Fejon, Fejon, Fejon!

My sister Karen once gave me a T-shirt that said, "Potential Nobel Prize Winner." One of my nephews asked which prize I'd win. I had to answer, "All of them," of course. Cooking is all about physics and chemistry. I love to write recipes and about food in general so there's the Literature prize. And then there's Peace. Everyone loves to eat. Entire nations have been known to set aside petty differences, come together and eat. We just finished a holiday two months ago based on that very concept. Why do we do it? Comfort.

To me, there is nothing more important than comfort food. The concept of comfort food is not lost on the even the simplist of dysfunctional brains. Everyone has their own comfort food. In our family we have many different comfort foods depending on what comfort we're looking for. But the one thing we all agree on anytime or place is Feijoada. Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil. Fejon means "beans" in Portuguese. I think. I don't speak Portuguese. I just repeat what I'm told. Anyway, Feijoada is a black bean stew served over rice. What kind of meat goes in it depends on the region of Brazil. Kind of like our BBQ sauces. There can be as many as seven or so different kinds of meats in Feijoada ranging from beef, pork, chicken or what ever's lurking in the Amazon. It is always served with a salsa (I mean Pico de Gallo) of black olives, green peppers and palmetta (palm hearts).

Here's a recipe my mom got from a Brazilliam woman named Otilia Mourao. Her daughter Vera was married to my dad's best friend Nelson Read who also served an LDS mission in Brazil. Remember, you can use any and as many meats you like.

2 lb black beans, soaked
2 T baking soda
Olive oil
1 lb lean beef, cubed
1 lb pork roast, cubed
1 lb Polish sausage (called Kielbasa) or any good sausage
a dozen or so large Bay leaves
2 large onions, sliced thin
2 T minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Soak the beans overnight or up to 24 hours with some baking soda. The baking soda will clean the beans of impurities that cause gas. Rince the beans well, add fresh water and simmer covered for one hour.

In a large hot skillet, slowly brown the meat in some olive oil. Add this and the bay leaves to the beans. In the same skillet, add a little more olive oil and saute the onions and garlic. Add these to the beans as well. Ladle some water from the beans into the skillet and clean the residue from the bottom of the skillet. This will go into the beans as well. Cook, covered, for several hours until the meats are tender and the liquid is reduced so it's nice and thick. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve over cooked white rice and top with the salsa

Olive, Palm Heart Salsa:

1 large sweet green pepper, diced
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
1 can pitted and sliced black olives
1 can palm hearts, sliced into rounds (This can usually be found in any supermarket next to the canned artichoke hearts)

Put everything and a bowl and add a splash of olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic salt and a pinch of dried basil, crushed. Let it sit in the refrigerator while the Feijoada is cooking.

A good Feijoada feast is also served with wilted kale cooked with bacon and garlic as well as a platter of sliced oranges. The oranges, I'm told is meant to settle the stomach and aid in digestion.

And don't forget the Guarana! It's a fruit that they use to make all different kinds of drinks. The most common is a soft drink. It's becoming more and more popular here in the U.S. but be careful and choose the soft drinks. There are energy drinks out there that have guarana in them that have more natural caffiene than a double espresso. I saw one that even came with a warning label! The soft drink actually has less caffiene than Coke or Pepsi, so I'm told. At any rate, it is a must with Feijoada. Sometimes I drink it just for the heck of it. It has kind of an apple-y taste to it. I like to twist an orange slice into it. I got that idea from a restaurant here in Provo called Tucanos.

So that's my comfort food in a nutshell. Or at least one of them. I have many, but Feijoada tops them all.