Molho de Ovos (Eggs Poached in Wine Sauce)

A simple meal served with a simple green salad and bread, but the flavors are anything but simple! The eggs were laid this morning by our ladies and the freshness makes for perfect poaching. If only our spring peas were ready for harvest!

This is our family’s variation, but “Homestyle Portuguese Cooking” offers another recipe on p.157. The recipe is very forgiving:  If you like more sausage, add more sausage!  If you want some other vegetables, add them to the poaching liquid!  Don’t like peas, don’t use them!

Molho de Ovos

• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp sea salt or to taste (Remember that the chouriço will be quite salty)
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 6″ piece of chouriço, halved and sliced into 1/2 chunks.  You can substitute linguinça or chorizo or even Italian sausage, but it will have a different flavor.
• 1/2 tsp paprika or smoked Spanish paprika, depending on what flavor you prefer
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup wine (I used red today because it’s what was already open, but I prefer white)
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas (I recommend either direct from your garden or frozen because fresh supermarket peas are too starchy)
• 1-2 eggs per person (up to 8 eggs)

Saute onion and salt in olive oil until soft. Add garlic and chourico and cook until browned. Add paprika, bay leaf, wine, and peas. Let simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes. If too much liquid has evaporated add some water enough to poach the eggs. Crack eggs into a separate dish and then gently place them in broth. Poach for 3-8 minutes, depending on how done you want them.

Feijoada (Bean Stew)

There’s a lot of flexibility in feijoada. Let’s first take the “feijao” (beans): Traditional continental Portuguese recipes use white beans, Azoreans use kidney beans, Brazilian use black beans, and Americans put in whatever suits their fancy. Now the meat: Some type of sausage, which is traditionally linguiça or chouriço, but you can also add other cuts and cures of pork such as presunto, salpicao, chops, etc. Now for veggies: some onions and maybe a tomato or two, but you can get fancy and add some carrots or even cabbage. All of this is regional and personal-taste specific. Here’s my version, which really is basically what I had on hand tonight:

• 3 Pork Chops
• 6″ piece of chouriço, thickly sliced
• Olive oil to fry
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 cup white wine (I used some Vinho Verde)
• 1 cup water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 can cannelloni beans

Brown the meats in the olive oil. Remove from pan and set aside. Saute the onion, garlic, and carrots for a few minutes, scraping up the tasty browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining ingredients. Cover and let simmer on the stovetop or bake in a 350F oven for 1 1/5 hours.

We served ours with rice and braised asparagus.  Yum!

And our favorite, everyday Portuguese wine, “Porca de Murça.”

Assa Chourico (Assa Chouriço) or Flaming Sausage!

Holy smokes, Batman, it’s dinner and a show! In the mind of a toddler, it’s a sausage’s birthday party and help is needed blowing out the candles. Here’s how to  have all this fun at home:

Get a vessel for the flame. I have no idea what it’s called and neither does Portuguese husband. Mine is painted with “assa chouriço,” which roughly translates as sausage cooked over flames. I’ve also seen them shaped like a pig.

Find yourself some Portuguese brandy moonshine, which is called “aguardente” (water with a bite firewater). Of course, you can substitute some other strong spirit. While you’re finding things, get some chouriço, too. You can substitute chorizo. It won’t be the same, but at least you’ll still get to light it on fire. Score to increase surface area and provide quicker roasting. Set the apparatus up with the aguardente in the well and the chouriço on top and light it up! I recommend a fairly long-sticked match.  Ooo, pretty flames…

Roast the sausage on the open flames until it reaches the desired state of flaming crispiness. Add more spirits if you run low and vice versa blow out the flame if you’ve too much.  If the fire alarm goes off, open a window and remind yourself that this is probably a better idea during warmer weather.  Fortunately, we needed no such reminding this evening and happily continued roasting on the dining room table.  Maybe it was the deliciousness of the chouriço or perhaps it was the burning alcohol, but there was much rejoicing… yay!