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Catupiry

Catupiry is a de-li-ci-ous cheese made in Brazil! How to describe it? Well, I'll leave it to the producers:

"Selected and pasteurized fresh milk, fermented milk dough, sour cream, milk fermented and salt are the basic ingredients of Catupiry's delicious cheesecurd recipe.

Processed under high qualities standards, Catupiry cheesecurd is offered in different presentations [...]

Laticinios Catupiry Ltda, is a brazilian company proudy of its products, originality and pionnerism.In Brazil, you'll find Catupiry Cheesecurd in the main supermarkets and groceries stores all over the country.

[...]

Synonym of quality attested by many generations, the Catupiry's cheesecurd has been created in 1911 by Mr. Mario Silvestrini in the city of Lambari , Minas Gerais.

By 1922, it already being industrialized in the city of São Lourenço, Catupiry won itsfirst award, the gold medal in the International Food Exposition in Rio de Janeiro, and it's also a prominance in Larousse's Le Fromage International Dictionary of Cheese,as the Real Brazilian Cheesecurd.

CATUPIRY IS A "NOTORIOUS BRAND"

Catupiry, which means "excellent" in the local "tupi guarani's indians language has been granted with another public recognition due to its remarkable quality,through

Brazilian Patents Institute (I.N.P.I) official attestation. [...] "

Everyone is in love with catupiry! So you may find it as important ingredient in many canapes, groceries, pizzas, dishes... So now, specially for you, there go some recipes using Catupiry!

(for more about the cheese, check www.catupiry.com.br)

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1. how to make catupiry cheese at home

How to Make Catupiry at Home

Brazilians who live abroad, as well as others who have sampled and fallen in love with our cooking, miss delicious Catupiry cream cheese, long a favorite ingredient on pizza and in many unforgettable dishes from our country. Having lived away from Brazil for 12 years, I have yet to find Catupiry in a store that sells Brazilian products, a cheese shop, or anywhere else. Therefore, I took upon myself the task of finding a substitute that can be made easily, with ingredients commonly available in an American or Canadian grocery store (sorry, folks from Europe, you're out of luck!), and, most importantly, that bears a strong resemblance to the real thing.

Ingredients:

2 packages (9 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 lb. Munster cheese

Preparation:

Over very low heat, melt the two cheeses together until they are completely blended. Remove the mixture from the heat, place it in a container and let it cool. Then put it in the refrigerator for a few hours and after it has been chilled, it can be used in any recipe calling for Catupiry.

(extract from http://www.geocities.com/dometian/index.html)

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Shrimp with Catupiry Cheese

2 lbs of fresh shrimp (medium or small size)
1 Catupiry cheese or 1 lb of Philly
1 can of hearts of palm, thinly sliced into rounds
4 large, juicy tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp of finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp of finely chopped green onions
1 tbsp of corn starch
salt and pepper
10-15 whole peppercorns (you can leave these out if you don't want people biting into them)
Parmesan cheese to sprinkle
lime juice

Preheat oven to 450° F. Spread cheese over bottom and sides of 13 x 9 pyrex. Peel, devein and wash shrimp, sprinkle with lime juice and salt. Leave in refrigerator until ready to use. Chop tomatoes into big chunks and puree in blender. Saute onion in olive oil until limp, add shrimp, cover and bring to a simmer. Add tomatoes, parsley, green onions and whole peppercorns. Simmer for fifteen minutes. Dissolve corn starch in milk. Add hearts of palm and milk to shrimp, stir for a couple of minutes and remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste (remember the cheese is salty!). Pour shrimp mixture into pyrex. Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese. Bake until cheese is melted (about 15 minutes). Serve from pyrex. Serve with Brazilian style white rice.

(http://www.maria-brazil.org/camarao_com_catupiry.htm)

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Chicken and Catupiry Pie

Basic Dow for Pies:
1 Kg of (wheat) flour
½ Kg of vegetal butter (or baking butter or other kind)
2 egg yolks
Salt

Prepair:
Mix the 2 first ingredients, add the others and water slowly until the dow is not sticky anymore.

Open ¾ of the dow with the help of a rolling stick (or a bottle) over a plastic sheet. The dow should be half a centimeter thick. Put it in a baking pan with detattachable bottom. Wedge it up and cover it with the rest of the dow. Distribute the yolks on top of the pie with the help of a paintbrush and bake it in middle heat oven.


Wedge:
1 ½ Kg of chicken chest

Wash it well, spice it up with salt and pepper. Fry in butter : 1 (smashed) onion, 2 chopped tomatoes, then add the chicken, chicken sauce (ready made), cover it with water and let it cook. Strain the broth and unweave the chicken. Thicken up the broth with 1 glass of milk and 3 spoons of maizena.

After it's cooked, mix the unweaved chicken with it, add one kilo of catupiry and wait till it's cold.

(http://www.moinhosantaclara.com.br/torta_de_frango_com_catupiry.html)

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Stuffed Squash with Shrimps

INGREDIENTS:

1 large squash (we prefer a buttercup squash)

2 tablespoon margarine

1 large onion, grated

3 cups tomato puree

2 cubes beef bouillon.

2 lb cooked shrimps

salt

3 tablespoon cornstarch

1 can of table cream (or 1pint of dairy cream)

4 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 bar cream cheese (8 oz) or farmer cheese.

FILLED SQUASH WITH SHRIMPS



FILLED SQUASH WITH SHRIMPS



This is a traditional recipe from northeast of Brazil. The final dish looks appealing on your table.

You can fill the squash with shrimps, chicken or use your creativity.



In Brazil, we prepare this dish with a Japanese squash (Kabocha) or an acorn squash. Here in US, we prefer the buttercup squash to prepare this delicious dish.



Another variation is that in Brazil, we use the Catupiry™ cheese with the shrimp; in US, we substitute with cream cheese.



INGREDIENTS:

1 large squash (we prefer a buttercup squash)

2 tablespoon margarine

1 large onion, grated

3 cups tomato puree

2 cubes beef bouillon.

2 lb cooked shrimps

salt

3 tablespoon cornstarch

1 can of table cream (or 1pint of dairy cream)

4 tablespoon chopped parsley

8 oz of Catupiry cheese or farmer cheese.





PREPARE:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cut a large hole on the top of squash.

Remove seeds and fiber, cleaning thoroughly inside.

Place cut side down in a ceramic casserole pan with a small amount of water in bottom

Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until squash is tender and can be pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, dissolve the corn starch in a cup half filled with tomato puree

Heat the margarine in a large saucepan, combine the grated onion, beef bouillon. Fry the onion and add the tomato puree, previously dissolved cornstarch and thaw shrimps. Bring the mixture to boil and cook for 7 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Take the saucepan out of the heat, stir in the table cream, and set aside.

Carefully remove the baked squash from the oven turn the squash hole up and remove any excess o water remaining in the casserole.

8Fill in the hole with half of the cream cheese, fill in the shrimps and place the remaining cheese on the top.

You can re-heat or microwave to serve.

While serving, scrape internally so that you can serve some squash flesh with the shrimp sauce.

Alternative preparation using microwave:

You can cook the squash in the microwave instead of using an oven.

Place squash cut side down in microwave safe container. Add a little water. Microwave on High (100% power) 5 to 7 minutes, turning dish once. Continue cooking, if necessary, until squash is tender.

Note: you can replace the shrimps with chicken or beef as you like.

(http://www.cookbrazil.com/filledsquash.htm)

more to come (yum yum)