(lighthearted guitar music) - [Narrator 1] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by Sunsweet and by... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It all started when I was child, with my grandmother doing fresh pasta, and now I transmit it to all the guests, it's something made specially for them.

- [Narrator 2] Oceania cruises, proud sponsor of "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

(orchestral music) - [Narrator 3] Zwilling.

Makers of Fresh & Save, the vacuum food storage system.

One of the ways Zwilling has been helping cooks do it all in the kitchen for 290 years.

The Zwilling family of cookware, is proud to support "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

(lighthearted music) - [Sara] One of my favorite things about Latin countries is the food.

I just love it.

Today, Brazilian chef Leticia Moreinos Schwartz, introduces me to the treats of Brazil.

Oh my God.

After that, I couldn't wait to get back in my kitchen to cook a dish as Brazilian as the Samba.

And, it's called?

- Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa.

- It's salt cod.

Brought to Brazil by the Portuguese.

And it's combined with all the good stuff.

Onions, potatoes, eggs, and olives.

On the side, amazing collard greens.

(Sara moans) - Isn't it?

- So simple!

Then I'll make a really tasty Puerto Rican dish, with one of our viewers.

- It's a very traditional Puerto Rican dish.

It's called Arroz Con Gandules.

- [Sara] Boy that looks so good, look at all that stuff in there.

Plus, fried plantains that are so addictive.

- So if you make them and you think people are just going to eat one, - Forget about it.

- Big mistake.

- [Sara] We're eating Latin style today on "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

(upbeat music) Danbury, Connecticut is a typical New England town.

But if you stop to listen, you might hear a Samba wafting through the air.

A growing population of Brazilians, has brought in new shops and cafes, like Banana Brazil.

I went there for coffee with local Brazilian chef, Leticia Moreinos Schwartz.

So what do we have here?

- So we have a bunch of Brazilian savory snacks and sweets.

- [Sara] Leticia trained and worked as a French chef, but returned to her culinary roots, when she moved here.

Now she makes these snacks for her kids at home.

- This is Coxinha de Galinha, which is a chicken fritter.

- Okay.

- And it's in the shape of a drumsticks, but it's really in the shape of a Hershey kiss right?

- But I'm going to eat it like a drumstick, here we go.

- Yes, yes.

(both moaning) - That's really good.

- So good, right?

- Lot of spices in there.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's fried in breadcrumbs, and stuffed with chicken.

Then we also have Kibe.

Now, Kibe is an interesting part because we, in Brazil, we had a lot of immigrants coming in the early nineteen-hundreds, from Syria.

- I was waiting for you to say the Middle Eastern.

- Exactly.

- So tell me what's in there.

- So it's made with bulgur and ground meat.

This one is so delicious.

- Yeah.

It's so different.

A little peppery, black peppery, I think.

- I love this preparation.

And then here, we have two typical pastries from Brazil, which are Brigadeiro.

The national candy in Brazil.

And it's made with sweetened condensed milk.

And we do it in many flavors.

And this one is with coconut.

We call it Beijinho.

Sara, I want you to try this cheese rolls.

- Oh.

- We call it Pão de Queijo.

And it's very typical of Brazil, from north to south, It's loved all over.

- Oh my God.

- Isn't it so delicious?

- Wow!

What a wonderful, moist texture.

- Exactly.

And chewy, and cheesy, and moist.

- How does it get that wonderful texture?

- It's from the Yaca flower or Yucca flower.

- I am so excited to go make some Brazilian food with you.

- Me too!

I want to take you to the store, which is very nearby, and we can buy all the ingredients that we need to cook.

We can buy the salt cod, the Dendê oil, everything is there.

- Wow.

That's terrific.

Let's get going.

- Yeah!

(upbeat music) So Sara, this Fernanda store, is where you can find most things Brazilian.

- I should say so.

- [Leticia] Right?

- [Sara] Wow.

- Sara, and let me show you the salt cod.

- Oh wow.

- This is what it looks like.

- [Sara] Unrefrigerated huh?

- Unrefrigerated, because there's so much salt, that it doesn't need to be refrigerated.

And this is what Portuguese colonizers use many years ago, when exploring the world.

- Because this would keep forever, because it was salted and dried.

- Exactly.

- All right.

So, lets take, we need a whole one, right?

- Yes.

For our Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa.

So, you need to make sure that you soak it for one to two days, in a lot of water.

- Okay.

We gotta get home and get soaking it.

- Yep.

(upbeat instrumental music) - I'm here to cook a classic Brazilian meal with Leticia Moreinos Schwartz.

And it's called, what's it called?

- Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa - Alright.

No, I could never pronounce that because it's salt cod, which is my favorite.

- Exactly.

So where do we start?

- So I'm chopping some onions and we are going to cook them in olive oil.

Over low heat.

- Okay.

And meanwhile, you want me to slice the potatoes to go in there.

- That would be great.

- [Sara] Okay.

- [Leticia] First, you need to boil the potatoes.

- I love salt cod.

- Oh my God.

- I Just love it.

- As a Brazilian, me too.

It's such an important ingredient in Brazil.

You can find it in any supermarket.

What's most important when working with salt cod, is to desalt it properly, or else our dish is going to be much too salty.

- Very salty.

Okay.

So you have to soak it for several days, three times a day, change- - [Both] The water.

- Exactly, three times a day.

- [Sara] And do that for three or four days.

- [Leticia] One or two days is fine.

- One?

Okay, so we have some that we've been soaking.

And, I guess what you could do is, before you leave for the office in the morning, put some cold water on it.

- Right.

- When you come home at night, - Change again.

- Put more cold water, change the water.

And then when you go to bed, change the water.

- There you go.

- So presumably, two or three days later, you have it nicely soaked.

- Right, and we're going to cook it in milk, because the milk- - Let me get the milk.

- absorbs the salt better than water.

- You know what milk also does?

And you may have known this too.

That anytime you have something that's very strong flavored, like fish, or liver, or game.

If you soak it in milk, it takes out some of the strong aromas.

- There you go.

- So I'm going to combine these two in here?

- Yes.

- So I'll just lift it out.

- Yep.

- All right.

You can buy it, besides the whole side, you can buy center cut pieces... - [Leticia] You can.

So, we also need some parsley, some olives.

- Yes.

Okay.

- The potatoes, you have.

- Yes.

- This is looking beautiful.

- So these are beautiful.

These look like Kalamata- - Yes.

- And they're pitted, is that correct?

- That's perfect.

- I'm going to move the fish too, so you have some room to work.

Wow.

That is salty.

- Isn't it?

Yikes, and it's so stiff from all that salt.

These are boiling potatoes, and this is your favorite kind to use for this dish?

- Yes.

- Because they hold their shape, is that it?

- Well, because they are young and sweet, but you can also use other types of potatoes.

- So you're going to do those, I'm going to do these, and then you're going to chop some parsley, right?

- Yes.

- Okay, good.

(upbeat music) (knives chopping) So I should get the casserole, right?

- [Leticia] Yes.

- So what do we do to the fish?

So it's simmered for about 15 minutes, and the idea being, it softens and gets a little less salty.

- I know these are your weapons.

- Exactly.

So at this point, we want to flake the fish.

- Okay.

- You can just fork it.

- Oh, well let's fork it.

- Let's fork it.

- You go ahead.

- Okay.

(lighthearted music) - We can flake it right in there.

- Yep.

And you just go like this.

- [Sara] Oh.

- Very easily.

- You know, if you do it by hand, it's going to be coarser than if you threw it in a food processor.

- Right.

- Everything just goes in now except, oh, I know we have a fun topping, right?

The eggs.

- The eggs.

- [Sara] Should I just dump this in?

- [Leticia] Yeah.

- Okay.

There we go.

Oh that looks so yummy.

- Now the cod.

- Oh, and our onions, I can get our onions in there.

- And I'll go ahead and dump this.

- This looks so good.

Now I know we add some olive oil too.

Is olive oil very traditional in Brazilian cooking?

- Yes.

Especially in Portuguese cooking.

- [Sara] Should I measure the olive oil, or do you want me to just pour?

- How about we just eyeball it?

- Okay, you're going to say when.

Here we go.

- [Leticia] Maybe some pepper too.

- Okay.

I will do that.

- I think I would say about then.

- That's good?

Okay.

And some pepper, and we have eggs too.

- [Leticia] Yes.

- Which I think is so interesting.

- And this combination of cod, potatoes, onions, olives, and eggs.

We have so many different dishes, and for each little different step, or different thing that we do with the cod, or with the potato or with the onion, then the dish receives a different name.

- Oh isn't that interesting?

- Can I?

- Yes, go ahead.

Do you want me to help you little bit?

There we go.

And if you did this with fresh cod, how would you do it exactly?

- Then I would keep the cod whole, and I would lay it on top of the onions and potatoes.

- And then bake it for a little while, and then finish it off.

- Yes, yeah.

- So I know you love, I have to say, there's certain little gadgets I love, and this is one of my favorites too.

- Yes!

- I want you to do it the way you normally do it.

So these are hard-boiled eggs.

(egg cutter clicks) (upbeat music) Then you spread it on top.

- Yeah.

(upbeat music continues) - So now this goes in the oven for what?

- [Leticia] About 15 to 20 minutes.

- Oh.

- More olive oil.

- Oh, that looks so delicious.

If you could open the door for me- - Sure.

- I will pop this in.

Okay, there we go.

And you said about 15, we're just really heating it, because everything in there- - [Both] is cooked.

So we can make the side dish, and I understand we have a classic.

- Yeah.

We're going to sauté some collard greens, and it brings me back to the image of the old ladies in Brazil, cutting some collards, like paper thin.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- They shave them by hand.

- By hand and like hair thin.

- Wow.

- You know?

- Let me guess, olive oil?

- Olive oil.

- Oh, okay.

And then we've got a little bit of garlic there.

- [Leticia] Yep.

- How much olive oil?

- May I?

- Yeah, you do whenever.

You're in charge.

- Sure.

- But if you want more oil, let me know.

- A little bit more.

- Okay.

This is great.

- We're going to add the collard greens.

- You know, it's so funny what crosses over to different countries and different cultures.

So collard greens in Brazil.

- Yes.

- Collard greens in the south.

- Yes.

- Because of the African influence.

- Exactly.

- Yes, yes.

I see that.

- Seasoned with some salt and pepper.

(collard greens sizzling) (pepper grinder grinding) (Leticia moans) - So good.

Do you want to taste?

- Oh, of course!

(Sara moans) - Isn't it?

- So simple!

- I think it's ready.

- Okay, good.

So I'm going to get the casserole.

- Okay.

(upbeat music) - Yum.

I'm so excited.

Piping hot.

- Yes.

(Sara moans) How do you like it?

(Sara moans) - Delicious.

I've got to make it.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - A couple of months ago, we put out a call to action on my website, to find a home cook who is passionate about a favorite family recipe.

And we found her, and she's right here in my kitchen.

This is Carmen Medina.

- Welcome to my kitchen.

- Thanks for having me.

- And I'm so excited because you're making a very famous dish.

- Yeah.

It's a very traditional Puerto Rican dish.

It's called Arroz Con Gandules, or rice with pigeon peas.

And I learned it from watching my grandmother cook it, probably once a week.

And I'm going to show you how to do it.

We're going to do it together.

- So we cook it in this classic pot.

This is called a- - Yes.

This is a caldero, this is my caldero.

And I actually brought, can I show it to you?

- Oh, please!

- I brought my grandmother's caldero, - Oh my goodness, how adorable!

- It must be a hundred years old.

Put it right here.

- Oh my goodness.

It's not even flat.

- [Carmen] Right, yeah.

- [Sara] That's wild.

- So anyway, this is a classic dish, you can get them, or classic, kind of Dutch oven thing and you can get them at most Latin stores.

So you've been doing the- - The pork.

- The pork, and you don't have to use pork in this dish.

You can make it vegetarian, and I often do.

I just eliminate all the meat product, and then it's actually a vegan thing.

But, right now I'm chopping up this pancetta.

I'm the world's worst chopper.

So I used to work at the CIA, I have to confess.

- The real CI- - The real, well, I don't know what you think is- - You don't look like a spy.

- You don't think, well, that's what people always tell me.

One of the people who worked for me was a great amateur cook.

She got tired of the CIA and quit, and went to school at the other CIA.

- My Alma mater, The Culinary Institute of America.

- And she is constantly criticizing my cutting techniques and stuff.

It's pretty much hopeless.

- Well you did just fine.

- So what we're going to do with the pancetta, we're going to just let it sit there for a while, so that it renders a little bit.

And now, we're going to add a little bit of oil.

We've got regular olive oil, but what we also have is- - Wow.

Look at the color on that.

- Annatto oil.

- Which are these guys, right?

- Exactly, and it's so easy to make, you just put the seeds in the olive oil, and you render it until the oil gets the color.

- Over a low heat?

- On low heat, until the oil just begins to simmer, - [Sara] And then just strain it out.

- [Carmen] And it helps give color, and a little bit of peppery flavor.

- I'm just going to mention, that was about a half a pound of pork and about an ounce of pancetta.

- And I'm going to put in a little extra olive oil, although I think we've got a lot of great oil in there.

- [Sara] Okey-doke.

- And now what we're going to do, is add the ingredients for the Sofrito.

Now, do you know what Sofrito is?

- I do.

But I want to hear it from you.

- Okay.

Sofrito is the base for all Latin, Caribbean cooking.

So, we're going to add half a cup of onion.

- [Sara] So we're going to put in- - [Carmen] Half a cup of peppers, and then the garlic.

People could use different kinds of spicier pepper to give it more of a kick.

Three cloves of garlic, again to taste.

My taste is garlicky.

- [Sara] I love garlic.

- [Carmen] Okay.

We're going to put some oregano.

- [Sara] Yes.

- About, I'd say maybe a tablespoon.

And now we're going to add the secret ingredient, my culantro plant.

And it adds a wonderful, herbaceous quality.

- Is this related to cilantro?

- They're in the same general family.

So I'm going to let you chop.

- [Sara] So just do the- - You can do them just like bay leaves.

- Chiffonade.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Sara] But I have to ask you, since you've said that it's not easy to get culantro, what can you use in its place?

- [Carmen] Well, you can use cilantro in its place.

Absolutely.

- Okay, okay.

(lighthearted music) - Now we're going to put the rice in the pot, and we're going to mix it up with the Sofrito, so that the rice gets a little more intense flavoring.

- [Sara] Okay.

And how many cups?

- [Carmen] Two cups.

- Two cups.

- And we're using medium grain rice?

- [Carmen] Medium grain.

And the actual size of the rice affects how it cooks, right?

- [Sara] Right, its starchiness, how much it stays apart.

- All right, we'll stir that up.

- [Carmen] Before we add any water, we're going to give it a stir.

So I think it's- (metal spoon hitting pot) - Let it sit.

- They've gotten happy together, so now we can add the water.

- [Sara] Okay.

How much water?

- [Carmen] So let's just cover the rice.

- What do you think, boss, more?

- Yes, we're also going to add the pigeon peas, so put all of that in there.

- [Sara] Should I get a little more just in case?

- [Carmen] Yes.

let's add the pigeon peas first- - [Sara] Okay.

- And lets get a scent, and then- - And pigeon peas, also known as- - [Both] Gandulas.

- Get the last of that out.

- I understand are very nutritious.

- They are.

They're a great protein.

That's one of the reasons why this makes a great- - Vegetarian dish.

- Vegetarian dish, because- - [Sara] We got a lot of protein.

- [Carmen] Great protein in there.

So if you could add the capers.

- [Sara] Couple of tablespoons?

- Yeah, couple of tablespoons of capers.

- [Sara] I love capers.

- [Carmen] I'm just going to roughly chop this.

By the way, you do want pimento- - [Both] Stuffed olives.

- [Carmen] Because the pimentos are a classic ingredient in Spanish cooking.

- [Sara] So, give it a stir.

- Yeah.

We're going to give it a good stir.

- Here you go ahead.

You be the stir meister.

- I'm going to be the stir meister.

- [Sara] Boy, that looks so good, look at all that stuff in there.

- [Carmen] And now we're going to add a little bit of that tomato sauce in there.

- Okay.

Here we go.

And how much of this do we want?

- I'd say at least half the can - At least half the can.

Okay, very scientific.

- Yeah, that's good.

- Just regular tomato sauce.

- Right.

Regular tomato sauce.

We just going to add just a little bit of salt.

Now, what we're going to do, is mound it up.

- [Sara] Now, this is interesting, this mountain part, this is new to me.

- And you can see by the way- - We're getting a crust.

- That we're getting the crust at the bottom, which is of course, highly prized.

That's the best part of the rice.

We call it the Pegao, P-E-G-A-O.

Which means stuck.

The stuck part.

- Oh!

Okay.

Fancy.

- We have it on a medium heat, and now we're going to cover it.

- Okay.

- And we're going to check it again in about 10 minutes.

So it's about 10 minutes and I think we should check to see how it's coming along.

And its looking mighty pretty.

- How do you know?

- Well, it's looking dry.

It's not moist.

This would be now the time to get the pork.

- This already feels so substantial.

- Now the pork was mostly done, we browned it.

And now it's going to finish off beautifully with the rice.

Give it that final layer of flavor.

- Should I stir it?

- Yeah, I would.

Yeah.

- Do I want to scrape up anything from the bottom?

- Not really.

- Just leave it there.

- We're going to scrape the bottom eventually.

- [Sara] But not right now.

- Not right now.

Look at that.

My grandmother would be proud.

(metal spoon hitting pot) I love that sound.

- That reminds you of grandmother.

- Of my grandmother.

- So now we're going to put the lid back on?

- We're going to put the lid back on, and we can lower the heat to low.

10 minutes.

- All right, so we'll get ready to do... - Tostones.

We're going to fry ourselves some green plantain.

- Wonderful, okay.

- Well we need to heat some oil, and this is just a canola oil or- - Say when.

- Whatever.

Let's see a little more.

Good.

- Okay.

- So now let's get that heated up.

And Tostones are a very common accompaniment to Puerto Rican food.

It's like a finger food, and salty, and it goes very well with Arroz Con Gandules, very traditional.

There are three types of plantains here.

We're going to use the green one, because we want that starchy saltiness.

These are very ripe and they're used for sweet, almost dessert-like dishes.

And then this middle one, you could make Tostones with it.

And it just gets a sweeter flavor.

Now, we've established that my knife skills are horrible, so I am going to let you do it.

- So we cut off both ends, because I understand these are very hard to peel.

- And the less ripe they are, the harder they are to peel.

- Okay.

- So we're going to... Yeah.

- Score it.

- Absolutely.

- In a couple of spots.

And then we just hopefully can peel it off easily.

- Hopefully it'll peel off well - All right.

- Let's see.

- Wow, this is really- - Boy, that is great.

- So, show me how you want to slice them.

- So what I want to slice them is at a diagonal, and between a half inch and an inch thick.

So we'll just kind of slice them like that.

- [Sara] Okay.

- [Carmen] So now, we're just going to drop them in.

- [Sara] Slide them in.

- [Carmen] Yeah.

- [Sara] Okay, you see the bubbles on the side.

- And it needs about three minutes per side.

(lighthearted music) - So I'm now going to cut up our avocado.

- Because that's what we're going to eat with the rice.

- Right.

And we want this in slices, correct?

Is that right?

- [Carmen] Yes.

- Slices.

- [Carmen] So, lengthwise.

- [Sara] Okay.

Oh, beautiful avocado.

- [Carmen] Yeah.

- [Sara] You see, the pit just comes right off.

- And we're almost ready to take the plantain, the Tostones out, and squish them.

- Okay.

(lighthearted music) - We're going to keep the oil hot because after we squish them, we're going to put them back in the oil for just like a minute.

- Okay.

- [Carmen] And I'm just going to turn it down so it doesn't get too hot.

- [Sara] Right.

- And then I'm going to squish them with this plate.

- [Sara] I imagine with the more ripe ones, they squish further.

- [Carmen] Yes.

That's another thing.

- So you really need some- - So that's a good one.

- Some muscle for these guys.

- There's a good one.

- [Sara] That's about how squished you want it to be?

- [Carmen] Yeah, quite squished.

- Very scientific I'd say, quite squished.

Now how do you know when they're done?

- [Carmen] Really just a minute.

- [Sara] What are we looking for?

- Looking for this beautiful, almost like a golden- - Golden color.

- Yeah, golden color.

- Because you said they're golden.

- [Carmen] Yeah, so here we go.

We're just going to put them on a paper towel, and then we're going to salt them.

- [Sara] Do we salt them now?

- [Carmen] Yeah.

Why not?

- [Sara] All right.

- There you go.

- Okay.

So that's basically it, huh?

- [Carmen] That's it.

- And just a little salt.

- A little salt.

Or a lot of salt, depending, but yeah.

- Do you think I could try one now?

- It's going to be hot.

- I don't care.

- Okay.

(Sara screams) (Carmen screams) Oh, that is so good.

Oh, this is so good.

- Let me try one.

- Yummy.

Did we do good?

- These are really good.

- Are we a good team?

- Okay.

- [Sara] Well we need to plate this up.

(upbeat music) (metal spoon scraping pot) (liquid pouring) (cheerful music) - So we're having rosé here, huh?

- Well, my recommendation is rosé.

And don't eat any until I tell you- - How to eat it?

- About the avocado.

- Oh, there's a way to eat it?

- Yeah.

The combination of the cold, crisp avocado, and the aromatic rice, is I think just a great combination.

And so, what you want to do is put several of those slices on your plate.

- Okay.

- And then try to have a slice of avocado with each bite full of rice.

- [Sara] I like that.

- [Carmen] And if you think about it, this was a principle in Japanese cuisine, where they combine avocado and rice together all the time.

Right?

And it's just a very good combination.

- [Sara] I see why.

- I really enjoy it.

- I see why.

- [Sara] Oh, you gave me some of the crispy bits.

- Well, yes.

- Thank you - You're welcome.

- That was very generous of you.

- They're the best.

(cheerful music) - [Sara] Those are so yummy.

I'm going to have to make those for my kids.

And the husband, and the husband.

(cheerful music continues) - [Sara] What's a Puerto Rican toast?

(speaking Spanish) - Oh, I love that!

Oh my God.

- want to do it again?

- Yes.

(both speaking Spanish) - Brilliant.

All right.

Can I eat this with my hand?

- Yeah.

Finger food.

(Sara mumbles) - [Sara] I always say the reason I do this show is because I like to teach.

well today, the teacher just got schooled.

I learned a new Puerto Rican dish to add to my repertoire.

And I made a new friend in the process.

When I cook with viewers like you, I really mean it when I say, thanks for watching.

For recipes, videos, and more, go to our website, "saramoulton.com".

- [Narrator 1] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by Sunsweet, and by... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It all started when I was child, with my grandmother doing fresh pasta.

And now I transmit it to all the guests, it's something made specially for them.

- [Narrator 2] Oceania cruises, proud sponsor of "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

(orchestral music) - [Narrator 3] Zwilling, makers of Fresh & Save, the vacuum food storage system.

One of the ways Zwilling has been helping cooks do it all in the kitchen for 290 years.

The Zwilling family of cookware, is proud to support "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

(piano) (upbeat music)