Cooking in Lisbon

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Garry and I were excited to take a cooking lesson to indulge our senses and increase our international repertoire. Our class had folks from Britain, Ireland, and Korea.



On the menu was a blended vegetable soup with kale, salted cod (bacalhau) with vegetables, baby clams, and chorizo in a tangy broth, whole chicken rendered to pieces by Garry (his efficiency had everyone wondering if he was a chef) with onions and garlic over Portuguese rice, and to finish a simple dolce de leche with egg white chilled.



With Garry in fine social form, not to mention the wine flowing like a tap, it wasn't long before your Canadian correspondents made friends with everyone. Even the typically stuffy Brits were saying they were definitely at the fun end of the table.



Portuguese cooking is simple and tasty - nothing fancy, they let the ingredients do the talking.



I'm embarrassed to say we've yet to have grilled sardines but plan on getting our fill as soon as possible. Surprisingly other than the odd roasted chestnut vendor there is no curb cuisine so the nationally treasured sardine isn't as prevalent as I imagined.



We're currently on a train travelling close to 200 km's an hour en route to Porto 3 hrs to the north. Our adventure continues!



Randy

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