Recipe: Carne de Porco à Alentejana - Pork Loin with Clams

Carne de Porco à Alentejana

Pork Loin with Clams

1-1/2 c. white wine
1 Tbsp paprika
1-1/2 tsp salt
pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fennel seed
2 lbs lean boneless pork, cut into 1″ cubes

3 Tbsp oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
2 tsp minced garlic
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
pinch red pepper flake
2 dozen clams, scrubbed

Mix ingredients up to pork in a large zip-top bag, and marinate for up to 6 hours in the fridge.

Drain pork, reserving fluid. Discard bay leaf. Pat meat dry. In a 6- to 8-quart Dutch oven, heat 1 tsp oil until smoking, then brown meat on all sides. Transfer meat to a bowl and set aside. Add the marinating liquid and boil, deglazing bottom of pan, until reduced to 1 cup. Pour over the pork and set aside.

Add remaining oil, heat until shimmering; add peppers and onions, and cook until soft but not brown. Add garlic, tomatoes and pepper flake. Simmer for several minutes, until tomatoes break down. Spread the clams, hinge-side down, over top of sauce and cook, covered, 10 minutes or until clams open. Discard any that do not open. Add the pork and liquid and simmer 5 minutes, until everything is heated through.

Transfer to a large bowl and serve with bread for sopping.

Recipe: Bolo Rei (King’s Cake)

Bolo Rei or King’s Cake is a sweet bread which is traditionally eaten on Epiphany (6th January) in Portugal to celebrate the passing of the Three Kings. However it is becoming more and more popular to be eaten during the Christmas period.

Ingredients: 

 

500 g flour
30 g yeast
100 ml water
1 pinch of salt
zest of a lemon
3 egg yolks
150 ml sparkling wine
100 g melted margarine
1 dried bean
150 g glace fruit
1 beaten egg

For Decoration: 

 

200 g glace fruit for decoration
icing sugar
jelly to taste

Preparation 

   

Pour 330 g flour into a large bowl and make a mould in the centre. Blend the yeast with the remaining flour and add to the lukewarm water. Add the mixture to the bowl containing the flour, combine well and shape the dough into a ball. Add the salt, lemon zest, egg yolk, sparkling wine and the melted margarine. Knead the dough well
(it should have the consistency of a bread dough).

Then add the diced glace fruit to the dough and knead again. Cover the dough and leave to rest in a warm spot until double in size. Knead the dough once again and shape into a ring. Place the ring of dough onto a baking sheet dusted with flour. Now insert a small coin wrapped into tissue paper and the dried bean into the dough. Cover the holes. Allow the cake to rise once again.

Brush the cake with beaten egg and decorate with glace fruit. Bake in an oven at

160 °C for approx. 1 hour until golden brown. Once the cake has cooled, brush the candied fruit with jelly and dust with icing sugar.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade (or in a blender or electric mixer set at highest speed), buzz the mozzarella, butter, sugar, and cinnamon about 60 seconds non-stop until smooth and creamy; scrape down the work bowl sides with a rubber spatula and beat 60 seconds longer. Note: It will take longer for the electric mixer to reduce the mixture to creaminess - perhaps 3 to 4 minutes of steady beating.

Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition; add the flour and snap the motor on once or twice to blend inches Transfer the mixture to a small bowl, cover and chill several hours.

 

 

Recipe: Portuguese Custard

Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 3 free-range egg yolks
  • 115g/4oz caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp corn flour
  • 230ml/7¾fl oz double cream
  • 170ml/5½fl oz milk
  • 2 tsp natural vanilla extract
  • 1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry

Method

  1. Put the egg yolks, sugar and corn flour in a saucepan and whisk together. Gradually whisk in the cream and milk until smooth.
  2. Place the pan over medium heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
  3. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool.
  4. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
  5. Lightly grease a 12-hole (80ml/2½fl oz) muffin tin.
  6. Cut the pastry sheet in half, put one half on top of the other and set aside for five minutes. Roll up the pastry tightly from the shorter-sided end and cut the pastry log into twelve 1cm/½in rounds.
  7. Lay each pastry round on a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll out until each is 10cm/4in in diameter.
  8. Press the pastry rounds into the holes in the muffin tin. Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry and custard are golden.
  9. Leave the tarts in the tin for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.