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posted on March 6th, 2010 by Manny Lopes|
"Black pudding sausage" or blood sausage and morcela, is an interesting tasty treat now and again. I'm complementing it with the Portuguese "aguardente" a white marc brandy. This is a "petisco" or tapa type to dish to enjoy by yourself or with some friends.. I'm using morcela de arroz, (blood sausage with rice)
I de-skinned the morcela and sauteed them with mushrooms and peppers in a skilet with some spiced olive oil & finished them with a drizzle of white wine
slice and toast some bread into very thin slices, place on a dish & drizzle some olive oil on them. Place the morcella, peppers & mushrooms over the bread & drizzle some aguardente over them with a teaspoon.
Serve with some cold salted cucumber & olives, a short glass of agardente on the side or a Jeropiga..
bom apetite
Tags: Black pudding, blood sausage, Morcela de arroz
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posted on March 4th, 2010 by Manny Lopes|
Rice has been a food staple sustaining life for centuries around the world with origins in Asia and was one of the foods that were brought back to Portugal by the early explorations to the east by the Portuguese navigators. Here we are serving the rice in an original and traditional clay pot that was used as the measuring "scoop" for grains in Portugal.
Rice with peas or (Arroz com ervilhas in Portuguese) is a great side dish to compliment just about any meal. Everyone seems to have a different preference on how they like their rice and the types of rice will make a difference on the end result. Sticky or fluffy, for tender, fluffy rice with separate grains, choose long grain white rice.
The general rule to make rice is 2 part water to 1 part rice.
1 cup rice use 2 cups of water,
Place rice in a bowl of cold water & let sit for 5-10 minutes & drian. This cleans the rice & the grains start absorbing some water.
Bring to a boil 2 cups of water, add 1 tspn salt (you can add chicken bullion for flavor, if you do no salt is needed)
Add the 1 cup of drained rice, stir,... Tags: Arroz com ervilhas, Rice with peas
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posted on March 1st, 2010 by Manny Lopes|
One of my mother's favorite soups to make is "sopa de grão". Grão is what is called chick peas or garbanzo beans. A very nutritious & healthy food. This soup is all "vegitarian" (no meat, dairy or broths).. A very traditional "casairo" (homestyle) soup, A meal in itself....
The ingredients seem to vary whenever she makes it. This time with some elbow noodles and cabbage.
The process is simple, In a large pan add the chickpeas (grão) with some diced onion, potatoes some water, and salt. Boil them until the chick peas are soft, then mash them or put in a food processor. This will provide your base and broth. There is no set measurements and no wrong way to make it. The more chick peas and potatoes you use the thicker the broth, you may like your soup thinner. So play with it & taste it.
Then add more water to the pan, add diced cabbage and more chick peas and the noodles (check for taste, you may need more salt), cover & let simmer until the noodles are cooked. The whole process takes one hour to 1.5
drizzle olive oil over the top & have some crusty bread, olives and red wine on... Tags: sopa de grão, Vegitarian Chick Pea Soup
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posted on February 28th, 2010 by Manny Lopes|
I grew up with a standard ritual every Sunday. Sundays were family day and the whole family would get up in the morning get dress in Sunday's best, and make the walk (and later the drive) to church.
But before we left, my mother was busy in the kitchen preparing Sunday's meal. One of the meals was a delicious oven roasted chicken dinner that slow roasted in the oven while we went to church. When we got back home, the house had an aroma of a delicious meal, and we were all pretty hungry. The ingredients and the process are pretty simple and just require a little pre planning.
This is a variation of that meal & served up in a nest of spaghetti.
Start with a whole chicken (size to meet your family needs), if frozen, be sure it's thawed. To thaw it, place in the refrigerator over night. Wash in cold water, sprinkle with sea salt, some paprika, and pepper. Drizzle a little olive oil, I also drizzled a little hot pepper sauce (piri-piri) and about 1/4 cup white wine. Place in a covered backing dish with some bay leaves garlic on top of the chicken and some halved onions. You... Tags: Frango no ninho, roast chicken
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posted on February 24th, 2010 by Manny Lopes|
Looks and kind of tastes like green tea. sweeten with some honey, goes great with some bolacha maria & some light Portuguese cheese.
Something so simple as the leaves of a lemon tree, makes a warm tasting soothing tea.
Simply boil some leaves and a slice of lemon and some lime, if you like.
Pour through a screen, sweeten with honey and enjoy this great little treat. Tags: chá, lemon tea, tea
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posted on February 23rd, 2010 by Manny Lopes|
A very traditional dish served in a very traditional dish, the bowl although old and worn, belonged to my avo Felicidade, (grandmother).
Açorda (pronounced assorda) is very popular dish made through out Portugal. It's a meal made hearty by the addition of crusty bread. Açorda has it's roots in the poorer communities and homes and hold a strong and meaningful tradition that is passed on.
Açorda de marisco can be very common & not so common would be the addition of meatballs. The sauce or broth for this concoction is made with shrimp broth (made by boiling shrimp & the shells) and blending with homemade tomato sauce with oregano and a little piri-piri (hot sauce). The result, is a tomato/shrimp bisque flavor, and topped with fresh cilantro and basil.
"The Portuguese Meatballs",
Meatball are made & served in areas of Portugal, and they are fun to make with your kids.
I borrowed the meatball recipe from a food blog I like to follow called "Fullbellies, Happy Kids" get the recipe here, Tags: Açorda de marisco with Portuguese meatballs
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posted on February 11th, 2010 by Manny Lopes| Chicken Breast with mushrooms & spaghetti special
This meal is quick & easy and the spaghetti is made with a combination of beans and cabbage for tasty alternative for your pasta taste.
most of the meal is cooked in the same pan for less clean-up
in a low pan or crock, add some olive oil, the chicken breasts, some onions and bay leaves, season with some sea salt to taste and paprika. Add a hot red pepper of choice for a little kick if you like. Place the lid on the pan & cook for 25 minutes at medium to high heat.
Add in the potatoes & mushrooms & finish cooking for another 20-25 minutes with the lid on, add 1/2 cup white wine.
The spaghetti was made using the soup broth and ingredients from a soup I had made a couple days ago. It adds a nice flavor and some ingredients to the spaghetti. Simply heat up the soup, add the spaghetti & let simmer. Tags: chicken, frango, galinha
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posted on January 30th, 2010 by Manny Lopes|
This is a soup my avó (grandmother) used to make. My own mother made it last night & it brought back fond memories for her & me. It is a pure vegetarian soup. Many people don't realize that many of the older recipes popular in Portugal are in fact vegetarian based as the poorer communities didn't have a lot of meat or fish, but did have their fresh vegetable gardens and fruit orchards. My my avó and avo had many olive trees that fresh olive oil from & they would also brine they're own olives. My mother has fond memories of the community women & children getting together to hand pick olives from i the olive groves. This soup has both the olive oil and olives as garnish, and is made with white beans onions cabbage and kale. Very simlpe, very easy to make and delicious & nutritious.
I don't have the exact recipe for this but it is simple.
All you need to do is soak about 1 lb of dried white beans over night until they are rehydrated. (you can use canned as well).
In a large pot (8-10 qts) add one diced onion & 1/2 cup olive oil & dissolve the onions... Tags: sopa da minha avó
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posted on January 29th, 2010 by Manny Lopes|
In keeping with the "Petisco" or tapas as they are called in Spain & popularized in the US. I'm making a shrimp or "camarão" petisco. Shrimp are popular world wide, this dish has it's roots in the Portuguese colony of Moçambique in Eastern Africa, and is proclaimed as they're national dish. What makes this dish unique the use of a hot pepper know in the region & popularized in Portugal called piri-piri.
Start by making some piri-piri hot sauce. In a bowl, add one cup olive oil, some crushed hot peppers, garlic & dried-smoked chouriço and add 2 tablespoons of aquardente (or any white spirits of choice) & let stand overnight or longer.
Place 1 lb medium to large (unfrozen) shrimp with shells in a dish with the piri-piri sauce for about 1/2 hour.
place the shrimp on a greased hot grill, let one side cook till shells are tanned & slightly crispy, flip & cook the other side as well.
Serve with lemon wedges, peel & eat.. fun & delicious
In Portugal & Moçambique, the shrimp is served whole, similar to the way crayfish is served. Tags: Moçambique, petisco de camarão
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posted on January 28th, 2010 by Manny Lopes| I like breakfast, omelets are quick easy & nutritious or a great lunch or brunch. Here is a step by step to make an easy omelet. An omelet made with some sliced chouriço (portuguese sausage) and some grated cheese (queijo) makes for a tasty omelet.
you can make an omelet with as many eggs as you like, but for one serving one or two eggs is sufficient, some thinly sliced chouriço or Lingüiça and some fresh grated cheese (queijo) of choice.
in a skillet, warm the chouriço in a drizzle of olive oil.
beat the eggs lightly
melt some butter in a HOT skillet
Pour the egg mixture into the Hot skillet (it's important to keep it hot) the eggs will cook up very fast.
move the pan around in circular motions to spread the eggs on the entire skillet so it is thin & allow to cook, as the eggs set up quickly jerk the pan from front to back to loosen the eggs from the pan (they should slide around the pan (this only takes a minute or so).
add the sliced chouriço or Lingüiça and some gratted cheese & flip or fold the eggs, (you may need to use a spatula to assist the folding).
Sprinkle more shredded cheese (queijo) served with... Tags: cheese, chouriço, omleta de chouriça com queijo, omlette, queijo
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