1 year anniversary - Friands ( Toucinho do Ceu)

Portuguese Kitchen turns 1 year old today. It was started in the wee hours of the 31st at 12.30am when this new blogger couldn't sleep due to glandular fever. When I'd started the blog I'd been home bound for 5 months. I was very bored & restless, & thought it would be a brilliant idea to pass away some of the time by sharing the food  I grew up with. Little did I know it would take another year for me to fully recover.
To commemorate the occasion I've got a new header, thanks to my sister in law for designing it. I hope you like it.

In 2008 I took a trip to Portugal & found that my passion for Portuguese food grew, it is as I've said many times before, it's more than just Portuguese chicken & custard tarts. I think I've proven that in this blog.
With my new found health my life this year is going in a very different direction, I plan to be very busy so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post, whether it'll be every week or every month. Whatever it's going to be I'm happy this blog has grown, at last count several thousand read this blog every week, from countries such as the US, UK, Australia, & Portugal being 4th on the list. It has surely surpassed my expectations, I really had expected only a handful of people reading this blog.

I hope you've enjoyed reading & learning about Portugal.
Today as it's celebration time, I've posted a friand cake, which is french, the Portuguese have a very similar cake called Toucinho do Ceu.
This recipe is slightly different to the original Portuguese one, I think it's much lighter.
Almond trees grow all over the Algarve & each winter for 3 weeks they flower producing an explosion of colour that blankets the landscape with white or pink blossoms.  It's a site to be hold really. There are lot's & lot's of sweets made in Portugal using almonds.
The recipe I've provided is from the Women's Weekly More Cakes & Slices, it's a great recipe  which I've used for years.

Recipe

185g butter, melted
1 cup almond meal
6 egg whites, beaten
240g icing sugar
75g plain flour
100g frozen or fresh mixed berries 

 
1. Weigh the dry ingredients in a bowl

 2. Whip the egg white lightly

3. Melt the butter add it to the dry ingredients & then fold in the egg whites gently.

 4. Spray the muffin tins with baking spray. Add the friand mixture into each tin. Bake for 10 min at 170 degrees. After 10 min add the mixed berries & bake a further 10 min.

Note

• If you add the frozen berries straight to the mixture I find that they sink to the bottom, so cooking  the friand slightly allows them to stay on top.

Cuttlefish in black ink - Chocos com tinta

Happy New Year everyone.
Blogger has introduced a new section that shows your stats & I was blown away by how many people are reading my blog a week,several thousand, which totally surprised me as I only have 10 followers, it's great to know people are enjoying something I love.
So I encourage you to either leave a comment or sign up to become a follower, we bloggers love to know what you think of what is posted as a lot of work goes into a post.

During the holidays I had a family member visit from the UK & they requested seafood, as the part of the UK they live doesn't have the quantity or quality that we Australians enjoy.
I made all the favorites, octopus, mussels with garlic,wine & parsley, garlic prawns, cuttlefish in black ink.

I have memories of eating this dish as a small child & remember very vividly watching my mother clean the cuttlefish.
I can't tell you how delicious this dish is, the black ink has the intense flavour of the sea. 

Ingredients

• 100ml olive oil

• 1 kg cuttlefish

• 6 garlic cloves chopped

• 4  bay leaves

• 1/2 tea salt

• 100ml white wine

• 1 tab parsley, chopped

1. Hold the cuttlefish in your hand & pull the tentacles out being very careful to not break the ink sac.
Once the tentacles are removed, remove the ink sac by cutting it away from the intestines & placing it aside in a bowl.
Pull out the cuttle bone & under cold running water pull the skin off.
Cut the cuttle fish into bit size pieces.

2. Heat a fry pan on medium heat add the oil then the garlic,  20 seconds later add the cuttlefish, bay leaves & then the ink sacs, stir for 1 min. The ink sacs should release the black ink, add the salt & the white wine & cook a further 3 min.  
Transfer the cuttlefish to a serving dish & sprinkle with chopped parsley. 




 

Dried Cod Fish with potatoes & eggs - Bacalhau a Bras

Merry Christmas everyone.
My apologies for not posting in so long, but now that I'm feeling better I'm less home bound & seem to have less time to blog.
During Christmas the Portuguese generally eat Bacalhau (Codfish,dried), as it's really the national food & is very much loved by the Portuguese.

It's made from shreds of codfish, fried potatoes, caramelised onions, scrambled eggs & garnished with black olives & parsley.This has to be one of my favorite meals ever, I love the saltiness of the codfish & the creaminess of the eggs.

It's a simple & easy dish to prepare, it's usually eaten at lunch or dinner.





INGREDIENTS
SERVES 6

• 3 medium onions, peeled & sliced thinly
• 8 garlic cloves,peeled & chopped
• 200ml olive oil
• 5 large potatoes, peeled & cut into french fried batons
• 1lt oil for frying
• 400g dried codfish
• 10 eggs large size
• 100ml milk
• 3 tea salt
• 2 tab parsley chopped
• 1 tab parsley chopped, extra for garnish
• 15 black olives 

1. Soak the codfish over night in cold water changing the water 2 or 3 times to remove the salt.
One the salt has been removed pull the codfish apart into shreds using your hands.

2.  In a large fry pan heat the olive oil on medium heat add the onions & fry for 3 min then add the garlic cook the onions till there soft but don't have too much colour.
Then add the codfish shreds & the parsley cook for 3 min, once this is done leave it to the side off the heat until the potatoes are fried.

 

3. Fry the potatoes in small batches  in hot oil till golden brown.As the potatoes cook drain them on absorbent paper.

4. In a bowl break your eggs then mix them with a fork then add the milk & the salt.

5. Put the onion & codfish mix back on the stove on high heat, add the potatoes giving a quick stir, than add the egg mix stirring with a wooden spoon.
Scramble the eggs till there cooked ( I like it slightly runny).
Sprinkle the dish with chopped parsley & garnish with black olives on top.


TIPS

• Adding a bit of milk makes the eggs mixture lighter
• No need to over cook the codfish as this will make it dry, so just cook it for the suggested time as it will cook again once you add the egg mixture.
• I haven't included a lot of salt as codfish can be quite salty so feel free to add extra if you like.

Braised Pork & Chickpeas - Porco com Grao de Bico

I sometimes sit around trying to deciding what I can make for dinner, like many of you I'm sure. Having this blog makes it twice as hard as I don't want to show case things I've made before,  I want to show the best of what Portuguese food has to offer.
So during the week I make lots of different type of food Italian, French, Middle eastern & lots of Asian dishes, but since I started this blog, I try to cook at least 2 Portuguese meals a week.

The food I grew up with, is like most peasant food, the taste is unbelievably good but visually it can sometimes look unappealing especially when you want to take a photo.
Since starting this blog I've learnt to tweak a recipe here & there or totally modernise it, to the Australian palette.
A few are totally original where I've kept it totally authentic, others I've had to reduce the amount of oil or reduce the cooking time, changing cooking methods to bring out the best of the ingredients or omit ingredients that I dislike such as pigs ears, pigs feet, intestines.


This dish falls into the changing category, traditionally this dish has pigs ears, the meat is boiled with aromatics & potatoes.
I changed the dish by using pork scotch as it requires less cooking time & needs to just be lightly braised. The marbling in the meat gives it a rich flavour. I've also added capsicum paste to add depth  giving it a robust flavour, as well as making it visually appealing.
It has all the ingredients the Portuguese love pork & chickpeas.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 6- 8 people

MARINADE

• 1.3kg scotch pork
• 2 tab capsicum paste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 375g dry chickpeas
• 200ml olive oil
• 1 brown onion, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 chorizo, sliced in half then cut into chunks
• 1 red capsicum, cut into chunks
• 1 tea smokey paprika
• 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 2 tab parsley, chopped
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 cups water
• 1 tab salt
• 2 tab parsley chopped extra for garnish

1. Cut the meat into cubes, then add the capsicum paste, garlic, stir the ingredients until well combined in a bowl adding the wine at the end. Allow the meat to marinate overnight.
Place the chickpeas in a large bowl, then cover with double the amount of water & soak over night.

2. Drain the chickpeas & place them into a pot covering them in water, then bring to the boil cooking them till there tender, then drain. Put them aside till needed.
In a deep casserole pot, heat oil on a medium heat, add the onions, garlic cook for 3 min then adding the chorizo & cook till the onion is soft & the chorizo brown.Then add the capsicum cook a further 1 min.
Add the paprika cook for 1min then add the tomatoes, white wine, parsley, bay leaves, water, chickpeas, salt. Cook on medium heat for 20min.

3. In a fry pan add more oil to fry pan, heat the pan on high heat then add the pork in small batches, cook for 4 min or until the pork is browned on all sides. Place the pork in bowl until all the meat has been fried.

4. Place all the pork into the stewed chickpeas & simmer on med/high for 10- 12min, sprinkle 1 tab of chopped parsley on top.
Serve the dish with boiled potatoes.

TIPS

• Make sure that when you cook the chickpeas no salt is added to the beans otherwise the beans won't become soft
• Check to make sure the capsicum is soft before you add the pork
• Don't over cook the pork other wise it will become dry & tough, so after 10 minutes check to see if the meat is cooked. It's tender enough that it doesn't need a long cooking time

Shopping Trip to Petersham

Once every 3 months I take a pilgrimage to Petersham, the home of Portuguese food, restaurants & cafes.
My trip usually starts at Charlie's deli where I pick up imported food from Portugal. I'm a massive believer in buying local & do so very often, but I just can't resist buying good imported food that  can't be found here in Australia, especially when it brings back memories of my visits to Portugal over the years.
Then I go to the pastry shops & pick up a few custard tarts & other Portuguese delicacies.
On this day I bought dried codfish that's been de boned (sacrilege to codfish purists), capsicum paste, calamari with ink, peach fruit juice & passion fruit soft drink called Sumol.
I always have a giggle when I buy this drink, I reminisce about the time when I was 8 & was in Portugal for the first time.
We arrived in Lisbon Portugal that day, my father decided to show us Portugal so we disembarked in Lisbon & caught a taxi ( which in those days was cheap) to the south of Portugal, a 5- 6 hour trip in those days, with the new highway it only takes 3 today.
On the way to the Algarve (the south) we stopped at a road side cafe to have some lunch.
My father asked my younger sister & I if we'd like to drink a Sumol (small) & my sister & I said in unison "no, we want a large."

After a day of shopping I decided to use some of these goodies & had a casual dinner.

I bought this coconut cake (Pao de Deus, which translated means bread of God).
My sister in law once told me how much she missed eating this cake or bread so when I saw that it was available at the bakery I snapped it up. It's a bit like a sweet bun with coconut on top. I think it's Portugal's version of a finger bun (sweet bun with pink icing on top).
My sister in law said she used to buy hers at school just as I'm sure a lot of you may have bought your finger bun at.

I bought this doughnut for me at La Patisserie. When I was in Portugal I honestly become addicted to these, they are called Bola de Berlim which when translated means ball of Berlin.
Unfortunately you can't get them exactly like they are in Portugal.
The Portuguese version has a thick yellow custard, delicious. This one featured, unfortunately can't compare to the original.

 These are what you get in Portugal. This photo is not from my private collection,I found this photo on the net.

As the weather is warming up here I decided to make us a simple, no fuss dinner.
Delicious garlicky chorizo.

Just a plain omelet made with fried garlic & parsley

 Prosciutto (Prosunto) & Italian sopressa

Most Portuguese have a garden where they grow there own fruit & vegetables.
At the moment were growing tomatoes, rocket & several herbs.


Charlie's Deli
37 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham
Ph: 9560 4037


La Patisserie
45 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham
02 9569 1107

Octopus with Potatoes - Polvo Lagareiro

I think octopus is one of those foods you either love or hate (maybe squirm at).
In Australia as in most western countries,octopus is as foreign & unknown to the Australian palette as Vegemite would be to the Portuguese.
When I was travelling around Portugal, octopus was everywhere & is much loved by the Portuguese.
When I was in Portugal, I had a memorable dish called polvo lagareiro, it was so delicious that I had to try & find the recipe & recreate it.
We found this nice small cafe/restaurant in the middle of Lisbon, it looked like nothing special, in fact it seemed a little bit touristy. Which are the type of places I stay well clear of.That old saying of you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover was definitely true in this situation. 

Braising the octopus makes it really really tender.I've heard & read people say that octopus is quite difficult to cook,you need to add a cork to tenderise it or you have to freeze it,then cook it, as fresh is too difficult to work with, but they all couldn't be further from the truth.
The truth is, all that's needed is a bit of TLC.

Lagareiro is a a style of cooking that's usually used on seafood,the dish is baked in the oven with flavors & then is grilled or BBQ  then drizzled with large amounts of olive oil.
I think this style of cooking is similar to the french style on confit.
I've modernised the dish slightly, & have used less olive oil to dress the dish.
If you've never tried octopus then I encourage you to try it.It's a dish that can be put in a roasting pan or pot & braised slowly with any ingredients you fancy. It's my version of a pot roast.

RECIPE

• 2 kg large whole octopus
• 4 cups olive oil
• 2 cups whits wine
• 1 bunch parsley chopped
• 6 bay leaves
• 6 large potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks
• 1 tab salt

1. Clean the octopus by cutting the tentacles into pieces, then remove the eyes.

2. In a large deep baking dish, lay all the octopus on the bottom of the dish, then pour the olive oil, the white wine, bay leaves, half the parsley & salt onto the octopus, cover with foil.
Bake in a medium oven 170 degrees for 45 min.

3. After 45min remove the octopus from the liquid, leaving it to one side.
Make sure the octopus is tender, if not cook a further 20 min or until the octopus is tender.
Add the potatoes to the liquid & bake for 30 min, uncovered or till the potatoes are tender.

4. While the potatoes are cooking, heat a fry pan on medium heat, add add a bit of olive oil to a fry pan.
Once the oil is hot add the octopus & fry the octopus on both sides till they are golden brown & crispy.

5. Once the potatoes are cooked, sprinkle the rest of  the chopped parsley over the potatoes.  Once the octopus is fried, assemble the dish.
Put 3 pieces of potatoes on a plate the add the octopus placing it on top of the potatoes.
Pour the liquid from the baking dish on top of the octopus & serve.
Serve the dish with either a green salad or cooked green beans.

TIPS

• If you find the liquid is going dry add 1/2 a cup of water to the dish
• You can either pan fry the octopus or BBQ the pieces. 

This is the octopus dish I had in the cafe/restaurant in Portugal. Check out the amount of oil.
The octopus was beautifully tender.

 

     

Review of Portuguese Custard Tarts - Pastel de Nata

Thank you to one of my readers for the suggestion of this blog post, I hope you like it.
When I was in my 20's the humble Portuguese tart wasn't really known outside the Portuguese community,  & the only place you could buy them was at the Portuguese bakeries in Petersham, where they cost 0.60c each, yes you heard me right they cost less than a dollar. I can't believe the cost of them these days $3 each.Ok enough winging, I sound like one of those old people talking about the good old days when things where so cheap.
Now the Portuguese tart is everywhere, & most I have to say aren't very good. The only place I'll buy them at is in Petershem, Sydney.


There are 3 Portuguese bakerie shops in Petersham, they all offer coffee & a variation of Portuguese & Australian sweets.
I had the help of my husband & sister in law who where both taste testers & gave me their opinion on each tart.

The first place is Honeymoon, we all agreed the custard tarts here where nice.
The pastry was crispy, the custard was nice, not too sweet & not bland.
I know it may seem strange to say you don't want a sweet tart, but if they are too sweet the flavour of the custard can be spoilt. What your looking for is a tart that has just the right balance.
Price was $1.70 each

Honeymoon Patisserie
45 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham
02 9564 2389

The 2nd patisserie was La Patisserie.
The tarts here I found to be not very good.
The pastry we all found to be stale & rubbery, not very pleasant to eat.
The custard was too sweet & floury, which made the custard thick & dense.

Price: $2 each

La Patisserie
45 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham
02 9569 1107

The 3rd was Sweet Belem.
The pasrty on these tarts were the crispiest & the flakiest out of all of the tarts we tried.
The custard was very nice, & was just right in sweetness. It  was velvety, creamy & soft, not too thich & not runny.
The tarts here come with cinnamon which I really like. They are also very similar to the tarts you can get in the Belem distict of Portugal.
They are the most expensive out of the 3, but also different to what is out there.
Price:$3 each

Sweet Belem
35B New Canterbury Rd, Petersham
02 9572 6685

Overall I found Sweet Belem's tart to be the best, their pastry was the best, very very crispy. I don't think there is any where in Sydney that has the cripiest pastry.At $3 ea they are the most expensive out of the 3, but when you compare what's to out there, these are worth it. Most cafe's aroundSydney sell them at $3 & aren't as good.

My second pick is Honeymoon
The pastry was nice & the custard was great as well. At $1.70 they are probably the cheapest tarts in Sydney, & well worth it.