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Thread: Christmas dishes of Portugal

  1. #1
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    Christmas dishes of Portugal

    List:
    Bacalhau – codfish
    Cabrito assado - roasted goat
    Borrego assado - roasted lamb
    Polvo cozido - boiled octopus
    Carne de Vinha d' Alhos - Mainly served in Madeira - Pork dish
    Bolo de mel - Mainly served in Madeira - Cake made with molasses
    Bolo Rei (King Cake) - a beautifully decorated fluffy fruitcake
    Bolo-Rei Escangalhado (Broken King Cake) - it is like the first one, but has also cinnamon and chilacayote jam (doce de gila)
    Bolo-Rainha (Queen Cake) - similar to Bolo-Rei, but with only nuts, raisins and almonds
    Bolo-Rei de Chocolate - it is like the Bolo-Rei, but has less (or no) fruit, nuts, chilacayote jam and lots of chocolate chips
    Broa castelar - a small, soft and thin cake made of sweet potato and orange
    Fatias douradas - golden slices, known as french toast - slices of pan bread, soaked in egg with sugar, fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon
    Rabanadas - they are like fatias douradas, but made with common bread
    Formigos - a delicious dessert made with sugar, eggs, pieces of bread, almonds, port wine and powdered with cinnamon
    Filhós / Filhozes / Filhoses - depending on the region, they may be thin or fluffy pieces of a fried dough made of eggs, honey, orange, lemon, flour and anise, sprinkled - or not with icing sugar
    Coscorões - thin squares of a fried orange flavoured dough
    Azevias de grão, batata-doce ou gila - deep fried thin dough pastries filled with a delicious cream made of chickpea, sweet potato or chilacayote, powdered with sugar and cinnamon
    Tarte de amêndoa - almond pie
    Tronco de Natal - Christmas log - a delicious Swiss roll, resembling a tree's trunk, filled with chocolate cream, decorated with chocolate and mini - 2 cm Christmas trees
    Lampreia de ovos - a sweet made of eggs, well decorated
    Sonhos - an orange flavoured fried yeast dough, powdered with icing sugar
    Velhoses - they are like the sonhos, but made with pumpkin
    Bolo de Natal - Christmas cake
    Pudim de Natal - Christmas pudding, similar to flan
    Vinho quente - eggnog made with boiled wine, egg yolk, sugar and cinnamon


    Traditional bacalhau dish

    Bacalhau – codfish

    Bacalhau dishes are common in Portugal and Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, and to a lesser extent in former Portuguese colonies like Cape Verde,Angola, Macau, Brazil, and Goa. There are said to be over 1000 recipes in Portugal alone and it can be considered the iconic ingredient of Portuguese cuisine (but curiously the only fish that is not consumed fresh in this fish-loving nation). It is often cooked on social occasions and is the Portuguese traditional Christmas dinner in some parts of Portugal.

    Similar recipes can be found across Europe. It is also found in the cuisines of other territories and regions like Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In Norway, where most of the salted and dried cod is produced, bacalao commonly refers to a specific dish prepared with salted and dried cod, potatoes, onions, tomatoes and olives. In recent years, there has also been increasing interest in the wider range of Portuguese dishes based on dried and salted cod, however.

    Salted, dried cod, usually comes from Norway (bacalhau da Noruega), Iceland (bacalhau da Islândia) or Newfoundland (bacalhau da Terra Nova). It used to be very affordable, but with the collapse of the cod stocks and dismantling of Portuguese bacalhoeiro fleet, it became more expensive, especially near Easter and Christmas time, since it's a part of many traditional dishes of the holiday season.


    Salted and dried cod.

    There are numerous bacalhau recipe variations, depending on region and tradition.In Portugal, it is said there are more than 365 ways to cook bacalhau, one for every day of the year; others say there are 1,001 ways. Whatever the exact number, bacalhau is a ubiquitous ingredient in Portuguese cuisine.

    Bacalhau is often served with potatoes. Green (Vinho Verde) or mature wines (Alentejo Wine, Dão Wine, or Douro Wine) are served alongside.

    Some Bacalhau dishes:
    Bacalhau com todos
    Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá (some varieties: Original, Porto)
    Bacalhau à Brás
    Bacalhau à Zé do Pipo
    Bacalhau com natas (Bacalhau with cream)
    Bolinhos de Bacalhau

    Salt cod has been produced for at least 500 years, since the time of the European discoveries of the New World. Before refrigeration, there was a need to preserve the cod; drying and salting are ancient techniques to preserve nutrients and the process makes the cod tastier.

    The Portuguese tried to use this method of drying and salting on several varieties of fish from their waters, but the ideal fish came from much further north. With the "discovery" of Newfoundland in 1497, long after the Basque whalers arrived in Channel-Port aux Basques, they started fishing its cod-rich Grand Banks. Thus, bacalhau became a staple of the Portuguese cuisine, nicknamed Fiel amigo (faithful friend). From the 18th century, the town of Kristiansund in Norway became an important place of purchasing bacalhau or klippfisk (literally "cliff fish", since the fish was dried on stone cliffs by the sea to begin with). Since the method was introduced by the Dutchman Jappe Ippes in about 1690, the town had produced klippfisk and when the Spanish merchants arrived, it became a big industry. The bacalhau or bacalao dish is sometimes said to originate from Kristiansund, where it was introduced by the Spanish and Portuguese fish buyers and became very popular. Bacalhau was common everyday food in north west Norway to this day, as it was cheap to make. In later years it is more eaten at special occasions.

    This dish was also popular in Portugal and other Roman Catholic countries, because of the many days (Fridays, Lent, and other festivals) on which the Church forbade the eating of meat. Bacalhau dishes were eaten instead.

    Bacalhau is also popular in Sfax where this dish is eaten in the first day of Eid ul-Fitr with charmoula.

    Bolo Rei (King Cake) - a beautifully decorated fluffy fruitcake



    Bolo rei (English: literally King Cake) is a traditional Portuguese cake that is usually eaten around Christmas, from December 25 until the Dia de Reis (literally Day of Kings, a reference to the three kings) on January 6. It is a staple dessert in any Portuguese home during the holidays.

    Bolo rei recipe is from France which finds its way to Portugal during the 19th century when Confeitaria Nacional opened as Portuguese monarchy’s official bakery in 1829. The Confeitaria was the first to introduce this recipe to the country.

    The cake itself is round with a large hole in the centre, resembling a crown covered with crystallized and dried fruit.

    The bolo rei is baked from a soft, white dough, with raisins, various nuts, and crystallized fruit. Also included is the characteristic "fava", and tradition dictates that whoever finds the fava has to pay for the bolo rei next year. A small prize (usually a small metal toy) was also included within the cake. The inclusion of the prize has been discontinued since mid-90s.

    In 2009, a giant Bolo rei measuring about 70 meters and weighing around 200 kilos was baked for the town of Olhão by pastry chef Felipe Martins of Pastelaria Kubidoce.

    The Bolo rei baked from Pastelaria Aloma in Lisbon, Portugal is the most famous version of this pastry cake in 2012.

    Lampreia de ovos - a sweet made of eggs, well decorated



    ingredients:
    For yarns of eggs:
    - 1 kg of sugar
    - 60 egg yolks
    - 5 egg whites

    For soft eggs:
    - 175 g sugar
    - 12 egg yolks
    - 1 egg white

    For the lamprey:
    - 250 g almonds
    - Sugar for caramel
    - 'Glace' of white sugar

    To decorate:
    - 2 raisins
    - Candied cherries

    preparation:
    1. Prepare 3 dozen eggs in wire and 2 dozen backpacks without the curl.

    2 . Make up the eggs - soft with ingredients described above and join them with the peeled and finely ground almonds . It takes to simmer to thicken .

    3 . Puts up a third of the egg yarn in the dish where it will serve , giving them the shape of lamprey . Above Pour the prepared eggs and almond soft and covers up over this yarn eggs.

    4 . Are placed the « covers» the bundles on the previous set , overlapping them and shaping them so as to keep the shape of the lamprey (although much less long ) . The head should be greater than the tail.

    5 . It is a little dark caramel ( not hot because bitter ) and lies on the part of the body lamprey and then with white sugar icing draw the eyes , mouth and scales on the tail end .

    6 . Put up the raisins and candied cherry in order to draw the eyes and mouth of the lamprey . Circumvented if the whole lamprey eggs and wired up some more cherries .

    Tip: sugar , caramel and icing only apply on the day the lamprey will be food , for in contact with the syrup of backpacks , tend to melt .

    Now give me one of your receipts, please.
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  2. #2
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    Re: Christmas dishes of Portugal

    Heavenly Rice / Heavenly Hash / Glorified Rice

    heavenlyFruitRicePud_200X200.jpg

    2 cups miniature marshmallows
    2 cups cooked rice
    1 (8-1/2 ounce) can crushed pineapple (drained)
    1/2 cup maraschino cherry halves
    1/4 cup slivered almonds (toasted) * I prefer chopped Walnuts *
    1 cup heavy cream
    1/4 cup sugar
    1 teaspoon vanilla

    Combine first 5 ingredients.
    Whip cream gradually adding sugar and vanilla; fold into rice mixture. Chill. 8 servings.

    Source and Varients

  3. #3
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    Re: Christmas dishes of Portugal

    Quote Originally Posted by myshortpencil View Post
    Heavenly Rice / Heavenly Hash / Glorified Rice

    heavenlyFruitRicePud_200X200.jpg

    2 cups miniature marshmallows
    2 cups cooked rice
    1 (8-1/2 ounce) can crushed pineapple (drained)
    1/2 cup maraschino cherry halves
    1/4 cup slivered almonds (toasted) * I prefer chopped Walnuts *
    1 cup heavy cream
    1/4 cup sugar
    1 teaspoon vanilla

    Combine first 5 ingredients.
    Whip cream gradually adding sugar and vanilla; fold into rice mixture. Chill. 8 servings.

    Source and Varients
    Thanks Myshortpencil, I will eat some ... penguim cooking WIN.jpg

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  4. #4
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    Re: Christmas dishes of Portugal

    I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.

    W. C. Fields
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