Category: Recipes

Holiday Recipes / Main Dish / Recipes / Side Dish

Pear Pecan Salad with Queijo Fresco and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Happy New Year everyone!

Like most of you, I indulged this past holiday season. Now it’s time to start the new year with a healthy recipe for my favorite salad. It’s a very easy recipe, yet it’s very elegant and it will make you feel like you’ve ordered it at a fine dining restaurant.

I used Portuguese Queijo Fresco, but you can substitute with farmers cheese which is also about 60 calories per ounce. I prefer a lightly dressed salad but you can double the recipe if you prefer more dressing.

You’ll find that I used mustard in the dressing but don’t be afraid to use it. The mustard actually cuts the tartness in the vinegar. This dressing will store nicely in the refrigerator for up to 3 days so don’t worry if you make too much of it. However don’t make the salad until a few hours before serving. Store it in the refrigerator to retain it’s freshness.  (Note: This salad goes well with a light Raspberry Vinaigrette if you prefer.)  Enjoy!

 

 

Ingredients:

4 cups Spring mix salad

1/2 cup candied or regular pecans (or walnuts)

1 whole sliced ripe pear

4  oz Queijo Fresco or Farmers cheese in cubes

 

Balsamic Dressing:

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 small (crushed) clove garlic

1/8 tsp yellow mustard

 

Preparation:

Prepare dressing by mixing all ingredients in a small cup and mix well. Taste and add more salt or pepper if desired. Set aside until you are ready to serve salad.

Wash and then dry salad by absorbing moisture with a paper towel and place in large salad bowl.

Add the pear, pecans and cheese. Add dressing and toss lightly.

 

 

 

 

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

Bolo Rei – King of Portuguese Cakes

Bolo Rei is Portugal’s king of cakes. It’s traditionally eaten throughout the Christmas season, but mostly on January 6, the twelfth day of Christmas, which is known as King’s day.

The date is when the three kings arrived in Jerusalem to greet the newborn baby Jesus.  The legend is that the three kings were disputing which one of them would be the first to give their gift to Jesus. Upon their travels they met a baker who baked a cake with a bean inside it.

Which ever one of them got the slice of cake with the bean would give their gift first. Through the years coins and trinkets were added to the cake instead of the bean which would bring good luck upon the bearer. The cake without the fruit on top is often called Bolo da Rainha! My recipe inspired by Cascaistravel.com. Enjoy!

The cake was introduced to Portugal by the Confeitaria National bakery run by the Casteneira family for over 100 years.

Visit the website for the history of the origin of the recipe at confeitarianacional.com.
Watch the video of the famous bakery at: www.portugaldailyview.com/portuguese-christmas-cakes

Find the recipe in my Taste Portugal More Easy Portuguese recipes cookbook. Order on Amazon below:

    Ingredients:

    Yeast

    2 tbsp active yeast
    2 tsp granulated sugar

    1 tablespoon flour
    1/3 cup warm water

    Dough

    1 cup finely chopped assorted crystallized fruit NOTE: (I used dried apricots, dates, and raisins in my cake)
    1/2 cup seedless raisins
    1 teaspoon  finely grated lemon rind
    1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
    2 tablespoons port wine
    2 tablespoons rum

    1 teaspoon salt

    1 and 1/4 stick butter (10 tablespoons)
    1 cup granulated sugar
    3 eggs
    2 egg yolks
    5 cups all purpose flour
    1/2 cup warm milk

    1/4 cup chopped almonds
    1/4 cup chopped walnuts

    Topping

    crystallized fruit of your choice, such as pineapple, cherries, or figs
    1 egg for egg wash
    confectioners sugar


    Instructions:

    Prepare the yeast mixture

    In a small bowl mix together the yeast, sugar and flour and warm water. Stir and let sit for a few minutes for yeast to dissolve and activate.

    For the Dough

    In another bowl add the chopped crystallized fruit, raisins, grated lemon and orange peel, port wine and rum. Leave the fruit to soak up the liquid while you prepare the dough.

    In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Gradually beat in the flour and the milk. Then add the yeast mixture to the dough.

    Add the almonds, walnuts and pine nuts and the crystallized fruit mixture.

    Lightly mix in more flour as needed to create a sticky bread like dough.

    Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about one hour or until it has doubled in size.

    Take the dough and knead for about one minute, then shape into a round loaf and place on a greased baking tray.

    Using your thumbs, open up a hole in the middle of the dough so that you are left with a wreath shape, or crown. I used a greased and floured ramekin and placed it in the middle of the wreath to form the wreath.

    Note: To add the surprise: Make a hole with a knife on one side of the wreath and push the wrapped broad bean into the dough. Choose another spot on the wreath, make a hole with the knife and push the wrapped coin into the dough.

    Topping

    Decorate the wreath with a few crystallized fruits. Beat the egg and brush over the wreath. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about one hour or until it has doubled in size.

    Remove ramekin and bake in a preheated over at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and dust with powdered sugar.

     

     

     

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

    Pão de Ló – Portuguese Sponge Cake

    Pão de Ló – “Sponge Cake”  Just as the translation is easy, so is the recipe. This cake is so easy to make that you’ll find yourself making it again and again. The recipe uses no oil, butter or fats so it’s virtually fat free!

    This classic dessert is so versatile that you can make it for all the holidays, special occasions, bring it to a pot luck diner as a dessert, or just make one when you’re craving a simple cake.  Enjoy!….. and…..Happy Holidays!

    This is a Christmas photo of the classic – Portuguese – Pao de Lo which I give as home made Christmas gifts for my family and friends.

    *Please note: There is Silk – Poinsettia in the center

    (Do not use real Poinsettias with food items)

    Pao de lo recipe:

    You will need an extra large bundt pan to cook the cake. If you don’t have an extra large pan be sure to use parchment paper all around so the cake doesn’t over spill.

    Here’s our youtube video cooking the recipe.

    Please subscribe and like our page for the latest video postings!

     

    Ingredients:

    10 brown eggs (room temp)

    1 1/2 cups sugar

    2 cups sifted flour

    1/4 tsp salt

    1 tsp baking powder

    1 tsp (grated lemon peel – Optional)

    Preparations:

    Make sure your eggs are room temp or place them in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes.

    In a large bowl beat the eggs until foamy. Add sugar and beat for at least 20 minutes until batter becomes very thick,  stiff peaks. (Add lemon at this point if desired)

    Note: If using a kitchenaid mixer, mix for only 10-15 minutes until stiff peaks form.

    While the sugar and eggs are beating, mix flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl.

    When the batter is ready, add the flour mixture very slowly 1/4 cup at a time on low speed or fold in with a spatula. 

    This should only take about 3-5 minutes. (Don’t over beat, this is important) 

    Grease a large tube pan. (Aluminum works best). If your pan is smaller, line the top few inches of the cake pan with parchment paper in case the batter rises over the top. Poor batter into the pan and shake slightly to spread evenly. 

    Cook at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

    Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes. Invert the cake pan right side up onto a serving dish.

    (Note:  This cake freezes well so you can make it ahead of time. Slice into pieces for individual servings or freeze the whole cake. Make sure it’s completely cooled, wrap in saran wrap and heavy foil or in Freezer bags.)

    Pao de Lo – Easter Decoration

     

    Holiday Recipes / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

    Portuguese Style Roast Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes

    Portuguese roast potatoes

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     Portuguese Roast potatoes are a hit at every party! They’re a perfect side dish for your roast beef, roast chicken, pork and delicious with your Holiday Baked Ham.

    Ingredients:

    2 pounds any potatoes ( washed, peeled or slightly peeled)

    If making sweet potatoes (peel and cut into quarters)

    2 large carrots (peeled and quartered) optional

    1 small onion (chopped)

    1 teaspoon salt

    1 teaspoon garlic powder

    1/2 teaspoon  pepper

    1 teaspoon Paprika

    1/4 stick of melted margarine or butter

    1/4 cup of olive oil

    Instructions:

    Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Toss well to coat.

    Place seasoned potatoes into a medium olive oil greased baking pan.

    Cook at 400 degrees for about 1 hour or until fork tender. Toss potatoes every 15 minutes to achieve a crispy texture. Do not use a fork to turn over potatoes, use a spatula. Enjoy!

    You can also cook the potatoes in small cubes, but cook for only 30-40 minutes.

     

     

     

     

    Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish / Soups / Traditional customs

    Portugal’s Seven Favorite Dishes

    These famous Portuguese foods are the winners of the online voting contest.   

    7 Maravilhas da Gastronomia (7 Wonders of Gastronomy). The winners were announced in September.

    Click on the links below each photo to find the location in Portugal from where the dish is famous! If you can’t read Portuguese just paste the pages URL’s  onto Google Translate.

    My favorite is “Seafood Rice” and “Queijo Serra da Estrela” What’s your favorite?

     

     

     

    Appetizer Category: Caldo Verde – (Collard Green With Potato Puree)

    Entry from: Douro e Minho Region

     

    Appetizer Category: Alheira de Mirandela – (Chicken & Bread Sausage)

     Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro – Mirandela

     

     

     

    Appetizer Category: Queijo Serra da Estrela – (Sheeps Milk Cheese)

    Beira Litoral / Beira Interior – Serra da Estrela

     

    Seafood Category: Arroz de Marisco – (Seafood Rice)

    Estremadura e Ribatejo – Praia de Viera – Marinha Grande

     

     

    Fish Category: Sardinha Assada – (Grilled Sardines)

    Lisboa e Setúbal – Setúbal

    Meat Category: Leitão da Bairrada – (Roast Sucking Pig)

    Beira Litoral – Bairrada

     

     

    Dessert Category: Pastel de Belem – (Custard Tart)

    Lisboa e Setúbal – Lisboa

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

    Pudim Flan – Caramel Flan Recipe Western Mass Women Magazine!

     

    Caramel Flan – An International Holiday Dessert!

    Article in Western Mass Women’s Magazine by Maria Dias, Contributing Writer-2011

    Caramel mariadiasFlan is a rich and creamy custard-based dessert topped with a layer of caramel.

    This classic dessert is enjoyed during the Holiday season in Europe, North America, Latin America and even as far away as Macau and the Philippines. It originated in Europe but became very popular in Central and South America.

    Some believe that it was the Romans who first began raising chickens for their eggs. They began cooking the eggs with sweeteners which eventually evolved into the custard desserts of today.

    Outside of Spanish-speaking countries and the United States, Flan is sometimes referred to as crème caramel.

    Every culture has different variations on the ingredients. My recipe is for Caramel Flan served in Portugal and Spain for Christmas Eve or Christmas day dinner. It took me years to master a great flan, but if you follow my recipe it’s easy. If you cook it, they will come, and you’ll be the hit of the Holiday party!

     

    Recipe:

     Flan ingredients:

    6 large eggs

    3 cups (whole milk) not low fat

    1 cup sugar

    1/4 tsp salt

    1 tsp either; (this is optional: vanilla, anisette liquor, or caramel glaze)

    Caramel glaze ingredients:

    1 cup sugar

    1 tsp water

     

     

     

     

    Desserts / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

    Tia Maria’s Corn Muffin Recipe

    I make lots of Corn Muffins since they’re easy to make, but you’ll love these because they’re light and fluffy and they’re even better than Bakery!

    This is a great recipe to make as a side dish, on cold winter days when you make Chilli or Soup.  Enjoy!


    Ingredients:

    2 cups flour

    2 cups corn muffin mix

    (If you don’t have the mix, use corn meal but increase the baking powder to 2 teaspoons)

    2 eggs

    3/4 stick margarine (soft)

    2 cups milk

    1 cup sugar

    1 tsp salt

    1 tsp baking powder

    1 small  6-8 oz container vanilla yogurt or 1/2 cup sour cream

     

    Preparation:

    In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs, sugar and margarine until creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until the batter has no lumps.

    Coat 2 large muffin pans (6 muffins each)  or 2 small (12 muffins each) with cooking spray or with margarine.

    Fill to 3/4 full. Cook at 350 f. for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

    Serve while hot, or split them in half, butter the sides and grill until golden brown. You can freeze them in freezer bags and enjoy them all month long! Enjoy!

     

     

     

    Cook Books / Recipes

    The Family Meal – Ferran Adrià – The Best Chef in The World

    You can cook like the best chef in the world! All you have to do is buy the most popular cook book of the season; “The Family Meal/ Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià”. I received the cook book for my birthday a few weeks ago but it’s already one of my favorites! Chef Adrià is known as the best chef in the world and often referred to the as the father of molecular gastronomy and a Picasso of culinary art.

    His first cook book for the home chef has beautiful step by step photos which will guide you through each recipe and it’s very easy to follow. This hardcover edition is destined to become a classic for all home cooks as well as chefs. Each of the 100 recipes in the book are inspired by the meals prepared for the elite chefs who worked at his restaurant;  El Bulli in Spain, also known as the greatest restaurant in the world for many years.

    More than 2500 articles and 14,ooo pages  have been written about El Bulli which was only open for six months of the year.  It served only 50 guests per night, 8,000 per season but it received over 2 million reservations per year. This of course meant that only a small percent of exclusive guests were able to experience the best gourmet meal of their lifetime. In July of 2011 El Bulli closed and in 2014 but it will reopen as a creativity center for chefs. A documentary; El Bulli: Cooking in Progress is screening around the country including dates in December at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

    Portuguese Michelin star Chef, George Mendes was an apprentice at El Bulli in 2007 and talks about his experience below.

    Excerpt from:

    Chefs Assess El Bulli’s Legacy – Diners Journal NY Times by Julia Moskin…July 14, 2011

    George Mendes, chef at Aldea in New York City and an apprentice at El Bulli in 2007
    ” So many young chefs come into the restaurant and want to learn to use xantham gum, but they don’t even know how to use salt yet. When I was training I felt it was my responsibility as a chef to learn the basics, and that is what Adrià did. He was a creative genius, but at the end of the day, he was also a Spanish chef and he knew that with all the foams and textures in the world, the food had to taste good. I took what he did and tried to cook from my Portuguese background. My duck and rice wouldn’t be as refined as it is without him, or my bacalao à Brás, a Portguese lunch of salt cod scrambled with eggs, crispy potatoes and black olives. Instead of serving it in a bowl as a lunch dish, I made a snack out of it and served it in an eggshell with a tiny wooden spoon. It makes people smile. Sometimes people forget about that playful, humorous side of Ferran and his food. I never forget what he would say every day at the morning meeting of all the chefs: “We are in what some people call the best kitchen in the world, about to embark on a 14-hour workday, and serve 50 people a meal they have waited years to eat. But please,à remember to have fun. It’s only cooking.”

    Anthony Bourdain – No Reservations had a great segment on El Bulli that can explain what El Bulli was all about!… Enjoy the show! ……..

    El Bulli Part I

    El Bulli Part II

    El Bulli Part III

    Get the book or put it on your Christmas list and start cooking like the “Best Chef in the World”

    Tia Maria!

     

    Photo Gallery / Recipes

    Chef Anthony Goncalves & Chef Luis Americo “Divertimento de Cozinha”

    Two Chefs – Two Continents – One Culinary Vision! Executive Chef Anthony Goncalves of  42 Restuarant, Ritz Calton, Westchester NY, welcomed Chef Luis Americo on October 19th for the “Visiting Chef’s” series,  “Divertimento de Cozinha” –  (Fun in the kitchen). This was the first, in the series of events scheduled with acclaimed chefs.  That evening, the two chefs who share the same passion for their culinary heritage prepared an 8 course menu with dishes  that were paired with specially selected wines. Here are the photos of the dishes prepared for the evening.

     

    Photos by Miguel Carvalho

    For more amazing photos of the event, visit the Facebook page of Luso Americano’s Henrique Mano where you will find over 200 images posted. The Daily /White Plains has a great article about the event as well. Here’s a special exclusive link to the interview with Chef Americo and RTP which was filmed in the kitchen at 42 that evening. In this  exclusive video, Chef Goncalves welcomes, and thanks Chef Americo, the staff at 42 and the diners who attended that night.

    The next diner in the series is scheduled for Wednesday, November 9th with Chef Marco Gomes.

    The following information for the upcoming events was posted in the Westchester Magazine article dated October 17, 2011

    Divertimento da Cozinha: Visiting Chef Series at 42
    On Wednesday, November 9, Chef Goncalves will host Chef Marco Gomes, who will be visiting from Portugal to collaborate on a menu that celebrates the Old-World Portuguese table with new techniques.

    Thursday, December 1, Chef Marco Canora from Hearth in New York City joins Chef Anthony Goncalves for a “meatopia.” From the invitation, “Chef Marco will be working with ‘American homestead’ and his pigs. Chef Goncalves will also team up with Chef Jose Ignacio and his ‘Iberico fresco’—which means fresh pork from Spain. Each event (which includes wine pairings) costs $125 per person, exclusive of tax and 20-percent tip.

     

    Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish / soup / Soups

    Butternut Squash & Carrot Soup


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    Harvest Butternut Squash & Carrot Soup – Western Mass Women Magazine

    by Maria Dias, Contributing Writer


    I love the beauty of the fall harvest season in Western Mass. Soon, I’ll be following my family’s tradition by making our annual trip to the local farms in the Hadley area where I buy my Potatoes and root vegetables that I use all winter long.

    Did you know that you can store potatoes and butternut squash to last through the winter? Just place them into a brown paper bag or cardboard box and store in a cool basement, or in your garage. (Be sure the temp doesn’t reach freezing.) My favorite winter vegetable is butternut squash because it’s so versatile and it stores so well.

    I always have some on hand for Thanksgiving to make this easy and delicious butternut squash soup.

    I’m sharing the recipe with you today because I know you’ll love it and it will become your fall tradition like mine.
    There are many reasons to add butternut squash to your daily diet.

     

    Butternut Squash
    Low in calories: One cup of raw butternut squash only has 63 calories.
    Dietary Fiber: There are 3 gr. of dietary fiber in every serving.
    Vitamin A: One serving has 298 %of your daily recommended value.
    Vitamin C: One cup serving has 50 % of your daily recommended value.
    Omega-3 fatty acids: Fights high cholesterol and high blood pressure
    Minerals: One serving has 14 % of your daily recommended value of manganese, 12 % of magnesium and 14 % of potassium.