Another Chinese inspired meal

As a marine biologist I know that a prawn is a prawn, and not a shrimp. Prawns and shrimps, although quite similar, belong to distinct biological groups, separated by many characteristics, including differences in gill structure and the way the female carry their eggs.  Is this of any culinary or gastronomic relevance? As far as I know the answer is no.  Thus, I will continue calling my Farfantepenaeus paulensis (São Paulo or pink shrimp) a shrimp, even though I know it’s a prawn.  And the reason is simple, it sounds better.

In the Rio Grande region (southern Brazil) the shrimp fishing season lasts only a couple of months, from February until April (or May in some good years).  This year Vanderlei (a fisherman friend who surprised me with those wonderful tuna) gave me around 20 kg (around 44 lb) as a present, and I’ve bought another 20 kg of shrimp, which were then frozen (without the head but with the shells) for future use.

And the future has just arrived. I peeled (not all the 40 kg, of course) and seasoned them with minced garlic and ginger, fresh red pepper, sesame seed oil and soy sauce.  After about 1/2 h in the fridge they were fried in a wok with 2 table spoons of soybean oil, diced onions and red and yellow bell peppers.  Add some oyster sauce and they are ready to be served over white rice.

Shrimps, Chinese style

Grilling Gold in Uruguay

I’ve already posted a few lines on this wonderful Uruguayan invention, the “parrilla” (See “Parrillada in Uruguay“), a traditional system for preparing the not less marvelous Uruguayan beef. But, there is much more.

One of the activities I enjoy is fishing, what I usually do at Cassino Beach (GPS 32”.162283 Lat. S, 52.110901 Long. W), the largest beach in the world, extending for over 200 km, from the Patos Lagoon estuary to the Chuy River, at the Brazilian border with Uruguay. This time I decided to try my luck with freshwater fishes, and thus headed to the city of Salto (GPS 31.389126 Lat. S, 57.958374 Long. W), right beside the Uruguay River, which separates Uruguay and Argentina. The reason is the existence of the “Salto Grande” dam, an hydroelectric plant shared by these 2 countries, as it has created an excellent environment for fishing “dourados” (in Portuguese) or “dorados” (in Spanish).

Salto Grande dam at the Uruguay River (border between Uruguay and Argentina), during low water

“Dourado”, wich means “golden”, is also known as the “tiger of the river” or “tiger-fish” due to its voracious appetite. Its scientific name is Salminus brasiliensis (but also known as Salminus maxillosus or Salminus affinis), which means “little salmon from Brazil”. In fact, it belongs to a quite different fish group, being much more related to the piranhas than to salmons and trouts, although they play a similar biological role in the environment (same niche). It’s very appreciated in sport fishing due to its bravery and resistance, as well as its size (it may reach up to 20 kg).

Enough of information, lets fish. Well, after spending a whole morning on a small boat on the Uruguay River, just beside the Salto Grande dam, one 4 kg fellow decided to bite my hooks. Wonderful catch.

No, I'm not lying. And here is the proof (note the beautiful golden color = dourado)

What to do with it? As we were in Uruguay, grill in a “parrilla”, of course. And so it was. We (our friends Renan and Leila, my wife and I) brushed the fish with some olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper only, lighted a good wooden fire in a “parrilla”, and put the fish to grill over the charcoal for a few of minutes. Impossible to have a fresher dinner.

Grilling the golden tiger in a "parrilla"

The taste was mild and clean, and was matched with a demi-sec Spanish cava.

Although we were fishing in fresh water the price was rather salty, as the fish alone costed US$ 160,00 (the cost for renting the boat and the fishing gear for me and my friend). There was also the cava, salad, wood…..well, you can add this up, if you care to know the total amount spent. But I bet you won’t get it right, as I can’t even imagine the price of the adventure, the taste and specially of the good memories.

Driving around

A few days ago I was driving back to town with a couple of friends after a visit to Porto Alegre.  Along the road connecting Rio Grande and Pelotas (more or less at GPS 31.972338 Lat. S, 52.299728 Long. W) we found a couple of farmers selling some home grown products we just couldn’t resist, as they looked incredibly tasty and fresh, specially a nice variety of pumpkins.

Pumpkins are the fruit of plants belonging to the genus Cucurbita, natives to the New World.  They are abundant throughout the Americas, being consumed in the region for more than 5,000 years.  The Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro discovered them in Peru in the XVIth century, and took some seeds back to his homeland, from where it spread all over the world.  Stems and seeds dated from 7,000 to 5,000 BC have been found in the Tamaulipas mountains in Mexico.

Take a look at the pictures below and tell me if you would resist buying a couple of them (sorry, but I was unable to find the variety names in English, as the genus Cucurbita encompasses 10 species with several dozens of varieties).  The price?  Around US$ 0.50/kg.

"Moranga"

Brazilian girl or neck pumpkin

"Caravela"

"Tetsukabuto"

"Mogango"

“Carreteiro”, a peasant dish from Southern Brazil

Last night I was invited for dinner at a friend’s house, on the menu “Carreteiro”, a traditional peasant dish from the state of Rio Grande do Sul (southern Brazil).  Carreteiro means carriege (or wagon, or coach) driver, and is presently used as a reference to the large truck drivers.The basic idea behind the dish is to keep it cheap, simple, easy and fast to prepare, but at the same time nutritious.  Something that even a wagoner or truck driver could do during a short stop.

The most traditional recipe calls for a dried beef (known as “charque”), as no refrigeration was available for these workers, but it can also be prepared with sausages.  Last night my friend used a smoked German style sausage (similar to “mettwurst“).

The other basic ingredient is rice, and thus it may seem similar to risotto.  Nevertheless, differently from its Italian cousin, the rice is left alone during cooking, so that starch is not released (truck drivers usually don’t want to spend their time stirring rice). The final result is a quite looser, but still moist, rice.  These days, with the risotto invasion, unfortunately there has been a tendency to make carreteiro and risotto look and taste more and more similar.   Even some strange ingredients like soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce or ketchup have been added.  Diced tomatoes are added in some recipes.

Chop the sausages in small irregular cubes (around 0,5 cm).  In a cast iron casserole lay 2 spoons of oil (originally pork fat – “banha”) and fry for a couple of minutes some diced onion and garlic.  Add the sausage and fry it for another couple of minutes.  Then, add the rice, fry it for one minute, pour boiling water and salt to taste.  Now, leave the room!  Resist the temptation of stirring the rice like in a risotto.  Let the low heat do its job.  Leave the lid a bit open giving room to steam.  Add water if needed.  When ready (rice al dente) remove from the heat, close the lid, and let the carreteiro rest for another couple of minutes.  The cooking processes should take around 15-20 min.  Remember, no stirring.  As I’ve said, the rice should be loose but moist. Serve with freshly chopped parsley, spring onions and hard boiled egg.

As a side dish we had a green leaves salad with dried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

Sausage "carreteiro"

Green leaves, dried tomatoes and mozzarella

Time for tuna – A Saturday surprise

I’ve always been told that you must always have at least 3 types of persons as friends, it doesn’t matter where you live: the Sheriff (Police Chief??), a lawyer and a physician. Last Saturday I became sure you have to add a fourth one to the list, a fisherman.

As I got home from my Porto Alegre adventure I found 2 whole tunas on my yard. Yes, that’s right, a friend, who happens to be a fisherman, had passed by and literally dropped 2 whole tunas on my frontyard (since I was not home yet he simply left the fish on the lawn).

The fish were, Katsuwonus pelamis, a medium-sized Scombridae, also known as striped tuna or oceanic “bonito”, which grows up to 1 m long.

The largest world consumers of skipjacks are the Japanese, who use them to prepare “dashi” (a fish stock) based on “katsuobushi” (or dried “katsuo”, as the fish is known in Japan).

Slicing fresh tuna

As I wanted to take advantage of the freshness of this wonderful fish I decided to clean and slice one of them immediately, leaving some pieces on the fridge for a Sunday lunch. The other one was frozen whole for future use.

Grilling the tuna on wood charcoal - the 3 pieces on the right were also brushed with soy sauce

It took no longer than a couple of minutes to have the slices juicy and ready to eat, served with an aragula salad with sliced parmigiano-reggiano (not the Italian one, but a very good product I bought in Uruguay) and gorgonzola cheese. They were brushed with olive oil and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper right before grilling on wood charcoal.

Since I’m a lawyer myself, I had only to invite some physicians to join my family for lunch. Next time I’ll have to invite the Sheriff.

Grilled tuna