No Butterflies Harmed in this Meal

Last night, I had a random dream that I was speaking with a friend in Spanish and the word mariposa came up in the conversation.  Although we knew it had the same meaning in Portuguese, we couldn't determine the correct translation to English.  Alas, a look through my dictionaries (and in my dream I knew exactly where said dictionaries are located in my flat), and settled that it must be a flower of some kind, perhaps a sunflower.

Turns out that I was wrong (just don't tell anyone else). According to my dictionaries (which were indeed located in the precise spot from my dream), mariposa is indeed a Spanish-Portuguese word, but translates as "butterfly." I love how the phonetics of mariposa roll off the tongue in either language, so I decided that tonight's dinner would reflect the shared linguistics of this word by making a Portuguese- Spanish dinner.

First, for the Portuguese side I made feijoada.  A time-consuming but simple dish, feijoada is a bean stew that originates in Portugal but has become the national dish of Brazil. In every cantina from Recife to Rio, you can find several variations of this bean stew. Now I understand why Brazil is among the leading nations in bio-fuel production. White beans, kidney beans, paprika and peri peri hot spice, I substituted chorizo and smoked ham with the turkey kind for each.

As for the Spanish side, I marinated chicken thighs in lemon, oil, chili, cayenne, cloves, cumin, cilantro, coriander, and a touch of cinnamon (evidently, the spices for this dish were brought to you today by the letter "C"). After roasting the chicken, I added chopped tomatoes to the pan drippings and marinade to serve as a "Mexican-inspired" sauce.

To complete, I decided my mariposa meal need to rest on something leafy as any butterfly doing her business would, so some steamed kale sealed the deal.  Overall, a really yummy treat with lots of leftovers for the week.

Long story short: I really need to stop watching "Top Chef" before going to sleep.