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Portugal is an amazing place to forget that diet and dive into the national cooking. Don't be surpised if you don't eat well first thing in the day however, the portuguese often miss out on breakfast , most often just having coffee and a snack. In fact you will often see locals eating a quick snack in a snack bar on their way in to the office. Lunchtime and Evening meals are a completely different and immensely enjoyable experience. The portuguese like their cooking, and you are likely to receive satisfyingly large portions when eating in cafes. Lunch is often a pleasant, but time consuming experience, mostly eaten between 1 and 3pm, and regardless of the weather, portuguese people eat hot meals in restaurants or cafes. Dinner is taken between 7pm and 9pm, and once again, customarily is a hot cooked meal. The charm of Portuguese cuisine might be exemplified as 'basic ingredients, impeccably prepared'. Portuguese cuisine is generally based on superb quality, healthy locally produced produce, usually featuring fish, meat, olive oil, tomatoes and spices. The perfect portuguese meal should ideally begin with a traditional portuguese soup. The most famous portuguese soup, is called caldo verde, a wholesome, tasty soup made from shredded kale, potatoes and chourio or linguica. Caldo Verde comes from the Minho region, but is widely available throughout Portugal, from the north of portugal to the holiday resorts in the algarve. Here is a Caldo verde recipe that will let you bring a memory of portugal back home with you Caldo verde recipe (traditional portuguese kale soup) -------------------------------------------------- 1 lb. (0.45kg) stewing beef (chopped into 1" cubes) 0.5 lb. (227g) chourio or linguica sausage (chopped into thin slices) 6 cups (1.42 lt) water Dash of low sodium salt three big potatoes, chopped into 1" cubes three carrots, cubed 1.5 lb (680g) kale, roughly chopped, or 1 pack frozen kale, defrosted half cabbage, chopped 0.5 package macaroni (elbow) 1 can white beans (opt.) 1 chili, (remove seeds), finely chopped 1/3 teaspoon paprika 1 tsp Olive Oil Method: ----------------- Remove peel and chop potatoes and carrots. Fill a large pan with water and add the beef, linguia or chorio and lo-sodium salt. Bring to the boil and then siimmer and cover until the stewing beef and portuguese sausage are more or less tender. Then add the the chili pepper, carrots, beans, paprika, cabbage and kale and stir the pan well. Replace the pot lid and cook for 3/4 hour or until such time as the kale is cooked. As soon as the kale is tender, add the olive oil potatoes and macaroni. Keep stirring the pot to make sure that the cubed potatoes and macaroni won't stick to the base of the pot. Bring to the boil (keeping the pot lid on) until potatoes and macaroni pasta are ready to eat. Caldo verde can be served as a starter or as a tasty meal in its own right. Roger Wakefield is a staff writer at: Algarve Holiday Villas, (http://www.villaretreats.com/villas-algarve.asp) who offer a wide range of villas in the Algarve, Portugal and other European destinations.
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portugal, food, recipes, kale, algarve, vacation, holiday,
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