The Great Chef

Last week, the Yale Traditional Chinese Painting Group decided to arrange a "cooking together" day. It was a wonderful opportunity for exchange recipes, bonding, and experience real Oriental flavors. I spend some time thinking about what could fairly represent Portuguese cuisine without presenting to my fellow (hope to be) painters a great challenge, flavor-wise. After some suggestions from friends and my husband, I decided that Portuguese kale soup it would be the perfect choice. At the end, it did reveal to be as such since everyone loved the soup so much that most of us had a second bowl! Here is the recipe for 4 to  6 servings. In a pot, bring 2 quarts (2 liters) of water to the boil. While the water is heating, peel 2 pounds of boiling potatoes and cut them in even medium size cubes (the small you cut the potatoes the fastest they will cook. Just make sure all cubes are around the same size so they cook evenly and at the same time). When the water starts boiling, add 1 t...

Among all nuts almonds stand, for me, as the most elegant and versatile. You can use them in a variety of ways, from savory dishes to decadent desserts without forgetting the milk, the perfect substitution for diary milk. In Portuguese cuisine, almonds are used mostly on desserts with the great majority of the recipes coming from the convents to us, along the centuries. One of the singular characteristics of the conventual desserts is the almost unbelievable quantity of eggs used. Portuguese conventual pastry was almost like a side effect of the excess of eggs produced within the boundaries of the convents. The result is a span of rich, creamy and gooey sweets that will embrace you in a wrap of sweet happiness.  The almond tart - one of the ex libris  of portuguese conventual pastry - is no exception. The other side of the coin shows that some people do not feel that much happy specially about the gooey part of the embrace. One of my friends is among those particular beings an...