Omolette José

Beat two egg whites with some salt until it stiffens.
Fry some pancetta slices until crispy and let the grease drain on a piece of absorbent paper.
Sautée some wild asparagus, after blanching them. Cut in small pieces, but let the tips whole. Season with Cellery salt.
Have some Cerfeuil leafs chopped and ready on the side.
Have a egg yolk ready and intact on the side.

Using a omellette sautée, non-stick, please, heat it up and smudge some ghee (clarified butter) on it with a silicone brush. Add a bit of garlick for flavour if you wish.
Instead of the butter you can use Virgin 1º olive oil, from good portuguese quality , the best, I must say.

Add the crushed pancetta, chopped Cerfeuil and asparagus and gently incorporate them into the beaten egg white. Save a small spoon of beaten egg white to use later.

Add this mix to the now hot sautée, give it a omolette shape.
Keep rolling gently so that it cooks the outside, always keeping the omolette shape.
when you feel that the outside is resistant, lay the omolete on one side and cut a big enough hole to add the egg yolk, unarmed, inside this little hole.

Remember the egg white that you have saved earlier? Use it now to close the hole and gently roll the omolette so that it cooks that part of egg white that you added.

Now, just before you place the omolette on the serving dish, brush it gently with some ghee and add some black pepper fresh from the mill.

Decorate as you wish, and eat it starting on the middle side, where the egg yolk is hidden.

To eat and enjoy with a glass of fine portuguese wine. I still look for the best marriage.

Instead of the Wild asparagus, you may use Salicornia, but reduce the salt because it is already a bit salty by itself.

I realize that it may seem strange to eat, because it is so far away from what one is used to, but the result is very gratifying, believe me...

For breakfast, off course.

Bom Apetite

Cheese experiment, book Jean-Charles Karmann

Camembert, camelised Apple slices and grinded Wallnut with bred crumbs around it.

But... something is missing here...

I tried it and I have to make a few changes to adapt it to my taste, sorry Jean-Charles... nothing personal, I am just a begginer... your book is phantastic ! I try again and make sure I do it as you say exactly in your book, ok?

Dom Rodrigo, sweet thing, portuguese traditional.

These are egg yolks stringed and cooked inside a light sugar syrup.
We call these "fios de ovos".







And this is what it will fill the little nest of 15 grms "fios de ovos", it is made with finely grounded almond, sweet and bitter ones, then almost caramelized, egg yolks added after this and cooked until it all becomes a nice soft cream like this one.




that's how it looks when they are mixed in a little ball, but it's not ready yet...






Now, cook some sugar and a bit of water to make this nice syrup,


roll each delicacy in it, but just enough to cover the little delight as this helps it to continue moist inside, among other things.

Gently, place it on a square of waxed paper to rest.








sprinkle it with icing sugar and grounded cinnamon.

That's how it looks like when you eat it. The original, as this one, is quite sweet and strong flavored, should be taken with a stong expresso coffee without no sugar added, or as Paulo, our sommelier well suggested, with a bitter almond liquer with some lemmon drops inside and ice cubes, and the coffee after or before, as you wish.

Fold silver foil and make a nice package, the usual is in the form of a pyramid, well like a pyramid, almost. I like to make other forms and this time we tried this one.

(that's me, the fat cook, but not for long, i'm on a diet!)




Tadaaaaaammmmm !

I have to make them less sweeeeet and maintain all the flavours and textures to make it available to the common mortals, but that's another recipe....

Have fun with the DOM RODRIGOS ! A delicacy from the south of Portugal, here where we are, in the Algarve region ! Almond trees, lots of 1st class chicken eggs and the sugar and spice given to the monasteries as payment, made the monks or nuns create this marvel, some centuries ago.
No excuse now, you can enjoy it as well, in your own home.

to make 16: 240 g "fios de ovos"; 100 g sugar; 60 g grounded almond; 10 egg yolks; syrup; icing sugar and grounded cinnamon; waxed paper; foil; inspiration...

Let's cook !

Chef Eckart Witzigmann !

One of the legendary 20th Century Chefs, he received the rare award chef of the century from the Gault Millau guide. Only three other chefs have been awarded this title:Paul Bocuse, Joël Robuchon and Frédy Girardet., Witzigman was in Vila Joya inspiring us all with his art.

I am very proud to say that he really liked my mushroom crackers and the way I cook and present my square fried eggs.
There you go, I had to say it, sorry for bragging , but that's the way it is...

Thank you, Grand Chef !

Aquarela do Brasil

nothing to do with breakfast but in a way, it can get you in a good morning mood... enjoy before breakfast...

Notícias Sic Online, Tribute to Claudia

Publicação: 15-01-2007 18:03 | Última actualização: 15-01-2007 18:15 SIC Nigel Haworth Cozinha de luxo Festival gastronómico de chefes com estrelas “Michelin”

Durante uma semana, um pequeno hotel de luxo, em Albufeira, vai receber alguns dos melhores chefes europeus para uma semana gastronómica inédita em Portugal. Todos os dias, um cozinheiro diferente, com as prestigiadas estrelas “Michelin” no currículo, vai preparar o jantar. SIC Ao início da tarde, ainda não era visível na cozinha nenhum daqueles pratos de fazer crescer água na boca, mas já duas estrelas partilhavam as bancadas e a fama de serem chefes de lugares recomendados pelo prestigiado guia “Michelin”. Um é Dieter Koshina, o anfitrião, há 17 anos cozinheiro do Vila Joya; o outro, Nigel Haworth, dono de um dos mais famosos restaurantes do nordeste de Inglaterra. Nigel preparou um molho de camarões, que vai usar, esta noite, para fazer a ligação entre o marisco tão abundante no Algarve e a sua ementa, baseada em produtos da terra ou de zonas muito específicas de Inglaterra. Além de Nigel, por esta cozinha, com duas estrelas, a mais bem reputada em Portugal entre os “Gourmet Michelin”, vão passar nos próximos seis dias, seis outros chefes da haute cousine europeia. Entre eles os lendários Marc Meneu, da França, e Dieter Muller, da Alemanha, uma espécie de sumidades, cada um com o máximo da pontuação, três estrelas “Michelin”. Uma experiência única em Portugal, conseguida graças á perseverança do chefe da casa. Esta semana gastronómica de luxo marca o 25º aniversário do hotel, uma unidade com apenas 20 quartos, mas considerada um dos melhores resorts boutique do mundo. Durante o festival gourmet, os clientes não vão apenas provar, mas também ver a confecção dos pratos, através de câmaras espalhadas pela cozinha e ecrãs nas salas principais. Apesar dos preços rondarem os 120 a 170 euros por pessoa, sem bebidas incluídas, a sala já está praticamente esgotada para toda a semana. Link para video aqui em SapoXL

A Chef's Applause

The Chef's Creation !

Just Joking

Chef Dieter Müller on Tribute to Claudia,

The 19 of January surprise was the famous Chef Dieter Müller.
Amazing dishes and creations from him were seen and tasted by us all in Vila Joya on last Friday the 19th of January, when the Tribute to Claudia's festival o Chefs was held in Hotel Vila Joya.

Here I go again !

Starting again on the 12 th of this month, I finish these fabulous holidays of mine, when I took time to rest and to be with my family.

I am so ready to start again, that I can feel it in my bones already.
I know that it is tiring and long hours, but I love it, I truly do.
I hope that I learn more and more.
I am starting on a week where great Chefs from all Europe are coming to my work place and show us all good things.

So, here I come ... World of Breakfast and Cooking!

the place !

I wish...

Photo by Christopher Gilbert
I wish that 2007 makes us all know, around this planet, that we are all made with the same water and now in small ice cubes we stand. And after we all melt, the pond will be made from all of us, so I wish that we start behaving as we do know it for sure.
Wake up!

coffee !

Photo by Christopher Gilbert
Coffee is a must for us, Portuguese, on the expresso form, we need it to start our day.
Queues at cafes before they open is quite common, mainly in the big cities.
Our coffee mix is arabica and robusta, it has to be strong, not mild as the americans, the english or german versions ( ... dish washing water).
'Bica'; 'Abatanado'; 'Cortado'; 'Pingado'; 'Curto'; 'Italiana'; 'Garoto'; 'Cimbalino'; 'com cheirinho' just to name a few forms of asking for one expresso.
Delta cafés is one of our best ones.
Our 'Pastéis de nata' go so well with our coffee !

Merry Christmas

I have been very lazy about my writings here. The reason is that I am on holidays.
Thus, I wish All readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !

Kids in Portugal do not have proper Breakfasts

I believe that our children should have better breakfasts before they go to schooll, and the idea that i get from my sons is that their collegues have little or no breakfast at all, and then, at lunch, they eat as much as they can.
This makes the morning classes very poor, because I believe that no one is paying attention.

• Why can't the polititians initiate educational events regarding this subject?
• And why not make the breakfast for children in schools, to make sure that they all eat well?
• If a child does not have a full proper breakfast , how can he or she learn properly?

Comments on this please!...

Fruit Buffet display

I would like to change the classical appearance of the breakfast fruit buffet that we have, so, I am asking all of you if you, please, could give me a hand here, with fresher ideas, with pictures, technics, descriptions, or whatever you think that could be good for this matter.

No príncipio

Foi no principio que trabalhei na Vila Joya com o Chef Miguel e o Chef Mateo, que trabalha agora no Hangar 7 , restaurante prestigiado Europeu.
Aui estamos os 3 numa foto na zona de Garde Manget, chamado de Cozinha 'fria', onde então eu trabalhava.

Vila Joya meets Egon Schiele

In Hotel Vila Joya you can see, from October 6th 2006, sixty four rare reproductions of Austria´s expressionist artist Egon Schiele from Prof. Leopold Collection in Vienna Austria.

Visiting Quinta do Crasto

Well, not that one should drink wine for breakfast, thow, in early years, we did have the habit of eating 'Sopas de cavalo cansado' (Tired Horse soups) , made with country side bread bits and red wine, before going to work in the fields.
Those days are mostly gone, nowadays, breakfast means something else for the hard working ones. But wine still remains a beverage to be had at the main meals, at least in Portugal, where wine is considered, more and more, a exceptional beverage.
Quinta do Crasto, where world renown wines are produced and considered amongst the best in this wineyard Planet.
I am fortunate enough to be paying a visit to this Quinta do Crasto and to take a glimpse of how and where quality is produced in my beloved Portugal.
know more in Rei Vinho, my newest blog