Category: Recipes

Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Portuguese Christmas / Recipes

Sonhos – Portuguese Choux Pastry Dreams!

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sonhos-2Sonhos, are light and fluffy doughnut like pastries that melt in your mouth! Generally, they’re served around the Holidays but this popular fried pastry is a favorite at almost every Portuguese celebration. They are quite easy to make unlike filhos which are made out of risen dough and have a much longer process time.

Good luck to those of you are making these for the first time! Enjoy!

Sonhos

Ingredients:

6 extra large eggs

2 cups flour

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2  stick butter or margarine

1 slice lemon rind

Sugar and Cinnamon for topping

Instructions:

In a large heavy pan, place the water, milk, butter, lemon rind,  and salt over medium heat and bring to boiling point. Stir in the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour becomes a soft dough which turns into a ball shape that separates from the sides of the pan. This is similar to a basic Choux paste that is used for baking eclairs and cream puffs.

Remove the dough from heat and place into a medium bowl. Let the dough cool for a few minutes. Beat in one egg at a time making a smooth batter.

Heat the oil to 365 degrees. Shape the dough into round doughnuts by using 2 large tablespoons.  Fry the dough by 4 or 5 pieces at time until golden brown while keeping the heat at a steady temperature. * NOTE. If you find the dough is turning brown too quickly reduce the heat to a lower setting. They should cook slowly.

**IMPORTANT**Pierce sonhos slightly with a fork all around as they cook. NOTE: If you find they are too dark and still raw in the middle, lower the heat so they cook through at a slower temperature.

Drain on a new clean brown paper lunch bags or on paper towels.

While still hot, roll sonhos in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

Watch this video for the demonstration. The recipe varies from mine.

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This recipe is for Coscorões – Portuguese fried dough
Receita de Coscorões

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

Aletria – Sweet Egg Noodle Christmas Dessert

Aletria, is a sweet dessert made with fine egg noddles which is mostly served at Christmas and for many other festive occasions.

This classic is made with the same basic ingredients; eggs, sugar, cinnamon and lemon peel as the ever popular Arroz Doce – Portuguese Sweet Rice Pudding. 

Ingredients:

7 cups of whole milk

6 egg yolks

1 + 1/2 cups of sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cinnamon stick

2 pieces of lemon peel

1 12 oz package of very fine egg noodles

Pour milk, sugar, salt and cinnamon stick into a large pan and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks in a small bowl and slowly blend some heated milk into the eggs and stir. Set aside.

Break up the noodles and add them to the boiling milk. Stir constantly until the noodles are cooked and remove from the heat.

Slowly add egg mixture into the cooked noodles and stir to incorporate. Turn off heat *Do not let the noodles boil. Remove from heat.

Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Pour the mixture into a large serving platter at least 1 inch depth. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Let cool and store covered in the refrigerator.

 

Cook Books / Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Recipes

Arroz Doce – Portuguese Rice Pudding

Come on and jump in! It’s delicious!

 

Arroz Doce – Sweet Rice Pudding,  has always been my family’s favorite served on Christmas Eve. This is one of the most famous Portuguese desserts served around the Holidays and at celebrations. But I everyone loves it any time of the year! It’s pure Portuguese comfort in one bite!

Aletria, a sweet pasta dessert is also a traditional dessert for the Holidays. Enjoy!

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients: 

3 cups whole milk (scalding)
3  egg yolks
1 cup rice (preferably Carolina short or long grain)
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 slice of lemon zest
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp butter
powdered cinnamon
 
Watch our Youtube video for a demonstration. Subscribe to get latest videos! Enjoy!
 


Instructions
1. In a large heavy saucepan, bring the water, cinnamon stick, and lemon peel to a boil.
2. Add rice, bring to a boil and cook on medium heat until all the water has evaporated.
 3. Add the hot milk and cook for at least 25 minutes on low heat stirring once in a while.
4. Add the sugar and butter, stir and cook for 5 minutes longer. Turn off heat.

Meanwhile beat egg yolks.

Temper the eggs by adding a few tablespoons of the rice mixture to the eggs and mix well.

Remove from heat. Add the remaining eggs into the rice and stir well.

*Be sure the rice is not boiling. Simmer for about 1 minute.

Remove lemon peel and cinnamon stick.

Pour into a large serving platter or individual servings.

Let cool and garnish with powdered cinnamon.

To make design: Dip a small shot glass into water, then into the cinnamon.

 

Gently indent desired circles to form design of your choice.

Store in refrigerator up to 3 days.

Here’s the gallery of the photos I took.

 

 

Holiday Recipes / Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Portuguese Christmas / Recipes

Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa

 BACALHAU A GOMES DE SA

There’s a  saying in Portugal; “There’s a recipe using Bacalhau for 365 days of the year”!

But this classic, is not only a year round treat it’s also a must have Christmas favorite.

In fact it wouldn’t be a traditional Portuguese Christmas Eve diner without it!

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless salt cod

(Re-hydrate cod by soaking in large pan with water for a few days in fridge changing the water twice a day)

 Click here for link to “how to hydrate salt cod”

4 pounds small peeled potatoes cut into 1 inch slices

2 large onions (sliced)

3 gloves chopped garlic

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon black  pepper

1 cup olive oil

6 hard boiled eggs (sliced)

1 cup olives

2 to 3 teaspoons  chopped parsley

2 to 3 cloves of chopped garlic or 1 teaspoon  garlic powder

Instructions:

 

In large pan, place potatoes covered with cold water. Add salt, and cod. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until cod is flaky.

Remove cod fish from pan and set aside to cool. Cook potatoes for another 8-10 minutes or until cooked. Pierce with a fork for doneness. Drain potatoes and set aside to cool. Slice  potatoes into 1/4  to 1/2 inch slices.

In large skillet, saute sliced onions, 1/2 tsp salt and bay leaf  in 1/2 cup of the olive oil until golden brown. Add garlic during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Remove the bay leaf and let the onions cool for a few minutes.

 

Grease a  large deep oven proof pan with olive oil. Start layering the potatoes,  flaked cod then onions.

Drizzle olive oil and pepper over each layer.  Add garlic powder if you like more garlic flavor.

Make sure you end up with onions on top. Cover with foil and cook for about 20 minutes.

Arrange cooked egg slices on top of the onion layer.

Cook uncovered for another 5-10 minutes to desired crispness.

Remove from oven and add parsley and olives for garnish. (add more salt, pepper or garlic if desired)

Enjoy!

 

Print

https://tiamariasblog.com/hydrate-salt-cod-bacalhau/

 

Desserts / Photo Gallery / Recipes

Harvest Apple and Banana Muffins

It’s apple picking season in New England. I got home and made some delicious Apple Banana Muffins. Here’s my tip: I always substitute 1/2 cup low fat yogurt for 1/2 stick of margarine.  Every recipe comes out moist and flavorful.

These are great for breakfast and lunch box snacks too! Enjoy…. Tia Maria


Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup regular sugar

1 stick margarine

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup mashed ripe banana

1 cup finely chopped apple

1/2 tsp salt

8 0z container low fat vanilla, banana or any yogurt

 

Topping:

1/2 cup of quick cooking oats

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp melted margarine

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup regular sugar

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

Pre heat oven to 350. In a large bowl mix the melted butter with the sugars until creamy, add eggs and mix well.  Add the vanilla. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the apple, banana and yogurt in a small bowl.

Blend the 1/2 dry ingredients into the egg and sugar and mix well.  Add all of the apple mix into batter.

Add the remaining dry ingredients then add nuts. (If your batter is too dry, just add more yogurt or crushed banana & apple)

Make Topping: Mix all ingredients until a crumbly mix forms.

Place the batter  into 12 small, or 6 large greased muffin tins and cook for about 25 minutes or until cooked. (use toothpick method)

Recipes

Stealing Fatima, a Novel

Massachusetts Center for the Book — Stealing Fatima,

A MassBook of the Year in Fiction.

About the author: Frank X. Gaspar was born and raised in Provincetown, Massachusetts. A Portuguese-American, his paternal grandparents immigrated from the Island of San Miguel, and his maternal grandparents from the Island of Pico, both in the Azorean Archipelago. His ancestors were traditionally whalers and Grand-Banks fishermen, sailing out of the Islands and then Provincetown. Read More at:

www.frankgaspar.com/index.html

Boston Globe — …Gaspar’s prose, with both its deliberation and moments of uncontainable joy, is like a soaring choral Mass. Independent of religious faith, skeptic and believer alike cannot help but be swept away by the beauty of the expression. — Julie Wittes Schlack © Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

Sounds great…. get a copy at Amazon…I will..

www.amazon.com/Stealing-Fatima-Frank-X-Gaspar/dp/1582435162

Bye

Tia Maria

Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Portuguese Christmas / Recipes

Caramel Flan – Pudim Flan

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Hi Foodies,

It took me years to finally make a good caramel flan until I finally discovered the reason why I wasn’t successful. The reason was because I didn’t use whole milk. I also made the mistake of mixing cold milk with the cold eggs.

You have to warm up the milk and use room temperature eggs. Now my flan comes out perfect every time and it’ s a family favorite at every celebration.

My family enjoys lots of the candied caramel on top too and usually fight over it! Enjoy!

Flan ingredients:

6 large eggs

3 cups whole milk

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

Instructions:

Take your eggs out of the fridge a few hours before you start to get them to room temp or place them in a bowl of lukewarm water for about 20 minutes.

Prepare Caramel glaze first:

Place the sugar and water in a large heavy skillet. Continue stirring while cooking on med heat until the sugar melts and begins to turn caramel colored and thickens like corn syrup.(probably 5-8 min depending on your burners).

If the sugar is hardening too quickly, just drizzle a little water around the edges of the pan into the sugar.

Take the pan of the heat and let it rest for one minute. OUCH! It’s very hot! If you smell a burned smell, it means you’ve cooked it too long, so start over again.

Coat the bottom and up to 1 inch on the sides of a medium oven proof souffle pan with the caramel sauce. Let the Caramel harden and put aside while you make the custard. (Poor a few tablespoons of the caramel onto a small butter sheet pan and let it harden.)

Prepare custard:

In med bowl, beat the eggs with 1 cup sugar until lemony colored. Meanwhile, heat up the milk until hot but not boiling.

Let the milk cook down a little and then add about 1/4 cup of milk, to the eggs while continuing to beat on low. *If the milk is too hot, you’ll  discover that you just made scrambled eggs.

Continue beating and slowly add the milk 1cup at a time until all of the milk is incorporated.

At this point you can beat in, either the 1 tsp vanilla extract, the anisette, or the caramel glaze if you desire.

Let the egg mixture rest to let the foam subside a little, then slowly pour it into the souffle dish that has been coated with the caramel.

Place the flan dish into a larger oven proof deep dish pan (bain -marie) that has been filled with 1 inch of water.

Cook at 350 for 60 -75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let the flan cool in it’s pan and place it in the dish in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to serve, loosen the sides of the flan with a knife and giggle the pan to loosen it.

Cover the top of the flan with a deep serving dish and invert it. Spoon out the caramel over the flan.

Break the hardened sugar that you let sit in the sheet pan into small pieces and place on top of the flan.

You can place the souffle dish into a shallow bowl of hot water to melt the remaining caramel or brake up the hard caramel to serve on top as seen in the picture.

Serve as is, decorate with candy pearls or with whipped cream!

It’s amazing!

 

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

Zucchini Parmesan Rounds

Photo July 2015

Hi everyone,

It’s zucchini harvest season. I’ve made zucchini breads, fried zucchini and all kinds of casseroles but his following recipe is my family’s favorite zucchini recipe and I know it will be yours too.

It’s great for those of you on low carb diets because it uses no pasta!

You can substitute the zucchini for eggplant in the fall & winter and make it all year long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

6 extra large zucchini


1 Jar of your favorite pasta sauce or a can of chopped tomatoes with Italian seasonings 

1 cup low fat cottage cheese, or low fat ricotta cheese

1/2 cup flour

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

Chopped fresh basil – 1/4 cup

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

8 oz of mozzarella (or any kind you prefer)

8 oz Parmesan or Pecorino cheese for shredding

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400.

Slice the zucchini into round 1/2 inch slices, place them in a large bowl and coat them with salt, pepper, and the garlic powder.

Let them sit for about 5 min., then strain any water from the bowl. Mix bread crumbs with flour and lightly coat each zucchini slice.

You can just toss the flour mixture into the bowl and toss them, or use a plastic bag.

Layer the zucchini slices on a well greases cookie sheet and cook them for about 10 – 15 min or until cooked.

Gently check one slice by lifting one with a spatula. I like a golden coating on the bottom, but you can cook them to your taste.

If you prefer a crispier zucchini you can also fry them in hot oil. I prefer to bake them to save calories.

Coat the bottom of a lasagna pan with a small amount of pasta sauce, then start layering like a lasagna: zucchini, basil, cheeses, sauce, until you end up with cheese and sauce on top.

Shred the Parmesan cheese on top, cover with foil and bake for about 25 minutes.

Let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving. It’s just like lasagna, and even better the next day.

You can serve it with a salad, or a side of pasta if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Tia Maria

 

 

Photo Gallery / Recipes / Side Dish

Zucchini Corn Bread

Hi Friends….It’s zucchini season….

My garden is doing great this year and I hope yours is too.

I have a huge bounty of zucchini so I’m sharing my Zucchini Corn Bread Recipe with all of you.  This recipe is easy to prepare, and it uses basic ingredients in your pantry. It takes no butter or oil, so it’s low fat.  I used lemon yogurt for moistness.

Go out to your local farmers market and get some zucchini……

Ingredients:

2 packages Jiffy Corn Muffin mix

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 cups shredded zucchini

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp crated lemon peel

1 tsp cinnamon

1 small container plain low fat lemon yogurt

1 cup mixed chopped nuts and dried berries ( any variety)

I used chopped dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and almonds.

Makes 2 loaves

Mix : eggs and sugar until sugar is dissolved then add the zucchini, lemon juice, lemon peel.

Mix dry ingredients(flour, corn mix, cin, )

Add the dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture.

Add 3/4 cup of  the nuts and all the berries and mix well

Pour into 2 greased loaf pans

Sprinkle remaining nuts on top of the batter

Cook for about 45 minutes at 350 degree or until golden brown

Let cool before serving.

Bye, Tia Maria