And the winner is …, back to normal as carnival is over and recipe for monkfish on warm white bean salad

27 Feb

Carnival came to an end yesterday with the last 37! parades playing and dancing in the streets of Rio. Altogether Rio had 425 street blocos – single band parades performing in the different neighborhoods in the last 4 weeks. It was great fun but exhausting and it seems everybody is needing a 11-month rest to start all over again afresh. A couple of people mentioned that the year only is starting today, Monday after the last parades.

The winner of the overall Sambadromo where the 13 best samba schools in Rio presented their people, costumes and carnivals fleets last weekend over two nights, was announced last week and is Unidos da Tijuca the third oldest Rio samba school established in 1931. It is the school which traditionally pays most homage to Brazil’s background as a Portuguese colony and has been extremely strong in recent years and viewed as one of the most creative and daring schools.

This year’s runners-up were Salgueiro in second place, Vila Isabel in third, Beija-Flor, last year’s winner in fourth, Grande Rio in fifth and Portela on sixth place. The top six schools performed again at the Sambódromo last Saturday at the Parade of Champions.

Recipe for monkfish on warm white bean salad for two

  • 500g of canned, drained white beans
  • 2 tomatoes, skin removed and deseeded cut into fine cubes
  • 1 onion diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic pressed
  • 1 red chili finely diced
  • 100g of bacon in cubes or diced chorizo
  • fresh thyme and parsley
  • dash of balsamic vinegar
  • 400 g of monkfish fillets or other firm white fish
  • 100ml of white wine
  • butter
  • olive oil
Heat the oven to 190C. Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic, onion, chili and bacon. Add the tomatoes and a dash of white wine and a sprig of fresh thyme and simmer for some 10 minutes. Add the white beans and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and some balsamic vinegar. Keep warm. In a ovenproof pan, heat a little olive oil and quickly fry the fish fillets on both sides. Season with salt and pepper and add a dash of white wine to the pan as well as 1tbs of butter and some fresh thyme or rosemary. Take the pan to the preheated oven and cook fish for another 7-10 minutes until done. Serve the fish on the warm white bean salad, garnish with fresh parsley and drizzle with some of the fish juices.

 

 

 

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