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April Fool’s lunch
The menu for the gathering’s second session, on clearly south heading note towards the warmth of Alentejo and Algarve’s deep and yet to day persistent Moor and Arab influences. As for what music is concerned, the journey continues even further south, so prepare yourself for some after lunch digestive dancing…yes!
Canned Sardines with watermelon by Chef Henrique Vaz Pato (Bar Sol & Pesca)
Starters&Cocktails
The “Moschito”
A deliciously light, scented cocktail of Moscatel wine with Tonic, mint and lemon on ice. Moscatel is a particularly aromatic grape variety, with citrus, flowery, ‘grapey’ flavours.It ripens to high sugar levels and is ideal for making sweet, fortified wines.
Canapés de Sardinha e Polvo em conserva de azeite, sobre Broa de Avintes salteada.
Sardine and Octopus Canapes on Avintes Artisan Bread.
The Portuguese canned fish industry has been one of the countries less well know exporting industries, and is one of Portugal’s best kept and under explored cuisine “secrets”. Known for it’s high quality olive oil making, and fresh, near shore sardine fishing, Portugal is one of Europe’s finnest canned fish sources, with a 150 years long tradition of making the finest quality canned food you’ll ever taste.
Elevated from what used to be one of the less valued food options, to it’s current use as an healthy and flavour rich option, canned fish food has been reintroduced in the portuguese cuisine by famous chefs in a myriad of interesting mixtures and flavours. In Lisbon you’ll find specialty dedicated stores and restaurants such as Sol & Pesca (very famous since Anthony Bourdain’s visit) and Can the Can.
Bread of Avintes is one of the most prized delicacies of Portuguese cuisine: a dark and very dense brown bread, with a distinct and intense bittersweet flavour. Made with cornflour, rye and honey, it has a particularly slow manufacturing process and bakes for about five to six hours in the oven.
Alternatively (if you’re not a cocktail lover) : Chão do Prado White 2011, DOC Bucelas
Chão do Prado is a farm with 8 hectares located in Bucelas Wine region in the north of Lisbon, António is the 4th generation of wine producers. Grape Varieties: Arinto, Cerceal, Rabo de Ovelha. This exuberant wine with citrus and limpid colour, has aroma of green apple with mineral notes. Balanced with good body and persistent after taste.
Main Courses
Açorda de camarão e coentros com ovo escalfado
Prawns and coriander mashed bread stew served with poached eggs
Bread and broth have a long history together. The combination was introduced in Portugal by the Moors, who occupied the Iberian Peninsula nearly 800 years ago.
“Açordas” are a very traditional souplike stew from the south, and is usually made
by slowly simmering bread with onions, garlic, tomatoes, coriander and spices until the soup becomes thick and velvety. Fresh shrimp is added and cooked, and then tender topped with the moisture of a poached egg.
Wine: Álvaro Castro White 2011, DOC Dão
Álvaro Castro is widely acknowledged to be the leading producer in Portugal’s Dão region. Jamie Goode describes Álvaro as “one of the top winegrowers in all of Portugal”. Grape Varieties: Cerceal, Bical Encruzado. Mineral scented with fresh fruit and some nasal citric notes. Smooth and fresh on the palate with an elegant fruit and acidity balance which provides a fairly long finish.
Arroz de Pato no forno
Oven cooked duck rice with chorizo.
Wine: Riso 2011, Regional Alentejo
Herdade do Vau is a small farm with 5.5ha located in the South East of Alentejo with one of a kind terroir proper to produce great red wines. Grape Varieties: Touriga Nacional (71%), Syrah, Alfrocheiro, Sousão. Deep red ruby color. Intense riped red fruits aroma with balsamic and pine notes, cedar and menthol, pepper and slightly floral and violet. Very well integrated and discreet wood. Well structure palate with firm tannins and good acidity. The finish is long with good complexity and harmony.
Foto by Leonor de Sousa Bastos
Desserts
Bolo de nozes e doce de ovos
Walnut cake with egg custard
Jose’s favourite cake: a surprising chewy, moist texture thanks to the minced walnuts, this cake is a wonderful delight with a topping of sweet egg cream.
One of the many hundreds of portuguese conventual sweets varieties. so relevant for the country’s culture and gastronomy for centuries.
The arrival of sugar in the 15th century, brought by the Arabs, quickly consolidated the sweets industry, especially among the aristocracy, who could afford it.
However, it was the nuns and monks from Portugal’s convents and monasteries who produced some of the country’s best-known recipes. The popularity of the “conventual sweets” soon spread through the provinces. In the south of Portugal, between Algarve and Alentejo, the country boasts more than 200 varieties of biscuits, cakes and pastries known collectively as doces (sweets), with names as quaint as papos de anjo (angel’s chin),and they’re fun to get your mouth around in every sense. Many of them also hide more than sugar and calories. Each sweet delight is an integral part of Portuguese culture and history.
Espetadas de queijo cabra com queijo de figo e doce de ameixa
Goat cheese & fig cheese skewers served with plum jam.
An exquisite treat gently supplied to us by Sónia Morais of Gourmandisse : Fig cheese is a delicious treat from Algarve (from Vil do Bispo more specifically) , that combines the best local ingredients: dried figs, almonds and arbutus-berry with anise, cinnamon and other spices. Add a few well-kept secrets and the result is an award-winning family recipe. This sensous fruit seduces the palate when paired with ripe, soft, unctuous cheese.
Wines: Quinta do Prado Late Harvest 2009, Bucelas
The fruit is left to mature for longer and the harvest can take place as late as in the 4rd week of October. This allows the grapes to be covered with noble rot. Noble rot is a fungal condition that affects grapes only in a few exclusive regions around the world, due to their climatic uniqueness where wet conditions are followed by dry, like Tokaj and Sauternes. This sweet wine of golden straw colour has aroma of orange peel and honey with toasted notes. Excellent structure and acidity, with long aftertaste.