When Portuguese get together it´s like this

We eat. We cook. We have a few beers and we laugh. In 90% of the cases, being together is about preparing our food and savor it. This is true back home but I know now that it´s even more among the expats communities. Here, the type of food we relate to becomes a rarity and just too precious when it comes along.

Some Portuguese friends and neighbors I have in Singapore visited Portugal at the same time as I did. Suffering from the expat syndrome, they also returned packed with some of the Portuguese classics.  I´m yet to meet a Portuguese in Singapore who resists to the temptation of bringing back yummy things like codfish, chouriço or cheese.

With this introduction I mean to say that every time some of us have any of these precious items, then it´s time to gather the people and eat! And that´s precisely what happened last weekend: we shared the good flavors we brought from home.

Here´s non other than the chouriço being roasted in this very typical clay assador, brought by my neighbor (I completely forgot to bring one too!!). To cook the chouriço it´s only necessary to put some alcohol in the bottom (normally an alcoholic drink) and set it on fire. The flames will do their job and leave the chouriço crispy and brown. The flavor is just amazing!

 Cheese from the south region of Portugal.

Scrambled eggs with farinheira, Tuna paté and freshly baked bread by my husband using Thermomix.

The paté is something I prepare very often and I follow the same recipe I learned many years ago. It´s always a hit and super easy to make.

To prepare it, you just have to mix the following ingredients in a blender:


- 1 can of tuna
- 1 boiled egg
- 2 - 3 cloves of garlic
- coriander
- pickles
- about 3 - 4 table spoons of mayonnaise
- about 1 - 2 table spoons of mustard

As for the bread... we are going crazy with it around the house, in a good way, particularly my husband who has always been fascinated by the process of making bread. Thanks to Thermomix, doing it became sooooooooooooo easy and super fast, literally 5 minutes.

Whether you have a kitchen appliance to help, here´s the recipe of this white and wheat bread we´ve made for our Portuguese gathering.

Ingredients:

- 500 grams of bread flour (250 g of bread flour and 250 g of wheat flour for the wheat bread)
- 6 grams of yeast
- 300 ml of tepid water (if you want to be precise, tepid means 37º)
- 2 tea spoons of salt
- 1 tea spoon of sugar

Dissolve the salt and the sugar in the tepid water and then add the yeast. Let it rest for 5 minutes until getting a brownish layer on the top. This means the bacteria in the yeast were activated by the sugar. Only then we add the flour and knead the bread.

Now it´s time to let the dough rest for about 30 minutes, covering it with 2 cloths to keep it warm. The dough should double the size.   

At this point you can either bake the bread right away at 180º (preheat the oven) or knead the dough once more to get the air out and let it rest for another 30 minutes, already in the oven´s tray. This will allow the bread to grow even more.

Before baking the bread don´t forget to brush the bread with water.

Hope you can try this recipe!



 

61kg of luggage

Familiar with the episode of laying down on a suitcase to try to close it? That was me a week ago when packing to return to Singapore! I managed to squeeze in 2 suitcases the most incredible things... and weight: 61kg to be more precise. Of those, I would say that at least 40kg were food related!

With the airline I was travelling with I was allowed to carry up to 60kg, so despite the exaggeration I still got away with it.

Thank God, because everything was too precious to me to leave behind:

- Remember the kitchen appliance I have written about before (Thermomix)? I said I would get one for myself back home, and I did! It´s been a week since I started to use it and I´m extremely happy with it, as it helps me to cook what I wouldn´t easily do by myself, like bread. I´ve been making it every 2 or 3 days no among many other things. It´s changing my life!

- Codfish, lots of it, of course!!! Remember that "our" cod is salty and dried, not fresh... so my luggage was not stinking, ok?

- Different types of cheese and chouriço, about 8 or 10 of each.

- 2 bottles of olive oil, the best in world! (and much, much cheaper in Portugal than in Singapore)

- Corn flour to prepare a traditional Portuguese bread, called broa. I had never found in Singapore until 3 days ago. Next time I won´t have to bring this in my luggage. 

- 3 chocolate bars of a specific brand to prepare chocolate mousse (my husband´s specialty).

- Several packages of jelly. Although in Singapore this is easy to find, the texture is a bit different from the jelly I was used to. That´s why I brought it.

- Biscuits, different types of it (my addiction!).  

- And, finally, a box of egg tarts to my English neighbors and friends, so that they could compare to the others they have tried before, but not in Portugal. And here it´s where you can find the best in the world! Any Portuguese will tell you that and I´m no different!

At Cantinho do Avillez

Here I am after a 2 week-visit to Lisbon and fully recovered from my jet lag!

No words can describe how happy I was to go back after moving to Asia 15 months ago! I spent such an amazing time with family and friends, which in my Portuguese culture means good food on the table in 90% of the cases. Not that I have cooked much, no, as I kept going out to restaurants or to other people´s houses. I wanted to eat everything, go everywhere and be with everybody. So, between my packed schedule and limited internet connection there was almost no time to update the blog and let you know what I was up to during this visit.

I took lots of pictures though and as I look at them now I only have one question: where to begin my travel report?

Following my previous post on Anthony Bourdain´s visit to the city, I thought I could start with a great dinning experience I had at a restaurant where he also went to, called "Cantinho do Avillez".

It belongs to a young Portuguese chef, José Avillez, known for the way he takes the classic dishes and traditional ingredients to a modernized level. My thumbs up to him, I absolutely loved the food and the great atmosphere of the restaurant (and reasonable prices!). Definitely one of the best nights I had during my stay in Lisbon, also thanks to the great company!

I went to "Cantinho do Avillez" along with my husband and other 4 friends and our pact was to order different dishes so that we could all share and try as many as possible. Luckily the menu was small and we got to eat almost everything. 

For starters...

Marinated scallops with avocado

Absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Extremely simple dish but full of flavor and freshness. Those scallops were the best! Many of you might not know that Portugal is very strong when it comes to fish and sea food. The Portuguese coast line is about 900 Km long and to find great places specialized in sea food is the easiest thing in the world and an experience I would recommend!

 “Nisa” cheese baked with ham and rosemary honey

Another Portuguese classic - cheese! Honestly, if I was forced to choose only one food to live with until the end of my days, this would be it. I love cheese!
Nisa is a type of cheese produced in a Portuguese region with the same name. They make one of the best!

Main dishes...

Prego

"Prego" means, literally, nail. Don´t ask me why... All I know is that this is the best beef sandwich seasoned with mustard that you will ever have in your life and one of the most iconic Portuguese dishes. Detail: the bread is soaked in the sauce wherein the meat was cooked. All the main dishes you´ll see next are 5 stars, but this simple sandwich... I have to give a 10!!

Flaked cod with bread crumbs, LT egg and “exploding” olives

In the description of the dish only cabbage is missing (green veggies in the picture). Cod is cod, good, simple, homy. Many of the codfish dishes go very well with olives. A match made in heaven! By the way, Portugal is a big producer of olives and great olive oil!

Grilled tuna with vegetables in a sweet and sour sauce

I have to say that fresh tuna is something I don´t particularly love. But I was surprised by the flavors and by how tender the tuna was. That night, it was surprisingly one of my favorite dishes!

 Cantinho tartare steak with NY style potatoes

A simple and classic dish everywhere you go in the world.

Spoon veal, curry sauce, vegetables and Thai rice

Here´s an Asian dish. The meat was just unbelievable! It completely melts in the mouth.

 Portobello mushrooms risotto, bacon and parmesan cheese

Now, Italian style. For a cheese lover like me, this dish is like paradise! I´m very picky with risottos, they have to be perfect, and this one was.

Desserts...

Lemon sorbet with basil and vodka

Hazelnut³

Chocolate cake with strawberry ice cream

Orange and vanilla crème brûlée

All the desserts were fantastic, but to me nothing beats a good creme brulee! I´ll never forget the best one I have ever had 6 or 7 years ago. It was in the north of Portugal, in the middle of nowhere, at a very humble restaurant, made with fresh and very yellow. Creme brulee is one of my favorite desserts since then.

Thank you to "Cantinho do Avillez" and thank you to my friends who made this feast even more delicious. Thank you!

Next post will be about my luggage from Lisbon to Singapore. It´s hilarious what I was capable to bring back with me, trust me!