Culinary journal Portugal summer 2022

Last year my husband and I spent our summer holiday in Portugal. This trip was originally planned in the summer 2020 but the pandemic made us stay home. My family and I are fond of Portugal having visited the country for a couple of times. We all always have that saudade feeling to this country. There is an array of post about this trip and all of them are coming up. First, let me share these food pictures during that holiday and some addresses of the F&B establishments on Google Maps.

Piri-piri chicken

Piri-piri chiken or frango piri-piri is a staple in Portugal. Juicy chicken marinated in a mix of garlic, olive oil, salt, lemon juice, and of course piri-piri chilies then it is grilled on a coal bbq. These pics are piri-piri chicken from Churrasqueira Praça d’Armas in Lagos, Algarve. It is freshly grilled on the spot. On the pics, you see another fave of mine: croquetas/bolinhos de Bacalhau (croquette of salted cod). When I needed to cancel my Portugal trip in 2020 due to pandemic I published the bolinhos de Bacalhau recipe on my foodblog, recipe is in Bahasa Indonesia.

Seafood in Lagos

By coincidence I discovered a restaurant in Lagos, just outside the city wall. Prato Cheio serves fresh seafood, meat and some Algarvian (seafood) specialties in affordable prices. I came here twice and it didn’t dissapoint. This is a generous portion of Sardinhas Assadas (grilled sardines).

Squid stew, Algarvian style

Cataplana

For a local feeling, try to come here on Sunday where the chef offers Sunday special dishes. This is one of the Sunday specials: Cataplana, Algervian seafood stew. Cataplana is actualy the pan where the dish is cooked. On the pic is one person Cataplana but I couldn’t finish it by myself.

Camarão ao alhinho; shrimps in olive oil, garlic, piment and parsley. Nothing more is needed. Portuguese cooking is not as refined as French cooking and it is in my opinion a even simpler than the Spanish but it is delicious.

Bacalhau

Bacalhau com natas, one of my faves. Shredded salted cod and potato cubes cooked in cream. Bacalhau is the national dish of the country. Locals cook this in hundreds of varieties of recipes.

Bifana

In the city where I live there is a Portuguese café I frequent that has Bifana on the menu. Bifana is a sandwich with pork cutlet marinated in garlic, chilli, pimenton and white wine. Sometimes it is served with mustard. This one I had in Porto was quite spicy, a lick of mustard was not needed but I love it. I also had Bifana in Lisboa. There are some famous among locals bifana joints, which now have been discovered by tourists as well.

Chouriço Assado

Chouriço is the most versatile Portuguese sausage and a staple petisco in the local tascas. As a petisco (small dish to share, just like tapas in Spain).Chouriço Assado is spectacular to order. It is served in a terracota bowl and on the table it would be flamed in aguardente (distilled spirit contains 29% to 60% alcohol). Portuguese chouriço contains less smoked paprika than the Spanish version and tastes a bit smokier. One important difference is that portuguese chouriço is ready to eat. During the flaming on the table, Chouriço Assado gets its crispy char on the outside which accentuates the smokey flavour more.

Seafood in Matosinhos

When you look at Portugal in the map, it has a long coastline. The seafood is good and fresh. Staying in Porto at the last leg of the trip. I headed to a fishing village up north of the city, Matosinhos. One just can’t miss that this is a fishing village. There are plenty of seafood restaurants there selling the catch of the day. If you’re lucky you can try percebes (barnacles). I did but I didn’t make pictures of it. Percebes tastes like sea.

This spaghetti with spicy tomato sauce has a considerate amount of shrimps and sausage chunks.

Along with most meals I drank Vinho Verde. And closing it by ordering (tawny) port, devouring the best things the country offers. That’s it for now. More posts of Portugal trip are coming!