Roasted zucchini stuffed with farinheira and tomato

September is still having hot summer days. In fact, it seems that we finally will have all those warm and hot days that didn't appear last August. Now that the holidays are over, we are finally having the desire to go to the beach. Here at home, albeit the heat, the oven doesn't stop being used. Today's recipe is a delicious roasted zucchini stuffed with farinheira and tomato. A truly delight!

Ingredients:
5 small zucchini
Iberian pork farinheira (smoked sausage)
0.5dl olive oil
2 chopped shallots
2 big ripe tomatoes
2 eggs
some savory leaves or a sprig of parsley
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese


1. Cut the zucchini in half. With the aid of a knife or a Paris spoon remove the pulp from the zucchini.

2. Chop the zucchini pulp.

3. Pour the oil in a skillet then add the chopped shallots and the chopped zucchini pulp. Stir and cook for a while.

4. Add the chopped unpeeled and unseeded tomatoes. Let it cook for a while.

5. Remove the farinheira skin and then cut it into slices. Add the slices to skillet mixture while stirring. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Add the eggs after being scrambled. Add the savory leaves or parsley.

7. Stuff the zucchini with the previous mixture.

8. In a bowl mix the cheese and bread crumbs. Sprinkle the stuffed zucchini with this mixture.

9. Place the zucchini on a oven dish. Put it in a 200ºC preheated oven for 30 minutes.


Enjoy your meal!

[ Originally published in Portuguese as Courgette recheada com farinheira e tomate ]

Zucchini blossoms, tomato and requeijão cheese tart

On one of the beautiful blue sky Saturdays that I have spent in Santarém I had the opportunity to pick several zucchinis. I found zucchinis of every size, from the very large - real dark green pumpkins - to the little ones - tender and sweet - still having its blossom.

I love zucchini and I have cooked it in various ways. Nevertheless, I have never used its blossom. That day, seeing it there at my disposal, I could not resist and picked up a few. The blossoms are very sensitive, consequently I immediately tried to cook it on the next day. The choice fell on a tomato and requeijão cheese tart.

Ingredients:

Pastry:
280g flour
90g butter
0.5dl water

1. Mix the flour with the butter. Then add water and mix again.

2. Roll the mass.

3. Line a tart tin with the dough. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork.

Filling:
90g grated zucchini
2 cloves garlic, minced
30g dried tomatoes preserved in olive oil, chopped
5 eggs
1 requeijão cheese
1dl milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 sprig of parsley and coriander, chopped
2 small ripe tomatoes
8 very small zucchini with blossom
A drizzle of olive oil
70g grated mozzarella cheese


1. Place in a bowl the grated zucchini, the minced garlic cloves, the dried tomatoes, the eggs, the milk and the requeijão cheese slightly smashed by hand. With the aid of a whisk, mix the ingredients very well. Season with salt and pepper and add the chopped herbs.

2. Put a portion of this mixture in the tart tin. Add the diced tomato. Pour the remaining mixture. Lay out the small zucchinis with blossom on top. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

3. Put the tart tin into a 180ºC preheated oven for 40 minutes.


The handmade tart pastry turns out to be very good and this recipe is so simple that it is quite practical.

This tart is delicious served either warm or cold. The zucchini keeps crisp. The blossoms contribute with a slight sweet and velvety flavour. Next year I will try to use just the zucchini blossoms.

[ Originally published in Portuguese as Tarte de courgettes em flor com tomate e requeijão ]

Wild blackberry and fresh goat cheese salad

My summer vacations came to an end. Today I go back to work. It is time to reopen my organizer and starting make plans and scheduling tasks along the week. It is time to choose a book to be read on public transportation. Preferably a novel that makes me dream. It is time to look more closely at the wardrobe. It is time to return to the working day routine. It still seems like it was yesterday I went on vacation. Time really flies, that is why it so precious.

Today's recipe has a bit of nostalgia because some of its ingredients make me remember the recent holidays. It uses wild blackberries that were picked on a very hot day I spent in Santarém and the bresaola that I brought from my trip to Italy.

Ingredients:
mixed greens (lettuce, arugula and lamb's lettuce)
4 tablespoons wild blackberries
2 fresh goat cheeses
6 slices of bresaola or dry-cured ham
salt and pepper
balsamic vinegar to taste
olive oil to taste


1. Cut the fresh goat cheeses into small cubes.

2. In a bowl put the mixture of greens. Add the cheese, slices of bresaola and the blackberries.

3. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with olive oil and some balsamic vinegar. Stir and serve.


This salad turned out to be very nice. The blackberries combine very well with the cheese and the bresaola's saltiness.

A salad with a zest of vacation that can also help balance the excesses committed at the table on these days of August. It is time to start thinking about the diet! ;)

To all those who return today or have already returned to work, wishes for a great day!


Other recipes with blackberries (written in Portuguese):
- Blackberry mousse;
- Grilled salmon with wild blackberry sauce.

[ Originally published in Portuguese as Salada de amoras silvestres com queijo de cabra fresco ]

Tortellini with roasted tomatoes

For the beginning of the current summer holiday and before leaving on a trip, I have selected some movies to watch, including 2003 Under the Tuscan Sun, directed by Audrey Wells. This movie tells the story of Frances Mayes (Diane Lane), an American writer who buys an house in Tuscany, after her divorce, in order to start a new life and be happy. Her search for love and happiness develops alongside the rehabilitation of her house. We can watch Frances picking olives and mushrooms. We can also enjoy watching the breathtaking scenery of this inviting Italian region. We can feel that life follows a leisurely pace and that the simple things in life are valued, albeit following the traditions closely. Tuscany seems to be a magic and peculiar place. And we thrill when she meets Marcello, played by Raul Bova, a very charming Italian.

In addition to all this, we still have the food stuff. Frances begins to cook with the help of a neighbor and one of the meals they cook left me salivating. So many good things happen to be cooked. I found myself trying to guess every single dish served. Lets watch:

On this day, with Italy in the back of my mind, and because Five Quarters of the Orange is currently celebrating the "tomato week", I went to the kitchen to cook a dish using tomatoes that could, in some way, be linked to Italian cuisine.

Ingredients:
650g roasted cherry tomatoes
0.5dl olive oil
250g bacon and ricotta cheese fresh tortellini
1 sprig of parsley or other aromatic herb
3 to 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
salt


1. Preheat the oven to 210ºC. Place the cherry tomatoes in a tray. Season with salt to taste and sprinkle with olive oil. Put it into the oven and let it roast for 30 minutes.

2. After the water, which was previously seasoned with salt, starts to boil, cook the pasta al dente for 7 minutes.

3. In a bowl add the cooked tortellini and the roasted tomato along with a small portion of its sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese. Stir and serve.


To cook this dish, I followed the recipe from September 2009 BBC Good Food magazine's Take 5 Ingredients supplement. However, in the original recipe the tomatoes were sauteed in a pan instead of being roasted, which could substantially reduce the cooking time. Lately, I have been a complete fan of roasted tomatoes. It is a truly tasting delight.

[ Originally published in Portuguese as Tortellini com tomate assado ]

Cherry tomato with olives and mozzarella cheese tart

The tomato week continues and today I have chosen a tart I saw in the June 2011 edition of Saveurs magazine. That seemed an excellent choice to use some of the cherry tomato that arrived last Saturday. One may well say: Long live the tomato!

Ingredients:

Dough
100g pitted olives
280g all-purpose flour
90g margarine or butter
5cl water

Filling
500g cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon rosemary leaves
120g mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper


1. Finely mince the olives.

2. Place the flour in a bowl. Add the butter and the olives. Mix well. Add water in order to mold ball with the dough.

3. Stretch the dough with the help of a rolling pin.

4. Lay the dough into a tart tin. Prick the dough with a fork.

5. Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves. Place the tomatoes on top of the dough. Season with salt, pepper, sugar and rosemary leaves.

6. Place the ​​cheese in small lumps over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with olive oil and put it into a 210ºC preheated oven.


I used mozzarella cheese instead of Valençay cheese as mentioned in the original recipe. This tart is delicious. I loved the baked dough with olives and the flavor of the tomatoes with rosemary. A simple recipe, nonetheless delicious. A excellent choice for a light meal on vacations. A very tasty way of eating tomato.

[ Originally published in Portuguese as Tarte de tomate cereja com azeitonas e queijo mozzarella ]

Pearl couscous with pesto, feta cheese and shrimp

In the days preceding the summer holidays when the idea of vacations dominates almost everything we do, it is a good thing to have one or two recipes handy. Here at home, this pear couscous with pesto salad is one of them. The ingredients may change according to one's taste and preferences. For example, you can easily use chicken instead of shrimp and the result still is pretty good.

Ingredients:
250g pearl couscous
200g prawns
300g peas
100g feta cheese, in cubes
1 red onion, chopped
4 tablespoons pesto
salt to taste


1. Boil in different containers, the pearl couscous, peas and shrimp. Drain after being cooked.

2. Place the pearl couscous, peas and shrimp in a bowl. Add feta cheese as cut in cubes and the diced red onion.

3. Add the pesto and a little bit of salt. Stir and serve.


This salad can be served warm or cold. It is usually very difficult to stop eating it.

[ Originally published in Portuguese as Massinha couscous com pesto, queijo feta e camarão ]

Watermelon, mozzarella and olives skewers

It is commonly said that "there is no accounting for taste", nevertheless I find myself constantly wondering why I don't fancy watermelon very much. I concede that it is very suited to be eaten in the summer. A chilled slice of watermelon in a hot summer day is a marvelous sensation.

Recognizing, thus, the value of the watermelon, since last year I have been using this summer fruit. Last year, I used it in juices and in one salad. This year, seeing the recipe of watermelon skewers in the July 2011 Continente magazine, with such a tempting look, I could not resist and do it.

Ingredients:
500g peeled and seedless watermelon
150g mozzarella snack cheese
100g pitted green olives
fleur de sel and freshly grounded pepper to taste
olive oil to taste
20 wooden skewers


1. Make small balls of watermelon with a Paris spoon (a spoon fitted for this purpose). Put aside.

2. Drain the cheese and olives.

3. Place the ingredients in separate bowls.

4. Begin putting a watermelon ball on a skewer, then alternate with cheese and olives and finish again with the watermelon.

5. Place the skewers on a platter. Season with olive oil, fleur de sel and pepper.


This can be an interesting solution for a quick and fresh starter, for example, to served at lunch with friends or family.

Here, at home, this combination of watermelon, olives and mozzarella cheese was also served as a salad. I laid out on a platter the previous ingredients, along with green leaves and seasoned it all with salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar. After all, watermelon can be used in many ways!

[ Originally published in Portuguese as Espetada de melancia, mozzarela e azeitonas ]