Category: Recipes

Appetizers / Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

Easy Sliders on Sweet Rolls

I made these slider using King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. The bread tastes like my recipe; classic Portuguese Sweet Bread, so be warned that the rolls are delicious and you’ll eat the whole bag in one day! The bread has it’s beginnings in the 1950’s in Hilo, Hawaii where Robert Taira, the Hawaiian-born son of Japanese immigrants opened his first bakeshop.

Portuguese Sweet Bread is famous in Hawaii, visit this website Kona Historical Society where you’ll find the history of the Portuguese and the sweet bread in Hawaii. Maybe these King’s Hawaiian rolls were inspired by the Portuguese recipe.

 

The sliders were easy to make because instead of making small patties one by one, I simply formed the meat into meatballs and then flattened them with a spatula. They all come out perfectly shaped tiny sliders.

Sliders:

16 Hawaiian buns or Sliders buns

4 hamburgers

Toppings:

Cheese

Lettuce

Onion

Sliced Tomato

Ketchup

Sesame seeds

melted butter 

Cook burgers and cut into fourths. Top with cheese and turn off heat. Set aside and keep warm until ready to assemble sliders.

Appetizers / Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

Crustless Ham with Broccoli Quiche

This crust-less quiche is easy to prepare in only 45 minutes. I make this quiche very often as a side dish when I serve fish or chicken.  It also makes a perfect lunch, snack, or serve it as dinner with a salad.

Make it a vegetarian quiche by substituting the ham with your favorite cooked vegetables.

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped ham (optional substitute with any cooked vegetables)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 pound package frozen broccoli spears or fresh (cooked and chopped)

1 small ripe tomato (chopped) (optional)

1/2 small onion (finely chopped)

1 tablespoon olive oil or butter

1 and 1/2 cups half and half (1/2 cream – 1/2 milk)

5 eggs

Pinch of Salt (add pinch more if you omit the ham)

Dash of fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

 


Preparation:

Saute the onion in the oil for a few minutes until the onion is translucent.

Beat eggs until foamy in a medium bowl. Add the milk, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to the eggs and mix to incorporate. Add the broccoli, ham, onion, and 1/2 of the cheese. Mix all ingredients.

Heavily grease a deep souffle dish with margarine. Pour the broccoli mixture into the dish and spread evenly. Top with the remaining cheese. Cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until golden brown.

You many need to cook longer if your souffle dish is deep. Cut into the center of the quiche it should be firm and not runny. Enjoy!

Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Sauces and Jams

Francesinha – Little Frenchie Portuguese Sandwich

It is said that the now famous;  Francesinha was invented in the city of Porto, Portugal, in the 1960’s by  Daniel da Silva, a returned emigrant from France who tried to adapt the croque-monsieur  to Portuguese tastes.  There is no standard recipe for the sandwich which is typically made with ham, Portuguese sausage, and steak but there are many adaptations using different types of ham, sausages and various roasted meats other than steak. The rich beer and tomato based sauce that covers the sandwich is a secret but there are many variations. Some use a tomatoes, while others use various ingredients to create the sauce with different levels of spiciness added.

The sandwich is famous throughout the city of Porto and featured at many restaurants. Visit the “For the Love of Port” website for their article “Best Fransicinha in Porto”; A comprehensive tasting and find the very best preparation of the sandwich throughout the city.

Here are 2 interesting videos of how the recipe is made which I enjoyed watching.

Recipe from Portuguese Soul Food:

Recipe from Saborintenso in Portuguese:

 

 

Recipe by pratos-e-travessas.blogspot.com

Image credit: http://pratos-e-travessas.blogspot.com

Ingredients: 1 francesinha
2 slices of white, but not to soft, slices with aprox. 2 cm/0.8 inches thickness (I buy a whole loaf and cut it into slices)
1 linguiça
1 fresh sausage
1 small veal steak
2 slices of mild ham
7 to 8 thin slices of cheese
1 egg

Sauce: serves 4 or 5
6,6 dl beer (2 cans)
4 dl semi skimmed milk
1 dl whisky
2 dl tomato passata
1 bay leaf
1 medium carrot, peeled
1 small veal steak
2 cubes of meat stock
2 tsps corn starch dissolved in a bit of milk
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Piri Piri (portuguese hot chili sauce)

Fries:
Potatoes cut into
Corn, soy or sunflower oil to fry

Preparation:
*Place all the ingredients for the sauce (except the corn starch and the piri piri) inside a heavy bottomed pan and take to the heat. Cook for aprox. 30 minutes in meddium heat. Season with salt and pepper and remove the carrot, bay leaf and steak.
*Add the dissolved corn starch to the sauce a bit at a time, stir, let it come to a boil and if it´s still to runny add a bit more. Don´t make a very thick sauce, it should fall from the wooden spoon in a constant thread, ending up in thick drops.
*Remove from the heat and add the piri piri to taste, which in my case means lots of it.
*Grill the meats, I use a press grill because it´s easier to cook the sausage and linguiça. Cut the sausage and linguiça in half and then in 4 equal parts.
Fries:
*Cover the potatoes with cold water and keep in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to a day.
*Fill a deep frying pan up to 2/3 with oil and heat it very well, drain the potatoes and clean them with a kitchen towel. Fry in small batches until golden. Drain on top of kitchen paper.
*This way the fries will be crisp outside and soft on the inside.
Assembly:
*On top of a slice of bread place first a slice of cheese, on top place a slice of ham, then the 4 pieces of linguiça, on top the steak, followed by the fresh sausage, another slice of ham and another slice of cheese, top with the other slice of bread and on top a slice of cheese. Place one slice of cheese in each side of the sandwich – You can hold the cheese with skewers and remove them once the cheese is melted, later – and place one more on top.
*Put the sandwich inside a preheated oven for a couple of minutes just so the cheese starts to melt but let it toast. If you used skewers now is time to remove them.
*Fry the egg in a bit of hot oil.
*Remove from the oven, put the fried egg on top of the sandwich and immediately pour the very hot sauce over it – you want the bottom of the sandwich immerse in sauce – and serve with the fries and a cold, cold beer.
*Keep a bowl with the sauce near so you can add more as you go.

Photo Gallery / Recipes / Sauces and Jams

Molho Cru – Portuguese Chimichurri Sauce

Molho Cru is Portuguese Chimichurri Sauce. You’ve probably heard about chimichurri sauce on cooking shows lately, but this sauce has been used in Portuguese cuisine for many centuries.

You can serve the sauce over bacalhau assado (grilled or baked salt cod), fish dishes and over grilled meats It also doubles as a marinade for grilling meats, chicken or shrimp. If you use it as a shrimp marinade leave it marinating for only about 5 minutes.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 small onion (finely chopped)

3 garlic cloves (finely chopped)

3 tablespoons Portuguese olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt

pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon  crushed red pepper flakes or 1 fresh red chile (finely minced)

1/2 bunch fresh parsley (minced)

Instructions:

Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight for flavors to absorb.

Spread over cooked meats or fish.

photo credit:

http://thenourishinghome.com

http://www.gardenbetty.com

http://www.hispanickitchen.com

Photo Gallery / Recipes / Sauces and Jams / Traditional customs

Orange Marmalade – Marmelada de Laranja

Oranges are in season this time of year, so it’s a great time to make orange marmalade.

This recipe was sent to me by Sofia Vieira who happens to have an orange tree growing in her back yard in Alentejo region of Portugal! 

Oranges are thought to have their origin in a sour fruit growing wild in the region of South West China and North East India as early as 2,500 BC. For thousands of years these bitter oranges were used mainly for their scent, rather than their eating qualities.

The Romans brought the fruit to Europe and later oranges were spread to Spain by the Moorish conquests in the eight and ninth centuries. The sweet orange familiar to us today probably developed somewhat later.

The fruit arrived in Central America with Columbus in 1493 and soon afterwards the Portuguese introduced them to Brazil.

Oranges are now an important crop in warm climates around the world, most notably Brazil, USA, Spain, North and South Africa, Israel and Australia. Credits: http://www.eattheseasons.com

Orange Marmelade Recipe:
Ingredients:

6 oranges

Same weight in sugar as peeled oranges

1 lemon

Instructions:

Zest 3 of the 6 oranges and peel all 6. Peel the lemon.  Remove any seeds and place the orange and lemon in a food processor.

Pulse a few times to mince slightly leaving orange and lemon pieces.

Measure out the same amount of sugar as the minced citrus and place into a heavy saucepan.

Cook on low heat for about 1 hour and 1/2 stirring often. When you can trace a clear line in the bottom of the pan, the marmalade will be ready.

Remove from heat and pour the marmalade into clean, hot sterilized Mason jars.

Wipe the rims thoroughly with a clean damp paper towel, and seal with the lids.

You can also place into small jars and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Contact:
Sofia Vieira

Tourist Guide

Português- Francês – Inglês – Castelhano

Telf + 351.927500244 or +351965652420

PORTG. COOKING SCHOOL – private classes for min 2 persons

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Portuguese-Cooking-School/444075519031618

Appetizers / Photo Gallery / Side Dish

Tuna with Black Eyed Bean Salad – Salada de Feijão Frade com Atum

A fan from Portugal; Sofia Vieira-touristic Guide, who does cooking classes in Évora, Portugal with many North American tourists, sent me this recipe.

It’s a great quick salad for your meatless days, a quick lunch and even as a side dish. It’s protein packed and the beans are slow digesting carbs that are good for you!

“The Alentejo is a great place to eat. It was really poor that’s why people had to be creative and yes, there are lots of recipes from the convents and palaces, and also the adaptations of these recipes from the servants  that worked for them. Bom Apetite.”  She says!

Ingredients:


1 can of cooked black-eyed beans

1 can of Portuguese tuna or any good tuna packed in olive oil

1 small onion (finely minced)

2 cloves garlic ( finely minced)

Sea salt

Black pepper

1 tablespoon Olive oil or more to taste

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar or more to taste

Cilantro (finely chopped)

2 hard boiled eggs (optional)

Instructions:

Place the beans into a small bowl, add the onion and garlic and mix well. Add the flaked tuna, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss gently. Add Cilantro and toss. Add chopped hard boiled eggs if desired and stir into the salad.

Sofia Vieira-touristic Guide

Top image credit: https://whyiamnotskinny.wordpress.com

Photo Gallery / Recipes / soup / Soups

Sopa de Feijão com Presunto – White Bean Pasta Soup with Ham

I made this soup with my leftover ham bone that I had frozen from Christmas. I always save any leftover ham for making soup, because it creates a rich flavorful broth, but you can substitute the bone with any meat bone, ham or even chicken. Making soup is pretty easy and allows you to be creative using your favorite vegetables and spices. In this recipe you can also substitute the white beans for any beans as well. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Ham bone, or a small piece (1/2 pound of presunto cured pork)

6 cups of water

2 cups chicken broth

2 carrots (diced)

1 can or 2 cups of cooked cannelloni beans

1/2 pound of elbow pasta

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 small onion (diced)

2 cloves garlic (diced)

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

Black pepper to taste

2 cups any green cabbage (rinsed and finely chopped)

Instructions:

In a large soup pan, saute the onion for about 1 minute. Add the ham bone, bay leaf, and garlic and saute for a few more minutes.

Add the water, broth and seasonings. Simmer for about 45 minutes. Add the carrots, beans, pasta and cabbage and cook for about 15 minutes.

Taste the soup for saltiness. If you find the soup too salty add more water. If you prefer a thicker broth, smash half of the beans with a fork and let the soup cook for a few minutes to thicken. Remove from heat and let sit until ready to serve. The soup will thicken the longer it sits.

When ready to serve, shred the ham or presunto into small pieces and place into the bowls.

fish / Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes

Bacalhau no Forno com Migas – Oven Backed Salt Cod with Migas

                        Bacalhau no forno com migas. (Oven backed salt cod with migas)

Guest Post by: Nelson De Sousa


In Danbury Connecticutt there is a great Portuguese Restaurant called “The Atlantic”. I ate there on a recent business trip and had the “Bacalhau a Lagareiro”. The chef there prepares this cod dish in by caramelizing the onions and garlic in olive oil in a pan before pouring it over the grilled codfish. I decided to adapt this recipe for home preparation on a weeknight.

“Bacalhau a Lagareiro” is typically grilled over a charcoal fire which is not so time friendly for a weekday night and obviously not weather friendly for those in northern climates in the winter…hence my adaptation for weeknight preparation no matter what the weather is. I am also not a big fan of potatoes…I love them fried but hate them boiled or baked so I decided to pair this dish with Migas which is a stir fry of sorts made with broccoli rabe, Portuguese corn bread, black eyed peas and pine nuts.

Easy to make on weeknight…in fact I made this in under 1 hour!


Ingredients:
3 to 4 salted cod pieces (previously soaked in daily rinses of fresh water for 3-5 days)
2 onions
13 garlic cloves
2 bunches broccoli rabe chopped
2 cans black eyed peas
1 loaf Portuguese corn bread
Portuguese Olive Oil
Portuguese Olives
Pine nuts (optional)

Instructions:

Boil Cod Fish but don’t overcook it you just want to blanch it. Remove and let drain.

Caramelize 2 onions cut into wedges and like 10 whole gain cloves in Portuguese Olive oil. You want brown not burnt.

Set cod in a Pyrex baking dish and cover with olive oil, onions and garlic. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile sauté 3 whole garlic cloves on olive oil until brown but not burnt. Remove garlic cloves then add the inside (not the crust) of Portuguese corn bread. You want to rip the bread by hand into the finest pieces you can.Let the bread fry for 5 minutes then add chopped broccoli rabe. Cover and let cook until broccoli rabe is wilted and cooked.

Add canned black eyed peas and pine nuts and a little of the water from the black eyed peas can. Stir and cover for 5 minutes on low to medium heat. Garnish cod with Portuguese olives.

 

 

 

 

chicken / Main Dish / Photo Gallery

Galinha a Caçador – Chicken Cacciatore

I make this dish very often because it’s simple to prepare and it cooks in one deep skillet on the stove top. The chicken comes out moist,  flavorful and practically falling off the bone. Serve over pasta, potatoes or white rice.

One 4 pound chicken cut into eight pieces or 8 drumsticks and thighs (remove skin if desired)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion (diced)

2 cloves of garlic (finely minced)

1 cup Vinho Verde or Dry white wine

2 cups water

1 chicken bouillon cube

1/2 red bell pepper (chopped into small pieces)

2 small carrots (cut into small chunks)

1 can or 2 cups of chopped tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)

2 tablespoons basil (chopped)

1 pound any favorite pasta

Instructions:

Season the chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder and let marinade for 20 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the chicken letting it brown for a few minutes on both sides until a golden color.

Add the wine and let it come to a boil for one minute. Add the water, and the remaining ingredients.

Stir, cover and let simmer on medium heat for about 1 hour stirring once in a while.

Cook pasta during the last 15 minutes of chicken cooking time.

Serve the chicken over the pasta and enjoy!

Photo Gallery / Soups

Kale with Meatball and Orzo Soup

 

You’ll love how easy this soup is to make. Use my recipe for turkey meatballs or use your favorite. It’s a hearty and healthy soup that your family will enjoy all winter long.  Serve the soup with crusty garlic bread.

Ingredients:

12 or more small meatballs made with (1/2 turkey meatball recipe)

3 carrots (sliced thin)

3/4 cup Orzo pasta

1 small bunch Kale (finely chopped)

4 cups chicken broth

4 cups water

1 small onion (chopped)

1 stalk celery (chopped)

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes with Italian seasonings

Shredded Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

 

Preparation:

Saute the onion, celery, garlic and carrots in olive oil for a few minutes until onion is translucent.

Add the broth, water, seasonings and tomato and bring to a simmering boil.

Add the kale and orzo and cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

Add the meatballs and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Taste the broth and add more salt and pepper if desired.

To serve, place in bowls and top with shredded cheese.