Tapioca Flour or Cassava Flour
2 Eggs
2 cups Minas Cheese (Parmesan cheese can also be used)

Preheat oven to 450 Fairenheit.

Heat milk, oil, and salt in medium sauce pan over medium heat just until bubbles
come to surface. Stir occasionally.

Remove from heat and add all flour and mix until no more flour is dry.

A wooden spoon is easier to use to stir mixture.

Either continue stirring with spoon or transfer to a mixing bowl with attached paddle.

Mix until the dough has cooled enough to touch.

Whisk eggs and pour half mixture into dough and mix until combined and add
remaining beaten eggs.

Remove paddle and use whisk.  Set the mixer on medium and beat the mixture until
smooth and elastic.

Add all the cheese and whisk until combined.

Prepare two sheet pans lined with parchment paper.  

Portion dough with small ice cream scoop, or tablespoon and roll into balls.

Place sheet pans with puffs in the oven.  Immediately reduce oven temperature to 350 Fahrenheit.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until they have puffed and are dry on the outside and just begin to color.

                                      

Enjoy!

Pão de Queijo (Brazillian Cheese Bread)

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Milk
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 cups (10 ounces) Tapioca Flour or Cassava Flour
2 Eggs
2 cups Minas Cheese (Parmesan cheese can also be used)

Process:

Preheat oven to 450 Fairenheit.

Heat milk, oil, and salt in medium sauce pan over medium heat just until bubbles come to surface. Stir occasionally.

Remove from heat and add all flour and mix with a wooden spoon until no more flour is dry.

Either continue stirring with spoon or transfer to a mixing bowl with attached paddle.

Mix until the dough has cooled enough to touch.

Whisk eggs and pour half mixture into dough and mix until combined and add remaining beaten eggs.

Remove paddle and use whisk.  Set the mixer on medium and beat the mixture until smooth and elastic.

Add all the cheese and whisk until combined.

Prepare two sheet pans lined with parchment paper.  

Portion dough with small ice cream scoop, or tablespoon and roll into balls.

Place sheet pans with puffs in the oven.  Immediately reduce oven temperature to 350 Fah renheit.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until they have puffed and are dry on the outside and just begin to color.

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Beef Roll

My husband has been on call working from home this week.  His co-worker Fernando misses my food every time my husband works from home.  Today Fernando wanted sushi rolls for lunch, homemade and from a nearby restaurant.  My husband's lunch break isn't long enough for a visit to the office for lunch or a restaurant.  Instead of eating out I made some sushi rolls at home.  I had to get creative and create a roll based on food I already had.  The good news was, I had left-over steamed brown rice from last night's Indian dinner and steak in the freezer.  Teriyaki sauce is so yummy, so that was also part of my plan.  This is a throw it together roll, at least it is for me.

The sauce and flavor were out of this world yummy.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. Skirt Steak
1 English Cucumber
4 cups Sushi Brown Rice (Recipe Found Here)
Nori Sheets
1/2 cup Brown Rice Wine Vinegar (Rice Wine Vinegar can be substituted)
1/2 cup Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Cane Sugar (white granulated sugar can be substituted)
Vegetable Oil

Mix 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 brown rice wine vinegar, 1/2 cup cane sugar.  Marinate the beef
in the mixture for 20 minutes.

Heat a 12 inch skillet over high heat.  Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil.  Quickly brown the
steak on all sides.  

Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Pour marinade into small sauce pan over medium heat and reduce by half.  When it boils,
 lower heat to low.

Slice steak across the grain.

Place a 12 inch non-stick skillet over a medium-high heat.  Add steak and enough of the teriyaki marinade to coat.  Cook steak very quickly, slightly crisping the edges and remove from the heat.

Wash and cut cucumber into 4 equal pieces and julienne the pieces (cut small sticks).

Place nori sheet on prepared sushi mat.  Put a softball size mound of sushi rice on nori sheet.

Flatten rice using your hand wrapped in plastic wrap. (My friend Bridget taught me this trick.)
Leave the far 1/2 inch edge free of rice.  Place 9 cucumber sticks and teriyaki steak in a long
 strip in the middle of the rice.

Carefully roll as tightly as possible.  I'm still working on rolling tightly, so I'll need more practice.
Darn I have to make more of these.

Using a very sharp knife and a sawing motion cut the roll in half.

Place roll halves together and again with a sawing motion carefully cut into your desired
roll thickness.  Spoon on extra teriyaki sauce.

Since these do not contain anything that can go bad, they are great as leftovers, if you don't
eat them all when they are made.

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Beef Roll

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. Skirt Steak

1 English Cucumber

4 cups Sushi Brown Rice (Recipe Found Here)

Nori Sheets

1/2 cup Brown Rice Wine Vinegar (Rice Wine Vinegar can be substituted)

1/2 cup Dark Soy Sauce

1/2 cup Cane Sugar (white granulated sugar can be substituted)

Vegetable Oil 

Process:

Mix 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 brown rice wine vinegar, 1/2 cup cane sugar.  Marinate the beef in the mixture for 20 minutes.

Heat a 12 inch skillet over high heat.  Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil.  Quickly brown the steak on all sides.  

Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Pour marinade into small sauce pan over medium heat and reduce by half.  When it boils lower heat to low.

Slice steak across the grain.

Place a 12 inch non-stick skillet over a medium-high heat.  Add steak and enough of the teriyaki marinade to coat.  Cook steak very quickly, slightly crisping the edges and remove from the heat.

Wash and cut cucumber into 4 equal pieces and julienne this pieces (cut small sticks).

Place nori sheet on prepared sushi mat.  Put a softball size mound of sushi rice on nori sheet.  

Flatten rice using your hand wrapped in plastic wrap. (My friend Bridget taught me this trick.) Leave the far 1/2 inch edge free of rice.  Place 9 cucumber sticks and teriyaki steak in a long strip in the middle of the rice.

Carefully roll as tightly as possible.

Using a very sharp knife and a sawing motion cut the roll in half.

Place roll halves together and again with a sawing motion carefully cut into your desired roll thickness. Spoon on extra teriyaki sauce.

Since these do not contain anything that can go bad, they are great as leftovers, if you don't eat them all when they are made.

Enjoy!

Chinese Scallion Pancakes

We have our Hoisin Sauce, now we need Scallion pancakes to go with our Peking Duck.  Don't worry the next post is about the Peking Duck.  Scallion Pancakes are very traditional in Chinese cuisine and are served with Peking Duck.  These pancakes resemble a tortilla more than a pancake.  I loved making these because the process is so fascinating.  Keep reading and you can decide whether I'm crazy or you agree.

Consider this a preview.  Here is my Peking Duck on a scallion pancake with the homemade
  hoisin sauce.  Yes it was very yummy together, even cold it was yummy.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup warm Water
1 bunch of Scallions
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

Mix the water and flour together with your hands until the dough comes together.

Slice scallions.

Pour oil into a small bowl or ramekin, pour salt into another bowl or ramekin and also place the scallions in a bowl or ramekin.  Have these ingredients ready to assemble on your pancake.

Roll out half of the dough into a large rectangle, 1/8 inch thick.

Brush with vegetable oil.  Sprinkle salt and half the scallions on the pancake.

Roll the long side of the dough away from you into a wide dough snake.

Cut the dough snake in half, poor dough snake.  Just kidding, it's not a real snake.

Taking half the dough snake coil itself around to form a tight roll.

Preheat large cast iron skillet or flat griddle to medium-high.

Using a small rolling pin flatten the coil.  That's right, you are going flatten your snake into a pancake.

Brush vegetable oil on skillet/flat griddle and cook pancake for 2 minutes on first side.

Flip and cook until golden brown.

Serve with Peking Duck and hoisin sauce.  The next post will be the duck recipe.

Enjoy!

Chinese Scallion Pancakes

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup warm Water

1 bunch of Scallions

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil 

2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

Process:

Mix the water and flour together with your hands until the dough comes together.

Slice scallions.

Pour oil into a small bowl or ramekin, pour salt into another bowl or ramekin and also place the scallions in a bowl or ramekin.  Have these ingredients ready to assemble on your pancake.

Roll out half of the dough into a large rectangle, 1/8 inch thick.

Brush with vegetable oil.  Sprinkle salt and half the scallions on the pancake.

Roll the long side of the dough away from you into a wide dough snake.

Cut the dough snake in half.

Taking half the dough snake coil itself around to form a tight roll.

Preheat large cast iron skillet or flat griddle to medium-high.

Using a small rolling pin flatten the coil.

Brush vegetable oil on skillet/flat griddle and cook pancake for 2 minutes on first side.

Flip and cook until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Baked Shredded Pork Flautas

I love Mexican food, and growing up in California, is probably the main reason for that.  I try to make Mexican food as often as my family allows.  We can't have Mexican food too often since my son's will only eat one Mexican dish, quasadillas.  My sister Jenifer lived with us for a short time, when we lived in our first house in California, and she introduced flautas to me.  She made them with mashed potatoes. I have filled them with mashed potatoes and with shredded chicken. The potato flautas I made were fried, but I have learned they are just as yummy baked.  This recipe uses shredded pork, and they are baked.  What is the difference between a flauta and a taquito?  Flautas are made with flour tortillas and taquitos are made with corn tortillas.  

 This is how to feed a craving for Mexican food, so yummy.

Ingredients for this Recipe:

8 large Flour Tortillas
1 pint Enchilada Sauce (I used my homemade sauce, recipe found here)
1 lb. Pork Sirloin Tip Roast
1 1/2 teaspoons Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
3/4 cup crumbled Queso Fresco Cheese
Vegetable Oil

Process:

 Combine garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika in a small bowl.  Mix.

 Butterfly the roast and rub all over with spice blend.

 I used a rotisserie to cook mine.  Place in the kabob basket.

 Cook pork in rotisserie for 35 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 500 Fahrenheit

 Shred the pork with your hands or two forks.

Pour enchilada sauce over shredded pork in medium sauce pan on medium heat.  Stir, cover
with lid and cook for five minutes after it boils.

 Hers is the crumbled queso fresco, so yummy.

Using tongs, place 1/4 cup shredded pork on the tortilla along one of the sides and add 1-2
tablespoons cheese.

Brush vegetable oil on a cookie sheet.  Roll the flautas in the oil on the pan so all sides are
coated with oil.

Sprinkle smoked paprika and garlic on the flautas.

 Bake the flautas for 10-15 minutes, until brown on the edges.

Dip in the remaining enchilada sauce, enjoy with some homemade guacamole like the recipe
I posted here or maybe some sour cream.

Enjoy!

Baked Shredded Pork Flautas
Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

8 large Flour Tortillas
1 pint Enchilada Sauce (I used my homemade sauce, recipe found here)
1 lb. Pork Sirloin Tip Roast
1 1/2 teaspoons Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
3/4 cup crumbled Queso Fresco Cheese
Vegetable Oil

Process:

Combine garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika in a small bowl.  Mix.

Butterfly the roast and rub all over with spice blend.

Cook pork in kabob basket of a rotisserie for 35 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 500 Fahrenheit

Shred the pork with your hands or two forks.

Pour enchilada sauce over shredded pork in medium sauce pan on medium heat.  Stir, cover with lid and cook for five minutes after it boils.

Using tongs, place 1/4 cup shredded pork on the tortilla along one of the sides and add 1-2 tablespoons cheese.

Brush vegetable oil on a cookie sheet.  Roll the flautas in the oil on the pan so all sides are coated with oil.

Sprinkle smoked paprika and garlic on the flautas.

Bake the flautas for 10-15 minutes, until brown on the edges.

Enjoy!

Polish Pierogi's & Sausage Peppers

My husband's co-worker Fernando has been gone from the office here in Queens and working in Long Island for the past month.  He told Parley upon his return that he had missed my home cooking and asked for lunch again with Parley this week.  Today I made lunch for the guys.  I decided to make a recipe I haven't made in several years, Polish pirogies.  Last time I made them was with our friend's the Bailey's back in my full size kitchen in our house in California.  I love this recipe because it is a comfort food.  It has all the ingredients to make a down home meal.  

 My children and I shared this lunch with my husband and his friend/co-worker Fernando.

Ingredients for Pierogi Dough: 

4 1/2 cups Spelt Flour

2 teaspoons Sea Salt

2 tablespoons Butter, melted

2 cups Sour Cream

2 Eggs

1 Egg Yolk

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil (not pictured)

Ingredients for Pierogi Filling:

8 Red Potatoes

1 1/2 cups shredded Gouda Cheese

4 Green Onions (not pictured)

 In a large bowl combine flour and sea salt and stir.

 Combine butter, sour cream, eggs, and vegetable oil in another bowl.

Combine liquid and dry ingredients to form a ball.

Cover bowl with pierogi dough for fifteen minutes.

Place potatoes in stock pot with enough water to cover

Turn burner to medium/high and bring water to a boil.

Cook potatoes until fork tender.

 Cut greens onion into small rings.

Mash potatoes, cheese, and green onions together with potato masher.

Roll out half of the pierogi dough at a time on a floured surface to 1/8 inch.

Using a 3 inch circle cookie cutter cut the dough into as many circles as possible.

Place 1 tablespoon potato mixture into middle of the pierogi dough round.

Dip finger into water and dab onto half of the outer edge and fold dough over the filling and 
crimp and seal.

Boil a large pot of salted water.

Add pierogi's one at a time to the pot.  Cook until they float and remove from pot with slotted spoon.

Place pierogi's on a towel.

Ingredients for Polish Pierogi's & Sausage Peppers:

2 lb. package of Hot Italian Sausage

2 Green Bell Peppers

1 Yellow Onion

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Dice peppers and onions into 1 inch pieces.

Pierce sausage with knife several times.

Preheat large saute pan over medium/high burner.

Pour oil into pan.

Add onion, and peppers to pan, stir.

Place sausages into pan being sure they touch the pan.

Brown sausages on each side.

 Cut sausages into four pieces, cover with lid and continue cooking until completely cooked.

Remove sausages and onions, and peppers to a plate.

Add one tablespoon of vegetable oil to pan and sauté pierogi's until brown on each side.

Cook pierogi's in stages.

Serve pierogo's with sausage, peppers, and onion.

Enjoy!

Polish Pierogi's & Sausage Peppers

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients for Pierogi Dough: 

4 1/2 cups Spelt Flour

2 teaspoons Sea Salt

2 tablespoons Butter, melted

2 cups Sour Cream

2 Eggs

1 Egg Yolk

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Ingredients for Pierogi Filling:

8 Red Potatoes

1 1/2 cups shredded Gouda Cheese

4 Green Onions

In a large bowl combine flour and sea salt and stir.

Combine butter, sour cream, eggs, and vegetable oil in another bowl.

Combine liquid and dry ingredients to form a ball.

Cover bowl with pierogi dough for fifteen minutes.

Place potatoes in stock pot with enough water to cover

Turn burner to medium/high and bring water to a boil.

Cook potatoes until fork tender.

Cut greens onion into small rings.

Mash potatoes, cheese, and green onions together with potato masher.

Roll out half of the pierogi dough at a time on a floured surface to 1/8 inch.

Using a 3 inch circle cookie cutter cut the dough into as many circles as possible.

Place 1 tablespoon potato mixture into middle of the pierogi dough round.

Dip finger into water and dab onto half of the outer edge and fold dough over the filling and crimp 
and seal.

Boil a large pot of salted water.

Add pierogi's one at a time to the pot, cook until they float and remove from pot with slotted spoon.

Place pierogi's on a towel.

Ingredients for Polish Pierogi's & Sausage Peppers:

2 lb. package of Hot Italian Sausage

2 Green Bell Peppers

1 Yellow Onion

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Dice peppers and onions into 1 inch pieces.

Pierce sausage with knife several times.

Preheat large saute pan over medium/high burner.

Pour oil into pan.

Add onion, and peppers to pan, stir.

Place sausages into pan being sure they touch the pan.

Brown sausages on each side.

Cut sausages into four pieces, cover with lid and continue cooking until completely cooked.

Remove sausages and onions, and peppers to a plate.

Add one tablespoon of vegetable oil to pan and sauté pierogi's until brown on each side.

Cook pierogi's in stages.

Serve pierogo's with sausage, peppers, and onion.

Enjoy!