For Keyla Nogueira, her cooking is about extra than simply nourishment; it’s a way of cultural preservation.
“After I had my son, I needed to share that tradition with him. He was born in Brazil, however he got here to the US when he was 11 months outdated. A part of me cooking right here was retaining our tradition alive, sharing the meals that I do know.”
At Casa Brasil, she serves up dwelling cooking with a menu deeply rooted in household. Nogueira grew up on a ranch in Juquitiba, a small city exterior of São Paulo. Her household would harvest corn, beans, and yuca, an edible root that may be a staple in South American delicacies.
She comes from a giant household because the youngest of seven youngsters. “What I’ve cooked is what I’ve discovered from dwelling, with my mother, with my dad, with my sisters and my brothers. I’ve at all times appreciated home-cooked meals. Rising up, probably the most wonderful meals that I had had been both at dwelling or at any individual else’s dwelling.” When she was seven years outdated, her mom confirmed her the way to make rice. In her voice, I may hear the seriousness she felt at the same time as a toddler. She knew that she needed to study to make rice not simply to eat, however as the muse of Brazilian cooking.
THE FOOD
I dined at Casa Brasil on an unassuming Thursday night time. A pair handed us on the sidewalk on a stroll with their canine. Inside, pure wooden tables and a black leather-based banquette steadiness the colourful art work adorning the house.
At my server’s advice, I ordered a Traditional Casa Caipirinha, a refreshing limey cocktail made with Cachaça, a well-liked Brazilian spirit.
For appetizers, I began with pão de queijo, yuca fries, and frango a passarinho. Pão de queijo are pleasant cheese rolls which can be, shockingly, gluten-free. Many of the menu at Casa Brasil is gluten-free. Throughout our dialog, Keyla talked about that yuca fries are her absolute favourite factor on this planet, so I needed to attempt them. Every chew was salty and fluffy, like a french fry however method higher. The frango a passarinho is a fried hen served with a lime and yogurt sauce. The hen is marinated within the lime and yogurt for twenty-four hours, producing deliciously tender and moist hen meat with a seasoned and crispy pores and skin.
Keyla jokes that generally she thinks of Casa Brasil as a “stew home,” as a result of they’ve quite a lot of stews on the menu. Frango com quiabo is a hen and okra stew, a conventional dish from Minas Gerais, her dad’s dwelling state. She admits okra is a “love or hate” ingredient, however she loves the flavour it brings to the dish.
I made a decision to attempt the moqueca de camarão (shrimp). Moqueca is a coconut milk stew made with tomatoes, peppers, onions and cilantro. At Casa Brasil, the stew is ready along with your alternative of cod, shrimp, tofu, or plantains. The dish was silky and warming, served with a aspect of the most effective rice I’ve ever tasted and a small dish of farofa. Although I used to be in a restaurant, I understood with that straightforward plating that this can be a meal designed to be shared. The rice mixes with the stew, the farofa goes on every part. It’s simple to think about a household passing dishes throughout a crowded desk, speaking over one another, laughing.
On weekends, Casa Brasil serves feijoada, a slow-cooked black bean stew with pork shanks, bacon, and smoked sausage. “In Brazil, most locations don’t serve feijoada on daily basis, normally both Friday and Saturday, or Saturday and Sunday, or Wednesday and Sunday.” The dish has a particular place in Keyla’s coronary heart, as the primary dish she determined to cook dinner professionally. When she labored at an workplace in downtown Pittsburgh, her coworkers would marvel over her packed lunches. She determined to take orders on a Friday, and convey feijoada to everybody on Mondays. “Feijoada has been with me for the reason that starting.”
For dessert, I felt it was my journalistic responsibility to attempt the flan, or pudim de leite, a dish impressed by her sister’s recipe. Different choices for sweets embrace the bolo de amêndoas, a gluten-free almond cake served with whipped cream and darkish chocolate, and a well-liked favourite, churros.
“Brazilians Prefer to Celebration”
Nogueira met her enterprise associate, Tim Guthrie, when he was deejaying a well-liked Brazilian occasion. Casa Brasil repeatedly hosts occasions within the house beneath the restaurant with reside music and loads of dancing. “The music and the meals positively go collectively,” she tells me. You could find out extra about upcoming occasions on their website or on their Facebook page.
I requested Keyla what she desires to share with our readers. “Include an open coronary heart, attempt one thing new. I at all times prefer to say it’s like taking a visit to Brazil with out leaving Pittsburgh.”
