Category: Recipes

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Port Wine – Vinho do Porto – Stawberry Fruit Salad

fruit-salad

You’ll love this fruit salad for summer picnics, Holidays and for family celebrations. It’s so simple and easy to make, because you don’t have to peel and slice the fruit.

The secret to this recipe, is that you use a packages of frozen strawberries in syrup.

*You may substitute the recipe with low calorie canned fruit, or use any of your favorite fresh fruits.

However, to obtain the rich sweet flavor of strawberries and Port you must use the frozen strawberries in syrup.

*If you want to make this for children, leave out the Port wine, it’s just as delicious!

Ingredients: Serves 12-24

Note: These ingredients are all optional so substitute with your favorite fresh or canned  fruits.

1/2 cup Vinho do Porto – (Port wine)

2 cups fresh strawberries cut into slices

1 (16 oz) container frozen strawberries in syrup

1 can chunk pineapple with juice

1 can sliced peaches

1 can fruit cocktail

1 can sliced pears

1 cup grapes

1 – 2 cups chopped cantaloupe (optional)

sliced bananas (optional)

 *Note if you want a low calorie option use fruit in its own juice and not sweetened

 

Instructions: Prep time – 10 minutes

Place all ingredients into a large bowl. Stir gently to incorporate the wine into the fruit.

Place it in your refrigerator or in a cool place for at least 2 hours before serving but it’s better if left overnight in your refrigerator to allow the port wine to infuse the fruit.

When ready to serve, transfer the fruit into a large glass punch bowl. Serve with a ladle into individual glass cups or bowls.

Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days if you have any left over that is! Enjoy!

Holiday Recipes / Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes

Frango Churrasco – Portuguese Chicken on a Brick

Portuguese “Frango Churrasco” – Barbequed Chicken, is one of the most popular dishes for summer cookouts.

There are many different recipes for this dish from using basic salt and pepper to adding oregano and rosemary.

My recipe, combines the classic Portuguese style spices, with an American twist of using a “Brick” to cook the chicken.

The chicken will cook quicker because it literally cooks on both sides with the heat from the hot brick cooking the top of the chicken and the hot grill cooks it on the bottom. You’ll notice you’ll get a great golden sear on the skin from the pressure of the brick as the chicken cooks slowly.

Ingredients:

2 small fryer chickens (3 to 4 lbs each)

4 cloves garlic crushed

2 tbsp salt

1 tbsp paprika

1/2 cup white wine

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tbsp Piri Piri or Tabasco sauce (Add more to taste)

2 tbsp olive oil

Cooking Marinade to brush on chicken:

2 tbsp butter or margarine

1/2 cup white wine

Leftover marinade

You will also need:

2 bricks wrapped in foil or a large heavy cast iron skillet

Preparation:

Butterfly the chicken by cutting down the back bone. Mix all the ingredients to form a marinate in a small bowl and reserve 2 tablespoons.

Coat the chicken with the marinate. Place in a shallow pan or plastic bag and store in the refrigerator.

Let it marinate for at least 2 hours or best, if left overnight.

Wrap 2 bricks with foil and place on the hot grill to heat up.

Grill should be hot then lowered to medium.

* Bricks will be hot – Use oven proof gloves.

When ready to cook, remove chickens from pan or the plastic bag.

Place the chickens skin side up on the grill and place one brick on top of each one. If you don’t have a brick use a heavy iron skillet. Close the grill and let chicken cook for 10 minutes.

In a small saucepan, mix reserved marinade with the butter and 1/2 cup of wine. Place saucepan on top of the grill and cook to evaporate the wine or heat up for a few minutes on your stove top until boiling point.

After 10 minutes check the chicken and turn over, skin side down.

Place the brick back on top of the chicken, close the grill and let cook for 5 minutes.

Begin Coating the chicken with the leftover marinade to moisten the chicken as it cooks if needed.

Check the chicken every 5 – 8 minutes to be sure it’s not burning. If you see flames, developing simply move the chicken off the flame to a different location on the grill.

After 1/2 hour, the chicken should have a good sear and charred color on it.

Lower the heat if you notice flames burning the chicken. Continue cooking for another 30 – 45 minutes,  or until the legs are fully cooked turning every 10 minutes.

*Note: All grills are different so you may find that you need to cook your chicken for a longer time.

*Cut through the legs and thighs for faster grilling.

You may also finish cooking the chicken in the oven for 10 minutes at 350.

Serve with my Potato Salad or Rice recipe.

Enjoy!

Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

Bifana a Piri Piri – Spicy Grilled Pork With Caramelized Onions

 

 

Happy Grilling! Here’s another classic Portuguese BBQ recipe for your summer cook outs! Enjoy! Tia Maria

 

Bifana a Piri Piri Recipe:

Ingredients:


2 lbs Boneless pork loin

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 tsp Paprika

1/2 tsp pepper

1 – 2 tbsp Piri Piri sauce (adjust to your taste preference)

 

Instructions:
Slice the pork loin into 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices between plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet until the bifana is 1/4 inch thick.

Season with the listed ingredients. Let marinate for at least 1/2 hour before cooking.

Cook on grill or in saute pan for about 3-4 minutes per side or until fully cooked.

Top with Caramelized onions (recipe below).


Caramelized Onion Ingredients:

2 medium onions

3 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp white wine

Instructions:

Cook the onions with olive oil until translucent. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the onions reach a golden color and set aside.

When you’re ready to serve them, just heat them up for a few minutes and top your meats.

Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

Grilled Sausage with Roasted Red Peppers and Onions

I make this often with pasta, and roasted potatoes. I make a double batch for the week since they make great subs, hoagies, grinders or what ever you call them in your area! lol

Ingredients:

2 lbs uncooked Hot or Sweet Sausage

*You can also use Chourica but skip the pre-cooking

1/2 cup red wine

1/2 cup water

Peppers and Onions:

2 large onions (sliced)

1 Jar of Roasted Red peppers (drained and sliced)

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tablespoon white wine

Instructions:

Rinse sausages and place in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the wine and water, and let boil for about 10 minutes. Pierce and turn them as they cook. Lower heat as needed and let them brown on all sides for another 10 minutes or until cooked.(slice through one to test)

Remove the sausages from the skillet, add the olive oil and cook the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the wine and let cook a few minutes. Add the peppers to heat through. Season with the salt and pepper.

Add the sausages back into the skillet to heat through and serve.

Holiday Recipes / Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

Portuguese Style Lobster Bake

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Summer party time is here and nothing beats a Portuguese style, New England Lobster Bake! Our family plans 2 bakes a year, with one on Father’s Day!

Don’t worry, you don’t need to bring Dad and dig a hole on the beach for this easy recipe!


Portuguese Chourica is a traditional ingredient in the New England Clam Bake, since the Portuguese fishermen who immigrated to the area began incorporating it into the recipe many years ago. Some people also add raw eggs in the shell to the bake. Once the eggs are cooked, the bake is done.

It’s easy to prepare because all you have to do is put everything in one pot and let it cook on the grill, or even on the stove top!

No plates, needed! Just poor everything onto clean newspapers on top of your picnic table and enjoy!

Easy clean up, just wrap up the newspaper with shells and pop them in the trash!

*Note: All shellfish and vegetables in this recipe are uncooked.

Don’t throw out the leftovers! Make Seafood Chowder. Here’s the recipe!

Serves 8-12 

Ingredients:

8 lobsters 1 1/4 pound average (1 or 1/2 per person)

4 lbs steamer clams

2 lbs mussels

2 lbs shrimp

2 chourico sausages (cut into 2 inch pieces)

1 stick of butter or margarine

8 shucked ears of corn

1 large onion cut into fourths

8 – 12 small red potatoes (1 to 2 per person)

1 teaspoon salt (Only if you do not use seaweed)

2 cups Vinho Verde (enough to have 2 inches of liquid in pot)

*Optional – 4 cups or 2 large handfuls of seaweed (you will find it FREE at the store where you buy the lobsters. They will pack your lobsters in it.)

*Optional – 8 raw eggs

Condiments:

Lemon wedges

Melted Butter

 

DSC05806

DSC058041 large steamer pot or a large turkey roaster pan with lid *Note:  (you can use 2 large aluminum disposable roasting pans using 1 for cooking and 1 for the lid. This will make it easy clean up!)

Preparation:

Step 1

Wash potatoes, rinse the seaweed and set aside. Wash and clean the mussels and clams. Remove the elastic from lobster claws.

Step 2

Place 1/2 of the seaweed in bottom of the pan. Next , layer the ingredients as follows; Lobster, Onion, Potatoes, Corn, (eggs optional) Chourico, Clams, Mussels and Shrimp last.

Add the wine. Cut up the margarine into a few pieces and place on top of the seafood. Top with the remaining seaweed. Cover. (The bake cooks from bottom up so be sure to place the items that need longer cooking time on the bottom.)

Step 3

Cook for 30 -45 minutes on high heat on grill or stove top. When the potatoes are cooked, the lobster bake is ready to eat!

Save some broth to serve in bowls for cleaning the steamers. Save any leftovers to make seafood chowder!

*Note: How to tell a lobster is cooked

  • The meat inside the lobster will be firm, white and opaque. The tomalley, which fills much of the body cavity will be greenish-yellow.
  • The roe in female lobsters will be bright orange-red and firm. If it is a dark greenish-black, with an oily tar-like consistency, the lobster is under cooked.

Be sure to have lots of Vinho Verde, since it’s the perfect wine for seafood! Go all out and make fresh Pao Milho to serve with the bake!

Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

Chick Peas & Rice – Arroz com Grao

Chick Peas & Rice

Chick Pea Plant

Chick Pea & Rice Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups rice

4 cups water

1 small chopped onion

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp any tomato sauce

1 tsp salt

1 small can Chick Peas

1 tsp finely chopped parsley (optional)

 

Instructions:

Saute onion in olive oil until translucent. Add the rice and stir to coat with the olive oil. Let the rice stir fry for about 2 minutes on medium heat.

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan and add to the rice. Add the tomato and salt. Turn burner on high and let it come to a boil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reduce the heat to medium, stir, and cover. Let the rice cook on medium for 15-20 minutes stirring a few times.

Add the drained chick peas, stir, cover pan and let sit until ready to serve. Enjoy!

 

Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Photo Gallery / Portuguese Christmas / Recipes / Traditional customs

Pastéis de Nata – Portuguese Custard Tarts

These classic pastries are everyone’s favorite. Once you experience just how easy they are to make at home, you’ll never buy them at a bakery again.

Unless of course, your lucky enough to be in one of the famous pastry shops in Lisbon!

Before we get started, I want to share with you the history of this famous pastry that was first created over 200 years ago!

Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts, famously known as Pastéis de Belem are famous in many countries all over the world.

The original Pastéis de Belem, were first created by nuns who lived at the Monestary of Jeronimos in Belem, Lisbon in 1837.

Casa Pasteis de Belem is located in the town of Belem in Lisbon, Portugal. The official name of the town is “Santa Maria de Belem” but its referred to as “Belem”. The name “Belem” originated from the Portuguese word for “Bethlehem”.

Many bakeries have tried to replicate the recipe to no avail. The equally famous; “Pasteis de Nata” it’s copy cat version, has become a famous substitute for the original at every Portuguese bakery throughout Portugal and many other countries around the world.

The famous recipe is kept a secret. “The secret can only be memorized, it can’t be written down”, says the pastry chef who was carefully selected among 80 co-workers.

Café Pastéis de Belém below, sells approximately 20,000 pasteis per day! Wow!

Photo Credit: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cialowicz/6122617070/)

The pastry’s name was trademarked in 1911, which means the company is the only one that can call the famous sweets by that name.  Visit this dessert site; desserteater.com for more on the history of one of the world’s most popular desserts!

In, December 2011, Pasteis de Belem was listed by Lonely Planet # 2 of 583 things to do in Lisbon, #5 of 12718 restaurants in Europe and # 42 of 382 restaurants in Portugal. (desserteater.com)

Watch this video of the famous bakery of Pasteis de Belem.

*I recommend that you try making this recipe a few times to adjust for your own oven temperature and baking time. Happy Baking!

Find this complete recipe plus 100 other recipes in my new cookbook!

Click here to order Taste Portugal cookbook!



Makes 18 – 24 depending on size of your tins

Ingredients:

1 lb – Defrosted Puff Pastry Dough – *Note: Your local bakery may sell it, or buy: (Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Dough

2 cups whole milk (must be whole milk not low fat or skim)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 cup water

2 slices lemon rind

1 stick cinnamon

7  X Large egg yolks (room temp)

Cinnamon for garnish

 

 

 

 

 

Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Photo Gallery / Recipes

Almond Tart – Tarte de Amendoa

Credits photo and recipe: https://www.facebook.com/theportuguesekitchen

 

TARTE DE AMENDOA / ALMOND TART

 

Filling:

1 stick of butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup of flour

 

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar
1 stick of butter
6 tbs of milk
1 cup of sliced or slivered almonds

 

Filling:
Grease a tart tin with nonstick spray and sprinkle with flour.

Cream the butter with the sugar. Add the eggs and flour and mix well.

Spread the mixture into the tart tin and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until the center looks spongy and is golden.

Remove from the oven and set aside.

Topping:
Mix the sugar, butter, milk and almond slices in a sauce pan. Heat the mixture up until it starts to boil and turns into an opaque tan color.

Spread the topping over the cooked dough and return to the oven.

Bake at 350 degrees for at least 10 minutes or until it turns a golden brown color and the topping is no longer bubbling. Allow to cool before serving.

Desserts / Photo Gallery / Portuguese Christmas / Recipes

Biscoitos – Portuguese Tea Biscuits

Portuguese Biscuit Cookies are perfect for your afternoon tea but they are great any time of the day!

This recipe is is simply easy, and perfect, for you to make with your kids because they can get their little hands into the dough and make all kinds of circle shapes, numbers, hearts and letters! *See my photos below, I guess the dough brought out the child in me!

Store in a Cookie jar and enjoy!

Here’s a video from our Youtube Channel:

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

3 cups of flour + more if needed

1 cup of sugar

3 eggs (room temp)

6 tbsp of Margarine or Butter

2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp grated lemon peel or Anis Liquor (optional)

 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Soften the butter and mix with the sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and lemon and beat for about 1 minute. Add the flour and baking powder to the sugar and mix with a dough hook for about 3 minutes until the batter forms into a ball. *You may need to a little flour if you find the dough too soft depending on your butter or the size of your eggs.

 

Place the smooth dough onto a lightly floured cutting board and shape into a flat disc with 1/2 inch in height.

Cut the dough evenly into 1/2″ by 5″ strips. Roll each strip into a round snake like form or infinity shape.

You can form the dough into letters, shapes etc.. The dough molds perfectly together by rolling if you have any small pieces.

 

Slightly grease a cookie sheet and place the biscuits evenly on the pan.

Cook for about 15-18  minutes or until slightly golden brown.

*Lift one and look under neath to find a golden crust bottom.

Let them cool slightly and store. *They freeze well so make a double batch!

As you see below, I had a lot of fun making these! 🙂

Cha de Cidreira – Lemon Balm Tea

A little fun!

 

 

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

Skinny – Big Meatballs

Big……..A$$……I mean the meatballs of course!…This recipe’s name is a family – running joke every time I make them!

These meatballs are low in fat since they’re made with Turkey and a small amount of cheese instead of ground beef.

Sometimes cooking meatballs is a chore because they stick to the pan, burn, or are under cooked, but you’ll love this cooking technique.

They’re baked in your oven, not on the stove top, like the conventional way so they come out moist and juicy!

They’re perfect for a lazy Sunday, or a company diner because you can make them ahead of time, store them in the refrigerator and continue the cooking process one hour before your ready to serve your meal.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Meatballs

  • 3 lbs ground Turkey
  • 3/4 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
  • 1 slice wheat bread (shred with a cheese shredder)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried oregeno
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 3 tbsp any tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup shredded Pecorino cheese
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

RECIPE TIP: Never buy pre- shredded Parmesan or Pecorino cheese in the cans. Go to the cheese section at your grocery store and buy it by the whole chunk and keep it wrapped in your refrigerator. It’s much cheaper and much fresher because you can shred it as you need.

Sauce ingredients:

  • 2  28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes (preferably with basil or garlic)
  • 1 medium chopped onion
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp dried Oregano
  • 1 tsp dried Basil
  • 1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Instructions:

Saute 1 onion in 1/4 cup of the Olive Oil until golden in a small skillet and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, place all the meatball ingredients in a large bowl.

I use a cheese crater to shred the slice of bread but you can dice it into very small cubes. (Using fresh bread crumbs makes the meatballs moister). Mix all ingredients until all incorporated but not too mushy. Form the meatballs using the insides of your palms to size between golf balls and baseballs.

Brown the meatballs in the remaining Olive Oil in large skillet until golden brown.

Place the meatballs in a large deep dish baking pan. Add all of the sauce ingredients except the cheese to the meatball pan. Stir the sauce to mix all the ingredients well. Top the meatballs with the cheese.

Cover with foil leaving a small opening for steam to escape and let them cook at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the meatballs. *Note: After 30 minutes remove from oven and stir the sauce well.

Return to oven and let cook for another 15-30 minutes. *Note: Take one meatball out of the oven after 45 minutes and check to see if it’s cooked through. Let them rest in the pan for about 5-10 minutes so the sauce thickens.

P.S. They’re even better the next day so make a double batch!