Portuguese Recipes

Portuguese cuisine combines the seafood culture of the Atlantic coast with the heritage of the Iberian Peninsula, and thanks to the New World voyages it is an eclectic cuisine carrying traces of Brazil, India, and Africa. Tatonia features various Portuguese recipes (a Lisbon chickpea and cod salad and a Lisbon orange-almond cake); in the classic repertoire, bacalhau (salted cod, of which it is said there are 365 different recipes for 365 days in Portugal), pastel de nata (the Lisbon cream tart, with the 1837 Pasteis de Belém bakery as its reference), caldo verde (the kale and potato soup of the Minho region), polvo à lagareiro (octopus in olive oil), arroz de marisco (seafood rice), and queijada (a small cheese tart) lead the way. The cuisine rests on three foundational pillars: bacalhau (salted cod, imported from Norway but cooked with methods developed in Portugal), olive oil (with DOP producers in the Alentejo region), and piri-piri sauce (the chili sauce that came from Mozambique and became a classic in Portuguese cooking). The Portuguese pastry tradition is especially strong; the Conventos (convent sweets of the 18th and 19th centuries) are the root of egg-yolk-rich sweets like ovos moles, papos de anjo, and fios de ovos. For pasteis de nata, the original recipe of the Pasteis de Belém bakery has been a secret since 1837; home versions use a base of egg yolk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and a soft pastry shell, baked at 250 to 280°C on the top rack for 8 to 10 minutes.