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Five Fabulous Foods!

In keeping with this week’s theme from my other blog www.movingtoportugal.org – here are five fabulous foodie things that have made us happy this month!

FROZEN JUMBO PRAWNS (from Pingo Doce.) Filling a large freezer cabinet in the supermarket with a shovel on top, like some wonderful, oversized, fishy pick and mix, I am still

Moscatel Setubal

Moscatel Setubal

reeling in shock that these wonderful prawns are only 5 EUROS, yes, 5 EUROS per kilogram. A day to defrost and they are ready to do with what we decide. In the past week these have made a delicious prawn curry and, yesterday, marinated in oil, garlic and piri piri, they were spicy and succulent on the barbeque. These prawns make me happy!

MOSCATEL SETUBAL – Sweet like caramel, this moscatel from the Alentejo rivals the sweet wine you would pay silly money for in London restaurants. It is less than 3 euros per bottle. Unbelievable.

BIFANAS – Available everywhere, a bifana is a thin marinated pork steak, served in a crusty roll. A cheap and popular daytime snack which, most of the time, allows me to forget I can’t get a decent sausage roll anywhere in Portugal!

MINI MELONS – Currently widely available in the local markets, these tiny galia melons are not much bigger than an apple, and are so sweet and scented they also act as a very effective air-freshener while they are in the fruit bowl! They taste incredible.

STRAWBERRIES – I have found English strawberries really disappointing in recent years. Portuguese strawberries are how they USED to taste. Dark red and fragrant, and coloured all the way through rather than white in the middle. We are finding these rather irresistible when we see them on the market so it is a good job they are cheap and plentiful. Interestingly, even though Spain is only twenty miles away, the strawberries from there are generally disappointing – not really sure why.

If anyone else has any fabulous food suggestions for us to try, please leave a comment!