A yearly challenge

A yearly challenge faces me every February - When I was working for Conde Nast the challenge was how to sex up the mise en page of the rainwear story for a third year running, and still make it look fresh and exciting. Now the challenge is more mundane- what to do with a glut of Seville oranges? How can I find yet another new and innovative way with them? There is only a certain amount of marmalade that even a guest house can store and consume. I have already posted 3 recipes using Seville oranges in the bitter sweet post at the end of January.Since then I have been researching and planning Casa Rosada´s new 2011 dinner menus. Among menu items, new takes on Tapas and spiced up sushi with an Algarvian twist are featuring in the starter section.One of the tapas items is going to be Manchego cheese with a Madeira and Seville orange chutney.Yes you may say, I have already done a Seville orange chutney in the previous post, but this is totally different. More Jamie Oliver, less Ruth Watson, a less structured chutney and delicious to boot.

Manchego cheese with a Madeira and orange Seville chutney
Serves 6 

12 pickling onions peeled
butter and olive oil for sautéing
3 tablespoons dry Madeira
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
juice of 1 orange
1 tablespoon diced red onon
1/2 tablespoon muscatel raisins
2 tablespoons coarse-cut Seville orange marmalade
1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds lightly bruised
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Manchego cheese
Sauté the pickling onions in a little butter and oil. add the Madeira and sherry vinegar and gently sweat the onions for 5 minutes. add the remaining ingredients and gently cook together, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced enough to make a thick chutney. Leave to cool and serve with thin slices of a good quality Manchego cheese.

Cry me a sliver

My favourite sandwich - a mature cheese with Onion Marmalade

The more you cry, the better the taste. We´re talking onions.They have the potential to lower bad cholesterol, relieve hypertension and minimize blood clotting, but they can reduce you to tears. I was lucky enough, when we lived in London, to buy the best organic onions from Ripple farm organics at The Stoke Newington Farmers Market. These onions made my eyes water as opposed to supermarket produce that failed to raise any tear.

Take every onion whose skin you slice through in Portugal, and within a few moments the tangy scent wafts up to your nose and your eyes begin to water.These Portuguese onions are real tear jerkers, all locally grown without pesticides or fertilizers and have just absorbed the natural sulphurs in the soil, which at the end of the day, when you slice through an onion, brings a tear to your eye. Sometimes the onion reaction is just a mild ocular irritant; other times, it's a full-on cry fest.Unless you´re a cook with a freshly broken heart the tears you shed when chopping onions aren't emotional ones.Sigh!!! to cheer you up let me introduce you to Onion Marmalade- The pickle of all pickles.This is the "must always have a jar in the fridge" pickle.I hear my fridge sighing that phrase again "not another jar of pickle, condiment queen is back  again."This is a  real tear jerker too, caused by the amount of onions you have to slice and the strong aroma given off by the vinegar in the cooking process. WARNING: Don´t attempt this on a day when you are expecting guests in your house.But having said that, make it anyway, It´s oh so awesome.

ONION MAMALADE
8 brown onions sliced 
1tablespoon cumin seeds
1tablespoon coriander seeds
3 cups (24fl oz 9 white wine vinegar
21/2 cups (20floz) light brown sugar or demerara


Place the onions, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and vinegar in a saucepan over a medium-high heat. Cover and allow to simmer rapidly for 15 minutes. Add the brown sugar to the pan and cook uncovered , for 1 hour or until the onions are soft and the syrup is thick. Pour into sterilised jars* and seal immediately.
Serve the onion marmalade on sandwiches with cheese or meat.Makes 5 cups.
The marmalade can be kept sealed for up to 1 year. After opening, store in the refrigerator for up to 8 weeks.

*Sterilised jars- Before putting foods into jars to be sealed and stored, the jars need to be sterilised. Sterilise the jars by by thoroughly washing in hot water. Let them dry naturally. Do not dry them with a tea towel. Place the jars on a baking tray in a preheated oven 100C (200F) for thirty minutes. Remove the jars from the oven, allow to cool, then fill as the recipe requires and seal.

Five go mad in the campo

‘who’d ‘a’ thought it.’ five proprietors go foraging in the Algarve. Hurrah! I Today found myself a privileged participant of a brainstorming workshop chaired by Maria Manuel Valagao, author of two books "Natureza Gastronomia e Lazer" and "Tradição e Inovação Alimentar".

The setting and days intentions were vaguely reminiscent of an Enid Blyton childhood,rural,remote and with the ability for second childhood to discover the simple joys of casas de campo (cottages),fazendas ( farms ) aldeias (villages), the Algarvian countryside and sea shores, as well as the adventures,picnics, lemonade,bicycle rides, home-made food, and lashings of ginger beer.Hurrah! A time of innocence, lost but not forgotten.

Maria Manuel´s book NATURE, FOOD & LEISURE defines the role of flora in terms of a culinary culture of Mediterranean gastronomic heritage. The book introduces the reader to wild food, plants and herbs,their uses as condiments and as a major contribution to the new dining table. Some are the most common and some lesser known,some big surprises( until today I did not know that parsnips (pastinacas) can grow in the wild uncultivated).Some are part of a traditional gastronomy being rediscovered or reinvented by the current generation of chefs, to create new culinary trends. Her thesis is how "new arrives from the old man's hand,"( sic),ensuring the conservation of species and securing continuity and innovation of some of the signature food traditions of the Alentejo. 

The workshop set out to establish a new way forward for "Agro  Turismo". Maria Manuel prefers to describe her work in a wider and more romantic context as "Itinerarios, Turisticos, Integrados".The five participants consisted, apart from us, of two other Turismo Rurais,and a modern innovative restaurant.Following a presentation and brainstorming with Maria Manuel we set off with cloth bags and baskets, hats on heads, to explore the nearby undergrowth and gather a natural harvest of Ortigas (nettles) Acelga ( wild spinach )Dentes de leao (dandelion) carrasquinha (thistle) and alabaça ( dock leaves ). Eglantinas husband Francisco was meanwhile preparing a Consomé de ortigas for our potluck picnic lunch.We  had not got the message and therefore shamefully came without. The consomé was delicious, followed by offerings of traditional fresh cheese and bread, shrimps cozidos, caldeirada,nut bread, and for desert tangerines and fresh goats cheese tart with cinnamon. A totally inspiring day. I have come home with newly acquired culinary knowledge of the wild gastronomy, and armed with bundles of herbs and leaves previously unknown to me, from which I will be experimenting and producing trial recipes to fuel this blog and report back to the next meeting of our newly formed union for the promotion  of "wild gastronomic tourism".Lets put our best foot forward to see what further fruits nature can offer us.Watch this space..... 

Currry lurrrrrve

A typical Casa Rosada fusion curry

Real men like a curry, and no less than here at Casa Rosada. I cook a wide variety of curries, both for guests and in their absence, ourselves. When it comes to ourselves much depends on leftovers. A Sunday roast or meat dish becomes a Monday supper.I draw from three main influences Goan, Indian and Thai, but for the most part my curries are personalized fusions of this, that and the other.Lets face it, we all like a bit of the other. Curry's popularity in recent decades has spread outward from the Indian subcontinent to figure prominently in international cuisine. Consequently, each culture has adopted spices in its indigenous cooking to suit its own unique tastes and cultural sensibilities. Curry can therefore be called a pan-asian or global  phenomenon, with immense popularity in Thai, British, and Japanese cuisines.

Casa Rosada grows its own piri piri peppers. I use these when they are fresh from the bushes but also dry them and use them where a recipe calls for dried chilli and I also make my own blend of curry powder of which Piri piri peppers are a key component. Piri-piri is the Swahili word for the incendiary red peppers of Africa — primarily those of Angola and Mozambique, former Portuguese colonies. Because of the seafaring nature of the Portuguese, it didn't take long for these bite-size pods of fire to make their way to Lisbon aboard spice ships returning from the East...... And the ship sailed on for Portugal to leave its mark on foreign shores.

The Portuguese introduced a new spice to Thai cooking. It was readily absorbed into their cuisine, to such a degree that Thai food today is inconcievable without the chilli The chilli arrived in Thailand some time after 1511, the year the first Portuguese envoy came to Siam.

O meu po de caril ( my curry powder )

1 tablespoon cominho (cumin seeds )
2 tablespoons coentro (coriander seeds)
18 dried piri piri chillies (pictured)
1 Tablespoon pimenton dulce ( sweet pimento powder)
pinch of açafrao (saffron threads)


Blitz all the above in a food processor or coffee grinder,store in a glass jar or sealed plastic bag within an airtight container. The powder will keep for a couple of months. 




To prepare a typical Curry
Follow the normal process for preparing a curry,
frying onions ginger and garlic. After that adapt the curry to your own personal taste. 
Chicken or any other meat, fish prawns or vegetables.
Curry powder, or individual spices,curry leaves, Lemon grass,kaffir lime leaves, cardamom, fish sauce, soya sauce, the final choice of flavours is yours. Have fun and make your own fusion curry.

Food addiction alert

Mangoes originated in South east Asia about 4,000 years ago, and India is still the major producer, growing more mangoes than all other fruits combined. In the 10th century, Persian sailors are said to have taken the mango to East Africa and, some 600 years later, travelers from Portugal took them to West Africa and South America.It seems nowadays that Portuguese travellers are  bringing back the dried incarnation of this fruit from the Americas I was recently given a bag of fair trade chilli spiced mango. It is an acquired taste, but once that taste has been acquired it is positively addictive, so rather than snacking on it I  put it to the test in a fantastic sounding chutney recipe from Hugh Fearnley - Whittingstall. Please, beg borrow or steal a packet of this addictive eating sensation if you possibly can.These little gems have so much going on that some people can't handle it. They are hot, sweet, sour, and salty. If you're a fan of Korean or Thai food you'll probably love them. you'll either love them or hate them.The mango is sweet and chewy but the twist is, is that is dusted with a chili powder mixture. This product may be too hot for some but if you enjoy sweet and spicy this is a nice alternative.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall´s dried mango chutney   
I make a Goan style mango chutney using fresh mango. This interpretation however is delicious and some other interesting differences are in the addition of onions, the orange zest and juice. There are further additions in the extra spices he uses- Ginger, black pepper, coriander and cumin. Because I was using chilli spiced mango I adjusted the chilli content in the recipe.

Makes five 240ml jars.


500g dried mango slices 
(roughly chopped, if on the large side)
4 onions, peeled and finely diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
250g raisins
350g light muscovado sugar
1 tbsp mustard seeds
2 small red chillies, halved, 
membranes removed, finely diced
500ml cider vinegar
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1 small orange
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin


Put the mango slices in a bowl, pour over 1.5 litres of water, cover and leave to soak overnight.

Tip the mangoes and their soaking water into a large, stainless-steel saucepan or preserving pan. Add all the other ingredients and, over a low heat, stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring up to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for about an hour and a half. You should stir the mixture frequently, particularly towards the end of the cooking time, to ensure it doesn't stick – it's done when a spoon drawn through the centre of the chutney leaves a clear line for a second or two before the chutney comes back together.
Pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal with vinegar-proof lids. Store in a cool, dry place and leave to mature for eight weeks before using. Use within two years.

In researching this post I stumbled across this interesting sounding recipe from Portuguese Mozambique.

Peixe assado com manga seca (baked fish with dried mango slices)

This recipe can be prepared with either fresh or dried fish. Although the dish has long been a part of traditional Mozambican cuisine, the mango was introduced to Africa from India. The dried mango slices can be found in many health food stores.

2 pounds fresh or dried fish fillets

3 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

2 large onions, chopped

2 teaspoons crushed hot red peppers

1 teaspoon salt

6 ounces dried mango slices

Heat oven to 350°F.

Butter a 2-quart casserole and layer the fish fillets on the bottom. Top with the chopped tomatoes, onions, red peppers, salt, and dried mango. Add 1 cup water, cover, and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve with white rice, black beans, collard greens, or Rice with Split Peas.

Source : Cuisines of Portuguese Encounters : Recipes from Portugal, Madeira/Azores, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, Mozambique, Goa, Brazil, Malacca, East Timor, and Macao / Cherie Y. Hamilton 
 This book alas is now out of print and commanding a high price second hand on Amazon.

An evangelical awakening

" Woke up this morning feeling fine, I had something special on my mind, 

something told me I was into something good"

This morning for the first time I woke up and felt full of energy and as if I have had a good nights sleep. Good day sunshine, today was to be the day, February 20th- its taken all this time but the time has got to be right and it was.Bye bye procrastination Hello Mental, physical and nutritional conditioning.

"I need to laugh, and when the sun is out
I've got something I can laugh about
I feel good, in a special way
I'm going to run and it's a sunny day "

8.30a.m We take a walk, the sun is shining down
running along the beach, got to be sound.
This must be done full of religious fervour and through a progression of seemingly minor actions taken one day at a time over an extended period I am going to improve the quality of my health with small daily acts that will add up to a well-rounded lifestyle based on health and vigour.
Time to take stock and make an action calendar

Mental conditioning: Get up take the dog for a walk. I already do that everyday, so I should take care of some other daily task that I habitually shirk. Sweep or mop the kitchen floor.Today when I get home I am going to concentrate my energies on the preserving pan and make some chutneys. 


Physical conditioning: Sit down and consider what I want to achieve in this area. Over the next few months I can gain a lot: improved endurance, more stamina, fat loss, maybe even minor weight loss, although this is not my problem. Faster running time, gain a new skill.
improve my performance. I have set my goals.Alternating.....

       ( beach ) sprinting /triple station aerobic fat buster
                                                         
       ( urban circuit ) Walking, cycling, step striding

This is not a picture of the author, but re-creates the up-hill boardwalk that I tackled this morning

This was the dog´s favourite part of the mornings

strenuous activity. I strode up the steps attached to the dog on a leash so she helped ensure I made proper fast strides in rhythm up the steps.

10.am Return home- mug of tea followed by power breakfast of banana,strawberries, cherries( imported ) but what the heck, granola,home made yoghurt and freshly squeezed orange juice.




Nutritional conditioning: Starting today I am going to eat breakfast within 90 minutes of waking every morning for the forseeable future. I think this is one of the simplest yet most powerful things I can do for my health and energy levels.I am going to ensure my water intake is eight to ten glasses a day.Water will be vital to my recovery(operative word) from exercise, efficient digestion and ideal weight maintenance.When and how often to get my calories.Studies have shown that the body metabolizes food at different speeds at different times of the day so If I eat more calories earlier in the day and fewer later this should produce positive results? Here´s hoping!!!

1.00.pm 2 chutnies made,bottled, and photographed for this coming week´s blog.


1.30.pm Light lunch break - a slipper of a sandwich. Pao  de Agua, a light Portuguese bread. not disismilar to Ciabatta and similarly shaped,made with flour walter salt and yeast, not gluten free. I spread a layer of Dolcelatte on the bottom to replace the butter I would normally use and then topped it with little gem lettuce leaves and cherry tomatoes.
A nostalgic flash back to a favourite office lunch item I used to enjoy when working in London. 

8.30.pm Healthy dinner scheduled. ( thespian cooking)
Simple roast chicken, stuffed with coriander and lemon, new potatoes and carrots or broccoli.Evangelical conscience satisfied. Tomorrow is another day.

Peixinhos da horta - Little fish from the kitchen garden

Peixinhos da horta - Little fish from the kitchen garden

This is a curious name for a humble but very tasty accompaniment to a meat dish or part of a vegetarian platter.It does not contain any fish. It is prepared with green beans in a batter, and so resembles small fish.

In the middle of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese landed on Japanese shores. In addition to establishing trade and trying to convert the Japanese to Catholicism, the Portuguese introduced tempura, the technique of dipping fish and vegetables into a batter and frying them. This is one example of Japanese food evolution by incorporating foreign influences.

The secret of good tempura is in its lightness.Some people use carbonated water for the batter.For my tempura batter I use Sagres beer. My reasoning is that while the batter is Japanese, the tempura is being eaten in Portugal, and without the Portuguese we would not have tempura. And it gives a great flavour too.

VARIATION:

substitute asparagus spears or purple sprouting broccoli for the green beans.

Purple sprouting broccoli tempura

For the tempura

400g purple sprouting broccoli

sunflower oil for deep frying

180g rice flour plus extra for dusting

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

pinch of sugar

1 egg white

180ml sagres beer or light lager

In a pan of boiling water, blanch the runner beans and or broccoli, if using for about two minutes or until tender to the point of a knife.Drain in a colander and refresh under cold water to halt the cooking process and keep the colour.Tip onto paper towel and carefully pat dry.Heat enough oil in a deep fat fryer, or a large wok, just less than half full,to 190C/375F. Put the rice flour in a bowl and mix in the salt and sugar.Whisk the egg white until soft peaks form. Mix the beer into the flour mixture a little at a time; don´t worry if it stays lumpy. stop adding the beer before the mixture becomes too runny. Fold through the whisked egg white. Finely sift the extra flour over both sides of the vegetables, tapping off any excess. Dip the vegetables, a few at a time into the tempura batter, letting any excess drip off( but not too much).Place straight into the hot oil and fry for about two minutes until pale golden and crispy, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.Only fry four pieces at a time, otherwise the batter will become soggy. Always bring the temperature of the oil back up before frying the next batch. Serve immediately with Wasabi mayonnaise, chilli dipping sauce or yuzu dipping sauce.

"Arigatou gozaimasu"- itadakimasu

 Obrigado- bom proveito

Thank you - enjoy your meal

Persian pearls pickled in Portugal

What to do on a wet February morning in the Algarve, when the rain is beating down outside and the quality of natural light is not good enough for practical maintenance tasks.  Pickle some garlic.When we were in London recently I found myself one evening in our hosts' kitchen, glass of wine in one hand while my other hand picked at a bowl of pickled garlic on the table. This pickled garlic is obtainable in all the local Turkish, Asian and Iranian stores along Stoke Newington High Street.I vowed I would try pickling my own when I returned home.

Have you ever wanted to learn how to pickle garlic? Maybe you've never really thought about it before, but pickled garlic is a great addition to many dishes including salads and cold pastas. If you are already au fait with the great taste of pickled garlic, then you know from buying it at the store that it can be a pretty expensive item. But you can pickle garlic on your own for a relatively low cost. And when you pickle garlic it lasts for quite a long time, so it's something you can try once. See how it goes, and reap the rewards from many meals later.

•  When buying your garlic, you should select whole bulbs of garlic that are fresh and ready to be used. Buy organic garlic straight from the farmer's market or simply buy the garlic from your local store. You'll also need vinegar and Flor de sal. Other ingredients that you might want to think about for the recipe are red bell peppers, carrots, onion, celery, spices, and possibly sugar if you want to to sweeten it up a bit. Pickled garlic originated In Persia.It is either served on its own to accompany "a pair of teef" or used in cooking instead of fresh garlic.The pickling mellows and changes the flavour of the garlic, enriching it with a delicate, elusive perfume. 
• 250ml (1.7 fl oz) white wine vinegar
• Tablespoon sea salt
• 500g (1lb) fresh garlic                           
• Put the Vinegar and salt in a non-corrosive pan. Bring to the boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.
• Separate the garlic cloves and blanch for 30 seconds to ease the removing of the skin.
• Blanch the garlic again in boiling water for 1 minute, then drain and put into sterilized jars. Pour in the vinegar, weight down the garlic, then seal.

Be patient, the pickling process isn't a quick one. It takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks to pickle garlic so that it has a good rich spicy taste. When you think it's ready, take it out and test it. If it tastes the way that you want it to taste, you can start using the pickled garlic in pastas, salads and even as relish on sandwiches. You can even eat it by itself!- Gout sufferers ,its great for the gout.

A Real Goa

The sour and fruity taste of tamarind merges well with the heat of chillies and gives many South Indian dishes their hot and sour character, and their dark colour.In India,tamarind is mostly combined with meat, legumes, lentils,chick peas or beans.The pulp is sold dry and must be soaked before using. Only the water is then  added to the food.Alternatively(and more comfortably), tamarind extract may be used with the same effect.A well-known example of a Southern Indian dish employing tamarind is vindaloo,a pork stew from Goa.Goa was a Portuguese colony until the 1960´s; as a Portuguese heritage,pork is very popular in Goan cooking.Basically,vindaloo is a spicy,tropical version of the Portuguese porco vinho e alho.Pork is marinated with a paste made from vinegar (instead of the original wine), spring onions, garlic, ginger and a host of spices (chilli,cloves,cinnamon,pepper,cumin)  for several hours and then, together with the marinade and tamarind water, stewed until tender.I have applied these basics to the dish but have modified some elements to personalize it.I have used Medronho the local Algarvian fire water made from the arbutus berry, but a good alternative would be Sake.

Slow cooked Pork belly with Medronho,  black eyed peas and tamarind SERVES 4 100g soya beans 1kg belly pork in one piece 45ml Medronho 80 ml rice wine vinegar 1tablespoon peanut oil 2tablespoons sesame oil 3 garlic cloves,roughly chopped 4spring onions, white parts only,chopped 5thin slices fresh ginger 250mlchicken or vegetable stock 2tablespoonslight soya sauce 1 tablespoon tamarind paste 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon flor de sal  Soak the beans overnight in 750ml cold water. Drain and transfer to a large saucepan. add plenty of boiling  and set the  pan over a medium heat. Cook for 45-50 minutes, until the beans are tender. Drain and set aside.Cut the belly pork into 8 pieces. Put them in a dish and pour over the Medronho. cover with cling film and set aside for 1 hour, turning often. Remove the pork from the Medronho reserving the Medronho.Put the Peanut oil in a large flameproof casserole and set over a high heat. Cook the pork in batches( so as not to overcrowd the pan), for 4-5 minutes, turning often until golden all over. Put the browned pork in a bowl and set aside. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Add the sesame oil to the casserole. Add the garlic, spring onions and ginger. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes,until aromatic and softened. Add the reserved Medronho, allowing it to boil and cook until the liquid has reduced by half, stirring to remove any pork residues from the bottom and sides of the casserole. add the stock, soya sauce, tamarind, sugar and salt and return the pork to the pan, stirring until the tamarind has melded in. Bring to the boil,cover with a tight fitting lid,transfer to the preheated oven and cook for 2 hours, turning the pork after 1 hour. Stir in the soya beans,cover and cook for 30 minutes more. Serve hot.

Preservation order

I was ordered by the thespian this morning to use up the glut of Piri piri peppers. His suggestion was to make chilli oil. Fine, I said, and then immediately stumbled like Alice in Wonderland into a hot mineshaft of different recipes. Australian Womans weekly usually comes up trumps when anything needs bottling, but alas I only found a recipe for "pickled chillies."Thats pickled chillies said the thespian,vehemently its something completely different". I went down all the Portuguese Piri piri avenues and could not find anything that said OIL. My requirement was something that looked stunning as well as playing an active role in the Casa Rosada cupboard. The final result was a marriage of Peter Gordon, Europes father of fusion cuisine, and food writer/ television presenter Tom Parker-Bowles. Goodness me, how bizarre is that partnership? Think about it.Returning to underland "curiouser and curiouser."

Prep time:  5 min, plus several weeks to infuse

Cook time: 5 min 

Makes:       450 ml

• 450 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 10 g whole dried chillies 

1. Gently warm the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the chilli flakes and whole chillies to the oil, and heat for 3-4 minutes. 

2. Using a funnel, decant the oil into a sterilised glass bottle. Seal and shake well.

3. Store the bottle in a cool, dry and dark place. Once a week give the bottle a shake and after a few weeks, the oil will change to slightly reddish colour. It could take two or three months to achieve the desired hotness