An anonymous chronicler in 1717 described clearly the influence of corn in the region where my dad and my mom’s dad are from:

The style of cooking of Minas Gerais is unveiled, mainly, in the corn complex. From green corn, cooked, roasted or made into mush or into flour, corn is present in all meals, overpowering the native manioc. The Mineiro never used bread of “farinha de pau” (manioc flour), the common bread during the first centuries of colonization, as the basic food.

My mom says that the first word that came out of my mouth was angu. I simply loved it. The angu mineiro is cooked to a very firm consistency and poured in a deep plate and left to cool for a few minutes, until it’s firm enough to slice. Whenever we would go visit my grandmother in Minas, I’d live on angu and black beans with a nice thick sauce. A black bean stew served with angu and shredded kale is still the ultimate comfort food for me.

Unfortunately, angu is perhaps too plain to be interesting to those not raised on it. I find it balances the strong tastes of the heavy stews the Mineiros love. Alas, Alan is not so interested so I seldom make it around here. But a great substitute is polenta. So yesterday I took advantage of the cold and rainy evening and made a polenta casserole. First I stir fried a couple of cups of oyster mushrooms and one portobello mushrooms sprinkled with some oregano. Once cooked, I removed them from the pan and set aside. I then browned one onion and three garlic cloves and cooked in it one red pepper, one small eggplant, and half a zucchini, well seasoned with oregano, salt & pepper. To make it more “saucy” I added one cup of tomato sauce to the cooked vegetables and let it simmer until all the flavours were combined. I folded in the mushrooms, a handful of chopped fresh parsley and set aside. All of that was done in a 10″ cast iron pan.

In a separate pot I brought two cups of milk and two and a half cups of vegetable stock  (you can omit the milk and replace it with stock), 2 tbsp butter, salt & pepper to boil. Once simmering, I added 1 1/2 cup of cornmeal (I used the coarse kind) slowly while stirring continuously with a whisk. I lowered the heat and and cooked until it started peeling off the sides of the pan, about 10 mins, stirring continuously. Once ready, I poured the polenta on top of the vegetable stew, sprinkled some gruyere and fresh mozarella cheese on top and baked in the oven for half an hour at 350 F. This is the result:

It was soooooo good.

On monday I tried another of her recipes: Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame & Tofu. It was very good! It also looked amazing.

Having said all of that, I have to say the week didn’t start all that well since I wasn’t all that inspired when I went to the market on saturday and ended up not buying much. That has meant a few trips to the local stores and a lot of creativity with leftovers.

For today I made a meal out of the quinoa tabouleh I made on the weekend by adding some lima beans to it. I was going to add some tuna but forgot to buy them… For dinner I’m having a bit of the leftovers, some hummus, and some kefir for dessert.

For tomorrow, I’m thinking of using some of the radish salsa I made on the weekend as the basic seasoning for a rice and chickpea salad. I’m cooking some brown short grain rice and I’ll mix it with a can or chickpeas and the radish salsa (I have nearly 2 cups of it left). That should take care of lunch tomorrow and the next day at the least.

I’ll update this post as the week progresses in case anyone is interested.

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Day 3 – I felt a bit more inspired today, and tried Syrian rice, homemade Babaganoush, and a spinach & chickpea stew. The red/orange bits in the middle is some left over tofu with tomato sauce. It was so good that I’m seriously ready to explode any minute…

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Day 5 – success! We went from Monday to Friday without eating out once. It wasn’t difficult and I didn’t cook every day. Most of the dishes I made had at least four servings and would last more than a day. The above dish, for example, lasted quite a while as the spinach dish and the Syrian rice were quite large. So on Thursday I made a fried rice with the rice and spinach by adding an egg and eating it with some kimchi.

North African Couscous Soup

3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, small, minced
½ cup celery or fennel, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Za’atar (or 2 tsp ground cumin)
1 cup couscous, preferably whole wheat
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 liters vegetable stock or water
salt & freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Put the olive oil in a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the za-atar and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Stir constantly to keep the spices from burning and cook until just fragrant, about a minute. Add the couscous and continue stirring and cooking until the couscous begins to toast and darken, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste until it is evenly distributed and begins to colour, another minute or two; then add the stock and stir to dissolve the tomato paste.

2. Bring the soup to a boil, then turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook without disturbing until the couscous is plump and tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve.

Print version here

Tonight’s meal was inspired by some wild leeks I found at the market. At the fishmonger’s I came across some wild scallops and bought them without really knowing how I’d make them. Once I got home, a quick search at The Google got me some tasty suggestions: Wild Leek and Parsley Risotto and Pan-seared Scallops with Butter Herb sauce. The ingredients were simple enough and I had most of them at hand: scallops, parsley, a good white wine, vegetable stock, unsalted butter… The result?

The picture was terribly over-exposed but you get the idea. It was simply divine. Alan moaned throughout the meal and we speculated that something like this would probably cost about a hundred dollars for the two of us (with wine) at a nice restaurant. Oh, the wine was a nice Wolf Blass Sauvignon Blanc. Now we’re off for an ice cream…

Broiled fillet of salmon served with chives mashed potatoes and bok choy & mushrooms stir fry. It was amazing.