So...just how does a recipe from Mozambique end up in the Portuguese section of Chop Onions, Boil Water? You probably don't care, but I'm going to tell you anyway because if I didn't, all the space below the period at the end of this sentence would be white and I just can't have that.

This recipe begins way back in 1498 when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visited Mozambique. Apparently he liked what he saw, communicated it, and subsequent "explorers" visited the country and established settlements for trading and waging war against, and enslaving the uppity locals in a brutal feudalism that eventually evolved into a less-brutal-but-no-more-attractive colonial government. This of course led to conflicts for independence and fast forward to 1975 when the good people of Mozambique finally won their self-governance. So there's your Portugal-Mozambique connection.

Now lets make the Portugal-Mozambique-Recipe connection: Way back yonder when the Europeans were running around "discovering" people and cultures that already knew they were there, they started bringing back things they begged, bought or stole from the inhabitants of "THE NEW WORLD". Useful things like corn, potatoes, gold, captives, etc., and for the purposes of this story: chilies. Some of those chili seeds that were brought to Europe from the New World by European explorers, then made their way to Africa with Portuguese traders. There the peppers were spread by man and nature and flourished all over the continent and the local cuisine.

If you've ever watched the movie "Defending Your Life" by Albert Brook's you'll surely remember the restaurant scene? The movie is Brook's look at the afterlife and consequently (among many things) the restaurants and food to be found there. In that scene Brook's character, now deceased, dines in an afterlife restaurant, and the food, its calories and other health implications are meaningless and the waiter just indulges the patron's desires much to Brook's bewilderment. You can see the scene here on YouTube.

When I prepare shrimp scampi, that scene often comes to mind because overindulging in shrimp scampi with no health implications would surely be a little bit of heaven to me. I love shrimp scampi. Unfortunately, with my family's medical history, shrimp scampi is a cholesterol and saturated-fat-packed shotgun pointed right at my heart! So while this recipe is a huge personal favorite, I don't prepare it all that often. Yeah, way to bring down the enthusiasm for something that is so good!

I cannot begin to list the culinary phobias that my wife Michelle had when we first met and began dating. Cooking for her or dining out was a potential mine field of cringing, picking at food and complicated cooking instructions to our poor server. Straight off, seafood was out, and so were more "exotic" options like Indian, Thai and Japanese. Even in Chinese restaurants she rarely got more adventurous than chicken fingers and chow mein. Simple ingredients like tomatoes, mushrooms, chickpeas, squash, hot peppers and broccoli were deal killers.

She also had subtle and not so subtle control issues where food was concerned. She often diligently prepared each and every bite of food she would take by arranging the components just so. I watched her nearly squeal with delight one afternoon in a Montreal pizzeria where she asked our server for a side of pizza sauce with her pizza and was not only served the side of sauce, but was presented with a paint brush with which to apply it.

She also committed what I would call "sins against cuisine" and amongst the most vulgar of these was her use of a copious amount of granulated white sugar with spaghetti and sauce. That's right, place a tasty plate of spaghetti and sauce in front of her and she would take a big bag of sugar and begin pouring it on and mixing it in to her spaghetti and sauce.

Can I get an "EEEEEEEEEEEK!" here?

Today's world food that you can prepare in your home comes at you straight outta Greece! It is called Shrimp and Codfish Saganaki and it is based on traditional saganaki which is an appetizer of pan-seared cheese. It is named for the single-serving fry pan that it is usually both prepared and served in. In addition to the cheese, today's recipe includes shrimp, codfish and a spicy tomato-based sauce. The result is a rich and delicious seafood dish that is best enjoyed along with a good crusty bread for dipping!

For a long time now, I've been meaning to prepare my own shrimp saganaki recipe. It's been caught up in the thought storm in my mind. Often dishes like that can slip out of memory, but shrimp recipes tend to stay in my mind longer, and well the name "saganaki" tends to instill images of a strange Japanese sex act that involves restraints and lots of white face paint in my mind, so this one was especially easy to remember!