Doyle's Kitchen » Week 1: Rio

Caipirinha

Steve Doyle — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:28:33 +0000

This is the classic Brazilian summer cocktail, best served from a hut on Copacabana beach surrounded by sunshine and muscled boys in sungas – the Brazilian speedo. In Brazil the caiprinha is a fun drink, not an SATC style aspirational cocktail, and so it should be drunk with that attitude. It’s made up of cachaca – a kind of Brazilian rum - muddled with sugar and lime. This takes the edge off the liquor, but only slightly! The guys at Sagatiba very kindly sent us over a bottle of their Velha Cachaca, which is an aged version of the spirit, and it went down very smoothly indeed. This can be drunk neat, as you would with a whiskey or brandy, but is perfect for cocktails too. We all started with caiprinhas but then also added a splash of Guarana. This is Brazil’s most popular soft drink and comes from the guarana berry; very sweet and fizzy. If you put a soft drink into the cachaca/lime mix, it turns into more of a batida, but quite delicious too!

CAIPIRINHA X 1

25ml cachaca (Sagatiba Velha)

1 lime

2 dessert spoonfuls of sugar

Ice

Quarter the limes and put into a strong glass. Add the sugar. Crush the limes with a ‘muddler’ and see the sugar dissolve into the lime juice. Add the cachaca. Stir and then add the ice. The best way to serve is actually to pour over crushed ice but as I was limited to blocks, I used the method just mentioned.

Week 1: RIO – The Music

Steve Doyle — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:36:22 +0000

It’s always good to have a spotify playlist at a dinner party so you don’t have to worry about background sounds on the night, and it’s even better when someone else does it for you. Elliott created this Rio themed playlist for our party and it really brings up all those images of bossa nova, ipanema and 70s disco glamour. Click here to add the Rio playlist to your spotify. Thanks Elliott!

Week 1: RIO – The Party

Steve Doyle — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:30:58 +0000

Well, it’s fair to say it was a success! There were a few minor disasters along the way, but the first Dinner @ Doyle’s turned out to be a really fun night, helped along with some very strong caipirinhas. Some of the recipes I planned worked brilliantly, others less so. And one I had to ditch completely. It turns out that cooking for 6 requires quite a lot of space, very little of which I have. So there was a point in the evening when I simply ran out of pans. Next time will require a lot more organisational precision; it’s going to be a military operation! Also, it probably wasn’t the best idea to re-arrange my living room at 5 o’clock when the guests were due at 7.30. In true Come Dine With Me style, it was gone 6 before I’d started anything, and gone 7 before I realised the Passionfruit Mousse would require 6 hours in the fridge. Doh! No matter though, the important thing is…everyone liked the feijoada!

The diners at the first Dinner@Doyle’s. From left to right: Sally Tooth – make-up artist, Kelly Anna Serritiello – stylist, Celia-Jane Ukwenya – Fashion Editor of Buckstyle, Elliott James Sainsbury – Fashion Director of Buckstyle, and Trushar Bipin Patel – menswear designer. Sally is clearly the odd one out for not using two first names!

The before. As I mentioned, some dishes didn’t work, some were ditched. I didn’t even attempt the Farofa as I completely ran out of pans. The rice was quite tasty but something went wrong which meant it took over an hour to cook. The mousse didn’t work at all. The feijoada was a triumph though!

The after!

And the first week’s theme is…

Steve Doyle — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:25:42 +0000

Rio! In honour of Rio winning the 2016 Olympics, and because I haven’t cooked feijoada in a while, I’ve decided the first Dinner @ Doyle’s will have a Brazilian flavour. Also, it’s going to be a wheat-free night as my good friend and colleague Celia (the celiac) is coming. So far I know there will definitely be caiprinhas and feijoada. There will have to be a rice dish too as rice is best with feijoada. Full menu will be sent out to all invitees on Monday so I have to get my thinking cap on this weekend!