This is a common dish in Brazil. It is simple and nutritious. Yuca or cassava is a root like potato and is very popular in the Brazilian diet.
Ingredients:
Beef
1 ½ lbs of lean ground beef
2 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 large onion chopped
2 tomatoes without seed chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup fresh parsley and cilantro
Yuca
2 lbs yucca root cooked and mashed
1 cup milk
2 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup mozzarella cheese or parmesan cheese grated
Method
Beef
In a pan, heat the oil and add ground beef, let is brown and then add garlic and onion.
Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and cook until the liquid is evaporated.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the fresh parsley and cilantro.
Set the beef into a Pyrex dish.
Yuca
In a bowl place the cooked yucca, milk, butter, salt and pepper. Mix them well.
Mounting the dish
Place the mashed yucca on top of the ground beef and top it with the cheese. Cook it is a pre-heated oven for approximately 20 minutes until the cheese are melted.
Serve immediately.
Yuca or cassava root is native of South America. It is extensively cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. The flour made of the root is called tapioca. Since yucca undergoes Postharvest Physiological Deterioration, meaning that once root is separated from the main plant the root responds to a healing mechanism, which involves the production of coumaric acids. The coumaric acid will then oxidized the entire root and in within 2 to 3 days the root turns black. Due to this happening, it is hard to export yucca, therefore most of the time when you see yuca in the grocery store they are coated in wax, which is a way to preserve the root from oxidation.