What A Cheese Ball

Last weekend during hurricane Irene I stopped by my dad’s for lunch. I know what you’re thinking; don’t normal people stay at home during a hurricane? The answer to that is yes, but for my family high winds and torrential downpours are a mere obstacle.

At lunch we somehow started talking about bread. Our guests from Brazil immediately suggested that we make some traditional Brazilian cheese ball bread, a staple in most of their family meals. It sounded like it was going to take hours to make, but it only took about an hour and a half, after all where did we have to go on a blustery day?

The recipe made about 52 balls and we ate them all. They were delicious.


I bet they would be yummy with the beautiful figs that are out this time of year.


Here's the how to:
1. In a saucepan bring to a boil the below ingredients:
1 Cup of oil
1 Cup of milk
1 Cup of water

2. Place  4 cups of Yoki In a separate bowl

3. When the oil milk and water have come to a boil place that  mixture into the bowl that has the 4 cups of Yoki

4.  Let the everything slightly cool and add 7 eggs

5. Add 6 oz. of Parmesan cheese 

6. Fold all the ingredients into each other

7. Make the mixture into balls (about 56  2" balls) put some oil on your hands so that it is easier to shape the balls

8. Bake the balls for at 350 for apx. 1/2 hour or when balls are golden brown 

Zu "Queen" ni Bread

Have you noticed that the nights are getting slightly shorter and a little chillier? Although I am not happy about either one thing I do enjoy is the fruits and vegetables of the season, and the wonderful recipes that can be made with them. 

• Yesterday when I stopped by my mother's house I took a walk through her garden. I was amazed at how tall the corn had gotten, how nicely the pumpkins were growing, how colorful the squash were, and how big the zucchinis were. 
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• Among the beautiful green leaves, I found this lovely zucchini. It made me want to come home and cook a zucchini bread. Have you ever made one? To be honest I haven't because my mom is the  Zu "Queen" ni bread maker. I'm not sure where she got her recipe but it is really yummy especially with cream cheese on it. Maybe this will be the year that I cook me up a batch of bread........nahh, I wouldn't want to steal her crown!
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• Here is her recipe - Enjoy:

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• Zucchini Bread

  3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cups grated zucchini
• 2 cups of raisins

Directions

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and raisins until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Wow- That's A Lot Of Bread!

This weekend I hosted a party to celebrate a certain someone's birthday. Happy birthday RS! I made their favorite meal, an authentic Portuguese bean recipe, feijoada. This dish is very tasty and filling, especially when consumed with large amounts of Portuguese corn bread. Since this type of bread is not available at most local grocery stores I had to make a stop at an authentic Portuguese bakery. 

I remember as a child going to this neighborhood bakery practically every day for fresh bread, on Sunday it was a treat because we'd get pastries too. Central Bakery has been a Peabody staple since 1923. Wow that's a lot of bread! The fresh baked aroma when you enter is intoxicating, and reminds me of my childhood.  The cases are overflowing with fresh bread, cakes, pastries, donuts and cookies. It's a quaint Portuguese bakery, no frills, no glitz, just a consistent product. Other than the prices nothing has changed from the days that I was a child; and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Central Bakery

48 Walnut St, Peabody, MA 01960

978) 531-2101

If you happen to stop along the way try the following items, you won't be disappointed:

Breads:

Pao De Milho ( Portuguese Cornbread )

Papo Seco (Portuguese Rolls)

Linguica  Bread- Yummy!

Traditional Portuguse Pastries:

Queijada

Pasteis de Nata

Bean recipe:

I'd give you my bean recipe but I typically don't cook with recipes, I just go with what feels right. 

Click here for one that has the  basic ingredients that I use, give or take a pinch of this and a pinch of that.

Enjoy!