PORTUGUESE STARS
@mattscravat
@MattsCravat
FEW COUNTRIES HAVE had the same impact on me as Portugal. The delicious simplicity of the food, the quality of the produce and the warmth of the hospitality; all hallmarks of a country that I could quite comfortably call home.
The trip also inspired an intense desire for me to take on some of the best dishes back here in Australia, as well as create some new, inspired ones of my own. What to feature here is a hard call, so here is an admission about omissions. The wonderful prego roll, Bifana and crispy fingers of spider-fish eaten with the warm beach pushing up between your toes and a chilled Super Bock Mini (the world’s tiniest beer bottle, perfect for hot days) dwarfed in your fist – none of these, unfortunately, make the cut. There’s also no Portuguese grilled chicken here, no broad beans with crispy black pudding and nothing deep-fried (even if salt cod fritters are like a religion in Portugal). Nor is there any of that omnipresent dessert, that pudim (custard pudding), but there are enough memories for you to taste and enough flavour cues to spark more of them. Bom apetite! (Which, in well-mannered Portugal, is the phrase that says you can start eating and not just the host’s wish for a hearty appetite.)
ASPARAGUS MIGAS (TRADITIONAL BREAD DISH), GRILLED PORK
SERVES 4-6
“Beja is a city that has dominated the dusty, food-bowl plains of the Alentejo region, south of Portugal, for thousands of years. The Romans planted olive groves here and the area is still famous for wheat (and the bread made from it) and anything you can make from the excellent pigs here.
Alentejana cooking is robust, honest and delicious. From a classic poor man’s soup of poached eggs, verdant with loads of coriander, and silkyacorda
