By Ana Patuleia Ortins Now Dining on the Douro that you have decided to go to Portugal, specifically a Porto Getaway, let the planning begin!  I hope I can help you plan or at least lead you in the right direction.  I am not writing this with AI, this is really me.  Since having personally been there multiple times, I want to give you my real personal experience, not a canned review.  It isn’t written by someone who hasn’t even set foot on the Portuguese mainland. Like anywhere you travel, for a Porto getaway, planning for transportation, hotels, restaurants, and tours, p ..read more

This Tarte de Amendoa, a tasty almond tart, is for almond lovers everywhere.  The Arabs introduced almonds to the Portuguese mainland and ever since the almonds are utilized in cakes, tartlets, fillings and so on.  The almond topping in this tart add a nice, caramelized crunch to every bite.  This is the perfect dessert to serve with tea.  This is my longtime family favorite and I hope it will become yours. To make it easier to remove from the tart form, I find lining the pan’s removable disc with parchment paper is a big help. As always, I suggest the use of a digital scal ..read more

  Distintus is a fresh, smooth olive oil with an incredible richness of flavor, with final notes of almond and walnut. Distintus is proud to be the most distinguished olive oil in the world, being chosen by about 70 haute cuisine chefs, including 15 Michelin stars. This olive oil is an author’s olive oil for author’s dishes. Recently, I enjoyed the outmost pleasure of tasting this olive oil at Amar. Amar is  Chef George Mendes’ new Portuguese restaurant in Boston’s Raffles hotel. Serve this olive oil simply seasoned for dipping crusty artisan bread in.  Drizzle this wonderful ol ..read more

Did I mention our love of Azevias de Grao (chickpea turnovers)?  We love chickpeas. Seriously, you can see we even use them in desserts. The name Azevia indicates a type of flounder to which these pastries are somewhat shaped when folded over. To the surprise of many, traditional Portuguese pastries like Azevias de Grão often contain fillings made with legumes or vegetables. This Alentejo favorite can also be made with precooked from scratch, dry chickpeas This Azevias de Grão recipe gives you a short cut with well-drained, canned chick peas. If you have an allergy to almonds, leave them ..read more

Valentines Day will soon be here and I want to share some menu ideas. Quick and very easy starter of Shrimp with Goat Cheese is a big favorite, page 220 in my book Authentic Portuguese Cooking. Make sure you have some nice sour dough or artitsan bread to dip in the sauce. Follow up with Chicken with S. Jorge cheese, page 75, your favorite veggies and a great Portuguese wine like Montaria reserva. Dessert?  What would Valentines Day be without dessert? How about a nice light baked egg white meringue, topped with custard sauce, called Molotoff?  Check the recipe  in my other book ..read more

Salted Cod a Bras (Bacalhau a bras) is a very popular dish in the Portuguese culture. Salted Cod a Bras can be made from scratch as follows or if you have left over Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa, it can be a short cut. The secret of perfecting this dish is to keep the eggs creamy by not overcooking them. Serves 4 Read the directions through before beginning.  Salted cod ¾ pound dried salted codfish with bone and skin (has more flavor but in a pinch you can use boneless) Large food safe container Potatoes Corn oil, as needed for frying the potatoes olive oil, as needed for frying the potatoes 1 p ..read more

Dona Maria vineyard and some others continue the old method of stomping grapes for wine by foot trod rather than the modern mechanical means.  The reason?  There is a belief that foot trod crushing is softer on the grape seeds.  Often, mechanical means, not only crush the grapes, but can crush the seeds giving a less than favorable flavor to the wine. http://portuguesecooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/stomping-grapes.mp4 The post Stomping Grapes for Wine appeared first on Portuguese Cooking ..read more

Salted Cod with Garlic Cream Sauce  Salted Cod with garlic cream sauce pairs well with puff pastry. Puff pastry elevates salted codfish to a new level. Onions and salted cod go especially well together.  Caramelizing the onions imparts tremendous flavor. This plating is a little more upscale than the usual bacalhau dishes, but it is lighter and perfect for entertaining. Serve this Salted Cod with Garlic Cream Sauce for your next dinner and you won’t be disappointed.  Serves 4 Do ahead: 1          pound salted cod with bones and skin o ..read more

Chocolate Filled Jesuita Pastries, a  flaky, chocolaty puff pastry with a slight crunch of almonds, is my contemporary variation of Jesuitas I created from  inspiration on a recent trip to the town of  Guimarães in northern Portugal.  Although it is unlike the traditional Jesuitas that have a more compressed puff pastry   sweet egg cream filling and topped with meringue before baking, (Recipe in my book Authentic Portuguese Cooking), both have the traditional triangular shape imitating the hats worn by the Jesuit priests. Some bakers leave the triangular shape with a p ..read more

Salt Cod a Bras is a very popular dish in the Portuguese culture. Salt Cod a Bras can be made from scratch as follows or if you have left over Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa, it can be a short cut. Serves 4 Read the directions through before beginning   ¾ pound dried salted codfish with bone and skin (has more flavor but in a pinch you can use boneless) Large food safe container Corn oil, as needed for frying the potatoes olive oil, as needed for frying the potatoes 1 pound of all-purpose potatoes, peeled, sliced fine like shoestrings 3 medium onions, thinly sliced (about 2 cups) 2 garlic cloves ..read more