Filé à Oswaldo Aranha

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-liter pot for beans
• •Small pot with lid for rice
• •Wide heavy skillet for steak
• •Small pan for frying garlic
• •Mandoline or very sharp knife for thin potatoes
• •Slotted spoon
• •Paper towels or clean kitchen towel

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the beans

   Drain the soaked beans and put them in a pot with 5 cups water and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then lower to a steady simmer, lid partly open, until a bean crushes easily against the roof of your mouth, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Soaking isn't decoration. It helps the beans cook evenly and sit easier, instead of leaving you with skins floating around and hard centers sulking in the pot.

   If Tuesday is being Tuesday, you can use 3 cups cooked beans from the freezer. Canned beans work in a pinch, rinsed first, but the caldo won't have the same body. That's the cost.
2. 2

   Finish the feijão

   Warm 2 tablespoons oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and see-through, about 5 minutes. Add the 4 minced garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute, just until you smell them. Scoop in one ladle of cooked beans with liquid and mash them into the refogado, then stir everything back into the pot with 1 teaspoon salt. Simmer 10 minutes, until the caldo looks glossy and lightly thick. The mashed beans are the thickener. No powder. The bean can do its own job.

3. 3

   Make arroz soltinho

   Rinse the rice until the water runs mostly clear, then drain well. Warm 1 tablespoon oil in a small pot, add the rice, and stir for 1 minute until the grains look shiny. Add 2 cups hot water and 1/2 teaspoon salt, bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and cook 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and rest 10 minutes before fluffing. Rinsing removes loose starch, frying coats the grains, and resting lets the rice finish without you poking it into glue.

4. 4

   Crisp the potatoes

   Dry the sliced potatoes very well with a clean towel. Heat a thin layer of oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat and fry the slices in batches until golden at the edges and crisp, 2 to 4 minutes per batch. Drain on paper towels and salt while hot. Wet potatoes spit oil and soften instead of crisping, and a crowded pan drops temperature fast. Give them space. Potatoes like space. People too, sometimes.

5. 5

   Fry the garlic

   Put the 5 sliced garlic cloves and 4 tablespoons oil in a small cold pan. Set over medium-low heat and stir until the garlic turns pale gold and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Pull it out with a slotted spoon before it goes brown, because it keeps cooking after it leaves the oil. Golden garlic is sweet and crisp. Brown garlic is bitter and will shout over the whole plate.

   Starting in cold oil gives the garlic time to dry and crisp before the outside burns. Hot oil grabs the edges too fast, and then you get bitterness wearing a golden costume.
6. 6

   Toast the farofa

   Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of the garlic oil. Add the cassava flour and stir constantly until it smells nutty and turns lightly golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt. Farofa is not dust you throw on at the end. Toast it and it becomes the thing that catches steak juice, garlic oil, and feijão caldo like it was born for the job.

7. 7

   Sauté the couve

   Warm 1 tablespoon oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced collards with a pinch of salt and toss for 1 to 2 minutes, just until bright green and softened but not collapsed. Finish with lime juice if you like. Couve cooks fast. Leave it too long and it turns dull and tired, and then you blame the vegetable instead of the clock.

8. 8

   Sear the steaks

   Pat the steaks dry and season with the black pepper and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, adding a little more if your steaks are large. Heat a heavy skillet until properly hot, then add 1 tablespoon oil. Sear the steaks without moving them until a deep brown crust forms, 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare, or longer if you like them more done. Cook in batches if the pan is small. Crowd the pan and the meat releases water, the heat drops, and you're steaming grey steak instead of dourar. We've all made that mistake. Once is enough.

9. 9

   Rest and plate

   Rest the steaks for 5 minutes, then set each one on a warm plate and spoon the crisp garlic over the top with a little garlic oil. Add rice, feijão, batata portuguesa, farofa, and couve alongside. Resting keeps the juices in the meat instead of on the plate. The sides aren't extras here. They're the whole Brazilian answer to dinner: creamy, crisp, green, salty, soft, and worth sitting down for.

Chef Tips

• •Use tenderloin if you want the classic plate. If the price is nonsense today, use a thick sirloin or ribeye and cook it the same way. Technique first: dry meat, hot pan, no crowding.
• •Slice the garlic evenly. Thin slices crisp at the same pace; mixed sizes give you half burnt, half raw, and then everyone pretends not to notice. I notice.
• •Don't buy seasoning packets for the beans, the rice, or the steak. Onion, garlic, salt, fat, time. That's the foundation. A packet is not a shortcut, it's someone selling you back your own kitchen.
• •Make the beans ahead and freeze them in 1 1/2 cup portions. Then this dish becomes mostly steak, rice, potatoes, and garlic, which is a much kinder evening.
• •Batata portuguesa is traditionally thin and fried. The honest shortcut is baking the slices brushed with oil at 425°F until golden, flipping once. It won't be as crisp, but it will still solve dinner.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the beans overnight, at least 8 hours, in plenty of water.
• •Cook the feijão up to 3 days ahead, or freeze it for up to 3 months in meal-size portions.
• •Slice the collards up to 1 day ahead and keep them wrapped in a clean towel in the fridge.
• •Slice the potatoes right before frying, or keep them covered in cold water for up to 2 hours and dry them very well before they touch oil.
• •Fry the garlic up to 4 hours ahead and keep it uncovered at room temperature so it stays crisp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 650g)