I love trying out new dishes and cooking with foods I’ve never even heard of never mind cooked. I went to the local fish counter and had the pleasure of being dealt with by Daniel, a kind, helpful and delightful man who gave me cooking tips for Safio – conger eel. I didn’t even know what it was so I was very happy for his input. And for google telling me what it was!

We had a delicious Feijoada lingueirao at the Bombeiros restaurant in Vila Real de Santo Antonio. Translated into English, this is a Bean and Razor clam dish, like a stew, served with rice. It was lovely and I was delighted to get to try razor clams. They are for sale here in bundles the size of a big fist, but I hadn’t cooked them myself until recently.

We had this fantastic dish in a restaurant in Chaves and we loved it so much I just had to try it myself. It is now a firm favourite in our household. The recipe apparently originates in the Algarve, with the black pork coming from the Alentejo, hence the name. It is downright deeelicious!

I do like food to look good as well as taste good and this one certainly hits the mark for me. Put easy to make into the equation and I am beside myself with joy. And some store cupboard staples too, sigh, I’m just jelly.

We tried skate wings at Scott and Helen’s, our lovely Irish friends, several years ago and loved them, but I had never actually made them myself until recently. And they couldn’t be easier to prepare. And they are deeelicious so this is truly a win-win situation.

Although I am still working through our wonderful South African trip, we are actually currently in wonderful Portugal and I cooked this wonderful fish yesterday and it turned out wonderfully! I’d never even heard of it and now I can’t get enough of it!

This is so good, it’s got to be a sin. These are one of my absolute favourite things to eat. We used to have them often in the States with our mates Lynn and Steve, but alas we only have them once a year in Germany now. Sigh, I think we should pop over to the States again…

(Tuna Recipe at end)
We met Annie and Mark and their amazing children, Ashleigh and Murray, in France 16 years ago, and we’ve been friends ever since. Or they can’t seem to get rid of us could be the other way of putting it. Moving from Johannesburg (where we visited them) to Cape Town (where we visited them) in the middle of a cold and dark night, also didn’t help them…

This makes a quick, easy and elegant starter or just a quick everyday salad. It’s deelicious and lovely to look at too! I served it in some lovely big shells our mate Micha collected for me in Pedras del Rei in Portugal, but you obviously aren't going to be able to do the same unless you too befriend Micha!

We ate lunch at our favourite restaurant in Monte Gordo (see post http://www.acookonthefunnyside.com/content/lunch-ronaldo ) and the head waiter asked us if we wanted to try his favourite fish, “Salmoneta”. Speaking no Portuguese myself, I deduced that this must be a small salmon (needless to say, it isn’t) and said “Yes!” ‘cos I love salmon…