Month 2 day 13: Migas and Feijoada

Today I made:
Mighty Migas, Every Day with Rachael Ray March 2012
Brazilian Feijoada, Cooking Light March 2011

Mighty Migas have a lot of flavor, but visually they are reminiscent of something not so appetizing. I think if I had made this in a bigger skillet it would've come out looking better, because you could let the egg cook a bit before stirring. I like my scrambled eggs to have big, contiguous pieces. (G, on the other hand, likes his to be almost crumbled they are so stirred).
The portion size for this recipe was ridiculous, I think because Rachael Ray intended this to be a dinner instead of a breakfast. It's basically a breakfast burrito, but the tortilla is mixed in instead of being wrapped around the outside. We don't actually own any hot sauce, so I just splashed with some white vinegar and cayenne pepper and figured that the rest of the flavors of hot sauce (onions, tomatoes, peppers?) were already represented.
G decided that he would rather just eat a breakfast burrito, so we're not saving this recipe.

After breakfast, it was time to start preparing the feijoada. Boiling the beans and browning the meats. This dish contains components of several different animals: ham hock, bacon, and pork (all pig, but I'm assuming it came from three separate animals...), beef, and chicken broth. So karmically this is not a great dish. It is basically a solid gallon of protein. It's supposed to be made in a 6-qt slow cooker, but I think ours is only 4-qt or something... not entirely sure... so I filled it literally to (and a bit past) the brim, hoping for the best. It only has one cup of liquid, too, so I was quite dubious how this would end up cooking everything.

But lo and behold, after 7 hours, enough liquid had come out of the onions(? meat?) so that everything was covered and boiling. The ham hock was falling apart, and the beef shredded itself just by stirring the stew a few times.
This dish is decadent. It's heavy, but very delicious, despite there being basically no spices, just meat. The fresh sweetness of the oranges is able to cut through the dense meat and let you keep eating. We're keeping this recipe.