Inseparable on the Portuguese Christmas table, the “Filhoses” or “Filhós”... let’s call them just “donuts” are a fried sweet that everyone seems to like.
Many decades ago, it was customary for families to spend the Christmas Eve frying the “donuts”, was more a mean of socializing than just to bake a sweet, was a time where neighbors drifted in and out of each other's homes and where to leave the door locked was a almost nonexistent habit... Today this tradition has disappeared entirely, as well the friendly neighbors open doors... perhaps in some small villages this stills goes on!
Here it is the recipe... we hope you enjoy!

(It's a bit tiring preparing them since we have to knead the dough with our hands as is done with the traditional bread making!)

Ingredients:

750 g wheat flour
20 g yeast
1 dl milk
1c. tea salt
8 eggs
1 dl oil
1 dl brandy
oil for frying
sugar
ground cinnamon

Preparation:

1st. Dissolve the yeast in warm milk and joins it a little flour and salt. Mix to obtain a soft dough. Allow to stand for 15 minutes.
2nd. Pour the dough in a bowl, add a little olive oil and three beaten eggs. Mix everything well, hitting with the hand open.
3rd. Then join the remaining olive oil, brandy and eggs left, kneading, or better, beating the batter. This should be milder than for bread. If necessary, add a little milk.
4th. Cover the dough with a cloth and allowed it to ferment for 4 hours in a climate temperature.
5th. Then, put the oil for frying in a deep skillet (the ones you normally use for French fries) on medium heat.
With your hands wetted, with olive oil, take off pieces of dough, about the size of an egg, stretch the dough in to a round slice as thin as possible, making holes with the ​​fingertips.
6th. Put the “donut” in the oil in the skillet and with a fork, force the dough to stay in shape for the sides, stretching it, because there is a tendency to grow up.
7th. After cook on both sides, (when ins in a golden color) remove and drain the excess of oil on paper towels. This should be done with caution, because the “donut” is hot and presents themselves thin and bumpy.
8th. Sprinkling with sugar and cinnamon.

Note: Contrary to what usually happens with fried food these “donuts” get softer as the days pass by.

Because Christmas is coming is time for posting sweet things! ;) so here it is for your December 24 table!

"Azevias de Grão" - Chickpeas Flounder

Ingredients for 26 flounder:

• 600g flour
• 60g lard
• 40g margarine
• 50 ml of brandy
• Zest of one orange
• Juice of an orange
• 200 ml of warm water
• 1 pinch of salt
• 400g of cooked chickpeas made mashed
• 350g Sugar
• Zest of a lemon
• 8 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons of Pumpkin Jam
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Sugar for dusting
• Oil for frying

Preparation:

1st.
In a bowl, mash nicely the flour, pinch of salt, lard, margarine, orange zest, brandy and orange juice.
While kneading, add warm water gradually.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
If the dough is too soft, add a little flour.
It may happen due to different flours used because some absorb more liquid than others, depending on the brand.
Let the dough to rest for 30 minutes.

2nd.
In a pot, bring to boil some water, sugar and lemon zest.
Stir and boil 2 minutes.
Add the mashed chickpeas and cinnamon.
Stir well.
After all well mixed, add the squash and sweet gems disturbed.
Stir until the cream thickens and when you start doing a road at the bottom of the pan, remove from heat and let it cool down.

3rd.
Sprinkle well the countertop with flour and place the dough on it.
Sprinkle the dough with flour and extend it with a rolling pin.
Over the dough, place a spoonful of filling.
Fold the dough just like if you were making patties and cut it pressing well the edges.

4th.
Fry on both sides in the hot oil.
Remove to a plate with paper towels to absorb the excess of oil.

5th.
Sprinkle the flounders with sugar.
And they are ready to serve... in our PT Style!

Original portuguese post at: http://www.saborintenso.com/f23/azevias-grao-1173/

Broas castelares

Portuguese typical Christmas sweet

To make this recipe you need:

- 1 orange peel

- 125gr of peeled and chopped almonds

- 150g of corn flour

- 75gr of wheat flour

- 3 eggs

- 400gr of sweet potatoes

- 50gr grated coconut

- 750 gr of white sugar

Boil the sweet potatoes. Once cooked mash until they are pureed. Add the sugar and bring the mixture to soft boil. Go stirring. Once it boils, add the almonds, coconut, orange peel and whole eggs. Wrap well. Then add the two flours, previously mixed. Remove from heat and let it cool. Once the dough has cooled, make small balls and give them the shape of bread. Place the broas, slightly apart from each other, in a tray greased with butter and sprinkled with flour or lined with parchment paper. Flatten them one at a time and brush each one with egg yolk.

Bake it on a previously heated oven to 220 degrees.

Et voilá! Your Broas Castelares are ready! Bonne Appetit!

This is one of the most typical soups of Alentejo cuisine, prepared with a vegetable that, despite being originally from India and Middle East, conquered a strong position in the habits of the people of the Alentejo region and. the recipe knows some variations it can be made with fresh or ripened cheese.

Ingredients
Purslane: two bunches
Onion: 2
Potato: 500 gr
Olive oil: 1.5 dl
Garlic: 1 head
Homemade bread: 500 gr

Egg: 4
Fresh Cheese: 2
Preparation

Preparing the purslane drawing the leaves only. Bundles must be large. Cutting up onions into slices and fry a bit with the oil. Join the leaves of purslane washed and allowed it to cook well, stirring with a spoon. Drizzle with about 2 liters of water and allowed it to boil. Remove from the white peel off the garlic head, which introduces whole (without removing the purple skin of each clove) into the pot with the broth to a boil. Still join the sliced potatoes thick. Quenched the soup with salt and allowed it to bake. At the time of serving, place in to the broth the eggs one by one and allowed them to poach. Finally put in the pot the cheeses cut in large slices. Slice the bread in to a bowl and drizzle with the broth. Apart from it you serve the potatoes, eggs, the cheeses and the purslane.

Translated originally from: https://www.facebook.com/novosrurais.farmingculture

Ok... the previous post was so sweet that we decided to bring you even more sweeties :) we are terrible but we know how you enjoy it! :)
So here it is...
The "arroz Doce" (rice pudding or sweet rice in English) is a simple recipe of the

traditional Portuguese cuisine desserts. Although a typical recipe of Christmas, the Portuguese rice pudding is a delicious dessert that you can serve at any time of year. With a preparation time of about 30 minutes this is a recipe easy to make, fast and economic.

   

 

Ingredients:

1 lemon peel
1 tbsp (tablespoons) butter
1 cinnamon stick
1 pinch of salt
125 g rice
150 g of sugar
3 egg yolks
7.5 dl milk
cinnamon w / for sprinkling

Confection:

Bring to boil a pan with plenty of water and a pinch of salt. When the water boils, add the rice and once it raise boil, let it cook the rice for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the milk to a boil with the cinnamon stick and lemon peel. Drain the rice well and soak it with the hot milk. Let it cook, uncovered, over low heat. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, stirring quickly. Then add the egg yolks and butter.

Bring once more the rice to the fire, very mild, for a couple of minutes without letting boiling.

And is done!!

Pour the rice into bowls or plates and sprinkle it with cinnamon powder.

Portugal is know alongside with all the wines and it’s typical Mediterranean cuisine also by the sweets and desserts… if you want to loose weight this can be the hell on earth to you! (Or for many a sugar heaven)!

Speaking on Heaven there is some special deserts that are call “doces conventuais”,in English: conventual sweets. Why this name?! Well all because they were originated from convents and monastery around the country! Some of this sweets have often the name of saints or of the convent that originally made then.

The convents welcomed for ages inside of its walls the daughters of the nobility and from the wealthiest families, who apart from their dowries of significant income, brought also eating habits and family recipes that given rise to an exquisite culinary preparations and desserts rich and sometimes complicated.

Until 1834 the Convents and Monastery had in Portugal another income that came from the state and many convents and monastery were built by Kings during the History of the Country... but at this date all of that was gone, and the many Religious Orders came to an end! So they had to find a new way of surviving without the state benefits, one of the ways found was to make that special sweets and sell then at fairs and other places.
Zealously the secrets of the compositions and methods of preparation were kept , the recipes were property of the convent and the nuns undertook a great deal, almost a vow , to conceal them for a lifetime. But like all the secrets in the world there is always "leaks" and some of the more easy ones (and also the cheaper) came to the knowledge of the main public and entered to the Portuguese traditions of classic seasonal desserts such as: “Arroz Doce” - sweet rice, “Pão de Ló” - bread-cake, “Aletria Doce” - sweet vermicelli and so many others.

By then the Portuguese sweets it won quite a reputation in Europe, sweets that are abundant in sugar and eggs. (calories alert!!! But soooo yuuummmmiii!!!) For nearly seven hundred years, this knowledge was accumulating inside the convents and evolving with new ingredients, a thousand-and-one experience and long practice of the nuns who devoted endless hours they work, patience and devotion.

Today thanks to the research of many scholars who "translated" the handwritten notes of many files of the monasteries, came out to the public domain the wonders (and endless drooling) of conventual desserts.

This is a sweet way of doing it in PT Style!

Information taken from:
http://www.gastronomias.com/doces/conventual.htm

Hi there! Today we decided to bring to you a special recipe, how to do "Pão Alentejano" since some of the Portuguese meals we introduced to you has as a base this type of bread, we thought that would be nice to upload how you could do this type of bread at home if you live outside Portugal or don't have any access to Portuguese products... so here it is!

INGREDIENTS
2.5 kg of flour
50 g of salt
125 g of baker's yeast
1.5 l of water

PREPARATION

Put the flour in a bowl large enough. Using your clean hands open in the center of the flour a hole where you must pour 2 litres of warm water with the salt. Mix well the yeast in the water. Stir the flour until it completely soak in the water. As the dough starts to bubbling spray it with warm water. Let the dough rest to grow up, covering the bowl with a cloth. when she is done growing with more 2 to 3 cm in the bowl, make the breads.
Bake them in a hot oven (180º) for more or less 1 hour.

You can if you wish to mix in the dough "chourizo" chopped in small pieces ;) or other Portuguese style sausages!

 

 

The Chouriço (chourizo) are a national passion and enthusiastically consumed throughout Portugal in a variety of ways. The smoky flavoursome sausage makes a wonderful addition to a main course or barbecue or can simply be eaten sliced as a starter or a snack – but however you choose to eat your chourizo, it will be a delicious treat and a real taste of Portugal.
Portuguese chouriço is made mostly with pork, fat, wine, red pepper, paprika and salt. It is then stuffed into natu

ral or artificial casings and slowly dried over smoke. There are many different varieties, differing in color, shape, seasoning and taste. Many dishes of Portuguese cuisine and Brazilian cuisine make use of chouriço. Dishes like the famous Portuguese stew (cozido à portuguesa) "feijoada", and "caldo verde" are just three of them.
In Portugal, there is also a blood chourizo (chouriço de sangue) very similar to the black pudding.

Today we bring to you another typical dish from the south of Portugal, from the hot Alentejo, "Açorda à Alentejana" a type of a broth. Were once again the main ingredient of it is the bread! The "açorda", unlike most soups, is not cooked. the way of doing it is not universal, since there are changes from place to place and even from family to family.
The "açorda à alentejana" was one of the finalists for the "7 Wonders of the Portuguese Gastronomy" contest.
The basic composit

ion of "açorda" is garlic, salt, olive oil, boiling water and sliced bread, but to this mix you add herbs like coriander or pennyroyal and can be served up with fresh fish (stewed or fried), mostly cod and you can add also eggs (poached or boiled). This recipe is versatile, easy and inexpensive.

Here is the basic recipe that you can try on!

Ingredients for 2 people:

- olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 sprig of coriander
- 2 slices of bread (preferably a Alentejo type bread, but you can use others, but preferably with a few days and sliced thin)
- salt q.s.
- 2 eggs
- water

preparation:

In a mortar crush the garlic cloves with salt and half of the coriander.
Take a pan on the stove with olive oil and add the salt mixture, coriander and garlic and fry a little without leaving burning. Then add about 600ml of water and bring it to boil. Rectify the salt tate and carefully open the eggs into this broth (if you wish them poached). Add the remaining coarsely chopped coriander and simmer over low heat until the eggs are cooked.
Divide the slices of bread by the soup dishes and cover with the boiling broth and eggs.

If you don't like the coriander taste this is not a good recipe for you, but this is how we do it in Portuguese Style!

Today we will bring to you another typical dish of our country, "migas à alentejana" that can be translate loosely as mashed breadcrumbs from Alentejo.
The "migas à alentejana" is one of the most popular dishes from the Alentejo. Like other Portuguese dishes of this region, the basic ingredient is bread, traditional product of Alentejo (formerly called the "breadbasket" of Portugal, due to the production of grain, however, the production has fallen a lot in past few years).

The meat used is pork, another product with great regional traditions.
The bread used in this dish must have the same characteristics of traditional Alentejo bread - bread that is too much soft and friable, can give a bad result in the end.

Sometimes people cook up this dish to not throw away the remains of dry bread from previous days.

Ingredients:

- Bread (about 150 grams per person), homemade, Alentejo bread, preferably.
- Garlic to taste
- Ground pepper to taste (a few tablespoons)
- Salt to taste
- Pork (ribs, loin) - preferably with some fat in order to fry with the own fat (it is advisable to use of pieces of bacon)
- Boiling water (just enough to soften the bread and form a paste not too wet)

The chunks of pork should be spread with red pepper and garlic, remaining so for some time, a day preferably. The garlic should be crushed with some salt in a mortar (in Alentejo they call it "graal").

The first thing to do is to fry the meat. The aim is not solely to cook the meat, but rather obtain the fat which is thereby produced in the frying process. Although you can use many types of containers it is customary to use a stoneware container, clay pot is that which is traditionally used. Please note that many of stoneware containers cannot go to the stove. Should inform yourself about what is the most appropriate ceramic for this operation. For the fat not to be filled with pieces of carbonized meat, you should carefully monitor how the meat is fried . To do this, you can go spraying with water, if you find that there is a tendency to burn. Remove the meat as it gets properly cooked to your taste (tawny looks good).

The fat is removed from the clay pot and should be strained (passing it through a grid, in order to separate the residues).

The bread is cut into slices and placed into the same bowl where the fat was removed is immediately kneaded with boiling water.
Then pour the fat in order to connect to the bread and season it. You should be careful not to overdo it - otherwise, they they get too much fat on it. However, turn the dough with a large spoon in the pot until it forms a ball - is what is called by "rolling crumbs", that is the worse part of the process and a bit tiring to your arms. This is done until the breadcrumbs being left with a golden crust (without burning). Serve them accompanied by the fried meat and a salad.

Is a heavy dish so we advise you to eat this at lunch and avoid it at dinner time!

If you don't have or can't find a clay pot, that can go to the stove, you can use a normal pan for the process.

"Caldo Verde" (The green broth) is a soup of green kale, typically from the north of Portugal, but highly publicized nationwide - is probably the most famous Portuguese soup. It is a thick soup usually predominantly green color, since it is made of cabbage cut into very fine strips.
The Caldo Verde was named one of the 7 Wonders of Gastronomy in Portugal.

To make this recipe you need:

- 1 large onion
- Three or four large potatoes medium
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 100 gr of Caldo Verde (Portuguese

cabbage sliced)
- One chorizo (smoked sausage)
- 2 liters of water
- Olive oil to taste
- Salt to taste

Cut onion and potatoes into cubes, peel the garlic and stir everything in a saucepan. Add water, salt and olive oil. Cover and simmer.
When the vegetables are cooked submit, liquidise well with the magic wand to get a thick and silky cream. Bring to boil again. Add the chorizo, whole or cut into slices, and "caldo verde". Involve well and rectify the seasoning.
Once, the "caldo verde" is cooked, remove from heat and serve hot with chorizo cut into slices.

So anyone hungry now?!
People know well the Japanese tempura but did you know that was the Portuguese that intruduced to Japan that way of cooking?
The name "Tempura" came from the Portuguese word "temporas" that was a religious time that was forbidden to eat any kind of meat, so people fried often vegetables with flour and egg, Japanese adapted later this to their own way of cooking.

This is a simple dish called "Peixinhos da Horta" (Little fish of the Garden)

ingredients:

300 g of green beans undercooked
Oil for frying

For the batter

100 g cake flour
1 egg
salt and pepper q.s.

preparation:

Pour the flour into a bowl and add enough water to it to get a batter neither too liquid nor too thick. Add the beaten egg, season with salt and pepper. Pass the green beans in the the batter and fry them in hot oil, place on paper towels to absorb the oil.