Salmon with Philadelfia and Caremalized Onions En-croute

Beautifull en-croute, made with salmon and a topping of caramelized onions and Philadelphia cream cheese.

Recipe Ingredients: (enough for 4)

• 1 skinless and boneless salmon fillet (I purchased it with skin and removed it after as is cheaper this way)
  
• 1 packet of puff pastry (I purchased it already rolled, as I didn't want the trouble to make it myself)
  
• 1 Large Onion (finely chopped)
  
• 2 tomatoes sliced
  
• 2 minced garlic cloves
  
• 21/2 a shot of Port Wine
  
• 2 Heaped soup spoons of Philadelphia Cream cheese (or similar)
  
• 1 bunch of parsley (finely chopped)
  
• a little salt, black pepper and virgin olive oil
  
• 1 egg yolk to brush the pastry
  

In a frying pan put a little olive oil and once hot add (salt and pepper), onion and garlic. Let them cook until they caramelize well, when this happens add the port wine, cook for another minute, remove from heat and leave to cool.

After cooling add the two tablespoons of Philadelphia over the chopped parsley and stir until it becomes consistent. Place the fillets of raw fish over the pastry (add a little salt and pepper on top), spread fillets with cream cheese and onion, put on top of the slices of tomato.

Now lift the flaps of the pastry covers the fish but do not completely cover it, use the excess of the ends of the wrap to make the strips to put over, these will not let the dough open more when cooking (see photo). Press the edges with the teeth of a fork and brush the dough thoroughly with the egg yolk. insert it in the hot oven (200 degrees C) for 25 minutes, and is ready to serve.

The vegetables are just boiled, I used as you can see, round beans, carrots and potatoes. You can use the same or even cauliflower, broccoli etc. You can also quickly after boiling the vag sauté them for one minute with butter on a frying pan then sprinkle some chopped parsley and a little lemon juice.

For the sauce puts the milk in a saucepan with the nutmeg, butter plus a dash of salt and pepper. Once it boils, mix the wine with the flour premixed, and stir until it thickens, finally add the chopped parsley and is done, pour over the vegetables. Bon Appetite

King Prawn Bean Stew with Garlic Basmati

Recipe Ingredients: (enough for 4)

• 400 grs basmati rice
  
• 3 cans (400grs each) borlotti or butter beans
  
• 350 grs skinless king prawns (uncooked)
• 50 grs of chourizo thinly sliced
  
• 1 carrot minced
  
• 1 onion minced
  
• 3 garlic cloves minced
  
• 150 mls tomato pulp (or passata)
  
• 1 pinch of cayenne
  
• 1 soup spoon of paprika
  
• 1 bunch of coriander finely chopped
  
• 2 large bayleafs
  
• a little olive oil, salt and black pepper (to taste)
  

One of the tastier things I have ever eaten in the restaurant MetrisPlanet in Faro Portugal. I loved it so much that I had to recreate it, also must confess that I went back and back to that restaurant to eat that meal over and over again during my holidays. Of course they didn't give me the recipe so I had to create my own version based on taste and look s alone, and if I may say turned out quite excellent.

I used butter beans which were nice however whenever I will do this again I will use either borlotti or white beans, as the butter beans were a little floury in texture and I prefer a smother texture almost creamy. At Metris Planet restaurant a portion for two was €16 which means only €8 per person, which is a great price, but think the portion given in quantity was really enough for over 4 people excellent value, if ever in Portugal in the Algarve I would recommend you to visit this restaurant.

Well... To make this dish, place a wok pan on the heat and add to it a little olive oil once well hot ad to it: garlic, onion, carrot, bay-leafs, chourizo, cayenne pepper and the paprika. Let these cook up until the onion starts to caramelize, which then you add the: drained beans and tomato pulp, and once is back to boiling put the lid on reduce heat to minimum and let it simmer for around 40 minutes, mixing occasionally so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. Twenty minutes into the cooking add the salt and black pepper.

Lastly ad the prawns and the chopped coriander (reserving a little coriander for the decoration of the dish), cooking these for 3-4 minutes the prawn will change from a greyish colour to the nice orange colour when cooked, must not overcook them as instead of soft they will turn hard and rubbery.

As to the rice cook this one in water and salt with a little of oil and a couple of crushed garlic cloves for the garlic flavour cook it for 10-12 minutes (check pack for cooking times). Once fully cooked I drained the rice and while draining passed boiling water through it to remove excess starch as this is no good for your health.

Then is just a matter of dishing it and eating it....Bon Appetite xxxxxxx

Adzuki Bean and Cabage Stew (Vegetarian/Vegan)

Receita em Português

Recipes Ingredients:(enough for 6)

• 1 Small Savoy cabbage (leaves separated and cut into pieces)
• 500grs Adzuki beans (soaked in water for 1.5 days)
• 4 large carrots (cut into pieces)
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 1/3 tea spoon of cayenne
  
• 300grms of Quorn (or soya pieces)
• 1/5 tomato pulp
  
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 soup spoon of smoky paprika
  
• salt and black pepper
  
• a little olive oil
  

This is a delicious and easy recipe to make, a Vegetarian/vegan option of the Portuguese bean stew known as "Feijoada".

The dried Adzuki beans were soaked for 1.5 days to get them ready for cooking, changed the soaking water once in the middle of the soaking. Than simply put the beans in a pan covered with water and a little salt and cooked them for 1hour and 10 minutes (more or less, so test beans near that time). Meanwhile I started the stew, by putting another pan on the stove with a little olive oil, garlic, onion, carrots, cayenne pepper and paprika, and let these cook until the carrot is cooked through, stirring occasionally.

While that was doing, I boiled a kettle of water, placed the cabbage in a bowl and poured the boiling water over it, leaving it submerged in the boiling water for about 3-5 minutes. Coming back to the stewing carrots, once these were cooked I added seasoning (sat and black pepper) as well as a tea spoon of sugar (to cut the stew acidity), then I added the tomato pulp the Quorn (or soya) the cabbage and the beans as well as a glass of water, placed a lid on the pan and once to the boil reduce to minimum and allowed it to cook for a good 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. I've done this type of food in the past and added to it a little pasta, it is a little more fattening but it does change from a spring food to a winter one fairly easily, obviously a little more water is required when doing that. This is a lovely and healthy meal, as the roughage helps with bowls problems, and is full of vitamins and minerals, from the greens etc.

Quorn Enchiladas (you can use alternatives, Inc meat)

Well for a good enchilada you need a good tortilla wrap, normally I make my own as is best, however trying to save time I purchased some decent ones, ready made.

I also prepared the tray for the oven straight away, with a drizzle of olive oil so that the enchiladas don't get stuck when cooking.

And this is the filling already cooked:

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Quorn about 250-300grs
  
• 1 Red bell pepper (cut into strips)
• 2 white onions (cut into strips, these are sweeter)
• 1 can of Flagleotti beans (but also any red small bean will do)
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 red chilli (hot, cut into strips)
  
• 1/2 soup spoon cumin powder
  
• 1/2 tea spoon Cayenne pepper
  
• 1/2 soup spoon oregano
• 2 soup spoon tomato concentrate diluted in half glass of water.
  
• salt and black pepper
  
• a little olive oil
  

Put a frying pan on the stove with a little olive oil, when hot adding also the garlic, bell pepper, cayenne, cumin powder, salt & Black pepper. Let these fry for 5 minutes stirring occasionally, then add the Quorn and the "diluted" tomato concentrate, plus the cayenne and oregano, let it cook a further 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally and the sauce is done (adding the beans around 3 minutes before cooking finishes).

The the bechamel, as done in previous recipes, so is unnecessary to give the recipe again, as you know already how it is done or you can check previous recipes.

Then I lay the sauce with the shape of a fat sausage in the middle of the tortilla living a little room from the sides, so that it doesn't spill when I roll em up.

Followed by a line of thick bechamel over the top as you can see on the photo, note that bechamel needs to be very thick.

One by one I stuffed all the enchiladas in the tray, poured bechamel over all of them followed by a line of diluted tomato concentrate + a little cheddar sprinkles on top as well as some oregano.

Then oven for around 27 minutes @ 200c, until golden brown. This has to be a must make them sometime. Yum yum!

No photo above which represents that it was all eaten. I made this one with a step by step photos etc. as to show how easy it is to make them, and how delicious it gets, so that you are encouraged to make them too, like I said at the beginning, you can use meat instead if you prefer. I accompanied this with a nice beer from Morrison, a Brazilian beer called Barahma, and was a very light in taste beer, yet fair amount of alcohol...nice.

Chilli con Quorn over Pasta Shells (vagetarian)

Receita em Português AQUI

Very easy recipe that I do repeat several times during the month, as my wife is a vegetarian, and this turns out very similar to the meat one (my opinion) I also enjoy it too. The kids are not so keen, don't take me wrong they still like it but called it fake meat and say would prefer with real meat.

• 2 red chillies (finely sliced) medium hot
  
• 1/2 red pepper and 1/2 green pepper (diced)
• 1 onion diced
  
• 1 large carrot (thinly sliced)
  
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
  
• 1 soup spoon tomato concentrate
  
• 1 tin of tomatoes (diced) can also use fresh ones but de-seed them and remove the skin first about 3 large will do (diced)
  
• 1 tin mixed beans (or just kidney beans will do)
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 1 tea spoon full of cumin powder
  
• 300grs of Quorn (or alternatively soya mince)
  
• 400grs of pasta shells (cooked in water with two crushed garlic cloves)
  
• 1/2 glass of white wine
  
• 4 soup spoons of olive oil
  

Well this recipe is very simple, place the oil in pan and once very hot add the following: Onion, Garlic, chilly, peppers, carrots, cumin powder, salt and black pepper (to taste), let it all cook stirring occasionally until the onion is semi transparent, at this stage add the tomato, the tomato concentrate and the wine, reduce to medium heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Now add the Quorn or Soya and let it continue to simmer stirring occasionally for a further 5 minutes, at the of which you add the beans and let it continue to simmer for a further 3-5 minutes more and the sauce is ready. So remember to put the pasta on cooking around the time you added the Quorn to the sauce.

Once all is ready place the pasta on the plate (you can also do this with rice or Bulgar or even cus cus) and pour a good couple of serving spoons over the pasta, (optionally) you can add some grated cheddar and a little Parmesan on top. makes it just delicious, of course is also good without it. For a meat one just replace the Quorn with beef or pork or lamb mince.

Tip: for fairly hot use the whole chillies sliced, if less heat is required just cat the chillies in half and remove the seeds and the white veins, before cooking them.