Portuguese Comfort Foods- Part 1© Ofelia Nascimento
Oct 22, 2000
As I look out my window I see the leaves turning all sorts of colors. The winds have become more blustry and colder, people busily try to keep up with the carpets of fallen leaves lying all over their lawns, and short sleeves have been replaced by heavy jackets. Portugal may never experience the harsh cold of the Great White North nor the freak snow storms of some American states, but it does become cooler as the months turn from fall to winter and even there, you'll see a jacket (a light one) and a heavy sweater in the evenings.
It's at times like these , when I feel the cold the most, that my mind wanders back to the comfort foods I knew as a child and still recreate when we've all taken our bbq's and covered them up for storage; when a salad just doesn't hit the spot anymore, and cold cereal is replaced by oatmeal, cold beverages by more and more coffee and tea.
Let's begin with the smell and aroma of freshly baked bread, hot from the baker's oven. Although Portuguese bakeries are always busy;in Portugal a baker is never too far away, and first thing in the morning you'll find them crowded with customers looking for their morning bread for breakfast. The Portuguese bakery, a 10 minute or so drive from my place, is open 7 days a week and always filled with people buying bags of freshly made papo secos (soft buns in small, medium and large sizes, some so hot you can feel the heat through the bags and still see them steaming from the ovens), round and long country style breads with hard crusty exteriors and the smell of yeast and flour permeating the rooms. Come in out of the cold, and enter a room that is hot and comforting in every way. While you wait your turn, feast your eyes on the other delicacies that you can try for breakfast or lunch. Bols nata (custard and flaky pastry that would go so well with coffee or tea, rich cake-like donuts rolled in cinnamon and sugar, pastries made from beans, eggs, or rice, and six-inch buns cooked with pieces of chorico (portuguese sausage) incorporated into the dough.
Layer those papo secos with slices of cheese, jam , peanut butter, omelet cut into pieces, cold fried fish, or just plain butter. Add a glass of juice and your favorite hot beverage and you've got yourself a very satisfying and healthy breakfast guaranteed to get you through the morning; or fill them with your favorite sliced meats, vegetables, together with a warm salad or a steaming bowl of hot soup and voila! an incredible lunch to keep you going, and finally, serve them at dinner time to accompany your evening meal. Why have ordinary dinner rolls when you can sink your teeth into buns you know have just popped out of the oven. And if by any chance there are still some buns left the next day (doesn't happen often), slice them or cut them in two, place then in a wide mouth toaster, and let them turn a soft brown and then let the butter or whatever you like melt over them and you'll be sitting in your seat with a big smile on your face and your eyes shut savoring every morsel.
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