North, meet South

With her new cookbook, "The Brazilian Kitchen," Leticia Moreinos Schwartz had several goals: To clear up the misconception that Brazilian cooking is indistinguishable from the rest of Latin American cuisine; to make the dishes of her native country a little lighter for the health-conscious palate; and to create recipes that are easy to prepare in the average American kitchen.

Schwartz, who was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, has succeeded on all fronts. She has captured the rich flavors, textures, colors and diversity of Brazilian food in 100 classic recipes, from bar food (petiscos) to desserts (sobremesas), with easy-to-follow directions, and gorgeous photos of the dishes and the Brazilian marketplaces.

She will demonstrate from and sign her new cookbook Saturday at Bank Square Books in Mystic.

Schwartz moved to New York City in 1997 where she worked in many top restaurants after graduating from the French Culinary School. In 2000, she started her own catering and cooking instruction business. She also teaches at the Institute of Culinary Education and the French Culinary Institute.

"Brazilian cuisine is a mixture of three different cultures," Schwartz says. "It's often grouped with the rest of South America, but it was colonized by a different country (Portugal) and we speak a different language-a combination of Portuguese, African and native Indian. What's so fascinating is that this mixture is reflected in just about everything we do: The music we hear, the foods we eat, and the faith of our people."

Schwartz describes Brazilian cuisine as "casual, not fancy food. We eat buffet-style a lot and usually include dancing in our parties, lots of drinks, and music."

She says most of the recipes are made with simple ingredients purchased at a regular supermarket, like "onions, garlic, chicken, eggs - the basics."

Ingredients such as yucca, cornmeal and farofa, which until recently were seen as peasant food, are now common in modern recipes and sophisticated restaurants. Schwartz attributes this to the worldwide food revolution affecting countries like Brazil, which up until the last decade, she says, "had no culture of gastronomy."

"The Food Network and celebrity chefs have spread all throughout the world, and Brazilian chefs are now exploring and using native ingredients in new and creative ways," she says.

Schwartz has adapted her recipes to how people are eating today.

"I didn't want to change the authenticity of the dishes, but refine them a little more," she says. "Eighty percent of the book is based on classic dishes, but 20 percent is completely creative, while still rooted in Brazilian ingredients and flavors.

"For example, we don't cook with white wine in Brazil," she says. "At cooking school, we use wine with everything. It gives a certain acidity and balance to a dish, so I've added a small quantity of wine to the stews."

Speaking of stews, Schwartz has taken traditional seafood stew (Moqueca) and substituted chicken to create Chicken and Plantain Moqueca.

"I'm always trying to find interesting new ways to cook chicken, since we eat so much of it in the U.S.," she says.

"We Brazilians have a very sweet tooth - I think we inherited that from the Portuguese. There are lots of egg yolks and sugar in the sweets. I learned in school here that desserts don't have to be extremely sweet to be considered good."

One example is Chocolate Brigadeiros, "chewy, fudgy, addictive" confections, which are as iconic to Brazil as chocolate chip cookies are to America, she says.

"What's nice about this book is that it opens up a new frontier in the world of cooking," Schwartz says. "You can incorporate Brazilian dishes into your kitchen, just like you might Italian, Chinese, French or Indian foods."