Recipe of The week: Onion soup, perfect to raise you temperature...

After almost a couple of months we are back with an excellent recipe for this freezing days, at least here in Madrid: an onion soup. This time a version that I've picked from Portuguese Chef. Henrique Sá Pessoa program secret ingredient. (Please click here to read the other version we've published a couple of years ago)

You will need (for 3 persons):

3 onions

1L of Chicken Stock (Click here to see our homemade recipe)

a generous knob of butter

1 bay leaf 

olive oil

2 spoons of flour

salt & pepper

thyme

6 bread slices

Gruyere cheese 

Start by slicing the onions as thin as you can, (this will make all the difference on your soup final result), then, in a pan with a splash of olive oil, add a generous knob of butter and a bay leaf. When the butter is melted add the onions and let it cook. This is the second most important step, the best cooked the onions better soup you will obtain. Add a bit of thyme and season it with salt and pepper, being careful with the salt as you will add chicken stock.

Add two spoons of flour and stir it well. Add part of the chicken stock and mix it well. Add the rest of the stock and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile put in a tray 6 bread slices, add a drizzle of olive oil to avoid it to dry and cover with a slice of Gruyere cheese. take it to the oven at 200ºC for about 5 minutes.

Serve it as it is shown on the picture and enjoy it!

Belcanto, a meal in Chef Jose Avillez Lab

Belcanto - Suckling pig revisited credits Paulo Barata

In the week that this restaurant was recognized with the second Michelin star, the return of the Restaurant of the week could not have another protagonist: Belcanto, much more than a restaurant, a box of sensory experiences that made me travel through a world of different textures, aromas and flavors that I had never lived before ...

Since I was a little kid I lived the ilusion of christmas, the family celebration, food and gifts... The story of this post begins precisely on last Christmas Eve, when I received a postcard with one that was "The Gift," a dinner at Belcanto, the lab of Chef José Avillez, a Portuguese chef I really admire among other things by the way it treats many of ingredients of Portuguese traditional gastronomy and gives them an innovative twist putting our cuisine in the panorama of international haute cuisine.

Last January 18, just a couple of hours before our reservation anxiety started to rise, my extremely high expectations started to cause me a real fear of disappointment.  Yes, was completely wrong and I had no idea of what was about to happen .. .

As it was the first time I visited the restaurant and we wanted to taste the classics. This was not only because I wanted to taste the dishes that have been kept in the menu from season to season but also because what I've mentioned earlier, the connection to the flavors and products typical Portuguese cuisine, as can be the sea bass, shellfish and piglet.

Our experience started with several amuse-bouches from which I would like to highlight two: the trilogy of false olives that made me think of the times of José Avillez in the kitchens of El Bulli: A black olive tempura, explosive olive and a spectacular inverted Dry Martini, instead of the usual gin soaked with olive, this time we had the olive juice with a gin bubble in the middle and the other which made travel to my childhood to a chocolate called Ferrero Rocher, in this case made of foie gras with a butter cover with a gold leaf.

The garden of the goose that laid the golden eggs started the menu, an egg cooked at low temperature covered with a gold leaf, crispy bread and mushrooms. A fantastic game of textures and flavors that have radically changed my expectations of having a great meal and took me to the field of sensory experiences, that kind of life experiences will always remain in our memory.

Belcanto - The garden of the goose that laid the golden eggs
Credits Nuno Correia

Followed by the dip in the sea, the name says it all, a perfect cocktail of products, textures and flavours that I can only describe as pure sea... This was the dish that most impacted me, as it made travel several years ago to my biology and zoology classes where we visited the beach Avencas in the outskirts of Lisbon (in Parede, Portugal).

Belcanto - Dip in the sea
Credits Nuno Correia

To end the main courses the reinvention of a typical Portuguese dish, Suckling pig revisited  with fried potatoes orange and salad. amazingly executed, with an extremely crispy skin of the sukling pig, which is achieved by a long cooking at low temperatures.

As a dessert the Mandarin a complex and refreshing dessert, which for me was clearly the least positive aspect of this meal.

Belcanto - Mandarin
credits Paulo Barata

More than negative opinion, as an opportunity for improvement It would be also important to have a wine pairing menu for this tasting menu of classics, as it already exists for the others.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog you have noticed that for the first time the photos were not shot by me, I confess that I was taken over by the emotions and left the mobile phone and notepad aside... so this whole post is based on memories of this magnificent experience that I lived there 11 months ago ...

Where?

Address: Largo de São Carlos, 10

Lisbon, Portugal

Telephone: +351213420607

web: http://belcanto.pt/EN/

How much?

See the tasting menus and prices on the web page.

2 islands, 1 photo and so much to imagine...

The photo of this week comes from a very special and magic place "lost" in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean: The Horta Marina in Faial Island, Azores.
With Pico Island as wallpaper this is the perfect place to loose yourself across the sailors' paintings increase in this unique connection point between Americas and Europe... 

Thanks again Pacheco for the excellent organization!

The cod that never fails!

This recipe is a classic at our home... I've shared today's recipe in many occasions with friends (parties/dinners/new year's eve). As many of the recipes I used, today's recipe is  my mom's receipe of codfish with cream, a cooker that deserve all the michelin stars

You will need: (for 4/6 people, for more o less portions just keep the proportions...)

- 400 g of codfish (soaked and shredded)

- 3 onions

- 1/2 L of béchamel sauce

- 250 ml of cream

- Extra virgin Olive oil q.b.

- Garlic q.b.

- Breadcrumbs 

- potato sticks

Start by putting a pan with water in the heat till it boil, add the codfish, and when it starts to boil again take it out from the heat, throw the water away and reserve. In a pan with a splash of olive oil sauté the chopped onions with garlic till it is completely cooked. Then, in medium heat, put the codfish in a pan, add the potatoes and, without stopping to stir it let it cook for 5/7 minutes. Take it off the heat and mix it with the béchamel sauce, the cream, and season with salt and pepper. Put the moisture on a pirex with butter and, before putting it in the oven, cover with a thin layer of breadcrumbs. 

put it on the oven, preheated at 180 ºC, and leave it until the bread is crispy. We normally put it to leave 5 minutes with the oven, then 5 with the grill.

Before the oven you could freeze it for another time! The best tip of this receipe is to do it with a lot of love and affection, the only way I know how to cook...

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Wine of the Week: Camins del Priorat 2012

Despite its simplicity, Camins del Priorat is a  fresh and soft red wine from the  interesting the Spanish region of Priorat. In the nose is very interesting and I would even say funny...

This was the perfect ending to an totally unexpected afternoon and evening of laughs, talks and fun with friends...

My first time in African soil

One year after my first time in Africa all that colours, flavours, aromas, landscapes still remain as I had just come back yesterday...

The easiest and quickest Hot sauce!

Last week I was asked to prepare a simple recipe to help one of our readers start cooking at home. So the recipe of this week is the easiest chili sauce, even easier than buy it!

You will need:
Hot pepper, (depending on your taste you can choose softer or hotter)
Whiskey 
Extra virgin olive oil

In a jar, add the chopped hot pepper, and add 1/2 of whiskey and 1/2 of extra virgin olive oil, and that's it!

 I prefer like this as it stays less greasy and more aromathic but, as an alternative, you can also add 1/3 of whiskey and 2/3 of extra virgin olive oil...