Tag: books

Time Out!!!

The sun came out for a bit! Streetcar in Lisbon.

We have been eating 100 percent vegetarian at home for the past couple of months. I was a vegetarian for so many years that it is easy to slip back into this way of life. We are usually pretty veggie centered but going 100 percent has brought me back to some great recipes like Tofu Tikka Masala, Vegetable chili with TVP and an amazing Creamy Braised White Bean recipe that I found in the New York Times. It has also reminded me of a few of the last great meat and seafood dishes that I enjoyed. Not craving, just reminiscing. Some of these were on our last trip to Portugal. I’ve been missing Lisbon a bit these days knowing that I won’t be there every few weeks this Spring like I have been for the past 10 years or more so I’m reminded of this awesome meal we had a few months ago at the Time Out Market.

Quiet street in Lisbon, only in late November.

We love going to the Time Out market when we have some “us” time to enjoy the city. The Ribeira Velha market was the original market in Lisbon dating back to 1100. It was located at the foot of the Alfama neighborhood. The market was rebuilt and moved a couple of times. One of these times being after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The structure we find today located in the Cais do Sodré district was inaugurated in 1882. It functioned as a fresh foods market for many years. The newly restored Time Out Market opened here in 2014. It is now home to the original fresh food market along with kiosks and shops selling regional specialties with some owned by a few of Lisbon’s most famous chefs. It’s a gastronomical festa in a lively and enjoyable space. I’ve enjoyed many great meals here. For a few years I was addicted to the Tuna “prego” Sandwich at SeaMe, an excellent seafood restaurant. I still highly recommend it!

Prawns with Rosemary

On our last visit to Lisbon in late November it was cold and raining when we arrived. The streets were empty and dark. I hadn’t seen Lisbon like this for quite a long time and it reminded me of a novel I had read recently, The Day of Atonement by David Lis. The warm market was quiet and welcoming and we found a romantic spot at Balcão da Esquina. I’ve always loved Tasca da Esquina, one of the great restaurants by Chef Vítor Sobral, and Balcão is his place here in the Time Out Market. To start with, we went for some amazing Sautéed Prawns with Rosemary and Red Chilis (the malagueta chili). Forget about not eating bread as this sauce begs for the dipping.

We followed the prawns by one of the best dishes I have been served in a very long time. Bísaro Pork with Clams and a Cilantro Sauce. The clams were absolutely perfect and the sauce was earthy and light. But, the pork!! Oh dear, that pork was so darn good that we could have ordered one more plate. The whole dish was fantastically cohesive. And, we also learned something new. The Bísaro pigs are Indigeneous Portuguese pigs. They were actually close to going extinct because of the African plague as because the Iberian pigs were being favored. They come from a Celtic origin and reside mostly in the province of Tras-Os-Montes (see post New Years Eve in Tras-Os-Montes) where they are used in traditional dishes and to make many types of sausages in order to keep their meat year round. If you go to Lisbon and you are a meat eater and cilantro lover please go try this dish.

Oh, and the wine!! We ordered, of course, the wine with the chef’s name. First, a glass of white with the shrimp and then a red from the Alentejo region made with Touriga Nacional, Aragonez, and Trinacdeira grape varieties. Both went perfectly with our selected dishes.

Obviously we could not get out the door without a Pasteis de Nata, (egg custard) and a glass of port wine. I prefer my pastel de nata with only cinnamon but the traditional way to eat the custard is with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Everything about this evening was worth the walk in the rain. Like many cities, Lisboa has a special charm in the winter, and for me it feels more authentic during the quieter months. The grey skies make a perfect backdrop to this colorful city.

More pieces of my “Granada”….

It’s amazing what we do throughout our life to move forward and keep on top of our game. I’ve always felt fortunate that I was obligated to become self-sufficient at a young age and although I’ve crashed a few times and came out with some bruises I won’t ever regret all the experiences I’ve had. When I was working on my Master’s degree here in Granada I did some extra odd jobs to keep myself afloat besides my regular job as a Tour Director. I taught English like everyone does at some point when they first live abroad and I disliked just about every minute. I also took care of my friends little girls and prepared their weekly meals for lunch and dinner. They were quite lucky because at the same time I was working on my fresh pasta business, so they enjoyed homemade ravioli, tortellini, linguini and spaghetti in all variants. A great friend came to live in Granada at this time and we worked on this business together. Using my large living room as our factory, rolling out kilos and kilos of fresh pasta to sell the next day and collapsing at 2 am in front of a bowl of some awesome pasta and sauce that we had created ourselves. It wasn’t easy work. There was a wonderful woman Paquita, who had a fruit store down the street from my apartment. As a small business owner herself she took me under her wing and sold the pasta from her shop in exchange for some free bags for her own family. My business eventually faded because of my regular job and studies but Paquita and I remained friends. I remember her dearly each fall when I prepare a recipe that she taught me.

Granada in Spanish is the word for pomegranate and this fruit is the symbol of the city of Granada. We are surrounded by pomegranate trees here, especially up on the hills of the Alhambra and in the surrounding areas. The symbol is displayed on fountains, ceramic tiles, street signs and of course, the Spanish Coat of Arms. When we think of the history in Granada we are reminded that the pomegranate is also an important Jewish symbol for different reasons. One is that a pomegranate is said to have 613 seeds which coincides with the number of commandments in the Torah. They are also eaten on Rosh Hashanah as a symbol of fruitfulness. The pomegranate reminds me of one of my favorite historical novels that I read about the same time that I met Paquita many years ago. The name is Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali and it tells the story of a family trying to survive after the fall of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs.

I prepared Paquita’s salad the other day along with another dish that I learned how to prepare during that stage in my life. It was a nice meal to represent the history of this beautiful city where I am blessed to live. The salad is prepared with raw escarole, pomegranate seeds, fried garlic cloves, olive oil, vinegar and salt. I served it with a second course of Moroccan Chicken Tagine prepared with preserved lemons, olives and onions garnished with cilantro and spicy malagueta peppers from Portugal.