Clams and Chorizo in a Copper Cataplana

Although cooking has been a passion of mine for several years, food blogging is a relatively new hobby. I find it hard to believe what we've acquired in the past year and a half in order to support this latest devotion! I'm talking major purchases of furniture, cameras and lenses, photography equipment and lighting, serveware, glassware, cookware, and cookbooks. We often spend our Saturdays "junking" for interesting and unique plates, platters, utensils, and anything else that might enhance future blog posts. I used to buy shoes and clothes, now I buy onesies and twosies of plates and different colored napkins.

The good news is I've become much easier to buy for when it comes to birthdays and Christmas - just find me something blogalicious.

Mom did just that this past Christmas, with a stunning, hammered copper Cataplana. Cataplana is a Portuguese seafood dish, popular on the country's Algarve coast, but it is also the name of the special cookware used to prepare the dish, which is traditionally made of copper and shaped like two clam shells hinged at one end and able to be sealed using a clamp on either side of the assembly. Much like the word Tagine, Cataplana is the name for both the recipe and utensil in which you cook it.

I have enjoyed many recipes from David Leite's The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast, and knew I could count on his Clams in a Cataplana to break in my new treasure.

Clams in a Cataplana
From David Leite's The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast, with slight adaptations (Recipe also published on Leite's Culinaria, here

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 ounces dry-cured Spanish chorizo, cut into 1/4-inch coins
One 1/4-inch-thick slice prosciutto, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, cut lengthwise in half and sliced into thin half-moons
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 mild green chile, such as Anaheim, cut into thin strips
1 Turkish bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, minced
One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, drained and chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
3 pounds small clams, such as cockles, manila, butter or littlenecks, scrubbed and rinsed
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large cataplana until it shimmers. Add the Spanish chorizo and prosciutto and cook, stirring occasionally, until a bit brown around the edges, 6 to 8 minutes.

2. Lower the heat to medium and add the onions, bell pepper, chile and bay leaf. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion and peppers are soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the tomatoes and any accumulated juice, the wine, and paprika. Add the cockles to the cataplana and turn the heat to high. Close and lock the cataplana and cook 10 to 12 minutes, shaking occasionally, until the cockles open.

3. David advises, "carry the cataplana triumphantly to the table, making sure everyone’s watching, then release the lid and bask in the applause."

4. Discard the bay leaf and toss out any cockles that refused to pop open. Season with a few grinds of pepper, shower with parsley, and ladle into wide shallow bowls. Serve with crusty bread to soak up all the juice.

 

I also served Orange Salad with Pine Nuts and a slice of Basque Potato Tortilla, to be revealed in a few weeks on a French Fridays with Dorie post. The clams and juices would also be fabulous served over linguine.

I love my new present - it's very blogalicious!

***

Our Portuguese Picnic Table Overfloweth

It's been a busy summer, with our weekly Concert in the Park Culinary Challenges.  We're at the end of the season now, and gearing up for the finale tomorrow - our Second Annual Jubilee. The pot will be boiling, with lots of fresh shellfish, potatoes, corn, artichokes, Cajun spices, et al.

Getting back to last Sunday's Portuguese challenge, I published our Portuguese Dessert Table post earlier in the week, and then I squeezed in a Tuscan Guest Post for my friends over at Bunkycooks. In addition to Portuguese Baked Custard Tarts, Orange Olive Oil Cake and Stuffed Figs for dessert, we feasted on an amazing spread of Portuguese food!

We tackled several recipes from David Leite's The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast (Grilled Piri Piri Shrimp, White Beans and Sausage, and Duck Risotto)

Grilled Piri Piri Shrimp

(For this bright Piri Piri Paste, I used a combination of Red Padron and Jalapeno Chiles, and one Habanero)

Mom beat me to My Family's (David Leite's family's) White Beans and Linguica Sausage, a dish I've been wanting to try for a long time. Beans are a traditional side dish in Portugal, especially for pork and beef

John was all over the Duck Risotto with Ham and Sausage, grilling duck breasts in the park and slowly adding chicken stock to his his dutch oven full of risotto. Arroz de pato, or duck with rice, is a specialty of the Minho region. The risotto has linguica, shredded duck leg meat, and Serrano ham.

Kai grilled Stuffed Squid and Linguica. The stuffed squid have been on my list to make also, and these were incredible! 

Carmen shared a hearty dutch oven full of Jagacida Verde, Cape Verdean Bean and Sausage Stew.  Carmen made hers with prosciutto, linguica, roasted chicken, collards, baby limas from Mississippi, onion, garlic, green pepper, celery, and green tomato paste.

Mary and Geoff traveled down the coast with Camarao Monzambique

Dena, our new snow skiing buddy ;-) prepared Tuna Empanadas

Pammy, finally back home on the Island after her travels, made Portuguese Salad of Black-Eyed Peas with Tuna, from Leite's Culinaria 

Jack and Sandra baked up a beautiful Gratin, of which the name escapes me...

And, here's Alec and Nina's Green Olive Dip

Whew, I'm stuffed just thinking about all the wonderful food we've experienced this summer.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to share all of these Portuguese recipes in one post, but I wholeheartedly recommend The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast, which has many of them, as well as David Leite's blog, Leite's Culinaria.

***

Our Portuguese Dessert Table

While sitting cross-legged on the floor at Borders, in the middle of the cookbook stacks, I came across David Leite's The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast, winner of the 2010 International Association of Culinary Professionals’ First Book, Julia Child Award. It's been on my to-buy list and, as promised, "takes you on a gastronomic journey through the country's eleven historical provinces plus the islands of Madeira and the Azores, sharing the details of their local foods as wells as the extraordinary diverse terrain in stunning photographs throughout."

I was first introduced to one of David's recipes, Pine Nut and Orange Cookies, in the latest issue of Fine Cooking. After making those cookies for our Concert in the Park Challenge Tacos, I received a surprise comment from David on my post.  I was so thrilled he took the time to visit There's a Newf in My Soup!  If you haven't already, drop by his amazing web site, Leite's Culinaria.

Hopefully, David will be pleased to know he was the inspiration for our latest Concert in the Park Culinary Challenge - Portuguese Cuisine. However, it was impossible to choose just one recipe from his cookbook. There are so many I can't wait to try. I knew I wanted the Grilled Shrimp with Piri-Piri Sauce for the park, but then I couldn't pass up the Baked Custard Tarts.  John chose Duck Risotto with Ham and Sausage for his park dish, but we also made the Sausage Tortilla for our Saturday night dinner. Tomorrow, I plan on making one of the salads. Can you tell I love my new cookbook??

At the Concert in the Park, we enjoyed three Portuguese desserts. This post is dedicated to the dessert table, and a second post will follow featuring some of our other Portuguese dishes.

Here are the Baked Custard Tarts. David says these are "the reigning monarch of desserts in Lisbon and, frankly, in all of Portugal." They're typically made in individual 1/3-cup forms, which gives them their characteristic size and shape, but mini muffin tins worked well for me.

At first reading, this recipe seems somewhat involved, with an interesting method of forming the tart shells. However, they turned out to be quite a breeze. My only problem was that I didn't blind bake the tart shells long enough, and ended up putting them back in the oven after removing the dried beans. The recipe says to put the muffin pan on a baking sheet in the oven, and maybe that prevented the heat from circulating under the pan. All turned out well in the end, and these babies disappeared like hot cakes!

Baked Custard Tarts (Pasteis de nata)
Makes 24 pastries
Slightly adapted from David Leite's The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast

Ingredients:

One 17 ¼ ounce package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, thawed
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
Grated zest of ½ lemon
1 ¾ cup heavy cream
1 large egg
8 large egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling
Ground cinnamon, for sprinkling

Preparation:

Place one still-folded sheet of pastry on a lightly floured work surface so that a short end is facing you and the thicker fold is to your left. Open the two panels of dough, lightly brush the right panel on both sides with water, and then fold it back into position. Cover with the left panel and press down to seal. Lightly brush the top of the pastry with water, then curl up the short edge and tightly roll up the pastry away from you, as if making a jelly roll. You should have a 3-inch-wide log. Roll it back and forth on the work surface to extend it to 3 ½ inches. Repeat with the second sheet of pastry. Wrap each roll in plastic and place in the refrigerator.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, lemon zest, and ½ cup of the cream until all the lumps are dissolved. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk the egg and yolks together, and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and 2/3 cup of water to a boil over high heat. Do not stir. Let it bubble until a candy thermometer registers 230 degrees F.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat the remaining 1 ¼ cups of cream over medium high heat, until it steams slightly and bubbles appear around the edges, about 5 minutes.

Whisk the hot cream into the flour mixture until smooth, and then pour in the hot sugar syrup. Slowly add the egg mixture, whisking continuously, then pour the custard back into the medium saucepan and cook over low heat, whisking slowly, until the mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon and registers 170 degrees F on the thermometer, about 4 minutes. Pour into a bowl, add the vanilla, and let cool completely.

About 15 minutes before you are ready to prepare the dough for the muffin tins, transfer the wrapped dough logs to the freezer (the cut will be easier to cut into slices).

Have a mini muffin pan (24 capacity) nearby.  Using a serrated knife, trim off the uneven ends of one dough log, and discard. Cut twelve ¼-inch slices from the log, and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with the second log. Place the baking sheet with the dough slices in the refrigerator.

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. (NOTE: The recipe says to put a baking sheet in the oven also, and then put the muffin pan on top of the baking sheet when blind baking the tart shells. However, as stated above, I found that my pastry shells did not cook enough on the sides and bottoms. Next time, I might try omitting the baking sheet from this step and just using it when the filled custard tarts are returned to the oven for the final baking).

Fill the tart shells to the top with rice or dried beans. Bake the tart shells until the edges are puffed and golden brown, about 16 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, leaving the oven on.

Carefully remove each tart shell, one at a time, and dump out the rice or beans. Some will stick, and gently remove with the tip of a knife. Place the tart shells back in the muffin tin. Fill each tart shell three-quarters full with the cooled custard (a pastry bag, with a large round tip, works well for this task). Bake until the custards barely jiggle in the middle, about 12 minutes.

Transfer the muffin tin to the rack and let cool for a few minutes. Gently remove the pastries (I used a small offset spatula to lift them out) and let cool until warm. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Orange Cake (Bolo de Laranja) is another Portuguese dessert featured in David's cookbook. Mom prepared a similar version, Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake, from Saveur (recipe here). The cake is dense, but moist, and has a light orange glaze and sprinkling of sea salt on the top. This would also taste wonderful with morning tea or coffee.

Geoff and Mary made a surprise appearance, making amends for their Chocolate and Red Wine Cake tragedy, with these Dried Figs Stuffed with Almonds and Chocolate (Figos Recheados). You can find the recipe here. Fabulous flavor combination!

Stay tuned for a second post of sensational Portuguese cuisine!