Around the World in Eighty Bites - Portugal

When I discovered that Bacon, Butter & Booze has readers in Portugal, I could not have been more thrilled - not only did one of my co-workers just turn me on to Portugal’s wondrous Vinho Verde, which Bon Appetit featured several months ago, but I also got the excuse I needed to try Cataplana, a Portuguese recipe I’ve always paused on while reading one of my favorite cookbooks, Jeff Smith‘s “The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors: Recipes You Should Have Gotten From Your Grandmother.”

I am not very familiar with Portuguese cuisine, which is surprising, considering that Coastal New England, especially Massachusetts’ South Shore, is home to a large concentration of Portuguese Americans. Here’s what I know about Portuguese food: Linguica sausage, seafood, and kale. Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned that salt cod (bacalhao), olive oil, garlic, and chiles are very popular. Portuguese cuisine is very similar to Italian cooking, especially southern Italian. Apparently, great minds really do think alike.

I’ll start with the wine, which I’m drinking while I write. The other day at work, one of my co-workers raved about Vinho Verde. Never having tried this variety before, she brought in a bottle for me, and did I ever enjoy it! My friends and I killed the bottle the other night, and I bought a new one of the same variety tonight. I’d try to give you some information about the winery, but their website is in Portuguese! The wine is very fresh, slightly effervescent, not very aromatic, acidic, and light (thank you, Wine 101!).

Onto the recipe - Cataplana is a dish of pork shoulder and clams cooked in a spicy wine broth. I picked up the pork from DiPaolo & Rossi and my clams from Mercato del Mare. Originally, I was going to buy cockles, but Liz and Keri, the shop’s owners, were familiar with my recipe and suggested that I use littlenecks. Their tip was right on the money - had I used cockles, the delicate clams would have gotten lost among the other flavors and textures, but littlenecks are larger, meatier and more substantial, so they worked wonderfully. And the pork - superb! It seems like it’s getting more and more difficult to find pork with a lot of flavor, but the meat they sold me actually tasted like pork! The recipe called for dry white wine, so I used Vinho Verde, and instead of the plain paprika called for in the recipe, I used smoked paprika from Penzey’s spices, a spice company that ships all over the country and sells some amazing spice blends. My final alteration was a sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes.

While researching, I discovered that some versions of this recipe use several other ingredients, including tomatoes and red and green peppers. While I’d like to try those additions in the future, I’m glad I stuck with the basic version, because I got a great sense of the flavor of the sauce without it being overwhelmed by other flavors. I’d also like to make my own piri piri sauce, which I did not do for this recipe - instead, I used some red chile and garlic paste, thinned down with a bit of olive oil. I’ll reprint Jeff Smith’s recipe for Piri Piri, taken from the cookbook referenced above. I’d love to try this recipe with the real thing!!!


Cataplana (Portuguese Pork & Clams)

Based on Jeff Smith’s recipe in “The Frugal Gourmet on our Immigrant Ancestors”
1 lb. Boneless pork shoulder, cut into chunks
1 ¼ cup Vinho Verde
2 small cloves garlic, minced
2 t. Piri Piri (or another non-vinegar red chile sauce thinned with olive oil)
½ t. each salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
Olive oil
2 t. smoked paprika
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 lb. Littleneck clams, in their shells (scrubbed)

In a large bowl, combine the pork, Vinho Verde, garlic, Piri Piri, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Marinate for two hours.  

After the meat has marinated, remove the cubes and reserve the marinade. Heat a heavy-bottomed dutch oven or frying pan with high sides over high heat, add a generous splash of olive oil, and cook the pork until it begins to brown.

Once the pork has browned, reduce the heat to low. After about a minute, add the reserved marinade and the smoked paprika. Simmer the meat in the marinade, uncovered, until the liquid has almost evaporated (approx 45 minutes).

In the meantime, heat another heavy frying pan with a lid (preferably a transparent lid) over high heat, and add another generous splash of olive oil, and then add the onions. Cook the onions until they are soft but have not changed colors. Now, add the clams and cover with the lid. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the clams have opened. You may want to shake the pan a few times during the cooking process, but do not remove the lid until the clams have opened.

Finally, once the clams are cooked, add the clams and the onions to the pork mixture, stirring well. Serve over cooked potato cubes or boiled rice.
　

 

Piri Piri

By Jeff Smith, “The Frugal Gourmet on our Immigrant Ancestors”

2/3 cup hot red peppers (tiny Thai peppers work well)
½ cup whiskey
1 cup olive oil

Combine in a jar and shake well. Cap the jar and let sit for a month before using, shaking frequently during the curing process.