The story bellow was writen by my mother, Majô Goldschmidt.  She was one of the protagonists in the history, that involves food, of course. Shall we?

Everything started at a volleyball game.  My friend Evelyn invited me to play in her home and, between sets, she told me that she and her husband bought a ton of shrimp and were thinking about opening a new restaurant.  I told her that my husband’s and my dream were to also have a restaurant. I asked her if they needed partners, and Evelyn said yes! So, we became partners.

Our husbands worked in different areas. One was an engineer and the other an administrator.  Evelyn and I were school teachers at the time. We had many meetings to decide everything from the name of the restaurant to the menu, tasting of the dishes, the decorations, purchasing appliances and everything else…  we had a lot of fun!  We found a place in Arapanés Street that needed remodeling, but we could already visualize a pleasant and cozy place.  We got it just right!  It was a blessing! In the restaurant we were able to serve over 500 people per shift with only 100 seats!  It was a complete success!

I hasn’t always been like that though. On opening night, we had problems that, in the end, tought us a lesson.  After that, the restaurant quickly became a hit, and later became a restaurant chain called Vivenda do Camarão (“House of the Shrimp”) that still exists, although it hasn’t belonged to our family anymore for more than 10 years now. Well, let’s go back to that event…

Everything was prepared for the opening night on Valentines Day.  We were expecting around 50 people because nobody knew about the place yet, however, the restaurant was packed. We were not ready for 180 people at the time! People were lining up and down the street. In the kitchen everybody was panic striken, not knowing what to do. There was only one chef, that had claimed to have a lot of experience. Throughout the night he was only screaming hysterically disconnected sentences.

Then when we turned all of the eletric appliances in the kitchen there was a blackout, the restaurant went pitch black. I will never forget myself cooking by candlelight. We went, from one table to the other, appologizing and explaining what had happened. Many people were understanding, but some not so much.

The next day we started to go over our mistakes and to correct them. Everything started to work just fine. It was very nice to see the people enjoying our food and spending happy times there!

Moqueca is the recipe I’m famous for. My family loves it.

I expect you to cook this meal using the main ingredient: love, because cooking really is an act of love!

Shrimp and Fish Moqueca (*fish or shellfish stew) by Majô

Ingredients

1 lb medium size shrimp, peeled and deveined (equals to 2lb headed and unpeeled shrimp)

1lb firm skin fish (like bass for example)

1 lime (juice)

12 ripe Italian tomatoes, without skin and seeds, diced

4 Tbs olive oil

3 onions, diced

2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbs dendê(*) oil (*palm oil that can be replaced by olive oil)

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 bunch of fresh parsley, cut

1/4 bunch of fresh cilantro, cut

Salt, black and red pepper to taste

Directions

1. Season shrimp with salt and black pepper.

2. Cut the fish in 3 inches squares. Season fish with salt, black pepper and lime juice.

3. Heat a clay cooking pot, add olive oil and sauteé the onions and garlic. Add tomatoes and stir occasionally until the tomatoes starts to dissolve.

4. Add coconut milk and dendê oil.

7. Add half of parsley and cilantro.

8. Add fish and let cook for 5 to 10 minutes.

9. Add shrimp and let cook for another 5 minutes.

10. Turn off the heat and add the the remaining parsley and cilantro. Season with salt an pepper and serve.

Note: To skin tomatoes boil water on a pan, mark an X at the bottom of the tomato with a knife and put in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and put them in cold water. The skin will came off easily.

This dish can be made with fish or shrimp only.

Servings: 5

Prep Time: 1 hour

Difficulty: Medium

Every family has a recipe (or many) that pleases not only the family, but also the guests.

This is exactly what happens to Bel’s Flan. She has been working at family beach house for about 15 years!

This flan have many admires now. We never get tired of eating it!

The recipe has been made is made as a dessert for lunch every weekend for 15 years now.

In the afternoon when we start to get hungry, we run to the refrigerator to grab another slice and there’s never anything left! It’s too good to have any leftovers…

Then, we have to wait, anxiously, for the next weekend!

Condensed Milk Flan

Ingredients

Flan:

6 egg yolks
4 eggs
2 cans of condensed milk
2 cans of whole milk (use the can of condensed can milk to measure)

Caramel:

2 cups sugar

Directions

1. For the Caramel: melt sugar in a round flan tray and let it boil until caramel color is reached. Cover all sides of tray and let it cool down.
2. Mix all ingredients in a blender.
3. Pour the liquid mix into the flan tray.
4. Place the flan tray over water bath and let it cook at 160ºC (320ºF) for 90 minutes or until it’s firm.
5. Let it cool down, unmold on a serving plate. Serve cool.

Serving: 8

Preparation time: 2 hours

Difficulty: medium to difficult

Ostradamus, a Must See in Floripa!

Florianópolis, or just “Floripa”, is the capital of Santa Catarina State and is located in southern Brazil.

Are you planning to visit Florianópolis? Besides all the beautiful beaches the island has many gourmet choices to offer. Shall we see?

Typical Southern Brazilian Cuisine

- Toca da Garoupa (downtown) – Good quality Restaurant, serving the best moqueca on the island!
- Antonio´s (Canasvieiras) – Located in the southern part of the island, serves good dishes that serves up to 3 people. House specialty is Camarão à Grega (typical recipe of shrimp with cheese).
- Porto do Contrato (Ribeirão da Ilha) – This restaurant is located at the far south of the island, where oysters and mussels are harvested. The view of the coastline is amazing.
- Ostradamus (Ribeirão da Ilha) – It’s the renowed “sister” restaurant of  the one mentioned above, located literally over the sea. It´s a must see!
- Ponta das Caranhas (Barra da Lagoa) – Excellent choice for a meal overlooking Lagoa da Conceição. We advise you to avoid trafifc peak hours during high tourist season (summer) at Rendeira’s Avenue.

Contemporary Cuisine

- Café e Risos (downtown) – Restaurant with good reviews, but for me, it’s not that special.
- Thai (Lagoa da Conceição) – Good Thai restaurant with a nice ambiance. Serves the best octopus ever!
- Patagonia (Canto da Lagoa) – With beautiful views of the pond (Lagoa da Conceição) this restaurant is, for me, one of the best on the island. Serving high quality meat and wines from Argentina, it’s worth the visit.
- Kanpai (Morro da Lagoa) – Best Japanese choice with huge glass windows offering amazing views from the above (Morro da Lagoa).  Definitely a nice pick.

Bars

- Black Swan (Lagoa da Conceição) – Pub where gringos (foreigners) that live in the island visit regularly together with the 20′something crowd. Very nice pick for drinks and to meet friends and watch soccer matches.
- Bendita Hora (Santa Mônica) – Trendy bar, always packed, serving delicious appetizers.
- Botequim da Ilha (City center) – Most famous bar of Floripa, in the heart of the city center. Serves a very nice “bolinho de carne seca” (Jerked beef cakes)….Yummy!

- Jurerê Internacional is now the hit of the island for people who like to party. There are lots of bars in the beach like Taikô, Café de la Musique and also clubs like Pacha, El Divino and more.

PS: Mayra has visited Floripa recently and told us she had a delicious “siri catado” (crab dish) at Chão Batido, Santo Antônio de Lisboa.

She also enjoyed a lot “barraca do Kaká” at Jurerê Internacional, a vendor on the beach that serves fresh squezzed juices and many kinds of caipirinhas on the beach.

Mayra recommends staying at Il Campanario Hotel.

One of the most important secrets for a sucessful recipe is the correct amount of ingredients.
For baking it’s a must. We recommend having a digital scale at home or, at least, measuring cups and spoons.
Before measuring flour or sugar, remember to sift it first. Never press it down against the measuring cup or spoon.
All measurements should be leveled, we suggest using a knife to remove the excess that is above the cup, for example.
Liquids should be measured on flat surfaces. Butter or shortening should be measured at room temperature.
Enjoy your cooking and, as we say in Portuguese, bom apetite!