A somewhat disappointing tea

I have already some 20 kinds of herbal infusions, teas and blends, but I am always fascinated by them and I always buy new ones when I have the opportunity. This fascinations led me to fantastic teas, like the Twinings Voyage Chai (black tea with spices), Matte Chai (Yerba Mate - Ilex paraguaiensis - with spices), Darjeeling and Oolong, but also led me to some not-good-at-all teas, like the bacon-flavoured Lapsang Souchong, which I bought in Chile last year and there I left it behind. Since I live in Brazil, it is difficult to buy good teas (and from now on let’s include under this word all kinds of infusions but coffee) at honest prices.

Yesterday, I felt like buying another kind of tea to keep at home and drink on a cold afternoon or evening by the window. I watched all of them in the supermarket and focused on the ones I hadn’t tasted yet.
There was one I always wanted to try, but the blends were so exotic that I hadn’t had the guts to do it… until yesterday.

The brand is Inti Zen, an Argentine company that provides blends between tea (Camelia sinensis in this particular case) and Patagonian and tropical fruits and herbs. I bought a box that I have never seen before with two samples of each of their blends, except English Breakfast (1 sample). I got very excited by these teas and I brought to work, as I do everyday, a single bag to make me company right after lunch.

I chose Silencio Andino (Andean Silence), a blend of Green Tea, Chamomile and Orange Peel and as I soon I had finished lunch, I couldn’t hardly wait to drink it. Althought it is not cold today, I had expectations. I thought that would be my Madeleine, that by drinking it I would be magicly teleported to the top of Valle Nevado (Smowy Valley) and would enjoy the view of the Andes in silence, just listening to the very cold wind.

I poured the water, I let it infused, I threw the little paper bag away. I was sitting on a bench in open space, there was nobody around me, but there was the sun. At Valle Nevado the sun shone as well, the cold wind was just stronger. I had a sip with my eyes closed. It tasted nice, but I was rather disappointed. It didn’t taste like the Andes at all (at least the top of the mountains). It tasted perhaps like a cold afternoon in a small Patagonian town by a river, watching a snowy Volcano. Maybe that’s the idea, but there is still a lack of silence. As for the tea, it was good with the chamomile balancing the bitterness of the green tea and just a little orange peel in a quantity enough to give a little “pinch” at the tongue by the end of the sip. I’m not sure if I’ll buy the box full of Silencio Andino, but I’ll sure drink the other bag at home some cold day.

feliz navidad

yesterday was the day to have friends at home for a little personal christmas celebration, the sixth edition of “cool christmas”…. there were eight people to have a mexican meal….

the original menu consisted of tacos, chili beans, enchiladas, burritos, frijoles refritos, jalapeño peppers, hot salsa, guacamole and nachos…. even though the recipe for tortillas is used for nachos, burritos and tacos, it was impossible to prepare burritos due to bad planning…. it was also impossible to prepare enchiladas, because the recipe simply didn’t work…. and I still had some trouble with the guacamole….

here in brazil it’s terribly hard to find avocados, it’s very common to find another species of avocado, which is sweeter and doesn’t work for salty recipes (such as Chilean palta)…. but, as I couldn’t find the right one, I tried with our abacate…. as soon as the guacamole was done, I tried and it was unbearably bitter, I definetely couldn’t serve that to my friends…. I threw it all away and started from scratch, which included going to the supermarket after new abacates, but this time I’d choose the ones that were ripe…. honestly, I don’t buy abacates, I just buy avocados and those ones I know how to choose…. I saw on the internet that it is pretty much the same thing….

as soon as got to the supermarket I could see the beautiful, green, small avocados, just waiting to be picked and cooked…. I got home and put together the mashed avocados, cummin, onions, jalapeño peppers, tomatos, salt and a bit of olive oil…. I tried…. and it was almost perfect, restaurant quality…. quoting gordon ramsay: guacamole - done….

when the first guests arrived, the enchiladas still needed to be done, but, as I said before, the recipe didn’t work…. I put that aside and started working on the drinks…. there was beers on the refrigerator, but everybody wanted to try margaritas, which I practiced the day before…. ice, tequila, cointreau and lemon, shake well and there it is…. it worked perfectly, it was even better than the ones I tried to do first…. once again, it was restaurant quality, as I needed to prepare more than 20 doses to eight people…. too bad that it’s impossible to find good quality tequila at low prices in brazil…. even josé cuervo joven costs almost USD 30.00, and it’s the cheapest one….

anyway, everything went off pretty well and I’m sure that the guests aproved the meal and the drinks…. it started yesterday at 10 p.m. and it ended today, about one hour ago, with a break of nine hours to sleep and have breakfast….

Puff pastry pies

Yesterday was a no cooking day for me. Not that I didn’t feel like cooking, but I felt more like just eating. After all the bureaucracy, such as going to the supermarket(s), we started lunch with a sandwich with bolony, cheese and tomato.

It was tasty, but the real stars of the day were puff pastry pies (made with frozen puff pastry), both inspired by an episode of Jamie at Home in which he baked three different pies. Besides the chicken, there was some cheese, tomatoes and wine, which gave a somewhat bitter tasteto the pie, since it was not a very good wine. By the way, it was a Chilean Carta Vieja Sauvignon Blanc 2006. Their 2002 or 2003, I don’t recall now, Cabernet Sauvignon was a very descent wine, but this Sauvignon Blanc was terribly disappointing.

The second pie, inspired not only by Oliver, but also by a the cover of December’s issue of Prazeres da Mesa, a Brazilian gastronomy magazine. It took some fresh cherries, blackberries and bananas and a fine recently opened tawny Porto, Krohn Senador. The wine was gift from my father, a non-drinker who learnt that someone who enjoys a drink every now and then is not necessarily a junkie. He bought the wine when travelling to the beach and visiting an importer. It tastes like a fine, basic Porto and is now taking the place of a Cockburns Special Reserve in the kitchen. To drink I still prefer a Sandeman’s Family Reserve, also a gift, or a very good cognac or scotch.

A Sunday with lamb, leak and chocolate

A few days ago, I found (and bought) a pack of lamb sausages. A day later, I grilled some for lunch, since I didn’t have anything else easier and faster to cook. They were very delicious and softer than pork sausage and I had them with bread.

I saved the rest of the pack for another day and a more special dish.

Well, today I started preparing a mirepoix (my version includes thyme and laurel), which I used to cook a leak risotto and saved for other dishes still uncooked. The plan included putting fresh mushrooms into the risotto, but it slipped my mind. As alway, I cooked the risotto with a wine good enough to be served with the food. I chose a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, by Carta Vieja vineyards. It was good, but not as good as the not-bought Argentinean Trivento, a blend made of Chardonnay and Chenin, a good and cheap wine for day-to-day meals.

Back to the mushrooms. When I was finishing the risotto and starting frying the sausages, it occured to me: “prepare the mushrooms the old irish way”. When the sasages were done, I just put some butter into the frying pan and threw the sliced mushrooms in there.

For presentation I put two sausages in each plate, mushroom slices on top of the sausages and a bit of risotto with chives on the other side of the plate. The wine didn’t go very well with the food, but it was not a very good wine anyway. It went better than I expected though.

To finish this 5 p.m. lunch, I had prepared a traditional brazilian sweet called brigadeiro, which is usually ball-shaped. I really prefer the version where you eat it straight from the pan with a spoon. And that was what I was doing when I started this weblog. I’ve had this idea to share my thoughts, recipes and knowledge when cooking today.

Anyway, here’s the recipe for my brigadeiro:

Ingredients

1 can sweet condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilin

1 1/2 tablespoon butter

100g semi-dark chocolate in small pieces

How to

Put the condensed milk and the vanilin in a pan and heat it. When it’s hot, add half the butter and the chocolate, stir until it’s all melted. When it melts, add the other half of the butter and stir until it starts bubbling and is thick. Turn off the stove and leave it to rest, unless you are like me and very keen on eating it hot and before other people do.