Smokinnnn!!!!

Well guys here we go again, i'm going back to set a day of the week to post here, so i can try and keep it up this time, from here on i'll be posting every Wednesday, of course as some weeks i might feel a bit more "inspired" i'll  reserve the right post more than just on Wed.

As for this week, I've already posted earlier and for the fact that my recipe/drawing was posted at the beautiful, insightful blog called http://www.theydrawandcook.com/, i decided to post here as well my smoked salmon recipe, i suggest u guys take some time to check out their amazing selection of illustrations and recipes, there's lots there to see at: 

I was very happy to have been featured on such a blog, and definitely will be  working on new illustrations like the one above.

A little note is to click on the image for full view, and if u do do the sandwich, tell me about it, i would love to get some feedback on how was it for ya.

finally at last but not least HUGE thanks to Nate and Sally, first for their contribution with their awesome blog and second for featuring me on it!

cheers to all! enjoy!

The Italian side!

So as promised here it is my first "every Tuesday" post (for now).

This will be the third recipe i'm posting here a very easy and delish pasta sauce, one of my favorites:

"Penne ai quattro formaggi"

Pasta is something great, for all the different kinds there is plus all the various combinations of sauce and cooking techniques, there's just so much to do with!

La cucina Italiana is one of my main bases as a Chef, in part for my backgrounds, but i truly believe that all  cooks and chefs have an Italian side within. Both French and Italian cuisine are so vastly known, used and eaten world wide that most of us have some of that on us.

As for the Pasta my choice on the picture was Penne, but you can choose anything you like or even make your own pasta. Fresh pasta is very easily made and making your own can be very rewarding if the result is really good; to make your own you need:

-1 egg for every 100gr of flour and a pinch of salt

Basically u shape your flour like a volcano and in the middle put your egg(s), whisk them lightly and start mixing all of it together until u get a ball of pasta dough. If u want u can chop (very fine, no chunks) some fresh herbs like basil, parsley, rosemary and so on to add to the mix for flavor, or even other veggies or leafs, very common are, spinach (to make it look green) and tomato ( to make it look orange red ish), on the case of tomato u should use the tomato purée and perhaps add some flour until you get a dry dough!

Sauce Quattro formaggi:

-

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 50 gr of blue cheese
• 80gr of Parmesan
• 50gr of Gruyère 
• 50gr cheddar

   This sauce starts with a simple Bechamel which is simply put as a neutral white sauce. 

   Start off by heating the milk almost to boil and melting the butter on a pan with medium to low heat u can even add some finely chopped onions for flavor, but cook them only till they're transparent, or melt the butter without letting it color. Once the butter is melted mix the flour in,  and when all's mixed add little by little the  hot milk stirring well until it gets smooth, it should still be a bit runny if it's not add a bit more milk and grate the nutmeg on top of it. One by one put in the Cheeses always stirring, this is a thick sauce and the cheeses tend to go to the bottom of the pan and when not stirred they'll burn down there, also you should know that the choice of cheeses above is my personal selection, i would suggest for you to stick to the blue cheese and the Parmesan cuz they're the most characteristic of this sauce, but i reckon the others u can choose your own.

The final result should be a nice slightly thick sauce full in flavor, try it and if you feel as though u need a bit more seasoning then correct with salt, if you're asking why would i say this only at the end, then the reason is, when dealing with cheeses always correct the salt at the end, after all some cheeses already have a high concentration of it!

I hope this was easy enough for ya, if u try this the go ahead and tell how did that go!

cheers, c ya next Tuesday!

Beautiful earthy flavors!

Photo & dish by Felipe Barros

Risottos are definitely something that a lot of people are afraid to do, and some others don't really know that they are making a mistake, but for any of you that would like to learn how to cook one well then I'll try my best to explain this to ya.

Back in College and when I started my first professional experience at a contemporary food restaurant Garcia & Rodrigues back in Rio de Janeiro, I had to learn from the very start what to do in a kitchen, of course I started with the simple "mis-en-place"(French term for the pre-Preparation of the menu items) things, but after a while one of the great experienced cooks that was there thought carefully how to prepare good risottos, and once I got the hang of it, it became part of my responsibilities to do those ones.

Mushroom Risotto

- 1 large onion finely chopped

- Approx. one litre of chicken or meat stock

- Two white wine glasses (dry grapes like chardonnay are best)

- 400 gr of risotto rice (arborio)  

- 90 gr of butter

- 120 gr of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (if too expensive buy at least the long grated ones, not the fine)

- sea salt and ground pepper

- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

- mix of mushrooms around 6 or 8 Portobellos, 10 white buttons and 10 swiss brown (these ones are easy to find and not so expensive) all nicely sliced 

- a Pinch of finely chopped parsley and chives

   With mild heat cook the onions with a bit of butter without coloring them, add up the rice and and crank it up on the heat, stir in the wine and let the heat evaporate a bit of the alcohol, feel the beautiful aroma of the wine spreading around you, the rice will pick up on the wine flavors and aromas.

  After a little while start adding up the stock ladle by ladle(don't over do it, u need some moist on your rice but not for it to become a soup) seasoning a bit at this part, turn the heat down a bit and slowly cook stirring the rice every now and then ,this should take around 15 to 20 minutes, this type of rice is not the usual kind and risottos are not meant to be grain by grain loose and separate, in fact the final result should be creamy.

    While you cook the rice heat up a pan and with a knob of butter cook the mushrooms with the garlic, u'll notice that it may seem like a lot of mushrooms and for that I prefer to divide into small bunches so i can get them nicely grilled and get the garlic flavor going on them. Season to taste and for the last part spread part of the parsley and chives on top for a finishing touch.

    Try your rice ,it should be cooked well but still firm on the inside, as the Italians say "al dente", if it's cooked, correct the salt and pepper, put in the mix of mushrooms, finish with a good piece of butter and Parmesan stirring to dissolve .

Your risotto is ready serve as it is or if u need a sort of protein grilled lamb chops go perfect with it, marinate for a couple of hours the lamb chops with some red wine and herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage. Once u have them grilled deglaze the pan with the red wine correct the salt and a pinch of sugar, finish it with some butter for a great quick sauce for your lamb chops!  

  As i said it may seem like a lot of work but it's not really that much this recipe above serves 4-6 people and u can gather your friends on a lovely Sunday and cook them this i guarantee everybody (that likes mushrooms) will love it, the only thing left for me to say is no matter how hard it is always cook with your heart into it, and enjoy what you're doing, when i cook things like this at home i like to have a nice wine with some mixed nuts as an appetizer, and that my friends keeps me happy through all my journey in the kitchen!

cheers to all!!