Brasilian (?) Salmon

Here's the salmon recipe Bruce mentioned. I don't know if it's authentic Brasilian—it's just a recipe I found on the web. It is the only "Brasilian salmon" recipe I found on the web, and it is exactly the same on every site. But, authentic or not, it is really good!

SALMON BAKED WITH BRASILIAN RUB

4 salmon fillets, 5 to 6 oz each
zest of 1/2 large orange
juice of 1/2 large orange
juice of 1/2 large lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a shallow dish large enough to hold the salmon, combine the juices, salt and pepper. Add the salmon, turning to coat with the marinade. Let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes, turning the fillets once.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil and grease with a little of the melted butter.
In a small dish, combine the orange zest, brown sugar, chili powder and minced garlic. Rub the marinated salmon with the brown sugar mixture. Place fish in the pan, and drizzle with the remaining melted butter.
Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. (If you're using a whole fillet, it needs to cook longer, maybe 20 to 30 minutes.)

I bet this would be yummy on other kinds of fishies, too!

Easter Sunday

We just had Easter; and so, naturally, food was a big deal on Sunday. Well, OK, food is always a big deal to me, a big-time foodie.

Anyway, we started the day with a delicious, raspberry-filled coffeecake. Then, after church, we had a simple meal of scrambled eggs and toast for lunch.

A humble dish of scrambled eggs. This is what happens when you dye the eggs before you cook them!

And for dinner we had a . . . non-traditional Easter meal: an excellent pot of Feijoada (Brasilian black beans), served with Farofa and rice, cucumber salad, a tossed green salad, and a lovely salmon fillet, seasoned with an orange-zest rub. It was truly a most excellent meal. So, for your culinary delight, I'll give you the recipe for the Feijoada.

I grew up eating "Rice and Beans," made by my Brasilian mother. She used to tell us that in Brasil they would serve it with every dinner. She also told us—almost every time that we ate it—that the rice with the beans make a complete protein. Hmm; ok. All I know is that it's probably my favorite meal; it is comfort food to me.

All right, here is the recipe:

FEIJOADA

1 lb. black beans, rinsed, with the little rocks and yucky-looking beans picked out
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1-2 good-size smoked ham-hocks or ham-shanks
1 stick (about 6-inches long) of pepperoni [optional—but I always use them]
1 red-wine sausage link (about 6-7 inches long), sliced [actually, this is the first time I used one of these in my beans, and it was fabulous!]
dried onion, to taste [probably about 1-2 Tbsp.]
garlic powder—a few dashes
1/8 tsp. baking soda
salt, to taste

In the evening—the night before you want to eat the beans—clean them, rinse them and put them in a large pot. Cover them with water, so the water-level is two to three inches above the beans. Stir in 1/8 tsp. baking soda, put a lid on the pot and go to bed.
In the morning, drain the beans in a colander and rinse them with clean water. Rinse the pot too.
Put the beans back into the pot and cover with water the same as before (about 2-3 inches above the beans). Put your ham-hocks/shanks down into the beans; add the dried onion and garlic. Stir in the other 1/8 tsp. baking soda. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low; cover and let it simmer for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally and periodically making sure there's still some water in there.
After 3-4 hours, remove the ham. Remove the meat from the bones and return it (meat, not bones) to the pot of beans. If you're using a ham-hock, discard the skin along with the bones. [Actually, Mom leaves the skin in her beans—she thinks it's yummy. I heartily disagree.]
If you're using it, slice the pepperoni stick into thin slices and add them to the pot. Add the browned sausages slices to the pot, too. Continue to cook for another hour or two—until the beans are tender enough. Taste it. Add salt, if needed.
Serve hot, over hot rice. With lemon or lime juice, and nice salads on the side. Yummy!

Buttercream Frosting

My brother-in-law, Rick, turned 50 this week. So Melanie (my sister) came over and we spent the day making goodies for a surprise party tonight. (Rick thought she went to work this morning. But no, we were right here, playing in my kitchen.)

Well, it just wasn't enough that I built the birthday cake. NO, she had to go and tell everyone that the frosting recipe was here, on my blog. So, to make an honest woman of her, I will post it. ;-)

But first I have to tell any and all party-goers that I actually made it wrong. Which, in this case, I think was good, because it is a really buttery recipe. Well, anyway, I'll try to explain where the mistakes came in, and maybe you can duplicate the whole mess.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
The mistake way:

2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 sticks of butter, each one cut into 4 pieces, and softened
* this was part of the mistake: about 2 cups powdered sugar *

In a large, heat-proof mixing bowl, combine the 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Put the mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water [I just put it right into the simmering water—just make sure it's simmering, not boiling]. Whisk the stuff until it's thin and frothy and reaches a temperature of 160 degrees.
[OK. Here was my first mistake: I only let it heat to 140 degrees; although, really, I don't know if that would cause a big problem.]
Remove from heat and beat at medium-high speed until it reaches room temperature, 5-8 minutes. [Here was my second mistake—I got impatient and didn't let it cool enough—it was still warm to touch.]
Add the butter, one piece at a time and beat at high speed until thick and fluffy.
[OK. Next mistake. Because the egg and sugar stuff was too warm, the butter just melted—also, I got impatient again—and it never did get thick and fluffy. So I added powdered sugar until it seemed to be the right consistency.]


So, that was the first batch of frosting, which wasn't enough for the great-big cake. And since I had to make another batch, I thought I'd try to do it right the second time.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
The right way: (mostly):

2 large eggs
2 large egg whites [actually, the recipe calls for 3 whole eggs, but I opted to use 2 eggs, and 2 egg whites]
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 sticks butter, each one cut into 4 pieces, and softened

In a large, heat-proof mixing bowl, combine the 2 large eggs, 2 egg whites, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla.
Put the mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water [I just put it right into the simmering water—just make sure it's simmering, not boiling]. Whisk the stuff until it's thin and frothy and reaches a temperature of 160 degrees. [I used the whisk attachment of my magic wand—it kept my shoulder and arm from wearing out during several minutes of steady whisking.]
Remove from heat and beat at medium-high speed until it reaches room temperature, 5-8 minutes.
Add the butter, one piece at a time and beat at high speed until thick and fluffy. [Just go away and let your stand-mixer do its thing. Or, if you have to use a hand-mixer—bummer for you! You'll have to babysit it until it's done.]
At the thick and fluffy point, the frosting can be covered and refrigerated for up to 5 days. But it will get hard, like a stick of butter, so you have to let it warm to room temperature before you can spread it on a cake. Mmmmm!

Now, here's what Melanie doesn't know:
She saw me put the first batch of frosting onto the cake. Then, after she left, I started on the second batch of frosting. Well, the second batch was smooth and silky and delightful; in comparison, the first batch was sugary—and pretty much like what you'd get in a can from the store. So I scraped most of the first batch of frosting off of the cake and mixed it in with the yummy second batch. Voila! Delicious buttercream frosting. And, it was just enough to spread the outside of a half-sheet cake.

So, after all of those convoluted instructions, do you think you can make a good batch of buttercream frosting?