True to my style, this blog, which I really just started had to take a little break as I have been busy giving pastry lessons these last few weeks to a girl who works with my husband. It was something that I didn’t think I would enjoy doing, but on the contrary, was actually a lot of fun. During those weeks, with the addition of a teething baby, who at times was positively angry, I discovered one of the most awesome farmers markets yet, The Alvor Farmers Markets in the Algarve. And better yet, they are only five minutes from home. 

                                

They are simple with lots of fresh and seasonal fruit and vegetables, along with breads, baked goods, cheeses, oils, specialized regional products, as well as flowers and plants. 

The farmers set up their stalls every Sunday morning right by the river, making for a perfect setting, especially when the sky is shining blue.       

For me there are a few reasons why these markets are just the best, apart from the obvious of all the produce being fresh from the growers. They are small, but not too small, still offering lots of choice, but small enough to have a look and easily spot what you want to buy. And you know everything there was put there that day. The produce is that fresh you can smell the scent of herbs in the air as they are put in the bag.

 

And everything lasts, I can keep things for two weeks and are they are still good.

The markets are relaxing, no one is in a rush. It is Sunday morning and people are here to go at their own quiet and casual pace, perhaps eating a fried donut, called a fartura, as they stroll around.

                        

The last Sunday after arriving home we decided to make breakfast with the amazing strawberries that we had just bought. Mario made me my first Portuguese Toast, pretty much like French toast but we are in Portugal so has to be Portuguese Toast J topped with yoghurt and strawberries. Traditionally here the toast is made by soaking thick slices of bread in milk until soft, then dipped in lightly whisked eggs and fried with oil or butter, and finally finished by coating in cinnamon sugar.

A sugar bomb, but delicious! Hence the need for 

strawberries, this bread needs someth

ing healthy added to it to lessen the guilt.

And to let you know how crazily good these strawberries were; after cleaning Valentina after she finished her strawberries, she smelt like fairy floss for the next few hours. Even more of a reason for me to say that I could just eat her all up!

Work Hard for the Cupcakes

Since my daughter Valentina was born, I have been at home, not working, and have had plenty of ideas to start a home business. I think it is now time to actually put one of these ideas into action. So let me present my idea, Cute Cakes, selling small sized sweet goods, specializing in cupcakes. I wanted to do so many things but for now I want to focus on the cupcakes. Believe me, its easy to get carried away looking at all these cakes and bakeries on social media, I want to do everything, but I am sure they too once started off with something small. And on the plus side I can do the baking once baby is asleep, although she does seem to know when I want to bake, and these are the times she will not sleep. She obviously wants to be part of the action. Perhaps we have a little mini chef in the making!

The thing here in Portugal, especially our town Portimão, is that all the sweets are amazing and cheap. Not only that, there is what feels like 3 bakeries or pastry stores within every 100 metres, I kid you not. They are everywhere, and most of them sell the same traditional and regional sweets. Sure, they are delicious, I love them, but I feel like maybe there is room here to make something a little bit different. Not crazy different, but something a little creative and fun. Enter cupcakes, something a little bit different but not outrageously over the top or more importantly no too expensive.

Now that I have the idea, it is time to start deciding on flavours and decorations for the cupcakes, trialing recipes, and marketing. Oh where to start with this last one, it makes my head hurt just thinking about it, this I am no good at, so I think it deserves some procrastination.

And so I thought I would share with you one of the first cupcake recipes I have decided on, for a beurre noisette cupcake, caramel filling, and a chocolate ganache topping with roasted peanuts, a take on a snickers bar if you will.  I made these the other day to give to my sister in law as a thank you gift for looking after Valentina while I went to the gym. I had to do something to burn off those extra cupcake calories, no? These cupcakes are super delicious, the cake is light and fluffy, and the burnt butter gives these cakes such an incredible flavour. And the caramel filling is just YUM!

Start off by making the caramel a good few hours before you need it, as it needs time to set in the fridge before you use it. To make the caramel, heat up 120g of butter with 95g of yellow sugar until melted and starting to bubble. Add 1 can of dulce de leche and whisk to combine, keep on heat until the caramel starts to get slightly thicker. Take off the heat and season with a little sea salt. Leave to cool down, then put in the fridge.

For the ganache, heat up 200g of cream till just boiling, then add 200g of chopped dark chocolate. Leave until the chocolate is melting and then whisk to get a homogenous mixture. Leave for 5 minutes, then add 45g of room temperature unsalted butter and whisk well. Season the ganache with a little sea salt. Leave this in the fridge to cool down and solidify. Keep giving it a stir every 20 or so minutes to make sure it cools evenly.

Now the cupcakes. Heat 150g of butter in a small saucepan until the milk solids begin to burn, and the butter turns a darker golden colour with a nutty smell. Take off the heat, pour into a bowl, and leave for a few minutes for the sediments to settle at the bottom. Then strain the butter into a cup or another bowl slowly leaving the sediments behind. Put this burnt butter in the fridge to cool down. In a mixer, add 125g plain flour, 120g yellow sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 1\2 teaspoon of baking powder. Put on low speed with the whisk and add in 2 eggs, 1 at a time and 1teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix until combined scraping down the sides as necessary. Then add the cooled burnt butter (this can be liquid or a soft solid), mix until just combined. Finally add 3 tablespoons of full fat milk. Fill into cupcake cases. Cook at 160 degrees. When done, take out of oven and leave to cool down.

When cupcakes are cool, cut out a circle with approximately a 2cm diameter from the top of the middle of the cupcake, using a small sharp knife. The idea is to create a hole in the middle of the cake so you can fill it with the caramel. Keep the lid next to the cupcake from which it came. Fill the hole of the cupcake with the caramel. If the caramel is a bit hard just microwave it a tiny bit so it becomes workable. Now get the lid and cut off the fluffy cupcake part, eat fluffy part and put the top back as lid for the cupcake to cover the caramel filling. I just discovered there is actually a tool you can buy to cut the hole easily for you, who knew!

Stir the chocolate ganache and put in a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice. Again, if the ganache is too hard, put in microwave for a few seconds to soften. For this recipe you don’t want the ganache too runny, it needs to be solid. Pipe onto cupcakes and top cupcakes with roasted chopped peanuts. For a little extra touch, drizzle each cupcake with a tiny bit of honey or maple syrup and sprinkle with one or two flakes of sea salt. E já está! Cupcakes! They really are delicious and totally taste like a Snickers bar :)

Sushi Sunday

If I had to choose a favourite day of the week, for sure it would be Sunday. When I was working in kitchens it always was. I cant explain it but working on a Sunday for me just had that special feel. I used to hate having Sunday off, it felt like such a waste of a day, much better to spend it at work. And then going out on a Sunday night, hospitality night, was much better than going out on a Saturday. No annoying idiots to deal with, no lines to get into clubs, just good old fashioned drinking, dancing and fun. 

Well that was all before babies, and now Sunday is family day and still my favourite. It is my husbands day off and is really the only time he has to relax with the family. So what do two chefs do on their day off, you guessed it, we cook. Now I know we all hear that chefs have such a tiring work schedule and are so busy that on their day of they don’t even want to see a kitchen. 90 per cent of the time this is not us! For sure, we are not making Michelin star meals for ourselves, but definitely something damn tasty. We love to cook together, and we love to entertain, and now that we have finished renovating our house any excuse for a BBQ or lazy Sunday lunch will do. However this rainy Sunday was just for us to relax, eat some delicious food and enjoy time together with our daughter. 

So what was on the menu this week, SUSHI! Neither of us having ever made it before, but we recently brought back a huge bunch of Asian products from Australia and had been planning our sushi date for a while. For first timers, I think we did a pretty good job.  Early Saturday morning we went to our local market to buy the fish.. Oh how I love the markets, full of little independent growers selling their produce and old and young customers going about there shopping. I love the markets. Heading to the fish section to buy our tuna and salmon, the smell of the ocean comes wafting our way, so fresh! Even my Mum, who is no fish fan, can happily handle this smell of the sea. So with our fish bought and supplies at home we were ready to make SUSHI!

After Sunday morning family cuddles in bed (yes dog too!) it was time to start the sushi rice. This is my recipe for the sushi rice.

FIrst put baby in the pot  :)  jokes!!

Wash 360g of sushi rice in cold water for 15 minutes by putting rice in a bowl, covering with water and scrubbing rice with your hand, drain water, and repeat process until water looks fairly clear. Leave the rice soaking in fresh cold water for half an hour, drain and repeat the process of rinsing for another five minutes. When the water runs clear its ready to cook. Put the rice in a pot with 450g of water. Put on heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and cover the pan with a damp tea towel and a plate and a heavy weight of some sort on top of the plate, you want pressure. Leave for ten minutes. Remove lid, cut rice with a wooden spoon and pour onto a large tray, being delicate with the rice. You don’t want to stir, it is more of a cutting action. Add sushi rice seasoning over rice, about 150ml or as much as you feel you need to moisten the rice without drowning it. Continue cutting rice to spread the vinegar. Fan, or blow air onto the sushi rice to help cool it down. Leave out until room temperature. Then make sushi as you wish.

We made our sushi with the cucumber, avocado, kewpie, salmon and tuna. They were delicious. We ate sushi for lunch until we were going to blow, and then we ate sushi for dinner, hehe. What a success. We even managed to watch an afternoon movie with only a sneaky 5 minute nap from both of us. What could be better?

Days like this make me think, I just love being with my family. I sometimes get sad that we don’t get to spend more time together, but having this special Sunday together makes me appreciate the time we do have together. To spend time with my family and watch Daddy and daughter play until she can giggle no more truly makes my heart melt.

Welcome to the blogging world

Writing a blog, so where to start??... Well first things first right, a theme. Life in Portugal, food, or babies\family. But anyone who knows me knows I cannot make a decision to save my life, so why not join them all together. Who said I have to have one, lets have all three. Kind of like the theory I apply when choosing my dessert. So here it is, my blog about life, family, and food. Enjoy xx