Beef with Onions

This one I adapted from a little book on Chinese food. The original recipe had green peppers.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons oil
1-inch piece gingerroot, peeled and chopped
1 lb beef tenderloin, very thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
salt, if necessary

Sauce:

1/4 cup vegetable stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce (better if using dark soy sauce)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixture (prepare with 1 part cornstarch, 2 parts of water)

Preparation:

In a wok, heat oil, add gingerroot and fry for 1 minute. Add beef and quickly stir-fry for 2 minutes just until color changes.Stir in onion and stir-fry for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix together sauce ingredients. Stir into beef mixture. Cook, stirring, until lightly thickened. Add salt if needed.
Serve with white rice.

Chicken Rolls with Ham and Cheese

This is a homestyle Spanish dish. I've got it from one of my cookbooks. I didn't have white wine, I used red wine instead. It still tasted good.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless whole chicken breasts, flattened, halved
4 thin slices deli-smoked ham
4 thin slices cheese such as Swiss or Mozzarella (or grated)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 F. Place ham and cheese on each flattened chicken breast half. Roll up. Secure with toothpicks. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Lightly coat bottom of 2-quart baking dish with oil. Spread onion slices over bottom of dish. Top with chicken rolls. Drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil. Cover with foil. Bake for 10 minutes.
Uncover baking dish. Drizzle with wine. Bake, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. If desired, broil for some minutes until golden. Serve.

Caipirinha

This is the most famous cocktail in Brazil. It is made of "cachaça" (pronounced "kah-SHAH-sah"), an alcoholic beverage made with fermented sugar cane.

Ingredients:

3 limes, cut in quarters
7 tablespoons of sugar
3/4 cup (180 ml) cachaça *
3 cups ice cubes

Preparation:

Smash the limes in a mortar. Transfer to a pitcher, together with the sugar and cachaça. Stir until sugar is mostly dissolved. Add the ice. If you want sweeter, add some more sugar.

* You can change to rum instead. The Brazilians call this version "caipirissima". Or vodka. Called "caipiroska" in Brazil. The taste is a bit different.