Ok it has been crazy around here. I haven't written in a while but we have still been enjoying great food. We enjoyed our Mediterranean foods for about 2 weeks until I finally decided we had to move on. We didn't get far though, because the kids chose Portugal for this week. I've decided to make Portuguese Bean Stew or Feijao a Portuguesa that I found on epicurious.com and Sea Bass in White Wine and Tomatoes from http://www.portuguesecooking.com.
As I was cooking the bean stew, my daughter came over to see what was in the pan. She wrinkled her nose and said, "Beans? Can't we have rice with the fish?" I told her we were going to eat it the Portuguese way. She wasn't thrilled, but she grabbed some of the garlic I was chopping and popped it into her mouth. Then she went off to set the table.
The recipes were relatively simple, but I realized that I had forgotten to buy the bacon for the bean stew. Oh well, I figured we could do without the extra cholesterol. Of course, I never start cooking early enough, so my husband arrived home from work about 20 minutes too soon. So, I turned the oven temp up to 400 to speed along the cooking for the last few minutes. (I have a tendency to do this. It doesn't always work but this time I was lucky.) The fish was perfectly flaky and delicious. The beans had a nice smokey hot flavor. My son tried hard to not eat very much and instead asked where the watermelon was. (He is the extra picky and skinny one in our family). Everyone else enjoyed the meal, even my daughter who said, "Wow even the beans are great!"
These are only slightly different than the original recipes which were listed above.
Sea Bass with White Wine and Tomatoes
4 sea bass fillets
1/2 onion thinly sliced
2 tomatoes chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 bay leaf
2 allspice berries
1 cup white wine
1 Tablespoon chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Olive oil
Preheat oven to 350.
Saute onions in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, cook about 2 minutes. Add wine, tomatoes, bay leaf, allspice, salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook about 5 minutes. Place fish fillets in an oiled baking dish. Remove tomato sauce from heat and pour over fish. Put in oven and bake about 20-25 minutes or until fish flakes easily. Add chopped parsley and serve.
Portuguese Bean Stew
2 cans Great Northern Beans
12 oz chorizo sausage cut into 1/2 inch rounds
1/2 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon paprika
1/4 cup tomato paste
olive oil, salt and pepper
about 1/4 cup or water as needed
Saute onion in olive oil. Add garlic and sausage. Cook about 5-8 minutes, then add beans and paprika. Add tomato paste and just enough water to dissolve tomato paste. Simmer about 10 more minutes or until most of the water is gone.
Kathy
