A night...

A night in Portugal

A night in Portugal

I always imagine Portugal to be warm, in people and in temperature.  Red roofs, cobblestone roads, a warm oceanside sun, a late sunset and dinner after dark.  I imagine a perfect evening of strolling, with every other couple in Porto, along alleyways and narrow streets oozing old world charm.  Gawking over beautiful blue and white mosaic tile work on the facades of old buildings, stopping for a glass of Port, or wine, if I decide I don’t like port.  Walking slowly down to the Riberia (waterfront) to sit and watch a gorgeous sunset before heading into a restaurant to eat the night away.

We plan to visit Porto, in the northern half of Portugal, during the first or second week of May, we’ll see if that stays true.  The region is known for it’s hills and hard work both in the fields and on the water.  Central to Porto’s, and all of Portugal’s, food scene is bacalhau or salt cod.  Preserved to last a very very long time (a few years I’ve heard!) salt cod was a big business in historical times and lined the pockets of the Portuguese. You can find it many different ways and we plan to try quite a few of them, in sandwiches, scrambled eggs, casseroles and fritters, to name a few.

Last night as we spent a night in Portugal we tried some salt cod for the first time, in these wonderful salt cod and shrimp fritters.  These little gems are widely available in just about every restaurant in Portugal to go along side your glass of wine.  We had them along side a bowl of cilantro and ginger milk “mayonnaise”.

Next we had sopa de couve (kale soup) a rough and hearty soup very widely available in Portugal, thought by some to be Portugal’s national dish.  I can certainly attest to it’s deliciousness, half way through my small bowl I said to Shane “I’ll just eat this all night”  It was the best soup I’ve had in a long time, perfectly balanced, it has chorizo with just a touch of heat, kale and potatoes which are awesome by themselves and beans providing a nice contrast in texture.  This I will definitely make again, on a cold rainy night and eat it curled up with a good book on the couch.  (Yes I eat on the couch...all the time.)  I ate this for lunch today and it was even better then yesterday!  The liquid thickens up from the starches in the soup and the flavour is so good!  

Our main course was sablefish, delicious, amazing Pacific sablefish.  Another name the fish is known by is butterfish, which is very fitting.  Honestly I don’t know why we don’t eat it more. Shane made it with fennel and orange, smashed potatoes (he did something amazing to these, they were like butter too!) and broccoli rabe with garlic oil.  Sorry I can’t be more descriptive, my nose was all plugged (lovely, I know) and I couldn’t taste very much of this plate.

Finally, I made these pasteis de nata or baked custard tarts, which are said to have been invented by catholic nuns at Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon during the 18th century.  From the pictures I’ve seen, these nuns knew what they were doing, but since the recipe is a secret the only way to taste the authentic version is to actually go to Lisbon, something I’m not sure we’ll do.  I made two totally different recipes claiming the same end result, but both disappointed.  The first one I made the texture was thick and creamy, but baking did nothing for it and it was essentially just a thick stove top custard that tasted only of lemon.  The second had a tough texture but a wonderful flavour, cinnamon, lemon and vanilla all in perfect balance.  When we finally eat one in Portugal I’m sure we will experience something totally different.

For this entire meal we went straight to one book, The New Portuguese Table by David Leite.  I bought the book on Boxing Day 2009 and didn’t cook much out of it, feeling guilty every time I noticed it’s pretty red spine.  When we decided to do Portugal though, I knew a trusty resource was waiting.  And what a wonderful book it is, informative and pretty, every recipe was delicious!

Kale, Sausage and Bean Soup

Serves 8 or so

1 1/4 c red kidney beans (you can use dried, we never do)

2 T olive oil

12 oz spanish chorizo, cut into 1/4 inch coils (we used the only chorizo we can find here)

2 large yellow onions, chopped

1 bay leaf

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 t crush red pepper

4 cups beef stock

1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 lb kale, thick fibrous stems removes, sliced very thinly

Heat olive oil in a pot until hot, toss in sausage and cook until browned 5-10 minutes.  Fish out the slices with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels.  Keep or add totaling three tablespoons of fat in the pot.  Add onions and bay leaf, lower heat, stirring until the onions are a deep golden brown, 20-25 minutes.  

Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute.  Pour in the beef stock and 5 cups of water, add potatoes and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until the potatoes are cooked, about 10 minutes.  

While the soup is simmering, spoon one third of the drained beans and a bit of the soup broth into a food processor.  Pulse to make a loose paste.  Strain the paste through a sieve to get rid of the skins.  

When the potatoes are cooked, stir in the kale, sausage, bean paste and beans.  Turn off the heat and let the soup sit for 10 minutes to settle the flavours (or you could wait up to 24 hours for it to be spectacular.) 

Remove the bay leaf, season the soup with salt and pepper and ladle into bowls.

Right now

Time: 8:25pm

In my mug: black coffee

On the stereo: a rick steves podcasts

In my belly: portuguese custard tarts

In the fridge: leftover soup

Last thing on the laptop: debating between making austrian chocolate walnut bars or peppermint truffle brownies

On my wish list: a new candy thermometer

Looking forward to: a dinner with my husband tomorrow

On the nightstand: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Recently satisfied: An awesome long walk followed by a night in portugal

A Walk.

Mandarin Jam

I made Mandarin jam today, which is very easy and not all that time consuming except for the part where you tediously remove all the pith.  In fact that and a thirty minute boil are all that stand between you and a toast slathered with jam.  I'm supposed to give these pretty jars away to a few special people at Christmas, but the leftovers went in the fridge just a few hours ago and I CAN'T STOP EATING IT!  It's so darn good I wouldn't be surprised if someone missed out on a gift.  They'd never know anyway!


Mandarin Jam

I adapted the recipe from The Traveler's Lunchbox.  She says here that the recipe could be made using any citrus fruit and I wholeheartedly agree.  Lemon, grapefruit, tangerines, even limes!  In this case however be sure to seed your fruit and up the sugar and lemon levels.


I found some nice mandarins at a local produce store locally, they were smooth, with only a few green patches and heavy for their size.  So juicy in fact it was difficult to zest them without getting any pith. (I think my zester is incredibly dull as well.)  


Made almost two and a half cups worth of jam.


1 kilo (a generous two pounds) of mandarins (I used twelve)
450 g white sugar
juice of two lemons

Wash two or three of your mandarins and zest them careful to avoid the pith underneath.  You want enough to make a tablespoon or so of zest.  Peel all of the mandarins, getting as much of the pith as possible.  Peel the oranges over a bowl to catch the inevitable stray juices.  Puree the oranges for a few minutes until pureed (mine never got totally pureed, they stayed a little chunky, but I like it better that way.)

Combine the mandarin puree, zest, sugar and lemon juice in a large heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil.  When it boils lower to a slow boil and simmer for 25-30 minutes.  At 20 minute put a plate in the freezer.  After 25 minutes put a little of the jam on the plate and return to freezer for about two minutes, until the jam is cool.  If you run your finger through the jam and it holds the trough, it's finished, otherwise try again.  At the same time taste the jam to see if it needs more sugar or lemon juice.

Pour the jam into sterilized jars and process anyway you see fit, or throw it in the fridge to keep for a few weeks.

Help!

(From a few years back)

I'm having a bit of a dilemma here folks.  You see, my birthday is just a few short days away and I need to choose a birthday cake recipe.  I'm a chocolate girl through and through so the first criteria is that there must be chocolate, but to be honest after that there is no criteria at all.

It may be good to note that coffee and peanut butter are my second and third favourite things (not together of course.)

I don't know what to choose.  Do you have any recipes to share?

Thoughts

I sit here a night, cozy in my pajamas with my husband and dog nearby, the Christmas tree freshly decorated and my belly full of leftover turkey sandwich and mashed yams, thinking, planning and dreaming of the coming month. A crazy month of birthdays and festivities. It hasn’t just started though, I’ve been planning since the beginning of November for Christmas, because I really don’t mind being totally caught up in the experience. I don’t mind Christmas carols in November or a tree up a month early. I don’t mind hectic grocery stores or long lineups. It’s all a part of it for me, the lineups force me to slow down and the carols make my heart sing. The Christmas tree brings back such great memories with every ornament of Christmases past.

The Christmas cards are made and addressed, each with a personal note inside. My holiday gifts are planned and the decorations are up, it’s all set in motion. I think one of the main reasons Christmas is such a great time for me is because I don’t let myself get stressed out. All our Christmas presents are from my kitchen so I’m not worried about finding the right gift (though I do worry about the store being out of bulk pecans or dark chocolate.) And the few Christmas parties we throw are never more than two couples at a time, so everything feels manageable. The Christmas goody boxes we love to bring around to our extended family and friends are recipe tested long in advance and the freezer is stock piled with frozen dinners from the past few weeks, for those nights after work I really don’t feel up to anything but a good movie.

But the absolute main reason this is all possible is...we don’t have kids to wrangle, bedtimes to manage and sugar crashes to deal with. And for that I’m sorry. One day we’ll be there too.

So this month I’ll spend one Saturday evening at the symphony, my favourite musical night of the year and one Tuesday at our favourite restaurant in the city eating mussels and fries and drinking Belgian beer. We’ll spend an entire day delivering smiles to the people who are important to us with boxes of sweets. We will definitely be praying for a white Christmas to astound us while we spend one very special morning around a fireplace drinking coffee, eating cinnamon buns and laughing with the people we love the most. We’ll spend Christmas Eve and evening cooking for our two families and at least two nights before that enjoying the company of friends. When you look at it that way and sprinkle a little snow on top it’s hard to feel cynical or pessimistic about the season.