Portuguese Carrots - Nostalgic Nibbles

As predicted, when I bought my paella dish, my life  improved. Who's wouldn't when you can stand at the hob pretending to be teeny tiny midget cook (oh hang on...) stirring away at a giant pan?! It is fun, it looks impressive and genuinely cooks a paella better than doing it in a frying pan which is quite frankly the wrong size and shape. I love Spanish food for it's bold bright flavours, and all the bits and pieces that come with a nice tapas spread. However, a Spanish feast can sometimes lack a good balance of meat and veg, and although a confirmed carnivore, I do like to offset my meat consumption with the crunch of some veg. These carrots are nearly always served up as a little nibble in the restaurants we visit on holiday in the Algarve, accompanied by tiny bitter olives and gross anchovy paste that only my Father will eat. So it's not Spanish but I don't think anyone minds me borrowing a dish from over the border. Masterchef, this ain't, but it's a lovely little nibble that does very well as part of a tapas or mezze spread, or with a bowl of fried chorizo (and useful for hummus and pitta ruts).

No real measurements but you do need it to have a nice nudge of garlic, as opposed to a headbutt, and you should be able to taste the olive oil through the dressing, so go easy on the vinegar. Peel about one carrot per person and chop into rounds. Boil them in salted water for a few minutes, and drain. You want the raw crunch gone but stay away from mushy territory. In a frying pan heat a very decent glug of very decent extra virgin olive oil and very gently fry some chopped garlic (about one big clove for every three carrots). Be careful as you are just infusing the oil and taking the raw edge off the garlic. Once this has happened remove from the heat and let the oil cool slightly. Season it and add a splash of white wine vinegar (go easy, you can always add more) and a handful of chopped parsley. Check the taste. Add the carrots and mix well.

Serve as part of a spread, it would go with tapas, a more Middle Eastern mezze platter, or even cold meats, anti pasti style. Don't forget some nice bread to soak up the heavenly garlicky oil, and suddenly you could be on holiday.

Piri Piri in Portugal

Apologies for lack of posts recently, have had a new kitchen put in which rendered the area useless and I don't think blogging about takeaways is really what you're after here.

Wild thyme

Also had a glorious week in Portugal, which meant BBQs everyday, and a quest to see how many marinades we could fit into a week of food. I love holiday food, always simple, generally meaty and sea-foody, and most days revolve around meal times. Just the way it should be. In the village that our villa was in, we were blessed with two bulging lemon trees, wild thyme on the roadsides and massive rosemary bushes, a great start. Annoyingly I discovered it was thyme after I made this (shut up, it looked quite different), but I knew for next time, and it was great with the pork the following evening!

Don't rub your eyes after touching this...

As an English person, lacking proper knowledge of Portuguese food, I presume that piri-piri relates to any sauce that is nice and hot, usually doused liberally over chicken, either before, during, or after grilling. They seem to have hundreds of version, some saucey, some just oil. You must not ever go to Portugal without dining on this delicacy, in the little restaurant we eat it at, they chop the chicken up into big chunks, a bit like with jerk chicken, no faffing about with bite size portions here. We used spatch-cocked chickens (backbone removed, then flattened out), by far the best way on a barbie I reckon.

...dribble...

For a rather finger-licking marinade for chicken on the bbq follow these instructions (measurements are not necessary, use lots of everything!): mince at least one head of garlic, mix with lemon juice, chopped rosemary or thyme, chili flakes/chopped fresh chili, salt, tomato ketchup, a splash of vinegar and a glug of olive oil. Mix well and smother as many chickens as you like with it, leave as long as possible in the fridge, turning once, and leave out of the fridge for an hour before cooking (to bring to room temperature). Double wrap in foil, bbq for approx 20 minutes, then remove the foil and keep cooking until the skin is crisp and juices run clear. Serve with a decent salad and plenty of cervezas...

...then be amazed at how much chicken everyone consumes.