The more the feria

Portugal is in the middle of all its big summer holidays and festivals. Today is one of the biggest religious holidays the Assuncao de nossa senhora. The solemnity of the assumption of Mary. Jesus ascended into heaven but Mary was assumed. Some say they guess Jesus could do it on his own, but Mary was abducted alien style!!!- (apologies for the irreverence).


We were rudely awakened at 8a.m. by what sounded like canons firing a human canonball that might have been Mary. The town band then paraded past the house, jettisoning our guests from their slumbers with a rousing march. We move to dusk and this is the scene outside Casa Rosada as the sun goes down. Mary is held aloft on a charola, which literally means a `litter´on which sacred images are carried in religious procession, it means `niche´, and levar em charola is to fete someone by carrying them on the shoulders of the crowd.
My food suggestions to celebrate the occasion could include starting the day with a Nuvolone ( cloud souffle ) from Almost Bourdain. To finish the day - Tiramisu literally, translates from the Italian very appropriately as "lift me up" I am not a great fan of Tiramisu but a great recipe can be found at Gastronomers Guide, adventures in gastronomy. Strict Catholics still have to observe fasting and abstinence on the vigil of the assumption, 14th August. So no yummy recipes for them!!!

Cut and dry...

...or what to do with an abundance of basil. The pots on the terrace sit there all day soaking up the sun, creating the most glorious perfumed waft as you brush past. My mother kept a jar of dried basil in her cupboard. Untouched, dried, tired and possessing as much of the fragrance of the fresh herb as cinders. This need not be. This year we have so much basil I have experimented very successfully with home drying the leaves. Cut branches and leave them to dry on a tray or in a bowl. After about a week the leaves will crispen up, at this point separate the leaves from the stalks and discard the stalks. Continue the drying out process until the leaves crumble in your fingers. Put the crumbled leaves in a pestle and mortar and grind them coarsely. Put them in an airtight spice jar until ready to use.
The combination of fresh and dried basil sprinkled over a tricolore salad gives it a subtle lift. Sprinkled over the top of a pizza, fresh from the oven just before serving gives an aroma of an Italian kitchen.

The best way to store basil in the freezer

Stuff 55g of of fresh basil leaves into your food processor or blender. Process with enough fruity olive oil to make a stiff paste, about 5-6 tablespoons. Freeze in small containers and store for up to three months. Bring it out of the freezer in the winter and give yourself a heady reminder of the summer just gone by.

1. A great base for making pesto.

2.Use it for sauces or dips

3. Blend it with soft creamy goats cheese, and spread it over slices of bread
as a healthy alternative to buttering a sandwich

4. Stir it into hot plain rice, risottos, mash

5. Stir it into winter vegetable soup to create a summer flavour

Truly engaging

Like most good fruit
it started its life in the East.
After an an appearance in Italy,this brave " shall we call it a plum"crossed the alps in the 16th century, and surprise surprise
was adopted by the French.
They took this little lad or ladette and gave it right royal status. They named La Reine Claude,after the wife of Francois the first.

Was Claude round and green? I very much doubt it!!! - They had to name something after her. What is it with Queens!!! Plums and railway stations named after them. So, this is how I become plum crazy for a very short lived season in August, here in Portugal. Stoned at the post, but the name stayed, and Portugal gives us the Rainha Claudia. I will refer you to the late and inimitable Jane Grigson´s fruit book for the full story of how the ´gage` came to be in England. It involves aristocracy again, and a certain Sir William.
For me there are few more beautiful things than a bowl of greengages in August. Their pale emerald/ blue/ yellow hues with a milky patina, and they cook as well as they eat. Here at Casa Rosada. Greengage and Almond tart will be on offer for a lucky holiday maker from the UK who is hungry and under the threat of a new fascist diet. Forget healthy and trim,after a great slice of this tart my intention is to send this holiday maker home with salvation and joy.

Greengage and almond tart
Serves 10

One quantity of sweet pastry, shop or home made
( approx. 500g )

FOR THE FRANGIPANE
250g whole blanched almonds

250g unsalted butter

250g caster sugar

4 whole eggs

as many greengages as it takes
to fill the tart shell in one layer.

Prepare the frangipane the day before. Grind the almonds until fine.
Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy.
Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk thoroughly.
Slowly add the eggs to the butter and sugar.
add the ground almonds and mix in well.
Refrigerate overnight. Frangipane cooks better when cold.
Line a 12in loose bottomed pie dish with the pastry and put in the fridge for 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven 180c /350f 7 gas mark 4.
Blind bake 15 minutes and allow to cool.
Fill the tart shell with frangipane.
Halve and de-stone the fruit then lay them over the frangipane in one layer cut side up.
Dust with icing sugar and put in the oven for 45 minutes.
Let tart sit for at least half an hour before removing and serving.
Serve with lashings of creme fraiche!!

Two fat ladies and another fat lady!!!

Logo apppears by kind permission of three fat ladies

"You ain´t fat" but you just have to follow this!!! It is written in Portuguese but i´m sure your translation tools can be put to good use. I think if you google three fat ladies it will come up in English if your computer is registered in the UK. I will be happy to help if there is a post that particularly interests you but you cant make head or tail of it. email me through Casa Rosada.
After hours and hours talking about making junket and discussing home economics, these three friends, Pipoka, Mrs Pickles and Farofia ( nomes de plumes ) who all love culinary experiences, decided to create this blog. They spent hours talking about food! Finally talking amongst themselves was too much so they decide to make their passion public and write about it. The blog name is an hommage to the humour and culinary wisdom - if not always politically correct - of the famous and fabulous "two fat ladies".
It is basicaly the gastronomic adventures of three fat ladies without motorbike or sidecar - This is Portugal 2010. These three have gathered together some of their favourite receitas, which coincidentally relates to jennifer always calling her recipes "receipts". Some of their posts reveal experiences in other areas of life as well. Their account of their trip by invitation to The Algarve, I found especially interesting
Start finding out secrets of traditional portuguese baking usually from a convent, for instance the recipe for ´Leavened cakes of San Miguel.´"Pipoka" and "Farofia" both work in marketing, while "Mrs Pickles" is a designer.Believe me this is the only way to access the heart of the real Portuguese kitchen.Recipes in Portugal are kept in the family, they are closely guarded secrets, and are only passed on to the next generation of the family. There are few definitive recipes as these aren´t the kind of secrets that can be written down. Everybody makes it in their own way. Thats why you find so many family run restaurants in Portugal. This is a gem and it is a privilege to share their country´s culinary heritage.
It is hard to believe that 14 years has passed since the two fat ladies graced Brish television screens, and 11 years since the sad passing of Jennifer. Part of the joy of Two Fat Ladies lay in its incorrectness on all levels. Both presenters were militantly anti-vegetarian and anti-slimming.Even from a hygienic angle, the programme excited controversy. The sight of Paterson's be-ringed fingers and luridly painted fingernails digging into bowls of uncooked ingredients disconcerted viewers accustomed to more whimsy-mimsy presenters and the more tiresome refinements of modern cuisine.Precise quantities were often replaced by a phrase like "generous slurp." This was a wonderful sort of culinary irreverance that will be missed and something I feel strongly lurking in the three fat ladies hommage.



RIP Jennifer Patterson (3 April 1928 – 10 August 1999)

Mertola- where two rivers meet

What to do on an overcast humid day in August. Mertola lets go!! 72 kilometres north of Casa Rosada we found ourselves in a sleepy old town full of discoveries - culinary and otherwise.O cozinheiro´s eyes soon caught sight of the mercado municipal, filled with lovely fresh produce including cheese, honey, fruit, vegetables and sachets of medicinal herbs. After engaging in an initial chat with the charming stall holder, I promised I would return after lunch to purchase claudia rainha (greengages), plums, juicy fat lemons, local cheese and cured sausage of porco preto( the black pig of the Alentejo). Mertola´s specialities are javali ( wild boar )and the regional pork dish Migas. There is a restaurant of the same name in the town serving serious Alentejan specialities, such as aromatic coriander-packed river bass soup. Migas is not perhaps a dish to choose on an over humid day in August ,before ascending steep winding cobbled streets. We will keep this culinary treat for our next visit, when the weather is cooler. .We discovered Terra Utopica, offering a mediterranean themed menu in a quirky interior of mismatched eclectic decor and, after initial apprehension, we settled into a delicious lunch of Jambalaya, grilled prawns and mushroom tagliatelle, washed down with large ice cold beers and glasses of exceedingly coiffable house wine. What a wonderful day out. I am longing to return and discover more of this fascinating old town.

The world´s sauciest tomatoes

" Fair and goodly apples, chamfered, uneven and bunched out in many places,
of a bright shining red colour and the bigness of a good egg or large pippin"
John Gerard The Herball 1597

A world without tomatoes would be a world without love. Today the San Marzano´s have arrived in Casa Rosada´s kitchen garden with a vengeance, bringing a little bit of Italy to Portugal. Fresh ripe, plummy and gorgeous. ready for peeling, passata, pasta putanesca, pissaladiere, and pizza with pizzaz. Now is the perfect time to experiment with recipes - some old some new some borrowed but never blue. So lets get cookin!!!!!

Music while you work

Do you like music while you work? It was in the dark days of 1940 that the BBC instituted 'Music While You Work', following a Government suggestion that morale in industry would be improved if there were daily broadcasts of cheerful music piped into the factories. The theory (which turned out to be right) was that improved morale would lead to better production. I find music in the kitchen makes me twice as productive. I was brought up in the 50´s on a diet of radio broadcasts. We relied on the " wireless" for all our at home entertainment.
My mother always used to be switched to Two way family favourites while she prepared our Sunday Lunch -The time in Britain is twelve noon, in Germany it's one o'clock, but home and away it's time for "Two-Way Family Favourites" ...with Jean Metcalfe in London and Cliff Michelmore in Germany. Nowadays On a Sunday morning when I am cooking I enjoy listening to Rufus Wainwright - Want One or Want Two, but more often than not, the one that I want is Release the Stars. I find classical piano music very soothing when one wants to get lost in ones own culinary world, concentrating on the task at hand which may involve complicated baking formulas, and for this task I select Ludovico Einaudi, I Giorni or Divenire.
When I am on my own in the kitchen, I very often use it as a chance to give our extensive back catalogue of CD´s an airing. I make the selection and don´t have to consider anyone else!! lets just call it housewives choice.
Different types of music might suit different styles of cooking. For me a Kasbian anthem like `Fire´ is the perfect choice for flattening saltimbocca with a rolling pin. I definitely enjoy a good aria while making spag bol? God forbid, La Traviata might encourage consumption in the kitchen!!! and while on the subject of opera I have recently become quite partial to having Emma Shaplin, accompany my kitchen duties. `Popera´ can be a great partner to creating a modern take on a traditional cuisine. The Fear by Lily Allen, makes me stir to a frenzy, and Wire to Wire, Johnny Borrell, brings me back to slicing juliennes of carrot. Rodrigo Leao´s Alma mater and Cinema are high on my `most played while cooking´ list. The fast rythms of Rodrigo y Gabriela kept Elena and my spirits high and our hands on deck for a fast day of prepping for a recent wedding catered. That brings me finally to showtunes, the overture to Follies, Sondheim and Sweeney Todd , the devil´s apprentice intoxicating the food, Devils food cake perhaps, but I start to feel I dont like these pies I´m baking any more. I feel the Beatles should have been in here somewhere, I grew up on the Beatles music, but their food related titles like Octopus´s garden and Mean Mr Mustard, do nothing for me. When I play Beatles it is usually a complete medley. The long and winding road must end here.

"Remember remember......." curry powder, tisane and plonk

Monday 2nd August 2010.

I find myself at midday with two of the three couples currently staying at Casa Rosada, deciding that they would like to book in for dinner that evening in the garden?

12.30 and having agreed a menu with them I rush off to the market to see what fish is left, if any. I succeed in securing three bream, the fourth person batted for the vegetarians. So onward to Pingo Doce, my favoured supermarket to secure a few ingredients for a veggie main course.
The supermarket car park is packed to capacity, there are not enough trolleys to go round, and there is a security man on the door only allowing 5 customers in as every 5 customers leave.

December 24th 2005. Sudden flashback to Blighty where I am fighting my way through madding crowds in Sainsburys Islington on Christmas Eve. My memory is even shorter. How could I ever forget the same Monday last year when we encountered this very same situation, but in our neighbouring Spanish town of Ayamonte.
The first Monday in August is the day the Portuguese and Spanish descend on their holiday villas, overrun the supermarkets in hordes and fill at least two trolleys per family with curry powder, tisanes and plonk...... Whisky, Baileys, Superbock, processed and frozen foods of all types and enough toilet roll to supply a public convenience.Will it last the the month, I say?
Oohh suddenly I am allowed in having procured a trolley from a departing customer for um euro....... and let the battle begin for a log of goats cheese, some cherry tomatoes and wine. In your dreams kiddo, " Nao Sao Mate" - no wine of my choosing to be had. They must have " come in the night and stolen the wine". I start standing in line. "New queue" - a shorter line, but whats in their trolley, no I´ll stay put, she´s a slow checkout girl anyway!! The man in front of me only has two items so benign individuals with trolleys stacked to bust let him to the front of the queue. This is unheard of, it can`t be Portugal. Oh yes it is, an incident is breaking out two trolleys behind me when a woman with two trolleys again overflowing with frozen hamburgers and toilet rolls charges into the middle of the queue, claiming her son had been holding a place for her while she had been overloading the trolley. This doesn´t go down well. Having explained to Maria, a sua vendedora de balcao hoje ( Your checkout girl today )what my fresh root ginger was, I flee the snakepit as fast as I can.

2.30. Doesn´t time fly when you are enjoying yourself? - Should have gone to Lidl, where if I spent over €15 on my till receipt I qualified for a draw and stood to win free shopping for a year at Lidl to the tune of €1,500. Thank god for German supermarkets eh?

Remember remember the first monday in August. Never again!!!!!!!

The Perfumed Portuguese Garden

The delicacy and subtlety of a flower or herbal scent is caused by a mixture of chemical compounds which make up the essential oil. The commonest of these compounds are esters, formed from a combination of acid and alcohol. The type of alcohol contained in the essential oil is what gives a flower its characteristic scent. Leaf scents too are difficult to define, but often their essential oil is composed of only one substance. Lemon scent for example when it occurs is citral; lemon thyme, lemon scented verbena and the leaves of all citrus fruits have this scent.

The scents of our Portuguese garden have encouraged me to observe, become more aware, enjoy and indulge in these scents and to discover how they can be applied in a culinary capacity as essential essences.
What started this off was Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall´s strawberry jam with sweet scented geranium leaves which featured in Episode 4 of the River Cottage 2009 season in June. - "The River Cottage Strawberry Fair". He added geranium leaves to his strawberries in the preserving pan and then added lemon juice. This idea inspired me to infuse lemon scented geranium leaves in a pannacotta mix. The result was heady and phenomenal. The infusion of the leaves without adding any extra lemon juice was sufficient and kept a mysterious subtlety. So here follows some recipes inspired by other scents in our garden.

Try crumbling lavender flowers into a bowl of mascarpone
and serve with fresh strawberries

Almondegas com Limao
These bite sized meat balls are wrapped in lemon leaves from the garden, which share their fragrance with the flavours in the meatballs. We had them, the other day, as part of a cool summer lunch in the garden.
Makes 24

100g day old rustic bread, torn
25o ml milk
500g minced meat of your choice
100g freshly grated parmesan
sea salt and black pepper
2 garlic cloves crushed
2 tablespoons chopped flatleaf parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
grated zest of 1 lemon
24 lemon leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
24 strong toothpicks

Heat the oven to 180C /gas 4. soak the bread in the milk for 5 minutes then squeeze it dry with your hands. Mix together with the meat, cheese, seasoning, garlic, parsley, lemon juice and lemon zest. If the mixture seems heavy, add a little more milk, then roll into 24 walnut sized balls. Lightly oil both sides of each leaf, bend a leaf around each meatball and fasten with a tooth pick. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until firm and lightly browned. Serve warm in the leaves, but don´t eat the leaves!!!


Lemon scented geranium panna cotta
This is a very simple dessert to make, and it should be made in advance to allow it sufficient time to set. It sets best if made the night before. It will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Serves 4

3 gelatine leaves
250ml double cream
250ml whole milk
25g caster sugar
couple of drops of vanilla extract
12 lemon geranium leaves

Place the gelatine leaves in bowl of cold water and leave to soften for about five minutes. Put the cream, milk, sugar, geranium leaves and vanilla in a small pan and bring gently to the boil. As soon as it begins to bubble, remove from the heat, cover with alid and leave to rest for 5 minutes. This allows the geranium to infuse. Strain the cream through a fine sieve and discard the geranium leaves. Drain the gelatine leaves and squeeze out any excess water with your hands. Add the soaked gelatine to the cream mixture and stir well, making sure that the gelatine melts completely. Pour the mixture into4 ramekins and place immediately in the fridge. Leave for aminimum of 4 hours but preferably overnight until set. To serve run a wet knife carefully round the edge of each panna cotta and then turn the ramekin upside down on to a serving plate to tip it out.

VARIATION
You can experiment with all sorts of different flavourings and essences.
Substitute the following for the geranium leaves:

Lemongrass
Cardamom
Bay leaves
Mint
Chocolate mint

Steak Lust - occasional expat cravings

Once in a while we lust after a piece of juicy red meat. As expats living in Portugal we´ve weaned ourselves off the red meat habit. We seemed to have replaced beef in our diet with pork, chicken and fish. Every once in a while, however we are overwhelmed by the desire for a succulent steak. One of these rare occasions was my birthday two weeks ago when invited to spend the day with friends. They buy the most beautiful filet mignon steaks from their butcher, and suddenly I was consumed by steak lust - sizzling steak simply seasoned and grilled over hot flames of a barbecue,
backed up by new potato chips and salad.
This kind of meat is a luxury commodity in Portugal and does not come cheap- maybe one reason that contributed to our weaning!!- This brings me to how I started this story in the first place.
I am constantly being put on the spot at parties, over dinner,or with friends. I am posed with the question. What is your favourite dish? up until recently I haven´t been able to give them a satisfactory answer. I now however have decided that wherever one is located globally, a perfectly cooked steak with chips, and I am in hog heaven. I have to say that France takes the lead here, but as long as I have my steak mal passado ( the Portuguese term for rare, literally badly passed through the grill ), and the chips are up to scratch I have my perfect dish in front of me. Today we lunched with friends at "Vela 2", a typical Portuguese restaurant without a menu
( there are many of these) that serve you platters of grilled fish until you say chega ( enough). This is result of our weaning off red meat, and maybe acquiring a preference for fish, but when we passed by our lunch companions home for an "afternoon glass" they proffered us with a Fray Bentos Steak and kidney pie they had brought back from a recent visit to England. My eyes lit up. I haven´t had one of these for 4 years, and I look forward to cooking some mash to soak up its gravy- yum. not at the moment its far too hot for this kind of food, but something to look forward to, the next time the expat stomach craves!!