What's everyone eating this week?

[Alexandria Profile]

Just posted an amazing splendid dish we had yesterday ( Sunday ) in Algarve, Portugal ..


Bacalahu à Michel Brás = salt cod, eggs & potatoes ..


Have a lovely day ..

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Lush, have you managed to make your way through your wonderful broadbeans?

Made a serious dent in them Grillers - Himself had a yearning for them with bacon so I went & got some Denhay lightly smoked back bacon, cooked the beans, then tossed in the bacon fat with lots of pepper - there was a lot, so simple but good & even better the next day!


It'll be another year before we have that again - I'll probably use the remainder in salads - I like them with lamb but too hot to even think about that right now - I'm melting as I type!


Tonight will be yellow fin tuna...…...

[Joanbunting Profile]

This year the weather and the sporting schedule means I have to plan outr eating very carefully.

We ate out yesterday lunchtime - lovely and light and blissfully cool as not in the open air , but in a vaulted restaurant, Crab in a cucumber gazpacho followed by veal sweet breads with a crumb topping , confit to,atoes and an almond milk faom then a fabulous strawberry concoction including a sorbet encased in molecularly thin white chocolate.

We ahd the remains of Saturday night's quiche with a beetroot and tomato salads (i use multicoloured tomatoes).

Today we had avocado and bacon toasts and some watermelon Earlier i made a ratatouille and did some peaches in white wine to go in the fridge for dessert. After lunch I put a small shoulder of lamb with loads of garlic and rosemary and a drizzl of olive oil in the oven very low to cook all afternoon while I'm nowhere near the kitchen and the door is firmly shut. I'll throw in some baby spuds at half time!

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,

Crab in a cucumber Gaspacho sounds marvelous ..

Simply perfect with these high temperaturas !!

If you have a free moment, could I have the recipe for your cucumber gaspacho ?

I could google it up but would prefer your´s !!

Thanks in advance ..

Have a lovely summer ..

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Cucumber gazpacho just reminded me of a neat little starter I used to make, which was smoked salmon with cucumber jelly. The jelly was slightly sweet and acidic ( vinegar and sugar) and worked beautifully with the salmon. I seem to remember putting gin into it once. Hmmm, could be a hit!

[jeral Profile]

Joanbunting, what a lovely diversity of grub, including as well some exciting creations from your accomplished chef friend.

karadekoolaid, I imagine the touch of gin would work very well as some here say they've used a gin mix for curing gravadlax.

With your creative flair, the cu jelly would make a good centre for those individual roses made from a strip of coiled smoked salmon.

[Alexandria Profile]

Friday: Restaurant Come Prima, Lisbon, Portugal (www.comeprima.pt)

Simply amazingly extraordinary ..

Starter: Insalata Caprese ( Mozzarella di Bufala, tomato, Basil, Modena Vinegar & Italian Bio Evoo ..

Main: Risotto ! It was the gamberi ( red prawns from Mozambique ) ..

Dessert: My team and I shared a tirmasiù ..

Absolutely a lovely venue ..

Have a wonderful weekend ..

[Alexandria Profile]

Saturday Night:

The " Il Gatto Pardo " which translates to " The Leopard " in English, at the Dom Pedro Hotel Golf Collection is quite a beautiful establishment ..

The menu can be read in English or Portuguese or Spanish @: htttp://www.bar.gattopardo@dompedro.com


The outdoor terrace garden was truly lovely ..

My Starter: Carpacchio of Prawns with Sicilian blood orange, a citron vinaigrette and olives ..

My Entrée or Main Course: Spaghetti al nero di Seppia .. Black Squid infused spaghetti with squid ..

We each had a Cannolli for dessert in addition to an extraordinary Italian Cheese board with seasonal fruits and a Chilled Port ..

Http://www.lisboa.dompedro.com


Sunday, we decided to go light, and lunched on an open air terrace, close to the emblematic bridge .. We shared a variety of Portuguese fare ..

All our best for a lovely evening ..

Tongiht shall be our farewell dinner and we are planning to go for Brazilian cuisine in the historic district .. Along the "Yellow" roller coaster of a bus on tracks !!

[Joanbunting Profile]

I am having to fit cooking an eating around tennis, cycling and football.

Last night I cooked a beef pave which I had marinated with herbs peppercorns, red wine and olive oil. It went on the BBQ until well browned but still rare in the middle, rested it for ages then sliced it quite thinly. I served it with garlic green beans, balsamic cherry tomatoes and small potatoes cooked in foil with olive oil, lemon and rosemary.

Dessert was half apricots which I "filled" with small pieces of nougat, drizzled with sweet white wine and baked. I've never done them like that before but it was simple and good.

There is enough beef left to make a Thai salad for tonight and some apricots so that's supper dealt with.

[Alexandria Profile]

Thursday the 12th:

Today my tour group and I headed over to: Café Lisboa, By: José Avillez ..

Evoking the enchantment of an antique parlor, located inside The Sao Carlos National Theatre, was simply a step back in time to an era of total elegance ..

We shared:

The Crab Salad
The Octopus Rice
The Brás Style Salt Cod
The Portuguese Cheese & Charcuterie Platter
The Pastéis de Nata ( The Portuguese Cream Pastry renowned throughout Lisbon )
A tasting of Portuguese Wines by the Glass ( Verdejo & Rosés )

Definitely highly recommended ..
http://www.joseavillez.pt ( Click: English on upper right top )

Have a lovely summer ..
All our best wishes ..

[jeral Profile]

In my quest for decent vegan/veggie saus rolls, today's effort will be yellow pepper and fennel, black olive, basil, garlic, plus sage & onion packet breadcrumbs to bind (since I won't need much) and probably a pinch of this and that to taste.

They should work, or at least be better than the sole but dreadful cheese 'n onion gloop/splodge variety in supermarkets.

Hopefully it will be per thread heading, i.e. eating, not just making potentially to feed the bin

[Joanbunting Profile]

Its a big weekend in France. 14th July tomorrow with the ensuing parades and firewoks and, of course the football on Sunday.

We aren't having the usual BBQ tomorrow but instead I have promised a soupe au pistou, followed by a selection of pates and terrines and one of the guests is bringing a gateau.

Sunday I'm going for good old chicken and chips with plenty of green salad so I can concentrate on the important things in life - like the right team scoring more goals than the other lot!

[jeral Profile]

Joanbunting, enjoy the weekend celebrations. Some arty events are on here locally over the next couple of weeks so the lovely weather will make going to the outdoor ones a pleasure.

The "other lot", Croatia, looked pretty quick sprinters and good at acquiring the ball midfield, although not ace at finding a goal route easily but a bit of luck helps... Let's hope Lady Luck has a bit to spare for your lot too in what'll undoubtedly be edge-of-the-seat stuff, or a compulsive eating event if nibbles are laid out and finger nails already down to the quick.

Tonight I defrosted and shelled a sample few small prawns. A kilo bag that were cooked in shell then frozen was bought for me (a long story). The heads etc could be half the weight so I'm wondering if I ought to save them when I shell the rest and "bisque" them, or is that just for crab shells? Ta.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Prawn shells for stock too Jeral - although you do need quite a lot of them to get the flavour & have to strain thro' a fine sieve a few times after cooking - they leave a lot of sediment at the bottom of the pan.
Plus windows & doors open wide - the smell is quite pungent & hangs around.

Not a very interesting week for me food-wise (read non existent) - I've had food poisoning & don't recommend it

[jeral Profile]

Oh poor you Lusciouslush - take it easy. I hope if flushes itself out very soon and you're learning to enjoy basic dry toasts.

Thanks for the prawn stock info - and the valuable pong alert. Maybe it'll be good to see if there's enough to bother with once all are shelled.

Had a Chinese vegetables dish yesterday (takeaway). I don't know what combo they put in the sauce but it's really nice. Just enough left for lunch today too. Quick & simple fresh haddock tonight as I'll be watching the resumed tennis gents semi finals until action stations this evening.

Get well soon.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Thanks Jeral !

If not enough shells you could freeze them until you get some more to make it worthwhile - they last for ages in the freezer, just be careful to wrap them well - they're sharp little wotsits & will stab you when you're routing for something else in there!

Himself has gone out to buy some fresh salmon - I really fancied some earlier on - light I thought - we'll see...…...

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Get Well soon LusciousLush.

I hope the salmon hits the spot, although I do find the thick chunky pieces can be very filling.

[Renee Profile]

A blast from the past here and I'm making Piperade tonight. It's many years since I made it. It doesn't really need a recipe, but I have just re-bought Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking. The recipe suggests pork fat to fry the onions, peppers in and I have a small jar of Ibérico pork fat in the fridge.

[Alexandria Profile]

Renée,

Is this your basic récipe ?

The Basque Region of both France and Pais Vasco, Spain, basically prepare their Piperade more or less like this, and of course, each restaurant and each family have their own creations ..

10 grams French or Asturian Butter
1 tsp. Evoo ( Spanish or Provençe )
1 large onion minced
1 or 2 cloves of crushed garlic
400 grams of de-seeded and peeled tomatoes of choice sliced into 1 / 2 inch cubes
2 green horn shaped or bell peppers sliced into strips and of course, de - seeded
4 large eggs ( Scrambled Eggs, not over cooked )
1 / 2 tsp. fresh basil leaves minced finely
salt and freshly ground black peppers
50 grams of Bayonne ham lightly sautéed in the butter or Iberian Ham lightly sautéed in the butter
50 grams of "CHORIZO" dry sausage sliced into fine rounds, sautéed in the butter


Have a lovely weekend .. Enjoying our last week in Lisbon ..
Monday is a new group of tourists ..

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Jeez Renee, I seriously hope you're sticking to your ED recipe...!

The thought of chorizo/ham cooked in butter wakes me want to gag.........


The iberico fat sounds perfect
Enjoy!

Thanks for your good wishes Strictly - jury's out...........