Codfish for a Sunday lunch

Last Sunday I hosted a Portuguese lunch to introduce the codfish to some of my friends who had never tried it before (one Singaporean and two English). I had been promising them a Portuguese feast for a long time and have finally (and gladly!) paid my debt.

When I say feast I really mean it! Starting with the homemade bread I had made the day before, the Portuguese cheese and scrambled eggs with farinheira, followed by one of the most loved Portuguese dishes, codfish with cream, and ending with chocolate mousse (my husband´s specialty, whose recipe  I´ll have the chance to share soon).

 

Codfish with cream I´ve prapared

All this food combined with wine, good company and conversation resulted in a 6 hour lunch! Could a Sunday afternoon get any better?

Moving on to the real subject of this post... the codfish! I´ve mentioned a few times before that this is by far a key ingredient in the Portuguese cuisine. My experience in Singapore tells me that people in general know the Portuguese are good at making egg tarts, but have no idea we are a codfish masters. We definitely love it and it´s said there are over 1001 ways to cook it - just go to a bookshop in Portugal or online and you´ll find cookbooks or websites holding this promise.

I might be wrong, but it seems the codfish itself is generally unknown. The fact that we have it dry and salty, makes it even more peculiar and exclusive to the Portuguese cuisine. I´ve personally seen fresh codfish only once in my life.

 The codfish as it´s sold - dried and salty


The codfish with cream is one of my favorites dishes and what I choose to prepare every time I have non-Portuguese friends over for a meal. I preach so much about the Portuguese food that I don´t have a choice but to give them something that will meet their expectations.

As for the recipe, here is. It´s not difficult, but it takes time, 1h30 to 2h.

Ingredients

- 4 cod steaks
- 1kg - 1.5kg of potatoes
- Olive oil
- 2 onions
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 40 g of flour
- 40 g of butter
- 250 dl of milk
- 250 dl of cream
- 1dl of the water used to cook the codfisf
- Pepper
- Nutmeg
- lemon
- shredded cheese or breadcrumbs

Step 1

Cook the codfish in water for 5 minutes. Let it cool down, remove the bones and skin and shred it.
Note: the cod needs to be unsalted, which means it has to be in water for about 2 to 3 days and the water needs to be changed roughly 3 times a day.

Step 2

Peel the potatoes, cut them in small cubes and fry them.

Step 3

In a big pan, brown the onions (cut in circles) and the garlic in the olive oil. Add the codfish and the fried potatoes and mix everything. Turn the stove off before adding the cod and the fries or immediately after mixing everything altogether.  

Step 4

Now, we need to prepare the bechamel. In a small pan, melt the butter and add the flour without never stop stirring. Then, add the water and keep stirring for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the milk and the cream and keep stirring for about 3 to 4 minutes until you get a thicker sauce. Turn off the stove and season with pepper, nutmeg and lemon.

Then pour 2/3 of the sauce into the pan with the potatoes and cod, mix, and put this in a tray. Pour the rest of the bechamel on top and create another very thin layer either with the cheese or the breadcrumbs. 

Step 5

Pop the tray in the oven for about 20 - 30 minutes, until the top becomes golden.

I never add salt, because the codfish should still be salty enough. I know it won´t be the same, but I´ll have to try this recipe with another fish, maybe salmon. Unfortunately, I also have limited access to the cod.

More bread and the amazing machine!

I have a good friend, Portuguese, also living in Singapore who has a super duper machine that can do pretty much any dish! I know, I know, it sounds too good to be true, but it is! Bread, desserts, rice, meat, fish, soup, ice cream, really... think of something and this appliance will make your dreams come true. Just press some buttons, follow the instructions and in a very short time a meal will be ready to serve.

This kitchen appliance is sold worldwide and super famous in Portugal, under the name of Thermomix (in Singapore) or Bimby (in Portugal). At first, the price tag might make you think on whether to buy it, but you´ll get convinced once you see how it works and how easy your life can get, specially if you have kids, don´t have time to cook or don´t like to do it.

Although I´ve been trying to resist it for many years, I´ve made up my mind and will get one when I go to Portugal in March (slightly cheaper than in Singapore). The reason is simple: the appliance can definitely help me to prepare some of the food from home while in Singapore and, honestly, save me some money in the end.

Last weekend, for example, I used my friend´s machine to make 3 delicious breads, just like with the same texture and flavor I would find in Portugal. All I needed was 1kg of flour, water and yeast and that cost me 2 dollars and 10 minutes. If I were to go to a bakery, only one bread - that I don´t even like that much -  could have cost at least 5 dollars...

If you´re curious about this appliance, here´s the website for Singapore: http://www.ilovethermomix.com/index.html. It´s sold by agents only, precisely to explain the clients how it works and all it can do.
From what I know, the appliance comes with a cooking book and there are tons of recipes online.

The amazing "Croquete"

 Let me introduce you to the amazing croquete...

The croquete is a sort of a meat cake and I think we can consider it a national delicacy - everybody loves it and it can be found at every single eatery in Portugal. The most daring like to eat in the morning along with an espresso (definitely not the best breakfast choice!), for some is the central piece in a meal, for many others it´s the perfect appetizer to have at any party, cocktail or even picnic!

Yes, the croquete is that good and, yes, I´ve made it myself!

Never thought I would ever cook croquetes, precisely because they are so reachable in my country. Nothing like missing something so badly to try to do it yourself. I would say the experience was 90% successful, since I couldn´t give the exact shape to the croquete. But the flavor was all there and everybody loved it!

The preparation takes a while and there are different steps that I´ll enumerate. It´s easier.

But first the ingredients:

- 200 grams of minced beef (beef is more common, but you can use pork or chicken and leftovers instead of buying fresh meat)
- a small piece of chouriço (I used the Portuguese one, of course, but you can replace by other that you like)
- 60 grams of flour
- 1,5 dl of milk
- 1 egg
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 chopped cloves of garlic
- 60 grams of butter
- 1 bay leaf
- pepper
- nutmeg
- salt
- breadcrumbs


1- First, melt the butter with the garlic, onion and bay leaf.

2 - Once the onion is soft and brown, add the flour and stir until the mix is homogeneous. Takes about 1-2 minutes.

3 - Immediately, add the milk little by little and keep stirring until the mix gets once more uniform. Another 1 minute.

4 - Then add the meat and the chopped chouriço, as well as the seasoning - salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix up for more 2 - 3 minutes.

5 - Turn the stove off and add 1 egg. Stir once more and let the dough rest for as long as possible. I put it in the fridge for about 5 hours and the dough was still a bit tricky to manipulate (or probably it was my inexperience...)

6 - Now, all you have to do is to shape the dough with your hands, being the most common shape the shape of a cylinder (I did small balls). Dip the croquetes into a beaten egg before gently rolling on a plate of breadcrumbs.

7 - Then put the croquetes in the freezer and deep fry them whenever you want. I froze some, but fried the rest so that I could bring to a birthday party I was going to. And this is what I think I shouldn´t have done, because the croquetes were too soft.

But, like I said, they were a success!

My mother´s in law Pudding

This is a condensed milk pudding I´ve prepared for a BBQ with friends this past weekend.
I haven´t done a pudding for over 10 years, but since it´s one of the desserts my husband loves the most I decided to give a try to his favorite recipe... his mom´s recipe! She gladly shared it with me and I would say I lived up to the high expectations :)

The pudding is a "super" dessert in Portugal! Everybody loves it, it´s very light and there are numerous recipes and types - flan, orange puddings, lemon puddings, eggs puddings, you name it!

This one is made with condensed milk plus 2 other ingredients that you can mix using a blender:

- 1 can of condensed milk
- 1 can of milk (use the can of the condensed milk to measure the milk)
- 6 eggs

The extra ingredient needed is caramel, which is the top darker layer of the pudding. You can either buy it (not my case) or make your own caramel, just by melting sugar in a pan to the point it gets liquid and brown. It´s very easy and for me even better than the caramel from the supermarkets.

Pour just a bit of the caramel into the form and them the mix of the ingredients and cook it in the oven for about 45 minutes. To prevent the caramel from burning, it´s important to use the oven´s tray with water (or other large pan) under the form.

Turn the pudding around once it cooled down and keep it in the fridge.

I´ll be trying an orange pudding soon!

Blueberry Muffins

Finally, time to cook something worth posting and to write. The past weeks have been quite intense.

Today is is Chinese New Year and it rains non-stop outside, so I decided to do blueberry muffins this morning, also to entertain my son (he´s in charge of adding the ingredients).

I´ve been doing this recipe often for a few months already, after seeing it on TV. Why do I love it? The muffins are delicious - probably one of the best I have ever tried - it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare it and it´s a great way to put soft fruits to a good use  - blueberries and bananas for example.

Here´s the recipe:

- 3 cups and a half of flour
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 table spoon of baking powder
- 1/2 cup of oil
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1 egg
- blueberries (instead you can use 2 bananas and chocolate chips or pecan nuts) - I´ve tried these 3 options and they are all great!

After mixing everything, put the muffins in the oven (preheated) and let it cook for about 35 minutes at 180º.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!