Traditional customs – Tia Maria's Blog

Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Recipes / Traditional customs

July 30, 2020

Festa Food – Filhos da Festa – Portuguese Fried Dough

Festa food recipes continue this month with these Filhos da Festa. This popular dessert is a favorite at every festa. Some people call them “Malasadas” some call them “Filhos”. Call them any name you want. Enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients:

9 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 and ½ teaspoon salt

6 eggs

1 stick butter or margarine (8 tbsp)

1 teaspoon lemon or orange extract

2 cups milk

¼ cup fresh orange juice

oil for frying (corn oil or vegetable oil works best)

granulated sugar

cinnamon for dusting (optional)

Ingredients to make the starter yeast:

3 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon sugar

2 packages of dry yeast or 1 small cube yeast (0.6 oz, 17g)

½ cup warm water

First step:

Mix the ingredients in the starter yeast and set aside until bubbles form.

Second step:

Put the milk and butter in a pan on low until butter is melted

In a large bowl, mix eggs, salt, sugar, lemon zest, and orange juice. Beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.

Add the milk and butter and mix for 30 seconds. Add yeast mix and flour and knead well until the dough is elastic and smooth.

Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Punch down the dough, cover and let it rise until doubled.

Your dough will look light, airy and elasticy .

In a deep fryer heat the oil to 375 degrees. Using your hands lightly greased with olive oil, stretch pieces of the dough into thin strips of desired sizes of about 3 by 4 inches.

Fry until golden brown.

Drain on paper towels. Dust with granulated sugar while still warm. Note: You can also dust with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

Photo Gallery / Portuguese business / Recipes / Traditional customs

May 9, 2018

Traveling Spoon – Looking for New Hosts in Portugal

Traveling Spoon is looking for new hosts in PORTUGAL!

Contact Regional Manger; Joaquin Abal – joaco@travelingspoon.com

Presentación de PowerPoint

Traveling Spoon is an online marketplace connecting millions of travelers around the world with meaningful local and authentic food experiences in people’s homes. It has recently been featured in Forbes Magazine as the next generation of Culinary Tourism!

Are you a talented home cook, passionate about the cultural traditions that make your cuisine unique? Traveling Spoon offers in-home meals with vetted hosts as well as in-home cooking classes and market tours across +90 destinations around the world They are looking for passionate home cooks throughout the country, and they have trusted Tia María’s leading position among foodie blogs to help spread the word! TS offers its community a platform for doing what they love and sharing it with travelers, while providing its hosts an alternative source of income.

100% of hosts are personally vetted! We find the best home cooks around the world so you can immerse yourself in meaningful food experiences and cultural traditions passed down through generations.

Founders Aashi Vel, and Steph Lawrence want to connect travelers with local, vetted hosts to share the joy of a homemade meal in their home and learn about their cultural and culinary traditions passed down through generations.

“Our mission is to find you the most meaningful and memorable cultural experiences” Steph & Aashi

Aashi Vel

Aashi ( left ) is a food and travel enthusiast with a deep passion for creative problem-solving, product innovation and foraging. An industrial designer and patent holder, Aashi has designed several award-winning products. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design and received her MBA from UC Berkeley.

Steph Lawrence

Steph ( right ) deeply loves cheese, travel, and learning new cuisines and culinary traditions from around the world. A former marketing consultant, Steph has worked with Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse Foundation, Allison Rockefeller and others to drive marketing and business strategy. She is a cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College and received her MBA with honors from UC Berkeley.

Appetizers / Photo Gallery / Recipes / sandwich / Traditional customs

April 6, 2018

Romeo and Juliet Sandwich

The Romeo and Juliet – Cheese and Marmelade Sandwich

The love story of the perfect couple; Romeo and Juliet, inspired the name for this perfect sandwich combination of tangy Sao Jorge cheese from the Azores, Portugal and sweet Quince Marmelada.

However, feel free to use any of your favorite sharp cheese if you can’t get the Sao Jorge type.

The true Portuguese love story of Ines de Castro and King Pedro happened long before Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet but it is said, that this story of love – tragedy – and of a haunting, may have been Shakespeare’s inspiration.

Prince Pedro, the son of King Afonso IV was the heir to the Portuguese throne. When he was 19 his father had him marry Constança of Castile (Spain) in order to build an alliance in 1340.

Ines de Castro,a daughter of a nobleman from Castile, was a lady-in-waiting to the Princess Constance. Ines was a radiant beauty who stole Pedro’s heart and they quickly fell madly in love.

Click on the image below for the love story.

Recipe for Marmelada – Quince Marmelade

Ingredients:

4 and ½ pounds Quince

2 and ½ cups sugar

1 cinnamon stick

Water as needed

Preparation:

Wash, peel and remove pits from fruit and cut into chunks. Place fruit in a pan and cover with water. Add cinnamon stick and cook until cooked. Drain and remove cinnamon stick.

Puree with immersion blender until creamy. In the same pan, add sugar and cook on medium heat stirring often until a clear line forms in the center of pan with a wooden spoon.

Cool and place in plastic containers. Store up to 3 months in refrigerator.

baskets / Photo Gallery / Traditional customs

November 3, 2017

Pote da Gula – Gourmet Portuguese Gift Baskets

Portugal has the most protected products in Europe, identifying a variety of excellence
in food products in terms of taste, authenticity and genuineness, with characteristics having roots in the areas of origin throughout Portugal.

Decades ago, in a small village of Aldeia de Mogege, in Portugal, my cousin Vanessa Oliveira Freitas Toscano de Melo attended primary school. There, she developed fond memories of helping her grandparents on their farm, the traditions, and the land. She would often help by bringing the cows to the pasture, picking the weeds from the strawberries bushes and gathering the eggs from the chicken coop. To this day, the aromas and tastes of the foods she often cooked her great-grandmother Adília’s kitchen remain with her.

This is where the young Vanessa developed her love for Portugal, its food and it’s traditions. Through the years, this love instilled a passion for preserving and sharing the flavors, the artisan products, the foods and the tastes of Portugal. This July, 2017 Vanessa, now a mother of 3, turned her passion into creating her gift basket company called Pote da Gula made with wonderful artisan and handmade products and food products such as pure olive oil, smoked meats, cheeses, jams, wine and other delicacies made in Portugal!

Pote da Gula are personalized baskets made with agrarian and artisan products, and traditional foods, specifically chosen by experts. They are also filled with memories, happiness and a return to the utilization process not just a commercial venture.

“O Pote da Gula serão cabazes personalizáveis que agregarão produtos tradicionais cuidadosamente selecionados por quem sabe. Comida e artesanato. Será também um lugar de memória, de felicidade e de regresso para os seus utilizadores, não apenas um projecto comercial.” Vanessa

Congratulations on your new business Vanessa! We wish you much success and we thank you for preserving and sharing Portuguese tradition around the world!

We Here’s just a few examples of beautiful baskets she has created!

Pote da Gula basket Artisan products

Fado Singer Art

Artisan Cheese

Contact them on their website and place your order in time for the Holidays!

Website

ORDER ONLINE OR CALL (+351) 919608956

Facebook

Desserts / Main Dish / Photo Gallery / Recipes / Traditional customs

June 27, 2017

Pears in Vinho do Porto

Pears in Vinho do Porto dessert is elegant, yet so easy to make to impress your family or guests at your next party. Be sure to serve a glass of authentic “Vinho do Porto” with it of course!

Vinho do Porto (Port wine) is a Portuguese fortified wine exclusively made in the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. Many other countries make port wine but in the EU only wines made in Portugal can be labeled Port or Porto. In the USA wine using the “port” term, are recognized as generic. but the wines name “Porto”, and “Vinho do Porto” are deemed to be exclusively Portuguese.

Ingredients:

3-4 ripe pears

1 cup Vinho do Porto (Port wine)

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

2 strips orange peel

2 strips lemon peel

1 stick cinnamon

vanilla ice cream for serving

mint leaves for garnish

Preparation:

Place the sugar, port, 2 cups water, lemon and orange peel, and cinnamon in a pan. Cook on medium high for about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Carefully peel the pears and slice of a 1/4 inch piece on the bottom to make them stand. Place the pears upright in the syrup and bring syrup to boil. Lower heat to medium, cover, and cook for about 50 minutes or until a knife cuts easily through the pears. Remove pears and let cool.

Place pears upright on plate topped with the syrup or make the thick Port glaze below. Add ice cream and garnish with mint leaves.

Port Wine Syrup Glaze:

Simmer remaining syrup from cooking pears on low heat for another 20 – 30 minutes or until the syrup thickens. Store in jar in the refrigerator up to 30 days. Serve over fruit, ice cream, french toast, pancakes, etc.

Cook Books / Events / Photo Gallery / Portuguese business / Traditional customs

June 2, 2017

Portuguese Owned, Morais Vineyards of Bealeton, Virginia, Hosts Portuguese Food and Wine Pairing

The Morais family has been making wine for over a hundred years. In Portugal, the heritage of wine making has been passed down from generation to generation. Joining this age old family tradition with Virginia’s rich history of winemaking, the Morais family has built a legacy which has become an area landmark. The Winery opened its doors to the public in 2011. Since then they have expanded vineyards, wine production and venue space to accommodate the increase of visitors every year. The winery features many varieties of award winning wines which you can sample in the beautiful tasting room, they offer tours and host many weddings and special celebrations throughout the year!

Watch this video of the beautiful and spectacular property!

This summer, they will be hosting a Portuguese food and wine pairing on; Sun, June 25, 2017 – 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

I’m so honored that they are featuring my Taste Portugal 101 easy Portuguese recipes cookbook at the event!

What goes great with Portuguese wine? Portuguese FOOD!

“We are excited to host a Portuguese food and wine pairing at the winery. Portuguese dishes will be provided by the delicious tastes of Columbus Grill and will be paired with Morais Portuguse wine. 5 different tastings from exquisite Bacalhao (cod fish) to a sweet delicous Portuguese pastry. You will learn a little more of the Morais background culture and get a little taste of Portugal! Meet the master of our wines, Vitor, the wine maker and also get to learn more about Portuguese dishes from Columbus Grill.”

Food, wine and culture? Doesn’t get any better than that!

Purchase Tickets Here. PRIZES!! Purchase tickets to our Portuguese food & wine pairing and be entered to win Maria Dias & Lisa Dias “Taste Portugal | 101 Easy Portuguese Recipes” cook book! Lots of delicious authentic Portuguese recipes to learn and master at home! All the dishes in the tasting are in the book. So if you love it here, you can make it at home too! “https://moraisvineyards.com/

Visit their homepage or follow and like them on Facebook!

Morais Vineyards & Winery

11409 Marsh Road

Bealeton, VA 22712

(540) 326-6336

Holiday Recipes / Photo Gallery / Traditional customs

May 10, 2017

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms!
“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers” Rudyard Kipling

Share memories and keep our Portuguese tradition alive. Order my Taste Portugal Cookbook!

Photo Gallery / Portuguese business / Traditional customs

February 21, 2017

Pedrozo Dairy and Cheese Company in Sacramento Valley, California

The Portuguese Community in the USA is embedded on both the East and West coastlines. One of the many examples is the Pedrozo family, a third generation of dairy farmers in California who have Portuguese roots in the Azorean Islands of Sao Jorge, and Flores. Their Pedrozo Dairy and Cheese farm produces Sacramento Valley California’s best Farmstead cheese made from 100% grass fed cow’s milk. The cheese is outstanding and I especially enjoyed the Black Butte Reserve which tastes similar to my favorite Portuguese Sao Jorge Cheese.

Their vision is to inspire a vision of premier, ecological, heritage farming through a sustainable, family-run grass-fed dairy and cheese operation. To achieve this vision, they produce high quality, traditional farmstead cheese, offer education, tours, they are a resource for the dairy industry and have a total commitment of respect for the cows and the land.

They can be found in various farmers markets and retail shops in California or simply Visit their online shop!

“In 1996 Tim Pedrozo, a third generation dairy farmer, and his wife Jill, bought a small herd of Holstein and Jersey Cows. Their hope was to allow their animals to graze outdoors on the variety of grasses that grew in their pastures. Over the next two years it became clear that sustaining a farm on fluid milk production was too great a burden. Packing up their family and herd of 50 cows, the Pedrozos bought a farm in the Sacramento Valley town of Orland and opened Pedrozo Dairy & Cheese Company.

Learning to make a old world style cheese from the former owner, they set out on their new endeavor. Throughout the years, the Pedrozos have developed their own style and their cheeses are true California originals. Their commitment to sustainable agriculture and responsible stewardship has remained as strong as ever. Their cows have year-round access to the outdoors and graze on natural grasses as long as the pastures are in bloom. The health of their cows and their natural diet come through in the robust flavors of their raw milk cheeses.” http://www.realfarmsteadcheese.com/

Pedrozo Cheese Featured on Delicious Discoveries with Chef Daniella Malfitano from Element Video Productions on Vimeo.

I loved them all! Dig in!

Pedrozo Dairy & Cheese Co
7713 County Road 24 Orland, CA 95963
Tel: 530-514-3837
Email: tim@realfarmsteadcheese.com

Cook Books / Recipes / Traditional customs / Video Collection

November 1, 2016

Notícias do Meu País – Episódio 9 – RTP Play – RTP – Maria Dias – Tia Maria’s Blog

Click here to watch full video: Source: Notícias do Meu País – Episódio 9 – RTP Play – RTP
Hi everyone. Here is the full length video of my episode which aired around the world on RTP!
I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I did. This was an experience of a lifetime for our family which we will never forget. It brought back sweet memories of Portugal, it connected us to our relatives and it inspired me to keep cooking Portuguese recipes to keep our beautiful traditions, culture and cuisine alive for the next generations.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Notícias do Meu País, RTP TV, the host, Tiago Góes Ferreira, and the film crew; Director, Miguel Costa E Moura, Production Assistant, Rita Batista, and Cameraman, Marcel Reis, for making my dreams come true!

Heartfelt thanks to my family both here, in America and in Portugal for their love and support.

A special thank you to Chef Justa Nobre for her wonderful words of inspiration and encouragement!

Me and the film crew in Ludlow

Me and Tiago

At Randall’s Farm in Ludlow

Sharing memories from Portugal

At Randall’s Farm

Our family says goodbye!

Photo Gallery / Traditional customs

October 13, 2016

How to roast “Castanhas” – Chestnuts

How to roast chestnuts:

1. Using sharp knife, make an incision about 1/8-inch deep through the top of chestnut.

2. After slitting place the chestnuts on roasting pan and roast them 400 degrees for about 20 – 30 minutes. To check for doneness, squeeze one holding a dish towel and it should be soft.

Note: Optional – Portuguese custom is to sprinkle the chestnuts with salt before roasting for a salty kick.

3. Place a damp towel over the chestnuts to retain the heat and moisture. While they are still hot and cool enough to handle squeeze them gently with a towel to peel the shell and then remove the inner skin.