Welcome back! This week my hot air balloon of culinary discovery flew me back to Europe and landed in sunny Portugal!
I had it plenty easy thanks to my Portuguese friend Sara, who basically walked me through a full menu before I even had any plans for it! Basically, in Portugal, 4 things are important for your meal – good wine, good bread, better olives and one bacalhau recipe for each day of the year.
At least that’s how the saying goes – according to Sara there is even 1001 recipes, although, luckily I didn’t have to go digging through all of them. 😄
This week’s meal was great! I love love love me some seafood and boy did Portugal ever deliver.
What hit the table (2025/08/31)
Octopus in pieces with fresh veggies, herbs and some olive oil.
So simple, so good.
Honestly, if I could eat this every day I would.
Fish fritters made from rehydrated saltfish. Saltfish is something I’ve never made before and definitely needs some preparation. You basically put it in water for at least a day, changing the water every now and then to de-salt it. Then you pop it in a fritter batter and fry it into tasty little fishballs!
This rice is pretty similar to tomato risotto, not gonna lie, however the base flavors come out so differently thanks to the slight change in ingredients.
It feels fresher and less heavy, maybe also due to the lack of cheese and butter – definitely try it!
To finish up the meal I made Pao de Lo – a super eggy and spongey cake. This cake can both be made like I did, to make a fluffy spongecake, or be deliberately undercooked for a bit of a gooey texture. Maybe I’ll try that next, but I was very happy with the result.
To sum it up:
Man, Portugal’s food is tasty. Easy 8/10 for me and honestly, it wasn’t too fussy regarding preparation. Also I got to experience “Green Wine” – vinho verde – for the first time, and definitely not the last! Strong performance for Mrs. W2P with 8.5, the highest score so far! 🏆
Here’s the full meal (Gallery)
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