Category: Portugal

Bread Bowl in a Soup

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Tonight we’re wrapping up our little stint with Portuguese cuisine, but unlike our usual routine, we’re not going to end on dessert. I mean after all, what could really top our Pastéis de Nata?

Well, that and this house has been somewhat of an infirmary since the start of November. So we’re looking for something healthy, warming and down right comforting…soup. Soups also happen to be a main part of Portuguese meals, so tonight we chose a Portuguese bread soup called Açordas de Mariscos.

Miss A got a little relief from her fever for a few moments thanks to Advil, so she wanted to help break the bread into bite size pieces for us. 

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P is for…

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Portugal. Pork chops. Pomegranates. Portobellos. Parsley. How’s that for a lot of P’s? Who knew dinner could be both delicious and educational! Well, maybe just delicious. Miss A wasn’t really into helping with this one; although she and Mr. N kept passing through the kitchen stealing pomegranate seeds. (But who could blame them! Yum!)

This past weekend we made another Portuguese dinner, Stuffed Pork Chops with Pomegranate Sauce. We chose this recipe not only because it sounded delicious, but because it featured pomegranates, a fruit we had never used or eaten at home. We started by preparing the stuffing for the chops with portobellos, a shallot, parsley, garlic, olive oil, bread crumbs and Gruyère cheese. 

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Sweethearts and Sweet Tarts

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This past Sunday morning Mike and I were fortunate enough to wake up on our own accord as Nana and Papa had graciously taken the kids on an over-nighter. While I do miss their happy little faces and morning hugs, every now and then it’s pure bliss to wake up to your own internal alarm clock. Mike and I even slept past seven a.m.!

After lying in bed for a while we got up, ate breakfast at a leisurely pace, watched some news, did some reading, made some coffee and then decided to bake together before the kids got home. We put on some classic rock and got down to making our next Portuguese recipe, Pasteis de Nata, or custard tarts.

We started by whisking together a few egg yolks, corn starch, sugar and half & half in a saucepan over medium heat. Many of the recipes called for using either all milk (skim, whole, 2 percent), or a combination of heavy cream and milk. I know some of the professional chefs out there are cringing, but we went for the fat-free half & half just to be a little healthier.  Continue reading →

Fast Approaching Three and a Half

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This title refers not only to the number of spoons given to today’s dish by myself and Mike, but also the age of our precious little Miss A. Now, for those of you that have children, you’ll know what we’re talking about when we say Miss A is officially entering “the three’s.” For those of you that don’t have children, let’s just say the person that came up with the slogan, “the terrible two’s” clearly did not have a three-year old child.

But before we get to that, let me share with you where Mike has chosen to take us for the next two weeks….Portugal! After a quick search of Portuguese recipes we were definitely excited. There is a myriad of delicious options from which to choose and today we’re kicking it off with one of the most popular foods in Portugal.

Portugal is a seafaring nation with the most prevalent fish being the cod, both dried (salt cod) and fresh. According to Wikipedia it is said that there are more than 365 recipes for cod, one for every day of the year; and it didn’t take us long to select our recipe, Portuguese Baked Cod. Continue reading →