Back from Outer Space

No more poppycock from the Hoppy Cooks. It was time to go directly to our beloved muse: Beer. So after much research and some helpful inspiration from friends (a very special thanks to our winemaking, beer brewing pal, Beth) and heavenly help, Trigomes Brewery was born. Our unstoppable thirst for knowledge through experience (the good old scientific way) has lead to us to tasting time for our second brew and almost the end of the fermentation of the third. 

We started with a beer kit that kindly generated the California Gold Rush 90-day IPA.  We later evolved into our Tantrum IPA, a nice double IPA, with recipe formation help from our friends at Barley and Wine. The Tantrum ended up being a good high volume IPA but didn't quite meet our standards for an amazing double. We are certainly learning as we go, and the lack of aroma in this batch is encouraging us to make dry hopping a big priority in the future.

Lucky number 3 will be named either Vesuvius or Psoas IPA. With the suggestion of our experienced friend, we used the same yeast from the Tantrum, fresh and so happy that it was enough to make a bit of an explosion in the fermenter as you can see below.

A fine farewell for now and more goodies to come as soon as hopossible...

Surf's Up

The Hoppy Cooks aren't lost in space. We're ready to celebrate our first anniversary with a new beginning. After months of silence a new wave is forthcoming. Catch it.

Arroz de Feijão com Bacalhau e Espinafres - Bean Rice with Codfish and Spinach

Grândola is a small town about one hour south from Lisbon, located in the beginning of the Alentejo region, and well known for the song that Zeca Afonso composed during the dictatorship. Near the highway on the way to Algarve, less than a mile before Grândola, you’ll find a the restaurant called “A Lanterna”. I went there for the first time in 2001 and since then every time it’s possible, I go back. I’ve taken dozens of people with me and they all thank me very much in the end. Alentejo is a region well known for it’s amazing traditional food and tremendously good wine and this restaurant offers a good sampling of the region. 

On their menu you can find a lot of the northern Alentejo traditional recipes, from the wonderful Migas and Açorda, to Carne de Porco à Alentejana, and the list goes on. I've tasted a few of them and my favorite dish is still the Arroz de Feijão com Bacalhau e Espinafres (translated crudely it's rice with beans, cod and spinach). I've never found it anywhere else and I have attempted to replicate it many times. No matter my method, it's never tasted like the original but everyone seems to like it.  

In addition to their amazing entrees, the starters they bring to the table immediately after you sit are also extraordinary and include the region's traditional bread. The portions are generous so there is always plenty to share with your company. The wine selection is superb and inexpensive. 

This recipe is my humble attempt and interpretation of the restaurant's dish.  I've never had the guts to ask them how it’s done, even if after all the times I’ve been there, so here goes.

Ingredients:

Red Beans (already cooked)

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Chili peppers

Onion

White wine

Garlic

Bayleaf

Tomato sauce

Rice

Spinach

Salted Codfish

Welcome to the flavors of Alentejo.

Arroz de Feijão is a side dish that you can find all over Portugal. It’s basically a big watery bean sauce that you cook the rice in. This recipe also adds spinach and slices of salted cod fish cooked in the sauce. It sounds simple but the result is much more than that. 

To make the rice, start the sauce by sautéing in olive oil some onions, garlic, bayleaf and add a bit of salt and pepper. A few minutes later, add a a little bit of tomato sauce and let it simmer. Add some white wine to make it saucier, and a bit of water if needed. You’ll need to make enough sauce to cook not only the beans but also the rice and the codfish. This is the tricky part because you don't want too much or too little liquid, so cook it slowly on a low temperature while keeping the lid on as much as possible.

Once the sauce has reached a good consistency -somewhat thick but liquidy enough for the rice- add the beans so that they can start melding with the flavor of the sauce. After a while add the salted codfish, already watered (soaked) and cut in small pieces. You should get the cod in small-medium pieces with your hands, removing all the fishbones you can. Let it boil for 10 minutes and add water or white wine if needed.

Add some water before you put the rice in. Depending on the type of rice (white, brown, etc) you’re using you’ll need more or less time to cook it. but try to add the spinach only once the rice is almost done. It doesn't need more than 10 minutes to be cooked. 

Garnish with cilantro and let it rest in the pan for about 5 minutes before serving.

Bom apetite!

The night’s selection:

The wine from Alentejo is strong and good, just like the hot sun that heats the region with temperatures over 90ºF during the summer. It’s perfect to go with full flavored food, just don’t forget to have some water, too.

For this dish we chose the white Pêra Manca from Quinta da Cartuxa, a white with a strong character that could easily be your best pal on any summer day. The varietals include the local Antão Vaz and Arinto. The blend is complex and fruity with a bouquet that is persistent and refreshing. 

It’s hard to think about Grândola without recalling José Afonso's “Grândola, Vila Morena” which was the song that symbolized the Carnation Revolution that ended after 40 long years of dictatorship and 20 years of a bloody war in Africa. The song was released in the 1971 album, “Cantigas do Maio” and it’s a symbol of the peaceful revolution that changed the life of the Portuguese.  This meal might not change your life but it will make your tummy smile. 

Clam Together - Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato

Spring calls for Clams, they taste like the ocean and kindly remind you that summer is on its way once again.

One of the most popular appetizers in any good restaurant or tasca around Portugal is this clam recipe. Fortunately, it is also one of the simplest ways to cook this marine mollusk. What really makes this recipe sing is the freshness of the clams, the quality of the olive oil, and the aromatic awesomeness of the garlic and coriander. It is usually served with a hearty portion of toasted and lightly buttered bread, which helps to sop up all the juicy goodness that comes along with the clams. It’s so simply delicious that you'll never again be able to walk by the market's seafood section without hearing the sirens serenade of the clams. If possible try to get some Vinho Verde, preferably from the Alvarinho varietal.

Ingredients:

Clams

Olive Oil

Garlic

Bay Leaf

White Wine

Coriander/Cilantro

Salt 

Pepper

Lemon

Bread

Butter (optional)

Clam Alchemy:

Start by soaking the clams in a large bowl of water with a bit of salt and a tiny bit of flour. The salt will help them breathe (you'll see their sweet little oxygen bubbles coming out of the water) and the flour will help them to get rid of the sand. Change the water and clean the bottom of the bowl if needed. 

While the clams take their last breaths, cover almost all the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil and over low-medium heat, add some smashed garlic cloves and a big bay leaf. After the garlic begins to get some color, carefully add the clams. Put the heat up a bit and cover the pan with the lid, preferentially a transparent one. 

Shake the whole pan with the lid on every once and again for a couple minutes. If you don’t have a glass lid, open it to see if the clams are opening. Add some white wine to make it saucy, shake the pan and let it simmer with the lid off so that the alcohol can evaporate. Taste the sauce to ensure that the alcohol flavor is gone, add salt and pepper to your taste and let it simmer a bit more. 

Cut the coriander (cilantro) in small pieces and add to the pan before closing the lid so that it can sweat for a bit. Squeeze some lemon juice just before serving with the toasted bread. If you want to go a little more low-cal on this meal you can cut down on the olive oil a bit and not butter your bread. I would say you could also go no bread, but honestly it's gonna be pretty hard to sop up that saucy yumminess with a celery stick. 

The night’s selection: 

Vinho Verde is a unique kind of wine that has as of late, been grown all around the world, but in Portugal  it is only produced in the Minho region in the western north. It’s called Verde not because of the color (green) but because it’s young wine, as opposed to mature wine. The Vinho Verde is made of different varietals and can be white, red or rosé, but from all of them our favorite is the white Alvarinho. This varietal, grown in Portugal exclusively in the region of Melgaço and Monção, produces one of the great wine wonders of the world. 

Unfortunately, is not that easy to find information about it and it can be even more difficult to buy it outside of Portugal. In California, we have spotted some at Trader Joe's. If you have the to chance try it, you wont regret it, just be sure to chill it before serving.

The vineyards around this Portuguese northern baroque palace produce one of the best Vinho Alvarinho. Named after the Palace, the Palácio da Brejoeira, Alvarinho. Check it out online or request it at your favorite wine shop. It goes perfectly with the Clams à Bulhão Pato and some good Portuguese traditional music, re-invented in a unique way by Gaiteiros de Lisboa. 

Combine the Clams, the Alavarinho and the music of Gaiteiros de Lisboa, and we assure you that you’ll have the feel of a real Portuguese evening. 

Maria de Lourdes Modesto

After this short spring break and the selection and preparation of the next recipes for our blog, we would like to share with all of our followers and visitors this interview that Maria de Lourdes Modesto, "the Portuguese Julia Child" gave to the New York Times in 1987.

Hope you enjoy it.

Empadão de Peru - Turkey Shepherd's Pie

This one became extremely popular after a wisdom tooth extraction and the orders to eat only soft foods for some days. In Portugal, an Empadão is normally made with a mix of ground beef and pork, but we adapted it to our taste and reduced the fat a bit with the substitution of ground turkey. We both LOVE mashed potatoes so any recipe that includes them always causes some smiles around here.

This is truly a comfort food, perfect for cold winter days, but we like it so much that it stays on the menu all year long. The only downside is that takes a while to prepare and will cause a bit of a mess in your kitchen, but the results and the leftovers are well worth it.

Ingredients for 4-6 portions:

For the meat sauce:

1 large Onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves 

2 bay leaves

¼ Pepper (we used an orange one) chopped 

Dried red pepper flakes, to taste

Tomato sauce (1 cup) divided

Bacon (we used two big slices, less than ½ pound/200g)

Ground Turkey (1 pound/450g)

Red Wine (at your preference)

Beer (at your preference)

Balsamic Vinegar- just a splash 

Salt

Pepper

For the mashed potatoes (Purée):

Potatoes

Milk

Butter

Egg

Salt

Cheese (We used Cheddar) for garnish

The Path to the Empadão Kingdom

Take a deep breath before starting the cutting of the onion, smash the garlic and add it and the onion to the pan with a little olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Add a bit of salt and dried red pepper, to your taste. Once the onions become translucent (4-5 minutes), add the chopped orange pepper, about ⅔ cup of the tomato sauce and a bit of red wine and let it simmer for a few more minutes.

While it’s simmering, cut the bacon and season the ground meat with salt and pepper (and/or red pepper). Add the bacon and a little more tomato sauce and reduce the heat to low for a while. Add the turkey and be sure to keep an eye on the texture of the sauce. 

If the mixture gets too dry add some wine and beer to soften the sauce. If it gets too liquidy let it boil with the lid off. Continue to stir the sauce occasionally, because the turkey is drier than the beef and pork it tends to collect into clusters. 

Pull them apart them with a fork if needed so that the meat is evenly distributed in the sauce. Let it boil and develop flavor for as long as time allows. Keep in mind that the sauce is going to the oven later and shouldn’t be too liquidy or too dry when you put it in the dish, look for the happy medium. 

The scent coming from the pan starts making everybody in the kitchen very happy and you should use that cue to start peeling the potatoes for the purée. The number of potatoes you need will depend upon the size of baking dish you’ll use. Remember that a good purée always seems to shrink in the pan, so get some extra potatoes peeled and if by chance you have too much you can always make potato pancakes the next morning.  

After the purée is done and the meat sauce is at the right point, transfer the meat to your baking dish and cover it with the purée. Bake it for 15 minutes at 350ºF then remove and add the cheese, grated or artistically cut. Return to the oven and bake for 20 more minutes. Let cool a bit before serving and Bom apetite!

The night’s selection: 

From Mendocino Brewery Company we chose one of their Select Collection, the IPA White Hawk. We found it at a good price and decided to give it a try. With a 7% alcohol volume, it pleases with the first intense punch of the hops and a bouquet that lingers for quite a while. Now we will be on the lookout for their Imperial IPA.

For the soundtrack to this recipe we choose the Corações de Atum 2011 double album “Romance Hardcore / Hardcore Romance”. This very unusual album features ear-catching lyrics by the peculiar almost candidate to the Portuguese Presidency Manuel João Vieira. The album includes two versions of songs like this one, with the first CD offering 12 songs appropriate for radio broadcast and the second CD including 9 songs with much more colorful language. It’s worthwhile to learn the language just to be able to translate the lyrics of this great Portuguese artist.

Curried Lentil Soup

This soup couldn't have arrived in my life at a better time. It was the day before moving day and my sweet sister-in-law brought it over to finish simmering while she helped me with packing. It could have been because I was famished and exhausted or just because it is truly delicious, but I fell in love with it. She found the recipe in bon appétit and we really haven't done much to improve upon it other than add a bit more carrot and of course, a lot more garlic. The unique thing about this soup is the garbanzo mixture that you add towards the end. It gives the soup great body and a hint of creaminess. The curry rounds things out with a lovely warmth that pushes it over the edge into yummytown. 

3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 for sautéing & 2 for the garbanzo mixture

1 medium onion, chopped

1-2 medium carrots, chopped

2 (or more to taste) large garlic cloves, chopped, divided - we used about 5

2 tablespoons (or more to taste) curry powder

1 cup French green lentils- we had regular green on hand which work also

4 1/4 cups (or more) water, divided

1 15- to 16-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained, rinsed

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter- you can always leave this out to cut the fat a bit

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges

Sauté the onion and carrot in 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil for about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add half of the chopped garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Add curry powder and stir for 1 minute. We always soak our lentils for a little while but it’s really not necessary if you’re in a hurry. 

Add lentils and 4 cups water. You can always add more water later if the soup is too thick for your 

liking. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for about 30 minutes or until lentils are tender- this will depend on what type of lentils you are using. We used green which tend to cook a bit faster than french green. 

While the lentils are simmering get your garbanzo mix-in ready. Puree them with the remaining garlic and olive oil, ¼ cup water and lemon juice. This ends up being almost like a hummus minus the tahini. 

Once lentils are tender add in the garbanzo puree and the butter. Season to taste with salt, pepper and additional curry powder, if desired. If you would like to thin the soup a bit, now is the time to do it. Start with ¼ cup water at a time until you reach the consistency you are looking for. We usually keep it on the thick side.

Garnish with sliced green onions and serve with a lemon wedge. Bom proveito. 

The nights selection: 

To go with so much warmth and flavor we needed to have some nice white wine to balance things out. We chose a 14.5% chardonnay called Toasted Head. The bouquet is strong which marries well with the full spectrum of flavor in the lentil soup. We felt that the sounds for the evening should have the same characteristics, so we chose Yo La Tengo’s 2000 album, “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out”, just like the soup, it offers a great range of flavors to satisfy your hunger. Yum yum double yum.