Recipes from Brazil – the beautiful gain in flavours
Isabel Gordon is passionate about the food from her native Brazil and she wanted to introduce a few favourite flavours to this country. "We have a very healthy diet in Brazil and we learn to cook from being children," says Isabel, who moved to England 17 years ago.
She loves to cook and was convinced there must be something she could produce based on traditional recipes from Brazil.
After working on a variety of ideas over the past couple of years, including producing a frozen Brazilian gluten free bread, Isabel finally came up with what she considers to be the perfect quick fix snack. Isabel's cheesebreads and unusual jams are now on sale at farm shops and delis throughout Yorkshire and from May, she is adding a gluten-free pizza base mix to the range.
"These cheesebreads, Pao de Queijo, are very popular and part of the culture in Brazil – you can buy them in coffee shops, supermarkets, restaurants and bakeries, but they are best enjoyed straight from the oven and they are really easy to prepare and bake," says Isabel.
They are made from cassava or tapioca starch and are gluten and
wheat free.
Under the label, Isabel's Brazilian Flavours, she has also introduced a range of exotic preserves using guava, acai (berries from a palm tree that grows in the north of Brazil) and cashew fruit. Delicious on toast, but even better spread on top of cheese, says Isabel.
"In Brazil we make a kind of ricotta-type cheese which goes so well with these jams, that on restaurant menus it's called Romeo and Juliet. Here, they go well with goats' cheese and Wensleydale."
Isabel lives with her husband Ian, in Tong, near Bradford and they have three children, Penelope, three; Jemima, eight and Daniel, 10. "My first idea was to do cookery classes, which I did from home for a while and then I did a chef's course at the Thomas Danby College which gave me more confidence."
Isabel joined the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire, which looks after the Deliciouslyorkshire brand, and they have helped her to get the business off the ground.
Recently, she has been working with Salvo's, the Italian restaurant in Headingley, Leeds, where they have been trialling her gluten-free pizza bases. The challenge was to develop a chewy texture for the bases, normally lost in most gluten-free products. The restaurant plans to introduce a gluten-free menu shortly to cater for the increasing number of people with allergies.
For more information and to order online, go to: www.brazilianflavours.net
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Friday 25 May 2012
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