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Where to Get a Big Bowl of Moqueca

The Brazilian restaurant Moqueca is famous for one dish. It's called moqueca, like the restaurant.

What you get is a big clay pot filled with seafood in a tomato sauce brightly flavored with cilantro, coconut milk, limes, onion, garlic, olive oil and urucum.

You may never have heard of urucum, but if you've been to Yucatán, you've tasted it. It's achiote (annatto), a red seasoning also used in Filipino and other cuisines. If you like spicy, you tip in malagueta pepper sauce from a bowl on the side.

In a tasting of two moquecas, the winner was a combination of lobster tails and shrimp. Its sauce seemed more full flavored than a moqueca with seabass. Perhaps imagination, piqued by the costly ingredients ($74 for a large serving, $40 for the small size) was at work.

The handmade black pots get a lot of wear. Owner Gloria Sarcinelli (above) goes to Brazil every year to buy more. The pots, and the dish, are from her homeland, Espírito Santo state. That state is on the coast, and perhaps this is why the restaurant is located by Oxnard's Channel Island Harbor Marina.  

The menu is long, offering much more than moqueca. If I lived nearby, I would drop in regularly for a bowl of caldo verde (above), a thick green soup of collards and potato with smoky tastes of bacon and sausage.

I might add to that quibes (kibbeh), bulgur and beef meatballs from Brazil's Lebanese community (above). These come with a honey mustard dipping sauce. 

Drinks take up two pages of the menu. The obvious choice is a caipirinha, made with cachaça, a sugarcane spirit from Brazil (above). The cocktail comes in a glass provided by Leblon, the cachaça producer. On the side is house-made tapenade. 

Among the desserts is pavê de amendoim, a must if you're addicted to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (above). It tastes so like them--a peanut and chocolate cream layered with cookies.

Moqueca recently opened a second location, in Thousand Oaks. The reason you might still want to head to the Oxnard original is the view. This is what you see while you eat there.

Moqueca Brazilian Cuisine, 3550 S. Harbor Blvd., Suite 201, Oxnard, CA 93035. Tel: (805) 204-0970.

Also at 1610 Thousand Oaks Blvd, Thousand Oaks, CA., CA 91360. Tel: (805) 230-3585.

Eat Your Parsnips--for Dessert!

You know all about carrot cake, but parsnip cake? Well, why not? You might like it even better than carrot cake in this version by Cara Mangini (recipe below).

Mangini, known as "The Vegetable Butcher," has based her career on glorifying vegetables, first at Eataly in New York, then at the Farmstead in St. Helena and now at her produce-centric restaurant Little Eater in Columbus, Ohio, where she also has a produce and provisions boutique.

Just out is her first cookbook, "The Vegetable Butcher" (Workman Publishing), and Parsnip-Ginger Layer Cake is one of the must-make recipes in the book.

"Parsnips add wonderful moisture, sweetness, great texture and earthiness," Mangini said during an appearance at Melissa's Produce. A browned buttercream frosting makes the cake even better, "but it is so delicious on its own," she said. 

Parsnips aside, Mangini (above) talked about her calling in life. "Vegetable education is at the core of what I do," she said. "In many other cultures vegetables are a natural part of the plate, not because of any obligation or political agenda." And that's what she wants to promote here, where there's a history of vegetables as overcooked flavorless side dishes. 

There's nothing flavorless about her Mediterranean heirloom tomato panzanella, a tomato and torn bread salad that fits with her Italian heritage (above). Behind it in the photo is a Turkish potato salad with dill and mint. Yogurt based, "it's not that heavy, traditional potato salad," she said.

And here is corn chowder with double corn flavor--Mangini uses the corn kernels in the chowder and the shaved cobs to make the stock. The topping adds many more layers of flavor--cilantro, feta cheese, freshly ground pepper, olive oil and spiced, sweet pepitas.

From cooking classes in Kaş on Turkey's Mediterranean coast Mangini took away this carrot and yogurt dip, "a really unique way to use carrots," she said, "good on baked potatoes, with crudités or with pita chips."

"Butcher" is exactly what Mangini is, an expert in cutting up vegetables, just as her ancestors were meat butchers. Watching her do this is eye-opening. I've awkwardly cut up cauliflower for years, then saw her effortlessly quarter a cauliflower and slice off the core, letting the florets fall free.

To de-stem kale, she holds the end of the stem in one hand, then sweeps the leaves away with the other hand. They come off easily, without the aid of a knife.

Need to peel a bunch of garlic cloves? Put them in a bowl, invert another bowl of the same size over it, then shake the two bowls together until the skins come loose.    

In her book, Mangini gives butchery techniques such as these for each vegetable, accompanied by photos. She discusses equipment, because you need the proper tools to butcher vegetables; storage, and cooking procedures.

Then comes the fun part, the recipes. Not the same old steamed broccoli but caramelized broccoli with chile oil and Parmesan. And seared beets with chimichurri and goat cheese crema, which she picked up during her stint cooking at Farmstead. And baked eggs and braised collards with slow-roasted tomatoes and shiitake cream.

There are other vegetable cakes too, one with eggplant and polenta and another with zucchini, olive oil and lemon drizzle, plus an avocado dessert, an Italian chocolate avocado budino, all showing that vegetables can be used in many ways, not just on the side of a main dish.

Here again is her show-stopper parsnip cake, which can be baked as a layer cake, as a sheet cake (above) or as cupcakes. 

PARSNIP-GINGER LAYER CAKE
WITH BROWNED BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
From "The Vegetable Butcher" by Cara Mangini

Unsalted butter for greasing
2 cups all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting the pans
1 cup grapeseed or canola oil
3 cups peeled and shredded parsnips (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1 1/2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and grated on a Microplane
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large eggs
3/4 cup low-fat or whole milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, chopped
Browned Buttercream Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour the bottoms and sides of two (9-inch) layer cake pans. Line the bottom of each with a round of parchment paper.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it is hot but not smoking, add the parsnips and fresh ginger and stir to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the parsnips are fragrant and tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the parsnip mixture cool.

Meanwhile, whisk together the ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice in a large bowl. Add the 2 cups of flour, the sugar, baking powder and salt, and whisk until incorporated. 

In a smaller bowl whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup of oil, the eggs, milk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in the parsnip mixture and toasted pecans until just combined.

Divide the batter between the 2 cake pans. Bake until the tops begin to turn golden, or a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.

Transfer the cakes to wire cooling racks and let cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the inside edge of each cake pan. Invert onto the the cooling racks, leaving the pans in place until the cakes release. Remove the pans and parchment and allow the cakes to cool completely.

Place one cake top side up on a cake plate. Scoop about 1/3 of the frosting onto the center of the cake and spread evenly. Place the second cake top side down onto the frosted cake top. Scoop the remaining frosting onto the center of the second layer and spread it again an even layer all the way to the edge, leaving the sides bare. 

Makes 8 to 10 servings. 

BROWNED BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 to 4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 to 6 tablespoons milk or warm water, plus extra if needed.

Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.

Sift 4 cups of the sugar into a medium bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add the browned butter to the sugar along with the vanilla and beat together with an electric hand mixer or or stand mixer on medium-low speed until just incorporated.

Add 3 tablespoons milk or more to reach the desired consistency and beat on medium-low until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  If the frosting seems too thin, add more sugar, a little at a time, to reach the desired consistency. Let the frosting cool before spreading on the cake.  

How to Make Turkish Style Eggplant

It takes only one word to describe this eggplant dish--yummy.

A second word makes it even more appealing--easy, meaning easy to make. 

So if you want to expand your international eggplant repertoire beyond eggplant parmigiana and caponata, add a recipe from Turkey. It's Sebzeli Sogurme, which means roasted eggplant with vegetables.

The ingredients are simple. The only one you might not know is Aleppo pepper, red pepper flakes named for the city of Aleppo in Syria. This can be replaced with any spicy red pepper. 

The recipe is from Kamuran Dover of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey (above). Dover showed how to make it during a cooking class in her home. Here are the steps. The full recipe is below.

First, Dover roasts, peels and chops two eggplants.

While the roasted eggplants cool, she prepares this combination of chopped onion and red and green bell peppers.   

Next, she  sautés the vegetables in olive oil until tender.

Then she adds chopped fresh tomatoes. If the tomatoes are not flavorful enough, she supplements them with her own homemade tomato preserves.

Along with the eggplant, she puts in butter to enrich the flavor and the Aleppo pepper and salt.  

Here is the finished eggplant, which she serves as a vegetarian dish sprinkled with pepper (at the left) or as a base for sautéed lamb.

The version at the top is mine. It's a flexible dish, so that even without the exact proportions that Dover used--we didn't measure in the class--it turned out fine.  

SEBZELI SOGURME
Roasted Eggplant with Vegetables
From Kamuran Dover of Gaziantep

2 eggplants, about 1 pound each
1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup finely diced onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup canned tomatoes, chopped, optional
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
Salt
1/2 teaspoon medium hot Aleppo pepper, or more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper

Pierce the eggplants with a knife in several places. Place on a baking sheet under the broiler and broil until soft throughout, turning to cook evenly.

Set the eggplants aside on a plate until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, prepare the red and green bell peppers and the onion.

Drain off any juices that have accumulated from the eggplant, then peel. Chop the flesh coarsely, removing any excess seeds. Again, drain off any juices.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the bell peppers and the onion and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook to sauce consistency, about 5 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes if using and cook until well blended, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the butter and let melt. Then stir in salt and Aleppo pepper to taste. Add the eggplant and cook about 7 minutes, stirring to blend with the other ingredients. 

Serve sprinkled with freshly ground pepper.

Makes 6 servings. 

Getting a Second Taste of Katmer

Once in a while, life gives you a second chance, a delicious second chance.

Three years ago at the Anatolian Festival in Costa Mesa, I tasted a pastry called katmer. It's a specialty of a place called Gaziantep in Turkey. I had never heard of katmer or of Gaziantep, so this was a brand new experience.  

My friend Faye Levy, an expert in Middle Eastern cuisine who was speaking at the festival, insisted I try it. This was because a katmer expert, Mehmet Özsimitci, had come all the way from Gaziantep to prepare it.  

I watched as Özsimitci (above) rolled dough very thin, topped it with kaymak (thick clotted cream), sugar and pistachios, folded the dough into a square and brushed it lightly with clarified butter before baking it. 

We each had a tiny sample, reveling in the creamy goodness and the pleasant, sweet nuttiness of the pistachios--Gaziantep is the pistachio capital of Turkey.

We came back later for another taste, but the katmer was gone and there would be no more that day.  So sad, because this was my only chance to taste it.  

Wrong. This spring I wound up in Gaziantep at the very shop that had provided katmer for the Anatolian Festival. Its name is Katmerci Zekeriya Usta (above).

And there was its owner, Mehmet Özsimitci (above), the man who had come to the festival.

Inside the shop, a young baker rolled, flipped and stretched the dough until it was paper thin (above).

Then he put on kaymak, pistachios and sugar and folded the dough over them. Now the katmer was ready for baking. 

you can find videos of the shop on YouTube. And here is a link to a video of Özsimitci making katmer at the Anatolian Festival. 

We sat at a table outside--Faye was there too--drinking tea and eating our fill of katmer. The large square was 17 lira, which is about $5.80, and enough for four.

Other shops in Gaziantep sell katmer, but I insisted on going to this one. That's so I could finally have a second taste of the very katmer that I had missed in Costa Mesa. 

Photos by Barbara Hansen