Joy's Summer Menu

The idea for the Yam Daisy Cafe is to have a small menu each day, just 4 dishes made from delicious seasonal local produce. Read more here.

Summer Menu
It is hot in Melbourne this week so I am looking for light and fresh flavours. Here is the menu:

Soup: Tomato Brazil Nut Soup with Cheesy Balls
Main 1: Brazilian Dinner: Vegetarian Feijoada with Chili Lime Salsa, Tomato Rice, Steamed Greens and Orange to garnish.
Main 2: Tagliatelle with Arrabiata Sauce and Green Salad
Fruit Dessert: Mango and Cherry with Coconut Milk Sauce.

Soup: Tomato Brazil Nut Soup with Cheesy Balls
Apart from the lovely teaming of a Brazil Nut Soup with a Brazilian Main, I like the echo of Christmas here, because nuts have been a Christmas tradition in my family, and cracking the brazil nut was always the hardest!
Here is the Brazil Nut Soup Recipe:
http://www.veggiecooking.com/recipe6.html
I would love to serve these cheesy balls with it
http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/breads/r/paodequeijo.htm
But I don't know how easy the tapioca flour is to find. A similar little cheesy bread ball would be nice!

Main 1: Brazilian Dinner: Vegetarian Feijoada with Chili Lime Salsa, Tomato Rice, Steamed Greens and Orange to garnish.
Pictured!
This recipe came from my battered old "Recipes for a Small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappe.
It is quite involved, but each part is easy and it comes together beautifully.
This is how I did it:

Vegetarian Feijoada
Gently fry 1 large chopped onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves in a little oil until soft.
Add 1 cup of black beans that have been soaked over night, a bay leaf, and 3 cups of water. bring to the boil and boil 10 minutes with the lid off. Add a whole clean orange. Cook, or pressure cook, until the beans are half cooked.
Add 2 stalks celery, chopped, 1 tomato chopped, salt to taste and 1/4 tsp of pepper and cook til the beans are soft. Remove the orange and the bay leaf.

Rice
Gently fry a chopped onion and 3 minced cloves of garlic in oil and butter, til golden and really fragrant. Add 2 peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes and fry until quite dry and tasty. Take your time!
Then add 1 cup of brown rice, salt, and about 2 cups water. Stir, bring to the boil and simmer until the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked, it takes about 40 minutes. Add a little boiling water if it gets too dry. Turn off and put a clean tea towel over the saucepan and the lid back on so that it soaks up the steam nicely.

Sauce/dressing/salsa
Juice of a big lemon or lime, 1 tsp salt, 1 chili, 1 tomato, lots of chives. Chop everything small or blend.

Greens
It should be steamed collards (not easily found here). I used cabbage, but it wasn't really good so next time I would use spinach or chard.

Serve the rice topped with beans, topped with salsa, greens on the side and orange segments to finish it off.

I am hoping to have tips and feedback from Brazilians!

Main 2: Tagliatelle with Arrabiata Sauce and Green Salad
Also pictured!
Here is my recipe for Arrabiata Sauce. It is my favourite at the moment!
Fry plenty of garlic in olive oil, don't let it brown.
Add diced, skinned tomatoes, salt, sugar and sliced chillies.
Cook slowly until thick.
Add basil leaves just before serving.

Fruit Dessert: Mango and Cherry with Coconut Milk Sauce.
Mangoes are lovely at the moment and cherries are still here! They look so beautiful together, gold and ruby with a little bit of sauce around them:
Coconut Milk Accompaniment
Combine coconut milk, a split vanilla bean, chopped fresh lemon grass and sugar to taste.
Bring to a simmer, remove from heat. Cool and refrigerate. Strain and serve.

What would you like at the YamDaisy cafe today?