Recipes for Portuguese Christmas food please...

Please also see the food section http://www.carvoeiro.com/food
Lesley Jean
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Recipes for Portuguese Christmas food please...

Post by Lesley Jean »

Hiya, can anyone let me have some recipes for 'snacky' type Portuguese Christmas food, or maybe Christmas biscuits or cakes????
We are having a Christmas party at my Portuguese lesson class everyone has to bring something seasonal and it has to be Portuguese.

Any ideas out there? BD1 or BD2 ?????? someone ..... pretty please :lol:
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Post by jeremy »

I see dead snails

...every summer. I've been researching and apparently only in Portugal, France, Italy and Greece do people eat snails (and somewhere in Asia, I'm almost sure). Although in most countries snails are a gourmet delicacy, over here is a popular cheap snack. It's probably the last thing we would think of as a fancy meal. The portuguese recipe is much better than the pretensious nouvelle cuisine escargot thing ;-)

The perfect spot to eat snails is by the river, with a beer in one hand and a toothpick in the other. Forget that. You need one hand to pick up the actual snail. To make it more fun, eating snails in a tourist packed cafe or restaurant is ideal to gross them out, watch them turn green and head quickly for the restrooms :-)))

Here's the recipe:

2 kg of medium sized snails;
2 tablespoons of olive oil;
A handful of oregano ;
1 leaf of laurel;
2 cloves of garlic;
1 onion ;
salt ;
pepper;
1 very red hot chilli pepper;

The snails must be alive, of course. After washing the snails several times (until their "glue" is washed away), put them inside a pot filled with water. Add all the other ingredients. The heat should be increased gradually so that they stick their heads out before they die; this way we can easily suck them out of their shells without using a toothpick. This sounds cruel. And it is. But it's so good.

Image

:?
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Post by bobbie-anne »

I know Portugese like to eat Chestnut and this receipe may be useful.
Ingrediants
2 1/2 0zs butter
3 1/2 ozs'Plain Flour
1 Egg Yolk
Approx 2 tsp cold water.
For the filling
2 tsp Rapeseed oil
1 onion, peeled ans chopped
5 1/2 ozs cooked peeled chestnuts
2 tbs brown bread crumbs
Freshley ground black pepper to taste
pinch of salt
1 tbs fresh chopped parsley
1 egg beaten.

Method

1] preheat oven to 325 deg F 170 deg C Gas Mark 3
2] To make pastry, in a bowl rub butter into flour until like breadcrumbs. Using a round bladed knife stir in egg ylk and enough cold water to form a lumpy mix.
3] Turn out onto a floured surface and knead very lightly into a round.
Roll out and cut into rounds to line mini tart tins.
Bake for 10 mins' until pale but set.
4] Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan and cook onion until soft. Crumble chestnuts into small pieces and add to pan with remaining ingrediants, except the egg. Stir well to conbine.
5] Remove from heat add the egg then place spoonfuls of the mixture into cases. Return to the oven for 8 mins' to cook the egg and set the mixture.
6] Serve warm or cold add a little cranberry sauce and Thyme to Garish,

Makes about 8/10

Hope you enjoy. :)
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Post by Ellie »

Love Chestnuts Bobbie & that sounds good. Jeremy, Ill pass on the snails if you don't mind! That pic is too lifelike :shock: :lol:

Just thought Lesley..how about making some marzipan sweets?
I was always buying them when I lived there...I adore marzipan :P .....or maybe an Almond tart?
Lesley Jean
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Post by Lesley Jean »

:lol: Thanks for the suggestions, sorry Jeremy I think I will pass on the snails..... yuck :shock:

I had thought of an almond tart Ellie, just wondered if anyone else could come up with something different, I know that there is a biscuit that is brought out at Christmas which I thought might be good but can't find a recipe.

Anyone else got any more ideas?????
Ellie
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Post by Ellie »

How about 'Bolo Rei'. (King cake)......the traditional Christmas cake:

made from soft white dough, with raisins, & different nuts kneaded into it and topped with crystallized fruit.

We had this when we lived there..and a few years ago I had it at Susana's house (of Magna Carta) when I was there over the New Year...I rather enjoyed it :P
Lesley Jean
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Post by Lesley Jean »

:lol: Yes I love that, as we have a Portuguese shop and cafe here in Chard I always get one for us as a Christmas cake, we much prefer it to the traditional UK heavy fruit cake... yummy.

Anyone got a good recipe??
Canada
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Post by Canada »

Why not be "sneaky" and buy one then LJ? :wink:
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Post by Ellie »

If you google Portuguese snacks, you get lotsa ideas come up.
Lesley Jean
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Post by Lesley Jean »

Canada wrote:Why not be "sneaky" and buy one then LJ? :wink:
:lol: I have thought about that but then felt guilty and reckon I should at least try first and then if I fail I will go and buy something.

Ellie, I have googled and there is just so much I was hoping someone would have some tried and tested recipes from the family that I could 'wow' the others from the language course with.... :wink:

I might have a go at the Pastela de nata, but I thought there was a biscuit that was traditional about the Christmas time?? anyone know ???
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Post by tricky »

I love Pastela de nata, LJ. Try it and invite me over please
Canada
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Post by Canada »

How about some finger lickin' chicken piri piri?
Lesley Jean
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Post by Lesley Jean »

:lol: good idea Canada, but I am a bit dubious about taking chicken as it will have to be cold and then left out at room temperature, I am always worried about food poisoning with chicken..... which is why I would like to do some biscuits or cakes. :lol:
Ellie
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Post by Ellie »

Easy Portuguese Biscuits

2 Tablespoons of cornflour
7oz(200g) Caster sugar
2oz (5og)Butter
2 eggs
11oz(300g) Plain flour
1 dessertspoon Baking powder

Method

Heat oven to 160c/gas mark3
Stir cornflour & sugar in a bowl.
Add butter and cream well.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Combine plain flour & baking powder..then stir into the sugar mixture, until a dough is formed.
On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.Then cut your biscuit shapes.
Arrange them 1in apart on a dry baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown at edges.
Maybe you could press an almond into each biscuit before cooking Lesley or something decorative to make them festive?
elliex
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Post by Bruce Wallis »

tricky wrote:I love Pastela de nata, LJ. Try it and invite me over please
Make that 2....Pastel nata are my favourite Portuguese weight gain! :lol:
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