Snap Pea Sheep

I always try to collect recipes on my trips.
One food that stood out in Cascais Portugal was this parsley and onion relish.

It was served on an octopus salad but I can see this on many things. A simple cucumber salad, any seafood, fresh tomatoes or maybe some delicately steamed sea bass.

Portuguese Parsley Salsa (Molho Verde)

INGREDIENTS
• 1. Molho Verde (Portuguese Parsley Salsa)

• Ingredients:
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup finely chopped yellow or red onion (or shallot)
• 1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup good-quality extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
• Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• Dash of piri-piri sauce or hot chili flakes (optional) Wasn’t in mine

PREPARATION STEPS
1. Instructions:Finely chop the parsley and onion and place them in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the minced garlic.

3. Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and hot sauce together in a separate small bowl.

4. Pour the liquid mixture over the herbs and onions.

5. Stir well and let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes to let the flavors meld.

While we were in Lisbon, we went to Cascais for an “on your own” tour.

I loved the sidewalks of this beautiful beachfront city.

I made Coq Au Vin last night. Why I forgot to take a photo I will never know .
I borrowed this one from Julia Child.

Coq Au Vin is basically chicken cooked low and slow in red wine. In my case, I used 2 Sutter Home Cabernet’s - small 4 bottle pack.

I used only chicken thigh’s.
While Coq Au Vin may include a carrot, it rarely has more vegetables than onion and carrot as it is meant to be served with mashed potatoes or buttered noodles.

In my case I had a whole package of baby purple potatoes, to which I added carrots, onions and a whole beech mushroom.

I served it with some lemon pepper roasted brussel sprouts.

It was delicious but with the red wine and blue potatoes it was very blue.

Delicious though, makes me wonder why I waited so long to make it again.

Assembly was easy. I finished it in the oven so the oven did all the work.

Today’s soup is basically fennel and leek with walnuts.

I used one whole leek and one whole fennel bulb which were both chopped to clean. I could not believe how much dirt I got out of my leek!

Both went into my cooking blender with 1 apple, 1/4 cup of walnuts, thyme, 3 cloves of garlic, 20 oz vegetable broth and 4 oz of hall and half.

I added salt, white pepper to taste and 1/2 tsp turmeric for color.

For a topping, I took shavings from the fennel and some chopped leek, added enough water to wet the bottom and toasted it.
After it ran a cycle, I added some walnuts to toast as well.

As usually, my blended soups take 30 minutes.

This tasted very good. It could have been enhanced by roasting the fennel before cooking in the soup but it was fine as is.

Back from my trip and back to the routine.

Today’s salad started out with endive and pear. I only had one small endive and my pears weren’t ripe.

So romaine and the one endive had to suffice. I used an apple instead of the pear. To prevent browning, soaked the apples in rosé wine vinegar to which I added thyme, red onion, and radish.

I halved some red grapes to add sweetness.

I simply added a little salt and fine olive oil to the vinegar once I placed the apple, onion and radishes on the plate.
It made a fine dressing.

The salad was topped off with walnuts, manchego cheese and a few fennel fronds.

I just had lunch in Cascais Portugal. When in Portugal, eat like they do.
First up we were offered cheese, olives and crusty bread. It was Azeitao cheese. Soft and pillowy with an edible rind. Similar to fontina plus ricotta in flavor. The olives were marinated in olive oil with garlic and oregano.

The gazpacho was chilled and tasty. It had too much red bell pepper for my taste. Not hot but I am just not that crazy about red bell. Sorry, I took the picture after I started eating. I don’t know what I don’t make this more at home. It has the consistency of a thick creamy tomato soup. It tasted fresh and the veggies were raw.

The octopus salad was our favorite. While we thought the octopus was cooked perfectly, we were marveling in the simplicity of the salad. Sweet onion, parsley, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil.

It occurred to me I could do this with anything. Cucumber, tomatoes, grilled eggplant, roasted potatoes…. Anything.

Last was garlic shrimp. I thought I was getting grilled prawns but these were cocktail sauce in the same parsley and onion as the octopus. It was served hot though with juice of a fruit like a lemon but with lemon lime flavor.

We also got the famous Bifano sandwich. It’s Portugal’s top sandwich of pulled pork. I was willing to try it even though I am not a fan of pork.

It didn’t change my mind.

Although it was made well, and I appreciated that it wasn’t processed deli meat, one bite was enough.
I noticed Harry didn’t eat it all either but he had a lot of octopus.

The big takeaway here was that salad!

The salad dressing makes this salad sing!
About 1/2 cup of orange juice mixed with 1/2 cup organic Greek (plain) yogurt, two generous tablespoons of honey and 3 tbsp Meyer lemon vinegar the only seasoning is a dash of salt.

The salad is made with romaine, radicchio, fennel, red onion, cara cara oranges, cucumbers, walnuts, feta cheese and castleveltrano olives.

My grandson visited today. He’s never had fennel and he’s never had a salad with oranges.

It’s a sneaky way to get fruit into the diet.

Have you ever heard of lapsang tea?
It smells like a campfire and tastes Smokey with no particular flavor.

I make ice cubes for my old fashioned. There’s a restaurant in Proser (the Silos) that has a drink called the Smoking Gun. Basically an old fashioned infused with smoke. My new favorite.

Anyway, I was making my potato leek soup today and decided to throw a teabag into the soup. (Of course I fished it out). Frankly it didn’t do much for the soup. Didn’t hurt it either.

It’s a knock off of Olive Garden’s zuppa Toscano with no sausage. I thought Lapsang and fennel seeds would compensate for the sausage.

The soup was still delicious but I won’t waste my Lapsang on it again.

Kale is my base for this salad. I added red onion, green olives, blueberries, apple, feta cheese and toasted almonds.

The dressing was Meyer lemon vinegar, orange juice, maple syrup (the real stuff), Dijon mustard, salt and Italian seasoning.