Brazilian Creme de Papaya

This recipe is dedicated to a very good friend of ours A. Kothare, who lived in Brazil and who we have known for more than 40 years.  Two years ago when we had taken a trip to South America, we went to Rio de Janeiro and he was supposed to meet with us Petropolis which is about 71 km from Rio de Janeiro.   Unfortunately he could not come due to health reasons, but he gave us some great suggestions every step of the way, during our entire trip to Brazil in terms of where to visit and what to eat etc. One of the things he said, you must try Creme de Papaya.

Today happens to be his birthday and I am dedicating this recipe to him. Sadly we lost him last year to  respiratory illness. Creme de papaya is a Brazilian dessert. It was a culinary fad   in Brazil in the mid-1990s. Nowadays, its popularity has diminished somewhat. t consists of papaya  blended with vanilla ice cream, Creme de cassis is usually added, but a non-alcoholic blackcurrant syrup can be substituted. It is common to blend the papaya and ice cream, then put into serving dish and pour about an ounce of creme de cassis on the top.

 Sure enough when we saw in on the dessert menu of a Churrascaria which is a steakhouse.  We don't eat meat but we tried some of the vegetarian items there and then ordered this Creme de Papaya.  Of course it was out of this world.   Today happens to be our friend's birthday and I am posting this recipe in his memory.  When we got back from our trip in Dec 2019, we had a get together at our house with all of our friends who went to South America with us and I made all the items that we tried in South America, and this was the dessert that I made and it was a hit.  Of course  I made this from the memory of what the server told us how it is made and from the memory of my palate what it tasted like and it came out perfect.   Since I did not have creme de cassis or blackcurrant syrup I topped it with homemade Grenadine syrup, recipe of this syrup I will be posting it next.

Ingredients:

• One large ripe papaya peeled, seeded and cut in to cubes.
• 16 ounces of vanilla ice cream 
• 2 table spoon of condensed milk
• Some cool whip or fresh whipped cream for topping.
  
• Cream de Cassis for drizzling before serving.  
• Mint leaves for garnish.
  

 

  Method:                                                          

• Combine Papaya cubes, ice cream and condensed milk in food processor or blender, and puree it until smooth, and creamy.
• Divide in to individual servings in bowls and drizzle with cassis liqueur. 
• However, like I mentioned earlier, I did not have this so I drizzled with home made Grenadine syrup, I will be posting this recipe next on this blog. 
• Top it with whipped cream or coolwhip.
• Garnish with mint leaf.
  
• Serve immediately
• Enjoy !!
  

 

This was   the Churrascaria,  where we had lunch at in Petropolis and as you see the last picture of the cream de papaya was all gone....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.

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Artochokes/Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Portobello mushrooms are actually considerably larger than the common small white mushrooms you see in supermarkets. The portobello  mushrooms I've seen are generally 4" to 6" and brownish in color. They also are much more flavorful than the standard "button" mushrooms and perfect for making this stuffed mushroom recipe.

Ingredients: 

• 20-25 medium sized Portobello mushrooms
  
• 6 spring onions with greens washed and chopped
• One 12 oz pack of baby spinach 
• One small or one half large yellow onion  peeled and chopped
• 8 cloves of garlic peeled
• 5-6 artichokes from marinated in oil (I used jar from Costco)
• 1 or one half fresh Jalapeno pepper
  
• 3 table spoon of oil from the same jar of marinated artichokes
• 1 cup of Panko bread crumbs divided in half
• 4 oz of cream cheese
• 2 tables spoon of Mayonnaise or Miracle whip
• 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and some additional to sprinkle on top
  
• 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese (save some to sprinkle on top)
• 1/4 cup of any cooking wine (Marsala wine goes well but I used white wine)
• 1/2 teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper or to taste
  
• Salt to taste

Method: 

• Preheat the oven at 400 F
• Clean the mushroom with a damp paper towel to remove dirt. (prefer not to wash them)
• Remove the stems from the mushrooms carefully to keep the cap intact.
• Save about half the stems for filling and you can discard the rest of save them for any other recipe.
• Place the mushrooms  on a large baking sheet lined it parchment paper or silicon baking sheet. 
• A this point you can few drops of balsamic vinegar and amino in each mushroom cap.
  

• Bring some water to boil in pan and add spinach and cook in uncovered until tender, drain and set aside to cool.
• In a food processor chop yellow onions, green onions, mushroom stems and garlic to desired consistency.
• Heat the oil from marinated artichoke in a pan, add this chopped mix to this heated oil and saute few minutes until light brown on medium low heat.
• In the mean time squeeze all the water with palm of your hand out of cooked and drained spinach.

• In the same food processor bowl chop drained spinach, jalapeno and 5-6 marinated artichokes to desired consistency. 
• Add this to the sauteed onions green onions and garlic on stove.
• Keep the stove on medium low heat.
• Saute the mix again for few min.
• Add cream cheese,  miracle whip or mayonnaise, mix until well blended, add all the cheeses, keep the stove on and mix until well incorporated.
• Add black pepper,  1/2 cup of bread crumbs and mix well and then add  cooking wine. 
• Cook until paste thickens a little 
  
• Mix well, and add salt (be sure to adjust salt to taste as all the cheeses, miracle whip is salted)
• Turn the stove off. 
  
• Fill the mushroom caps with this filling generously (if using large mushroom you can fill them to the rim)

• Sprinkle saved  Parmesan cheese on each mushroom cap and more mozzarella cheese if desired followed by remaining bread crumbs.
• Bake at 400 F for 30-35 min or until top becomes crispy and golden brown.
• Serve them hot just as they are or with your desired hot sauce.  (believe it or not I like Ortega hot  taco sauce with them but you can use any sauce)
  

Hints:

• You can mix two table spoon of balsamic vinegar and 1/2 table spoon of amino and add this to  each mushroom cap  after removing the cap or just a drop of lime juice in each cap  and set aside while making the stuffing then fill the caps with stuffing.
• You can keep the filling of artichokes and spinach as chunky or as smooth as you want.
  
• You can use frozen spinach instead of fresh, be sure to squeeze all the water out of it after thawing it.
  
• You can add grated or shredded Gouda cheese instead of cheddar. I did not have it so I used cheddar.
• You can use regular bread crumb instead of  Panko. 
• You can use large Portobello mushrooms, or regular snow white  mushrooms.

Enjoy !!  

 

 

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.

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