Madeira

Shrimp And Octopus Stewed In Red Wine

Seafood , wine, olive oil, tomatoes, onions, garlic, beans and potatoes give this dish that familiar taste and appearance you’ll find when ordering seafood stew along the coast of Portugal and it’s islands.
Maria and I have had this particular stew (sometimes with, sometimes without the beans) a couple of times in the home of one of our friends in Funchal, Madeira, while living there, ca 17 years ago.
Served with rustic bread and LOTS of red Douro (Portuguese wine from vineyards along the Douro river) and Madeira (fortified wine from the islands of Madeira), seafood cooked in wine has since become one of my favorite meals to share with friends, and it has been one of the foods I remember most of that happy time, that beautiful country and its wonderful people.
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Shrimp And Octopus Stewed In Red Wine

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: I got 10 packs, – made my day 🙂

: saute 2 med size chopped onions in 4 tblsp olive oil until transparent

: add 10 cloves of whole garlic confit, 5 bay leaves and 1 tblsp oregano, saute another minute

: add 1,5 lb octopus pieces

: add 1 tblsp tomato paste, 1 bottle of dry red wine, kosher salt and black pepper to taste

: simmer until octopus is tender, about two hours; add water if there is not enough liquid – there should be about 2 cups of liquid at this point

: add 1 lb of raw shrimp

: add two 10-oz can of white beans, 1 drained 10 oz can of diced tomato, 16 oz of small cooked potatoes and 2 tblsp chopped parsley

: simmer another 2 minutes or until shrimp are cooked through

: remove from heat, check/adjust seasoning; to serve, sprinkle with more chopped parsley and accompany with rice or rustic bread; serves 4

: Shrimp And Octopus Stewed In Red Wine

: Shrimp And Octopus Stewed In Red Wine

: Shrimp And Octopus Stewed In Red Wine

: Shrimp And Octopus Stewed In Red Wine

: Shrimp And Octopus Stewed In Red Wine

: Shrimp And Octopus Stewed In Red Wine

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Piri Piri Chicken With Portuguese Fried Rice

Piri Piri Chicken

Here we have two beloved Portuguese dishes which are not typically recognized as Portuguese staples (rice) and chicken (piri piri chicken).
Piri piri chicken is a favorite way of preparing chicken/poultry in most parts of Portugal, especially in Lisbon. I remember eating grilled chicken brushed with a spicy sauce in Lisbon way back in the seventies and then twenty five years later again, when I lived on Madeira with Maria, although I did not recall the “piri piri” part until I came across this video on my Portuguese friend’s Peter a few weeks ago (see link below) .
As for “Portuguese fried rice”, any cuisine in which rice features as a staple also has at least a few fried rice recipes, since everybody is used to reheat the leftover rice in a pan and adding “stuff” to it, usually in the form of other leftovers and/or veggies, seasoning, eggs, protein etc.
Grilling over an open fire is, of course, one of the best ways to cook chicken (or most other protein, no matter the country, style of cuisine or occasion. Brushing the meat when it almost ready to be served with a savory, spicy sauce and a squirt of fresh lemon or lime is all one needs to lift said protein (or vegetables) one more step up to reach culinary heaven 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for more info about Piri Piri Sauce
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Click here for a short video about Piri Piri Chicken
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Click here for more info about Food , Dining & Drinks In Portugal
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Pls note :
Piri piri sauce is prepared in a myriad of different ways, depending on the country, region, family preference, etc. The one essential common ingredient is the use of piri piri peppers. Also, the amount of piri piri you brush onto your food depends on your own preference. As you can see in the picture, I love to be generous with my thicker than usual piri piri 🙂
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Hans’ Piri Piri Sauce Recipe :
4 tablespoons lemon juice, 5 tablespoons olive oil, ¹⁄₄cup vinegar, 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce (optional), 1 tablespoon garlic, minced, 1 tablespoon paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon piri piri peppers ;
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

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Piri Piri Chicken And Portuguese Fried Rice

Portuguese Fried Rice

Piri Piri Chicken And Portuguese Fried Rice

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: wash and pat dry 1 ea cornish hen per person (or half a chicken)

: cut through back of the hen (or chicken), season with kosher salt; for a formal dinner, remove back bone and wing tips

: grill poultry on both sides, finish by roasting in a 375F oven until about 3/4 cooked, about 20 to 25 minutes for a small hen, longer for a chicken, depending on size

: saute 4 oz diced onions and 4 oz diced linguiça (or other hard sausage such as chorizo or salami) in 2 tblsp olive oil

: when the onions are translucent, add 1 cup diced bell peppers, saute 1 minute

: add 4 cups of day-old rice and 1 tblsp garlic paste, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: saute until the rice “pops”, move the rice to one side of the pan, add two more tblsp olive oil, scramble 4 whisked eggs until set

: mix the eggs with the other ingredients, saute until the eggs are dry

: check/adjust seasoning; to serve, top with black olives; serves 4

: Portuguese Fried Rice

: Portuguese Fried Rice

: when the poultry is about 3/4 cooked, brush generously with piri piri sauce and 1 tblsp fresh lemon juice, return to oven; repeat this step every 5 minutes until poultry is cooked through

: hello beauty !

: Piri Piri Chicken And Portuguese Fried Rice

: Piri Piri Chicken And Portuguese Fried Rice

: Piri Piri Chicken And Portuguese Fried Rice

: Piri Piri Chicken And Portuguese Fried Rice

: Piri Piri Chicken And Portuguese Fried Rice

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Portuguese Eggs

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While Maria and I were living in Funchal, Madeira, we became friends with a wonderful local couple, Balduino and Felicidade. They invited us to their home often, where we usually had an early brunch and then set out to explore the island, usually by car and sometimes by scooter. After a while this became a wonderful routine and it was Balduino’s pride (and our enjoyment) to prepare a different variation of “Portuguese Eggs” each time we met at his house. Over time, we were able to enjoy this dish with squid, octopus, lobster, shrimp, espada (the most popular local fish), chorizo, ham and different greens and herbs. He sometimes sprinkled grated local cheese on top of the eggs before baking, but he never included the more common ricotta cheese. Always accompanied by hearty, home-baked bread and local wine, it was the perfect delicious and fortifying meal to keep us going for hours on our expeditions around the island 🙂
(To be truthful, sometimes we replaced the tours with more wine and a bottle of port and just talked about past and future island-explorations).
Let me say here that Madeira is one of the most beautiful places Maria and I had the luck and privilege to live together 🙂
Here now is today’s version of “Portuguese Eggs” in memory of great friendship, great places to live, happier times and the great love of my life, Maria, who passed away exactly 3 years ago.
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Love ……….
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Click here for more memories of Madeira on ChefsOpinion
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Click here for all about Madeira
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Portuguese Eggs

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: tomatoes, potato, shrimp, onion, peas, basil

: peel, dice and simmer 1 large potato in salted water until soft but not falling apart, drain

: slice one medium onion, saute in 1 tblsp olive oil until translucent

: add 2 lbs halved tomatoes, season with salt and cayenne papper, broil until starting to caramelize

: add 2 cup water and 1 tsp garlic paste, simmer until tomatoes have broken down and a sauce has developed, about 20 minutes (add more water if sauce becomes too thick)

: add potatoes, simmer 5 minutes

: season 10 oz shrimp with fresh-ground black pepper, kosher salt, garlic paste and olive oil (if you prefer, remove the tails before adding them to the stew)

: add the shrimp and 3 oz green peas to the tomatoes, mix, check/adjust seasoning

: add whole eggs to the stew, sprinkle eggs with kosher salt, simmer slowly until eggs are cooked the way you like them; if you like your eggs more cooked than I do, put them under the broiler for a couple of minutes, ; to serve, sprinkle with herbs of your choice; serves 4 or 5

: meanwhile, cut 2 pretzel-rolls into halves

: brush with garlic paste

: grill rolls until golden

: Portuguese Eggs

: Portuguese Eggs

: to serve, place bread on bottom of serving dish, top with portuguese eggs

: Portuguese Eggs

: Portuguese Eggs

: Portuguese Eggs

: Portuguese Eggs

: Portuguese Eggs

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Grilled Portuguese Sardines

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During the time Maria and I were living in Madeira, Portugal, we usually had grilled sardines at least twice a week. There was this beautiful restaurant, built into a cave in the rock’s below our apartment building, just a three minute walk, which served these wonderful, fresh, juicy, tasty sardines off a wood fired grill. Adorned with just lemon wedges, a small green salad with onions and rustic sour dough bread, this was the perfect meal every time and I remember them very fondly, both for the great food, as well as the romance the surroundings provided to Maria and I.
I usually had all my dinner’s in Madeira with a bottle (or two) of Gatão Vinho Verde, while Maria usually stuck to her diet coke.
While shopping for food on saturday, I came across these great looking (frozen) Portuguese sardines and I just had to get them. I prepared them the way they are usually prepared in simple restaurant’s and homes by the sea – some sea salt inside and out, brushed with olive oil and quickly grilled or sauteed. Then a squirt of lemon or lime and voilà – sardine heaven.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

– and yes, Bella and I had all twelve of them at once…….. 🙂
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Grilled Portuguese Sardines

: Portuguese Sardines

: Season With Sea Salt

: Grill

: Served With Sauteed Potatoes And Greens

: Grilled Portuguese Sardines

: Grilled Portuguese Sardines

: Remnants Of A Great Dinner

: Gatão Vinho Verde

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Caldo Verde

Food memories ……..

Caldo Verde.
For me this recalls the time we were living in Madeira, Portugal. We were living and working in Porto Moniz, in a wonderful apartment overlooking the ocean, close to the center of Funchal, near the rock pool and a great restaurant which was in a rock cave just below our house and specialized in grilled sardines. During many evenings during the cooler months of the year, Maria and I went across the street to a simple restaurant/kiosk which was located right on the stony beach, just opposite the cave restaurant. While I forgot the name of the places, I remember clearly what we consumed most times: A bottle of ” Gatao Vinho Verde ” for me, a diet coke for Maria and two bowls of ” Caldo Verde ” for the both of us if we had dinner on the beach. Same beverages, accompanied by four orders of grilled sardines (one for Maria, three for me ) when we dined in the Cave. These simple dinners alway’s made a perfect ending to a busy day. Memories……. 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Kale, thoroughly washed, stems removed
Potatoes, medium diced
Chorizo, finely sliced
Stock, chicken, beef, pork, or vegetables
( I used leftover smoked pork stock I had in my freezer
from last weeks “Collard Greens” preparation )
Garlic, paste
Onions, diced
Black pepper, fresh ground
Kosher salt,
Maggi seasoning
Olive oil, to saute

Method :

Saute chorizo in oil until starting to brown.
Remove chorizo, reserve. Saute onions and garlic
until translucent, add potatoes and stock, simmer
until potatoes are soft. Mash potatoes or blend with a
stick blender. Add kale and most of the chorizo. Simmer
until kale is soft. Season soup with salt, pepper and maggi to taste.
To serve, sprinkle the rest of the chorizo on top for color.

Bom apetite ! A vida é boa !
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