Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes and have a great week!As you might know, Brazil is well known for its BBQ. The meat is usually served with vinagrete sauce. This sauce is very simple and tasty, is kind of similar to the salsa, without the jalapeno. In this recipe I adapted from the original ones which use regular vinegar with balsamic vinegar. I prefer the balsamic vinegar due to its sweetness and less acidity. The vinagrete sauce can be served with not only steak but with chicken and sausage or even as a salad dressing.
Many of the meat cut is only lightly sprinkled with rock salt before grilling. By using only rock salt the taste of the meat is not overshadow by other flavors. Moreover, you will find that different cut of meats have different flavors.

Ingredients:

1 onion chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
½ bunch Italian parsley
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil

Method:

Soak the onion in water and drain, a few times, to release the acid.

Mix all the ingredients and let it sit approximately 2 hours in the refrigerator.

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I love springtime when all the green turns greener…I got a few containers of different herbs a couple of weeks ago. Now I am so happy for being able to just go to the patio and cut some fresh herbs as I need. Love the smell of fresh basil…so here is what I did with my first cut of basil. This is really easy, simple and fast…and amazingly healthy.

Ingredients:

2 fillets of Tilapia
1 teaspoon of paprika
Salt to taste
1 tablespoons of fresh basil chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Method:

Coat a oven safe dish with olive oil, gently place the filet of Tilapia and sprinkle with salt, paprika and top with basil. Place in a oven for approximately 15-20 minutes at 375F. Serve hot.

Did you know that tilapia is the third most important fish in the aquafarming? Aquafarming is a name given to a process of fish culture under control conditions. Interestingly tilapias have low levels of mercury due to its quick growth, short life, and a vegetarian diet.

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We grew up exposed to a lot of Middle Eastern food. We could buy them everywhere back in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This recipe is a “simpler” version of quibe or kibbeh since it does not require much assembly and instead of frying small portion, we just bake it, which is much healthier. I like to use bulgur # 2 since the grains are not so finely crushed.

Ingredients:

1 ½ lb lean ground beef
¾ cup bulgur cut #2
½ cup finely chopped onion
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground all spice
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
¼ cup finely chopped green onion

Method:

Soak the bulgur in cold water for approximately 1 ½ hours. Drain the water by squeezing out the excess of water. Mix the bulgur to the ground beef and add all the others ingredients.
In a pyrex, gently press the ground beef and bulgur mix. Bake in 350 F for approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm with lemon, yogurt or hot sauce.

Did you know that bulgur is a cereal made from a mix of several different species of wheat? Mainly from durum wheat, which is high in protein and gluten, therefore bulgur contains more nutrition than rice. Bulgur is a common ingredient in Turkish, Middle Eastern, Indian and Mediterranean cuisine.

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I love this dish, it is easy and very tasty. The ginger added to the shrimp gives an unusual flavor, somehow exotic. Not to mention that in Asian cuisine, ginger is everywhere.

Ingredients:

1 to 1 ½ lb medium to large size shrimp, cleaned.
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
¼ cup fresh parsley finely chopped
¼ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon fresh garlic finely chopped
½ tablespoon vodka
Salt and pepper to taste
1 ½ tablespoon olive oil

Method:

In a bowl combine all the ingredients except for the olive oil, and let it sit for approximately 5 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a wok, add the shrimps and let is brown one side then flip to the other side until both sides are brown over high heat. Do not over cook otherwise the shrimp will become “hard”.

Serve hot with white rice.

Did you know that ginger is used to treat nausea caused by seasickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy? Ginger is a spice used for cooking as well as medicine. The history of ginger comes from a long time ago, originated in Asia and is grown in India, South Asia, West Africa and the Caribbean.

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Back in Brazil, we used to cook seafood with coconut milk therefore this recipe is inspired by Brazilian cuisine.

Ingredients:

1 small green bell pepper
1 small red bell pepper
1 small onion
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb medium to large size shrimp, cleaned.
½ cup coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a medium skillet saute garlic, onion, and the bell peppers in olive oil.

Let it cook for approximately 3 minutes by lowering the heat, add the coconut milk and let it simmer for 2 more minutes.

Increase the heat and add the shrimps, salt and pepper.

Cool for another 2 minutes.

Serve hot with white rice.

Did you know that shrimp have a high resistance to toxins? Since shrimp are an important source of food for large animals, their high resistance to toxins may contribute to high toxin levels in their predators.
Shrimps are high in calcium, iodine and protein. Shrimps have significant levels of cholesterol, but do not contain saturated fat, it is considered healthy for the circulatory system. Moreover, shrimp is considered a low caloric food.

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