Almost the fields of Piedmont

Tomates sem basilico? - Unimaginable. The heady perfume that wafts the air as you brush past Basil is unparallelled.

An emerald forest in terracotta pots. Grown from seed our basil has flourished this year, giving us a bumper crop that if cut constantly and in the right way will keep the kitchen busy for the next couple of months. The basil will season much of our summer food here at Casa Rosada. It will accompany home grown tomatoes, home cured anchovies, sardine fillets and grilled fish spattered with fresh basil oil. Pestos every which way, fresh goats cheese and some scentsational salads.
It is the heart and soul of pesto. Its deep emerald leaves infuse olive oil to finish off a bowl of samarejo( Cordoban gazpacho) and a robust white fish steak such as Corvina comes alive when drizzled with this vibrant green emulsion.
In Portugal we have manjericos,a smaller leafed variety and a taste a little more towards aniseed.
The manjerico is strongly associated with the feast of St. Anthony, held on June 13. It is known as Saint Anthony´s manjerico: the lovers flower.The streets are decorated in bright colours and are full of people partying and dancing into the night.Bush basils (manjericos ) are found for sale on every corner. The tradition is that boyfriends should offer a Manjerico to their girlfriends. These bring a little flag with a verse on it, a little like fortune cookies or in Italy Baci chocolates. These potted bushes smell like basil but you should first touch it and then smell your hand, otherwise it may die!!!!

How to cope with a bounty full of basil.

BASIL OIL
100g basil leaves
250ml best quality extra virgin olive oil
a few extra basil leaves
Blanch the basil leaves in boiling water for five seconds, then drain and refresh with cold water. Squeeze it dry, then liqidise with the olive oil, Decant, add the few extra basil leaves and refrigerate until ready to use.

SALSA VERDE
Pound basil leaves with half the quantity of mint and parsley, some anchovies and capers, then blend to a verdant sauce with lemon juice and olive oil. Eh voila, in minutes a perfect accompaniment to cold pork or chicken.

FOR A SIMPLE SUMMER SUPPER
Coarsely tear up some cooked chicken breasts, put them in a bowl and add plentiful torn basil, ( torn because the meeting of knife and basil leaf ends in bruising, and god forbid you dont want a little bruiser ruining your salad) chopped mint and rocket. Mix together well with lemon juice. Tip the resulting mixture into a salad bowl of pre-cooked cous cous. Stir in extra virgin olive oil, more lemon juice , salt and pepper. Serve immediately

Los paraguayos - the user friendly peaches

These gorgeous little confection like fruits get my vote every summer.
They are marketed under different names. Here in Portugal and Spain, they are known as Paraguayos. Their most common labelling is the Doughnut peach, because of their shape.
I have even heard that Tesco in the UK are marketing them in long flat boxes like those used for doughnuts!!! ( Well if it becomes a fun new way to encourage children to eat their five a day, I´m all for it).
They are also known as `bagel peaches´, `saucer peaches´ and `saturn peaches´, all relating to to the resemblance they give. Flat peaches were first grown in China in the 19th century and called Pan Tao peaches.

TEN REASONS THAT GOT ME MY FLAT PEACH ADDICTION

1. They are sweeter than other peaches

2. They have a delicious hint of almond about them.

3. They taste more delicious than any other peach variety I know.

4.They have less acid.

5.The flesh comes away from the stone easily.

6.Because of their size they can be eaten in your hand,

7.Their thin skin is less furry than other peaches so they can be eaten with the skin on,
thats if you want to spill juice all down your front!!!

8. If you prefer to peel them the skin comes away easily.

9. Because of their shape they are easily segmented into quarters.

10. They make my life so easy when preparing the breakfast at Casa Rosada

Easy peasy pesto fresco!!!!

When its 34º you need a light supper or tapas starter that is cool and refreshing.This pesto has to be the easiest and quickest no nonsense component of a simple weekday supper.
I have used dry roasted peanuts instead of the traditional pine nuts normally used in pesto
Once you´ve made this its up to you to decide what to serve it with.
This is what we did with it at Casa Rosada.

Squid pota or octopus salad
with coriander ginger mint and basil pesto

500g cooked pota ,squid or octopus
rocket leaves to serve

FOR THE PESTO

1 cup fresh mint leaves
1 cup coriander
1 cup basil leaves
2" cube of ginger peeled and chopped
half a cup of dry roasted peanuts
half a cup of freshly squeezed lime juice ( approx. 2 limes )
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste

Blend all together in a processor. Adjust the texture to make it thinner by adding more olive oil and lime juice until you reach a desired consistency. The fresh kick you get out of this is truly amazing.Toss your choice of fish in the pesto and serve on a mound of rocket leaves.

Variation on the theme

Cannelini bean salad
Noodle salad
Prawn salad with beans
Chicken rocket and chinese leaf salad

Still life with still lemonade

I need a refreshing drink on hand in this weather so today I have bottled some home made
lemonade. This is a recipe handed down to me by my dear mother. The only thing I have changed is the sugar content. My mother was hooked on war time rations and economy so used saccharin tablets. I have converted this to sugar, but left her original version in brackets for you to see.

Mum´s home made lemonade

( Makes 1.75 litres ) 3 pints

6 Large Lemons
150g ( 5oz ) granulated sugar ( 30mg saccharin 2x 15mg tablets )

Thinly pare the outer zest of 3 of the lemons
Using a zester or potato peeler.

Make sure you have no white pith as this will
make the lemonade taste bitter.

Put the zest in a large bowl and add the squeezed juice
Of all the lemons and the sugar.
Pour in 1.5 litres of boiling water ( I use bottled )
Stir well, cover and leave overnight in a cool place.

Next day stir again then strain through a sieve.
Pour into bottles and chill thoroughly

Pull up a sun lounger in the shade of the garden, and nod off on your Dick Francis

Whole lotta fishin goin on

There are a heck of a lot of cephalopods in the local fish market at the moment!!! - and at extremely good prices. Squid in particular is becoming harder to get due to overfishing. So when one sees Squid, Octopus and my latest discovery Potas, one snaps it up.
Pota is of the squid family, a larger squid, but commanding a much more
affordable place on the fish stall.It has a high protein content and huge versatility when cooking, from ceviche to pota ragout with chili to name but two ways with Pota.
I always get the peixeiro ( fishmonger) to clean the octopus for me, but the squid I always clean myself and then freeze it before cooking, to tenderize it. This replaces the old practice of beating it against the rocks. As Freda said to Barry "Not bleakly, not meekly beat me on the bottom with a womans weekly." Sardines are another victim of over fishing. In the winter months small sardinhas are found in the market. They are being caught faster than they can reproduce.They are being fattened for spawning between May and October and should not be fished for outside of these months. Enough of the sustainable fishing rant, I feel a recipe coming on.

Squid, pota or octopus salad

500g squid, pota or octopus, cooked
1 stick of lemongrass
3 spring onions
2 small piri piri peppers
4 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon muscovado sugar
Juice of 2 limes
handful of rocket per portion

Peel the outer leaves of your lemongrass and discard. Chop the lemongrass very finely and put in a mixing bowl.
Chop the spring onions and the chillies, getting rid of the seeds. Mix in the coriander leaves, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. chop the fish into rough chunks then toss it in the dressing. Season with salt and pepper and serve on a pile of rocket.

comide com gosto fresco!!!

The market is back in town!!

It was the second saturday of July in Castro Marim and it was HOT.
( If I had been in England, I would have been advised to call NHS Direct helpline on 0845 46 47!!!!!!)
The monthly market came to town yesterday.Not the busiest we`ve seen it, but plenty of good home grown grub to buy. It is a showcase for local growers and mercearias ( grocers and specialist food suppliers ). One of my favourite stops is casa da serra, sabor e tradicao, literally the house of the mountains. The best cured meats and cheeses come from the serra,a romantic notion of a rural environment where time is still measured by sunrise noon and sunset, and the by line means `taste´and `tradition.´ All the stallholders are very forthcoming with samples of their produce and keen to tell you about how it was cured, grown or otherwise. I have one pet stallholder, whose stall was absent yesterday. She takes her van in July and August and parks it beside the approach road to the beach where she sets up a produce stall in the cool shade of the pine forest. Apparently in these two months she makes more money than if she was in the market.I always look forward to stopping off on the way back from the beach for a rather muddled anglo/ portuguese chat, and buy some fresh fruit and veg to take home. She is also an artisan baker and she will greet you with charming familiarity. She takes a stall at the many summer festivals up and down the east Algarve, and is always quick to inform you of which festival she will be attending that week. Her range of cakes is extensive and oh so tempting!! All her produce is ´propria`( home grown) and she flags up on her stall what is Bio and what is not. This means that she is not a totally organic grower but what she terms biologic is that she has not used any kind of pesticide or spray on these particular plants. At the ´Festa de gastronomia outono`( Autumn food fair ) in October she presents her first biologic clementinas and tangerinas and the best and most succulent dried apricots I have ever tasted. No doubt you will be hearing more about her in later blogs.

So what was in my shopping basket:

Chourico de porco preto sausage of the black pig
Chourico para cozido a chourico for cooking My suggestion: saute with new potatoes and sherry vinegar

Salsiccia paio smoked pork tenderloin sausage.
Paio are thicker than chourico. better cuts of the pig are usually used to make them, and the flavour may vary according to what spices have been used. Thin slices make a good tapas.Paio sometimes have more meat than fat, But lets face it the fat is what makes it taste so good!!!!!

Queijos various regional cheeses

Paraguayos Donut shaped peaches, a whole blog on this one later
Pessegos brancos white fleshed peaches


Uvas cardinal a variety of small black grapes

Alho garlic

Cookery day at Casa Rosada

Today we have just finalised a flyer promoting our cookery day add-on.
It can be viewed in full @ issuu.com/ocozinheiro. A cool new publishing tool we have just stumbled on.
The idea is not to create a cookery school, but instead
an informal day out in a guests holiday where they can acquire a background to Portuguese cuisine, its heritage, and its ingredients.
An insight into the different styles of Portuguese food, in particular
the culinary heritage of the local area of Castro Marim and the East Algarve,
and hopefully gain some culinary pearls along the line.

PEARL OF THE DAY
When using tinned tomatoes ( Cirio only please )
and the recipe requires chopped tomatoes, but you only have the whole peeled variety on your larder shelf.. Don´t despair. Open the tin, insert a pair of long culinary scissors into the tin and cut the tomatoes vigorously.
Turn the contents out into your cooking vessel and Pronto - chopped tomatoes!!!
and you´ve saved money too. Tinned chopped tomatoes are dearer.

Windfalls and mascarpone ice cream

We awoke this morning to find the garden littered with windfalls from the orange and lemon trees. The wind in the night had told me today was the day to make ice cream. Orange curd ice cream was first followed by mascarpone ice cream. First off you have to make the Orange curd

Orange Curd

Grated zest of two oranges

1/2 cup of squeezed orange juice

1 cup of granulated sugar

4 large organic eggs

1 large egg yolk

250g (8oz) Unsalted butter

Put the sugar in a medium bowl and grate the orange zest into it. Rub the zest into the sugar vigorously with your hands. Strain the orange juice into a medium sized pan. Add the eggs, extra egg yolk, butter and zested sugar mix. Set the pan over a medium to low flame and cook, whisking constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. Be sure to keep whisking all over the pan especially at the edges. At the first sign of a boil remove from the heat but keep whisking. Pour into a suitable container Put in the fridge to set and chill.

For the ice cream

300 ml (10fl oz ) whipping cream

Having made the curd. (The curd has to be home- made since only home-made has the right flavour, strong and perfect enough to carry the ice cream. Don’t think you can cheat by chucking a jar of commercial curd in with a tub of cream).

Whip the cream lightly, so that it is still floppy, but has some substance to it. Fold into the cold curd. Either freeze in an ice cream machine or if you don’t have one, pour the mixture into a shallow container and place in the freezer, set to its lowest setting. Leave until the sides are beginning to set, then break them up and push to the centre. Leave for another half hour and repeat. Leave until the ice cream has just about set but is not rock hard. Process until smooth. Or beat hard with a spoon to break up the crystals. Return to the freezer to finish freezing.

Transfer the ice cream to the fridge about 45 minutes before serving so it has time to soften

Next off the mascarpone ice cream, but first a walk down memory lane. Every time I make this ice cream it rekindles memories of growing up in border country Scotland.
We lived near Eyemouth, a small but important fishing town. I remember often being taken by my sister to see the fishing boats docking and unloading their laden cargos of fresh fish onto the quayside. Afterwards we would always stop and have an Italian ice cream at Giaccopazzi’s, the towns Italian run ice cream parlour. The unique taste of these ice creams I have never forgotten and bear an uncanny resemblance in flavour and colour to my own home made mascarpone ice cream.
The coastal town of Eyemouth, seven miles north of Berwick has long been spoilt for Italian Ice cream. a century ago. Peter Giacopazzi´s great grandfather used to sell it from an ice-box on his bicycle. “It was a classic Italian story” he says. “My family set out for America, but hit Scotland first, and stayed.” And the family tradition is still alive and well today at Giacopazzi´s, Peter´s award winning chip shop, which sells fish suppers and pizzas alongside a wide selection of artisan ice creams.
Scotland on Sunday

EatScotland's independent assessor said:

"It is the ice cream that would make me return again and again. The quality is evident and the awards that they have received are well deserved."

Mascarpone ice cream

Makes about 1 litre

450 ml whole milk

1 Vanilla pod, slit open length ways

Yolks of 5 large free range eggs

125g caster sugar

250 ml double cream

250 g mascarpone


Heat the milk with the vanilla pod until almost boiling, remove from the heat, stir well and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and creamy in a roomy bowl. Slowly pour on the milk, stirring constantly. Lift out the vanilla pod and return the mixture to the pan. Stir constantly over a low heat until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. It must not boil or it will curdle.
Remove from the heat, stir in the cream and leave to cool completely. When cold, using an electric whisk, whisk the custard into the mascarpone then chill. Freeze in a freezer box and freeze firm, stirring once after 2 hours and twice more at hourly intervals. Transfer the ice cream to the fridge at least half an hour before serving.

Grilled fresh sardines are as popular in Portugal as hot dogs and hamburgers are in North America.
The characteristic smell of grilled sardines permeates everywhere, during the summer months, when literally tonnes of them are consumed. Natives and tourist alike devour them by the dozen from street vendors, in local seaside tascas, restaurants and in the backyards and terraces of private homes. Apart from the ubiquitous salt cod, fresh sardines are, of course one of Portugal´s national dishes, especially char-grilled.
If your experience of sardines is limited to the canned variety, here´s your wake up call.
The season to eat sardines is between May and October, when the fish fatten for spawning




Portuguese grilled sardines
the salting that´s done here gives the sardines extra flavour, akin to cured fish.

Prep time: 30-60 minutes for salting the sardines
Serves 4 people

24 sardines, fresh , cleaned, heads and tails left on 1 cup sea salt 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil lemon wedges for serving

Rinse the sardines under cold running water, then drain them and blot dry with paper towel. Sprinkle one third of the salt on the bottom of a ceramic dish. Arrange half the sardines on top and sprinkle with half the remaining salt. add another layer of sardines and sprinkle the remaining salt all over. Cover and cure in the salt in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes.

When ready to cook, rinse the salt off the sardines and dry off with paper towel. brush the sardines with the oil.If you are worried about the fish sticking, use afish grilling basket; otherwise oil the grate and arrange the fish directly on it. Grill the sardines until their skins are lightly charred and the flesh is cooked to flakiness. 5 minutes per side max.serve immediately with lemon wedges and a fresh salad

Fresh cured sardines
This makes a great tapas that can be prepared in advance

Serves 12 people

500g fresh sardine fillets
100ml white wine vinegar
6-8 fresh bay leaves
4 cloves garlic peeled and thinly sliced
2 taespoons sea salt
4-5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
cracked black pepper

Rinse and drain the sardine fillets and cut into strips. Place on a shallow platter. mix together the vinegar, bay leaves, garlic and salt and pour over the sardines. Let stand, for 3-4 hours in acool place or refrigerator. Drain off the vinegar mixture, pour on the olive oil, mix through and and add pepper to taste. Serve garnished with fresh chopped parsley or coriander and fresh artesanal crusty bread.


Filetes de sardinha panados
( breaded sardine fillets)

This is a staple of the portuguese table and one of my all time favourites
serve it as a supper dish or as part of a tapas platter

Serves 4 people

8 Sardine fillets
sea salt
crushed garlic
lemon juice
4 soup soons bread crumbs
1 soupspoon chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
flour
1 egg, beaten
olive oil

Season the sardine fillets with sea salt

garlic and a little lemon juice. drag the sardine fillets through some flour, and then through the beaten egg, and finally coat
them with a mixture of the breadcrumbs, parsley and oregano.
Heat a little olive oil in a deep frying pan and fry the fillets until they are golden. lift from the pan and dry on kitchen paper.
Serve hot or cold
Serve with thin slices of home made bread and a salad of lettuce, tomato, roasted pepprs and cucumber
Garnish with fresh coriander and oregano


Sardines and chickpea salad, escalivada
Escalivada, the mixture used to stuff the sardines,is a typical preparation of catalan cuisine.
Escalivar means to cook in hot ashes. Typically the vegetables in an escalivada are grilled, and the dish is served with grilled meats or fish. Mountain shepherds were adept at packing their rucksacks with some cheese and wine and building a hardwood fire near their sheep's pasture where they could grill a medley of vegetables. The sardines are marinated in orange juice and served on a salad of chickpeas, croutons and bacon

Serves 6
30 minutes prep time plus 6 hours marinating

18 small sardines rinsed and cleaned mint leaves to garnish
FOR THE MARINADE

4 oranges juiced
30 ml sherry vinegar sea salt

FOR THE STUFFING
1 red pepper 1 onion, peeled 1 aubergine 2 tablespoons olive oil

FOR THE SALAD
25g bacon chopped in cubes
100g croutons
125 g chicpeas, cooked or tinned
2 spring onions, chopped

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 orange, juiced
15 ml sherry vinegar
salt and pepper

Mix together the orange juice, sherry vinegar and salt for the marinade
Toss the sardines with the marinade in a large dish and leave in the refrigerator overnight.
Preheat the oven to 190c / gas 5
Toss the red pepper, onion and aubergine in the olive oil in a roasting tin.
Roast for 30 minutes until tender
Cut the roasted red pepper, onion and aubergine into short thin strips and toss together.
Fry the bacon in a small heavy based frying pan.
In abowl mix together the fried bacon, croutons spring onions and chick peas
make the vinaigrette by whisking together the olive oil, orange juice and sherry vinegar.
Season with salt and pepper
Toss the chick pea mixture with the vinaigrette
Drain the marinated sardines. Stuff each sardine with the roasted vegetables.
To serve. - Spoon the chick pea salad onto a serving plate.
Top with the stuffed sardines, garnish with the mint leaves.

Writers blog!!!!

So hot today 35º in the shade,
Culinary thoughts not occurring!!!
coming shortly.......
Watermelon,
avocado,
seafood,
the perfumed garden
and many other
tasty instalments