Friday, March 26, 2010

Brazil 3 - Sobremesas


Now here is a word you must learn if you're ever thinking of going to Brazil - SOBREMESAS.

It means "dessert".

(By the way, in Chile it's POSTRES, just in case you need it!)

Now this is a word I learnt very early on in my Brazilian adventure - and for good reason. Check them out above. Oh my. Now these are just desserts we had at lunch on Monday, here at home. Two home-made and two bought. Sitting there looking at me from the Lazy Sussan. I just sat there thinking about a place that has 4 desserts like this on offer on a Monday afternoon, without any ceremony, without having done anything special for their aussie guest, they were just there. Sigh. What a place.

I would like to introduce them to you.

Ambrosia - this is the golden lumpy mass at 12 o'clock on the plate. It looks so innocent and blah blah, yet one mouthful of this and you'll think you're floating on wonderfully spiced clouds of yumminess! Ambrosia is made from egg yolk and lots and lots of sugar and infused with spices such as cloves, cinnamon, and home-made candied lime peel. Normally, ambrosia floats in a sugar syrup of the same infusion, but this one you see is much dryer, and in my opinion, better! I can never get over the fact that something that looks so boring, is like a party in your mouth.

Rocombole de Goiaba - this is the spiral looking thing at 3 o'clock on the plate. We actaully bought this that morning in a shop we stopped at after doing the food shopping, we went in to look, had a coffee, and bought this to try. It looked pretty good. I had high hopes. In my book, anything with goiabada (guava paste) is bloody spectacular. Well this was...well...just ok. It wasn't great, it was ok. It was like a thin dense cake with the goibada, nothing more, nothing less. And after eating Ambrosia...well...not even close!

Doce de Abobora - Mmmmmmmm...now this is something different for us aussies - it's Candied Pumpkin - yes, they eat pumpkin sweet here (as well as avocado), never in savory foods. And it's sooooooo good. This one you can see, the organge blob at 6 o'clock, is bought from a good local padaria (the same place as the sonhos - see previous post), but I have seen my brazilian mum make it, and it's a labor of love. But it tastes fantastic, sweet and gooey, with the smallest hint of the pumpkin's personality coming through (does that sound too tossery??). I would highly recommend gettin stuck into some if you get the chance. It looks a bit gross, but tastes really good.

Marron Glace - I know, I know, this is really a French sweet, but I had to include it, because a) I love it, and b)My brazilian mum had actually made it herself from the chestnuts from their farm!!! I couldn't believe it. For those of you who have never eaten one of these candied chestnuts, at 9 o'clock on the plate, well, you don't know what you're missing. These sweet nuts are usually eaten only at Christmas time in Europe, and they're hard to find at all in Oz, which is a shame because they are really something special. The first taste is a bit wacky, it has a grainy consistency, but a wonderful woody sweetness that is quite unlike anything I had tasted. My brazilian mum wraps each chestnut in muslin, individually, then cooks them for three days in a sugar syrup, then drains them, and then they're ready to eat. You usually see them in shops individually wrapped in gold foil (probably because they cost a fortune), but I have to say, that the home-made ones may just be worth the hassle!!!

So, there you have it. Four desserts, or sobremesas. Stay tuned for more fab Brazilian sweets - I have no doubt there will be more!

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