“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all”. Harriet Van Horne

It seems that sharing some recipes on here might be a help to you – so here’s the first batch (if you’ll excuse the pun!)

These are all recipes that we have found easy to make out here – and believe me they have to be easy for me to be able to manage them!

Where possible I’ve explained any ‘Portuguese equivalents’ or what we have used as an ingredient if it’s not obvious… or if we can’t find something in the local shops what we have substituted …

And I’ve kept the instructions very simple and easy to follow. You won’t find any recipes here that take hours to cook, or require every utensil and gadget in your kitchen – because that just means more washing up and mess!

And please – feel free to email me (a3art @ live.co.uk) or add a comment at the bottom if you have a favourite recipe you can share with us all.

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Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 4 

Small glug of olive oil

1 onion – finely chopped

1 butternut squash

1 tsp cumin seeds or cumin powder

3 tbsp curry powder – we use Caril powder (Margão packet or jar)

1 litre vegetable stock

200ml cream – we use the cheap carton of UHT cream from Lidl’s – “Nata para cocinar” (Milbona)

juice of 1/2 a lemon (optional)

salt and pepper

Method

1. Cut the butternut squash in half, then cut off the skin and scoop out the seeds, and chop the flesh into small 1″ cubes.
2. Heat the oil in a big pan, then cook the onion and butternut squash for about 5 mins until they begin to turn golden coloured.
3. Add the cumin and curry powder and cook for another minute. Keep stirring it.
4. Pour in the hot stock, bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 30 mins.
5. Liquidise – use a machine if you can or hand blender or even push the mixture through a sieve.
6. Return soup to the pan, stir in the cream and heat through gently. Squeeze in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper as required.

It’s lovely with fresh bread – if there are only two of you then after step 5 split the soup in half and put half aside – wait for it to cool then bung in the fridge – it will keep for 1-2 days… or would probably freeze (but I have not tried this yet)

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Carrot, Lentil and Ginger Soup

Serves 4

Small glug of olive oil

2 small onions – finely chopped

8 large carrots – peeled and chopped into 1″ chunks

12g root ginger – (or more – I like a big chunk about 2 ” square)

100g of red lentils – rinsed and drained (use the small ones that don’t need pre-soaking – we buy them at Inter-Marche or Iceland)

1.2 litres (2 pints) vegetable stock

salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a big pan, then cook the onion, carrot and ginger for about 5 mins until they begin to turn golden coloured.
2. Pour in the hot stock and lentils, bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 35 mins.
3. Liquidise – use a machine if you can or hand blender or even push the mixture through a sieve.
4. Season with salt and pepper as required and serve.

If you cannot find the red lentils, you can make this soup without them – it will still taste lovely, just not as creamy.

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