Pizza night with friends

The coming to Portugal on vacation of an old and dearest friend was the pretext to organize, last Sunday, a dinner of DIY pizzas.

The rules of these DIY dinners where the guests get their hands dirty are the same as always. Each guest bring their own "secret" ingredients for pizza. We provide the dough and one or two basic ingredients such as the tomato sauce, for example.

This particular evening began with a toast to our friend Nuno and to the marvelous group of old friends gathered once again, with a glass of white wine Herdade do Esporão 2 Castas. I served immediately after the toast Azeitão cheese melted in the oven and sprinkled with oregano, pate, green olives with pepper and a little basket of bread and picos (Spanish mini breadsticks).

Later, in the kitchen, the guests were given a pizza tray and a piece of dough to be stretched. And they all did it very well! The process of preparing the pizza is one of the funniest moments in these occasions. When each one starts revealing the ingredients that they have brought, the inevitable happens. All of us start adding a couple of extra ingredients to our pizza. We exchange ideas. And, of course, we all have a great time.

The first pizza going into the oven was Nuno's. He laid out the ingredients in order to the pizza resemble the Stars & Stripes American flag. He used tomato sauce, mushrooms, presunto, both fresh and grated mozzarella cheese and oregano. Pedro made one of the most innovative pizzas. On top of the crust he put tomato sauce and he used fresh mushrooms, tomato, presunto and salami as the pizza toppings finishing it with a generous layer of mozzarella squared slices. It almost seemed a true Francesinha. ;)

Claudia and Ricardo also shone with their pizza although they were constantly saying they don't use to cook much! That may have been one of their tactics to trick the other DIY fellows. They used tomato sauce, canned corn and pineapple, bacon, peppers and grated mozzarella cheese. Ricardo and I used spicy chouriço, green pepper and both fresh and grated mozzarella cheese.

Some of the pizzas were served with arugula on top. The chosen red wine was Herdade do Esporão reserva 2004.

For dessert, Pedro brought a petit gâteau and I made ​​a chocolate and zucchini with hazelnuts cake. We accompanied the desserts and coffee with a glass of sweet white wine late harvest Grandjó 2007.

The dinner continued until very late. In the end, the desire to repeat this again was unanimous. We all also hoped that we wouldn't have to wait so many years to meet again.

[ Originally published in Portuguese as Noite de piza com os amigos ]

Chicken with tomato and pepper frittata

Five Quarters of the Orange blog, in recent times, has been guiding my life. I have been guided, in the sense, that the choices are almost food and blog oriented. It affects, my readings, some of my travels, the restaurants I go, the TV series and shows that I watch. It imposes a routine of its own, induces me to meet new people and among other things, it makes me do a lot more and a lot better.

The blog has become a challenge, that attracts other challenges. Recently, one of those challenges was to author a recipe for June 2011 Activa magazine. There was only one condition attached, it had to use chicken leftovers. The recipe was included in an article on saving.

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 tablespoon mustard
1dl cream
50ml olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 diced carrot
50g pepper cut into pieces
2 ripe tomatoes
150g peeled and boneless chicken
25g island of São Jorge grated cheese
salt and pepper to taste


1. Beat the eggs with the mustard and cream. Put aside.

2. Place the olive oil in a skillet. Bring to medium heat and add the onion and the carrot.

3. Add the peppers and the seedless tomatoes cut in cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

4. Add the shredded chicken. Stir.

5. After removing the skillet from the heat add the egg mixture.

6. Place the mixture in a baking dish lined with tracing paper. Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

7. After preheating to 200ºC, put the baking dish into the oven and let it bake for 20 minutes.


The frittata becomes very tasteful. The tomatoes and peppers, along with the mustard, give this recipe a very nice flavour!

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 ]