Madeira Cake - Bolo Ingles Recipe

Being Portuguese can be a bit of a stress if you live out of Portugal, our cuisine and Patisserie is so rich that if you don't have where to satisfy your cravings, you become home sick. Having 4 "Children", can make it even more stressful as you want to bring them up with all their portuguese roots in place. Being the Matriarch?!!! Ouch...what a pain/ pleasure relationship!!

So, when we get to birthdays, we have the ones who prefer the wonderful, delicious birthday cakes, (that includes sis, brother in law, son in law, nephew etc. etc. etc. LOL), from Lisboa Patisserie (Portobello, Golborne Road, London W9) and the ones who prefer Mum's funky birthday cakes.

I baked this one for my eldest boy's birthday 2 weeks ago, just to hear from "the horse's mouth", "This was your best ever, Mum!!!!"  (pain/pleasure relationship).  Since then he baked it for me last week, and hopefuly I will be baking it for my sister this Sunday.

Here you have it, you can impress too.......

Madeira Cake - Home Baked Birthday Cake

(Portuguese recipe - Bolo Ingles from Farinha Branca de Neve)

Serves 10-regular portions (regular eaters)

Serves 5 -large portions (Big eaters)

Double it if you want to serve  20 regular/10 big eaters

Ingredients:

• 250g of Sugar
• 250g of Self Raising flour, (the better the quality, the better the cake)
• 250g of Butter/ Margarine (it tastes way better using better)
• 1 heaped teaspoon of Baking Powder
• 4 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
• Lemon zest/orange zest/almond extract or any other preferred flavour - to taste
• Margarine to grease tin
• Flour to dust greased tin
• Baking Tin, this can be any format or material, silicone is lovely, but please still grease it and dust it, as I can't vouch for the results without doing that.

Preparation:

• Warm up the oven on full blast, now rub some margarine all over the interior of the tin or mould, paying particular attention to curves and corners, all has to be generously covered, then pour some flour into it and shake it , shake it until the inside is all covered by the flour, pour any excess out by shaking or tapping the tin upside down (if using silicone, please still do this).
• Separate the egg yolks from the whites, keep the whites in a clean bowl big enough to beat them in to a firm foam. Do not beat them yet.
• Mix the sugar with the egg yolks, beat it until it turns to a smooth whitish cream.
• Add the vanilla, the citrus zest, or a flavour of your choice to the creamy mixture, beat it a bit more.

Beating in the initial stage

• Melt the butter or margarine to a soft liquidly point.  Beat it into the mixture, now you should give it a good beat all around, the more you beat it the better it will come out.
• Add the baking powder to the flour
• Add the flour progressively to the mixture while you are beating it. Don't give up beating, only stop when the machine needs a rest or the mixture makes loads of bubbles.
  

  

  Beating while adding the flour progressively

• Now wash the whiskers very well and dry them.  Go back to the egg whites that were left in a clean big bowl.  Beat them to a firm foam. You will know they are ready when you can turn the bowl upside down and they don't fall.  Try by tilting the bowl a little at first (they shouldn't move), otherwise you may end up with it all on the floor! lol

Beating egg whites until they are firm

• With a wooden spoon this time, mix them into the cake mixture, folding them in rather than beating, or stirring, once well folded its ready. (Folding the egg whites in keeps the "bubbles" intact and this is what makes the cake soft and airy)
• Pour the cake mixture all into the tin,  you must have about 2 fingers height of room left on the tin to allow dough to raise, it will raise out of the tin anyway, but if not deep enough it will raise uncooked and flow down on to the oven.
  

  

  Cake mixture before going into the oven

• BRING THE OVEN TEMPERATURE TO THE MIDDLE POSITION, place the baking tin in the middle shelf of the oven. 
• Check in half an hour, 45 minutes if you doubled the recipe. (to check you can stick a wooden skewer or pick in the centre of it about 2" deep, to be ready the pick needs to come back moist, but not full of liquid/soft dough. If the pick brings dough, it needs a further 5 or 10 minutes checking regularly, if its completely clean and dry you have just past the perfect point, if moist, then its perfect.
• DO NOT LEAVE IT IN THE OVEN EVEN IF OVEN IS OFF.  Take it out of the oven, let it cool down until safe to handle with pegs. (due to all the turning involved).  Gently shake tin to loose it up. Turn tin upside down onto a plate and cake should pop out of the tin. Turn the cake the right way up.

Serving Suggestions:

• Served warm, plain or with custard
• Can be sliced in half and filled with jam of your choosing
• Covered with any topping of your choice, eg. butter icing, meringue, etc. (To cover it let the cake cool first otherwise topping will melt off, but to fill it do it while hot to absorb a bit into the cake.)
• Simply sprinkle it with Icing sugar.

Whatever way you choose to eat it, it will be delicious! ;)

BOM APETITE!!!

Mum aka Funnybanana
P.S. Next week we go back to chicken.....this time a very special, very personal recipe by Funnybanana Dad!

Secret Within... Recipe

A very long time ago, we have had a coffee shop in Faro, Algarve Portugal, there we served light meals, in particular at lunch times. The Portuguese have two hot meals a day, lunch and dinner.  So, everyday we had to come up with a special. One day, I came up with this, my own recipe from scratch.... Secret Within - Individual Portion  The secret within...(Minced Meat Dish) Portuguese recipe - Segredo de Carne *Serves 4 - regular portions Serves 2 - large portions (Meat can be replaced by vegetarian substitute but please note I can't say it will taste the same.) *Half it if you want to serve just 2 regular eaters Ingredients: 600-800gm of Minced Beef, (Pork, mixed or lamb) Salt, (table or sea salt)-to taste  Ground Black Pepper or Piri-Piri-To taste  Margarine-1 Table spoon-leveled  Olive Oil-4 Table spoons-leveled-(for the meat) Olive Oil + 1 table spoon of Margarine-leveled (to Fry the eggs on) Oil-as needed, (for the option of frying the chips)  Lard-2 Table spoon-leveled  1 Bay Leaf  1 Garlic Head/Paste Parsley-a few stems  1.5kg bag of precooked oven chips-(can be replaced with real chips from peeling and slicing potatoes in to sticks) 4 eggs Grated Cheese -to taste Deep Fryer, (or deep frying pan for the chips, alternatively prepared in the oven according to instructions in the packet, Bla, Bla, Bla.) Shallow frying Pan, (big enough for the amount of meat in question) Small Shallow frying pan to fry the eggs Oven & Tray or alternatively Microwave and individual plates Preparation: Wash the  bay leaf, parsley, and peeled garlic, open the meat packet and leave as is. Chop the Parsley finely and chop the garlic in tiny sticks and tear the Bay leaf. Turn the oven on full blast. In the larger shallow frying pan, (for the meat), place the bay leaf, the olive oil, lard, margarine, garlic, and heat it up. Start adding the meat by pulling a part the little strings of mince, (no mince can be left stuck together), sprinkle it all with pepper and salt, turn it around until cooked to taste, sprinkle the chopped parsley, mix, mix, mix.  Ready!! In the small shallow frying pan, (for the eggs), place the olive oil and margarine, and fry the eggs. (medium heat, pouring the fat on the top of the eggs constantly until cooked to preference) Put the deep fryer on, and once hot enough start frying the chips (if you don't have a deep fryer, do your oven chips in the oven as normal), after cooked put them in an oven tray, or divided on to serving plates, (if using Microwave). On the top of the chips put the prepared meat, spreading it evenly. Cover with Grated cheese. Place it in the oven top shelve in full blast, you only want to melt the cheese. Once ready, divide into portions (if applicable) and serve with fried egg on top BOM APETITE!!! Mum-AKA Funnybanana

Gay Chicken (Frango a Paneleiro) Recipe

Portuguese recipe - Frango á Paneleiro

Frango a paneleiro / Gay Chicken after cooked & cut in half

Serves 4 regular portions (1/4 chicken each portion)
Serves 2 large portions (Big eaters - 1/2 chicken each portion)
(please note this can only be done with whole chickens, it will not work with half chickens)

Ingredients:

1 Small Chicken
1 Lemon
Salt, (table or sea salt) to taste
Ground Black Pepper or Piri-Piri to taste
Margarine - 1 level table spoon
Olive Oil - 2 level table spoons
Lard - 1 level table spoon
1 Bay leaf
1 Garlic head or 1 level table spoon of garlic paste (paste works better)
1 Onion - medium sized
Coriander - a few stems
Parsley - a few stems
Paprika - 2 tea spoons
Beer/White wine - 1 Mug

No sparkly wines or sweet wines to be used, the same goes for non alcoholic, as it will leave a sweet unpleasant taste to it. (please note the alcohol will evaporate as it cooks so it should not interfere with any religious beliefs, however if need be it can be replaced with water,  but it will not be as tasty!!)

Equipment needed:

Oven tray - Should be as small as possible according to amount of chicken.

Kitchen Foil

Preparation:
Pre-heat oven on full blast

Wash and prepare the chicken by getting rid of excess fat, feathers etc. Wash the inside of the chicken well.

Wash the lemon, bay leave, herbs, peeled onion and garlic (if whole, not paste! lol).

Leave the herbs whole
Chop the onion in medium chunks
Chop the garlic in tiny sticks
Break the bay leaf
Stab the lemon all around with a fork.

In the tray rub the salt, Pepper/Piri-Piri, Bay leave, Paprika, Herbs, and garlic on the chicken. Massage, massage, massage, first outside then inside the chicken, the longer you massage it on the chicken, the tastier it will be (hence the name).

Place the chicken breast facing upwards in the middle of the tray, stick the stabbed lemon in its rear end, (stuffed inside chicken), spread the onion around it, pour the beer or white wine over it. Cover with kitchen foil.

Cook in the oven, (middle shelf), covered with the foil in full Blast for 30 minutes, (double for 2 chickens or large chicken), Check, pour sauce over it, turn it breasts down, cover it again, (fan assisted ovens take away 10 minutes per stage or more depending how strong is your oven), put it back in the oven, now we only need it at 3/4 not full blast. Wait another 30 minutes.

Halfway through cooking - Doubled recipe

Uncover it, turn it breast up again, it should be cooked by now, check for blood near bone, if no bloody fluids, then it's cooked. Put it back in the oven (uncovered) on full blast again, for 15 minutes, just to get tanned to taste, you may find that you like it lighter therefore 15 minutes will be too much.

Remove lemon before serving. Do not leave it on the tray or break off while taking it out, as it will turn everything very bitter.

Serve with white rice with butter and chips, and/or salad.

BOM APETITE!!!

Meet our author - FunnyBanana

If you haven't noticed already we have some new peeps helping us deliver to you an exciting blog which will help you make parenting an easier and more fun ride!

Now you will get to meet FunnyBanana Mum and Dad which will be sharing with us delectable family recipes of Portuguese cuisine as well as their ramblings and reviews!

Over to FunnyBanana...

Monica x

We are the proud parents of a large Portuguese family, where the youngest is 20, three boys and a girl. We always have huge amounts of food to cook as they all grew up to be big eaters. Having a rich cuisine and living in UK, made us train our children intensively on our Portuguese cuisine so that tradition is not lost. They are all good cooks.

Mum or Dad are the same, we are both excellent cooks *pats her own back*, and well experienced ;). We both have our specialities, dishes we prepare better than each other. Dad is more patient in the kitchen than mum, but mum gives detailed practical training at all times. (I never loose an opportunity to teach them one more secret, one more way.)

Having lived in several European countries before settling in UK, made us pick up some variations along the way, which makes some of our recipes very unique. We will be regularly sharing them with you.

We will be happy to answer any questions about Portuguese Cuisine, and tips about cooking for a family of 5 that eat like 12. lol (that's me); Ouch!!! (that is my wallet)

We will also have recipes for you to vote on, so you can choose what recipe we share with you next!! :)

My youngest just prepared some lovely food for his workaholic, starving mum!!! Sweet!! Thank you son xxxx AH!!! And he will be cooking the Gay Chicken (Frango a Paneleiro) for tonight's dinner , so I can have a lovely picture for you to see.

Till next time.

Mum aka FunnyBanana x

Portuguese Rice Pudding "Arroz Doce" Recipe

My mums rice pudding is the best ever! 


I hope you try it next time you're in the kitchen, you won't regret it!
She shares it with you below.
The pic shows one without cinnamon, and don't forget you can try and replace the milk with soy milk, etc for a vegan rice pudding!


Its yum!
Monica xx

Ingredients:
4 pints of milk
1 heaped (Soup) spoon of Custard Powder
Sugar to taste
2 Cinnamon Sticks
2 Lemon peel, (outside peel, cut like potato peel)a slight pinch of Salt only.(note: if over salt it, it will hold a bad taste, so its just a pinch)
1 Hand full of Rice. (put your hand inside the bag and grab hold of the most rice you can by closing you hand, let the excess fall as you hold tight)

Start by putting 2 pints of milk, salt pinch, cinnamon sticks and lemon peel, in a pan, bring it to boiling point, (milk rises very quickly, be careful not to let it spill, as burnt milk has a foul smell and you will be short in fluids at the end).

Add the rice, and stir often, always taking care not to let it raise above the edges of the pan. You will have a load of fluid and some rice scattered, that is how it should be. Its ready for the next step when rice is over cooked, (very puffy and soft).

At this stage add another pint of milk, (only when rice is cooked enough, if you were to add the sugar or cold milk before the rice is cooked enough, the rice would stop cooking and remain hard/rubbery). Add the sugar to taste, our family loves it sweet, so we make it very sweet, about 250gm of sugar. However each person may have different sugar tastes, so add sugar to taste, (after adding the desired sugar you can always try a bit of the sauce/milk to see if it is enough or you require more).

Let it boil for about 5 minutes in slow temperature, (enough to keep it boiling).

Meanwhile get a tall bowl, pour in the remaining pint of milk, and add the heaped spoon of custard, (you may add an extra leveled spoon of custard powder if you want it really creamy), mix well, as often it sticks to the bottom of the bowl, so make sure it has completely disolved.

Once the 5 minutes or so have passed pour in the custard mix. Bring it to the boil again, it should now be a lovely yellow creamy substance, ready... steady... Eat....., (when hot it may upset your bowels, so let it cool off, remember to lick the pan, (using a spoon of course).

You need to pour it immediately into containers, individual or not. Container/s need to be taller rather than wider, to keep it creamy and avoiding to dry off. You can then powder the top of the rice pudding with grounded cinnamon.

From your first time confectioning it, you can then adjust the amounts of custard, milk, and sugar to your own liking. If you have guests and want to impress just double or triple the ingredients and make enough for everyone. I always do 12 pints of milk, as they are many, and love it.

You can also work with half water half milk, but will not be as creamy.

Little Secret: if you ever manage to get to a Portuguese supermarket or you travel to Portugal, replace the  custard with: "Leite Creme"-Brand "Royal" , you will then be hooked for life.

BOM APETITE - Enjoy your Dessert 


Mum aka FunnyBanana