Thrills: cooking dishes of the national cuisine of Portugal

Portuguese cuisine is akin to the Latin carnival. Colorful, sparkling, with bright spicy combinations, it is not able to leave anyone indifferent. At the same time, it harmoniously combines noble refined variations that attract with subtle facets of tastes. What is the famous cuisine of Portugal? What dishes are worth trying to better understand it? And how to cook them at home? This will be discussed in our article.

Cod with a delicate sauce

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Thrills: cooking dishes of the national cuisine of PortugalThrills: cooking dishes of the national cuisine of Portugal

Bakalyau, or dried cod, was originally a favorite food in almost every family. In this form, it was convenient to store it in winter and serve it on the table on special occasions. Over time, the fish began to be baked. And today it is one of the traditional Christmas dishes in Portugal.

And here is the festive recipe for bakalyau cod. Boil 4 cod fillets of bakalau in water for 5 minutes, cool, cut into strips. We make a roast of 2 onions with 3 cloves of garlic and a bay leaf. Add the fish, simmer under the lid for 5-7 minutes. At the same time, deep-fry 1 kg of potatoes in cubes. In a saucepan, melt 40 g of butter and dissolve 40 g of flour. Pour a thin stream of 200 ml of fish broth, 250 ml of milk and 250 ml of cream. Cook the bechamel sauce and add a pinch of nutmeg.

Potatoes and two-thirds of the bechamel are mixed into the pan with the fish. We put everything in a baking dish, pour the remaining sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and put it in the oven at 220 °C for 20 minutes. Let the bakalau brew in the oven and serve to the table.

Soup in green tones

Caldo verde soup, a much-loved one in Portugal, translates as “green soup”. And the reason for this is gruncol cabbage, or kale. Some recipes include Savoy cabbage, another popular Portuguese variety. Another important ingredient of the soup is traditional pork chorizo sausages with spices.

Coarsely cut the stalk of leeks, carrots, 2-3 cloves of garlic and a third of the celery root. From vegetables, we make a roast in olive oil, seasoning with salt and black pepper. Add 200 g of chorizo sausages in mugs, 1.5 liters of water and a pinch of ground paprika, cook for 20 minutes. Then we catch the sausages with a slotted spoon, and puree the vegetables in the broth with a blender. Chop 400 g of Savoy cabbage into thin strips, pour it into a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 7-8 minutes. Pour the calda verde on plates, add slices of chorizo and pour in a little olive oil. This is how soup is served in Portugal.

Incendiary chicken

The Portuguese love scalding spicy combinations, which is reflected in such a national dish as chicken piri-piri. It has African roots and was inherited by them from the former colonies.

We clean the fleshy Bulgarian pepper and 4 chili peppers from the partitions. Cut the pulp into slices, put it in a frying pan with heated olive oil, fry until softened. Add 2-3 crushed garlic cloves, the juice of 1 lemon, 1 tsp ground paprika and a generous pinch of salt. We keep the mass on the fire for another 2-3 minutes and puree it with a blender.

We make 3 deep longitudinal cuts into 2 large chicken fillets, put them in a glass baking dish. We pour them abundantly with piri-piri sauce so that it gets into the “pockets”. We put the mold in a preheated 180 °C oven for half an hour. Serve the chicken in a hot sauce is best with fresh vegetables or boiled potatoes.

A hearty pot of beans

A dish called “feijoada” will excite the appetite of anyone. After all, this is an assortment of smoked meat with beans, stewed in a pot. The signature ingredient here is karne seka-salted and dried beef.

Soak 500 g of dry black beans in water overnight. In the morning, fill it with fresh water for about 7-8 cm and put it on a low fire. We cut slices of 1 kg of dried beef and chorizo sausages, chop 1 kg of pork ribs into fragments. We lay the cold cuts to the boiling beans, stand on the fire for 10-15 minutes. Separately, we make a golden roast of 2 medium onions and 2-3 cloves of garlic.

We lay out the passerovka and smoked meat with softened beans in pots. Fill everything with meat broth so that it slightly covers the meat. We put salt, black pepper and bay leaf. We put the pots in the oven at 200 °C for 40-45 minutes. The Portuguese decorate the feijoada with herbs and orange slices, and white rice is served as a side dish.

Crisp tenderness

A business card among desserts is pate de nata. The custard cake was invented in the monastery of the county town of Belem. The monks even opened a pastry shop, thanks to which the delicacy has gained unprecedented popularity. By the way, it still exists and you can try cakes according to the same recipe there.

We offer an adapted version. First, we cook the syrup from 250 ml of water and 500 g of sugar with the addition of a cinnamon stick and 1 tsp of lemon zest. Carefully mix 60 g of flour in 150 ml of warm milk. We bring another 350 ml of milk to a boil in a saucepan, pour in the milk-flour mixture and syrup, removing the cinnamon stick from it. One by one, add 7 yolks and whisk the smooth cream with a whisk.

The layer of puff pastry is rolled up in a tight roll and cut into pieces 1 cm thick. We tamp them into muffin molds along the very bottom, trying not to break the spiral. Spread a small amount of cream on top and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 200 °C. In the cooled form, the pate de nata will be even tastier.

The Heroic Sandwich

The most famous Portuguese sandwich francesinha includes a set lunch. It is prepared from several slices of bread, meat steak, pork loin or beef tenderloin, ham and smoked sausages. In addition to this, there is a branded tomato and beer sauce.

Let’s start with him. We make a roast of 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic in butter, brown 50 g of bacon. Add 4 tablespoons of tomato paste, 200 ml of beer, 300 ml of meat broth and 2 tablespoons of flour. After cooking the sauce for a couple of minutes, pour in 200 ml of white wine, put a mixture of hot peppers and bay leaf. Let the sauce sweat a little under the lid, take out the bacon and bay and puree. At the end, pour a glass of cognac and return the sauce to a low heat for 3-4 minutes. Dry 6 slices of bread in the oven. Brown 150 g of veal strips in a frying pan. We also fry 3 pork sausages and cut them into slices along with 100 g of ham and 150 g of chorizo.

It is better to collect the sandwich in a heat-resistant bowl. We put pieces of veal and chorizo on bread toast, cover with a slice of melted cheese. Place the second toast, pork sausages, ham and cheese on top. Cover everything with the third toast and a slice of cheese. We collect the second sandwich and send both to the oven at 220 °C for 5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the francesina before serving. If you decide to make a sandwich for breakfast, add it with fried eggs.

Octopus in potato placers

Portuguese cuisine is unthinkable without the gifts of the sea. Therefore, the menu often includes rice with seafood, pork stewed with shellfish and fried sardines. We offer you to try a real delicacy-octopus with potatoes.

For this recipe, you will need to get and gut a whole chilled octopus. Fill it with water in a large saucepan, bring it to a boil, add the onion and carrot, cook over medium heat for about 40-45 minutes. After cooling the octopus carcass, we separate the tentacles and clean them from the skin.

We boil 1 kg of potatoes in a uniform, peel them, roll them in coarse salt. Pour a little olive oil into the baking dish and put 2-3 cloves of garlic in thin plates. Add a pinch of rosemary, basil and oregano. We spread the potatoes, and put an octopus with tentacles on top. Sprinkle it with olive oil and lemon juice, put it in the oven at 180 °C for 20 minutes. In Portugal, octopus with potatoes is served with a salad of green vegetables.

This is not all that is worth trying from the cuisine of Portugal, if you find yourself in this country. But with our recommendations, it will be easier for you to understand the menu in some restaurant where you decide to take a break from sightseeing trips. And if you want, Portugal itself can be your guest. Just use our recipes and surprise your loved ones with unexpected dishes with a sultry Latin flavor.

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