Most aphrodisiac sea food in the world. Perceves (Goose Barnacle)



Dear Folks,

After a well-deserved and relaxed summer holidays in Portugal here’s a new post.

Today I am going to write about the most aphrodisiac sea food in the world, very expensive and more desired than lobster.

Perceves (in Portuguese and Spanish) or Goose Barnacle (in English) is a crustaceous that can be found in the Atlantic Coast of Europe namely in Portugal and Spain.

Highly appreciated in the Iberia Peninsula, Perceves are very expensive because they are fished by hand and it can very dangerous as they live in attached to rocks and cliffs were the waves of the brave and cold Atlantic Ocean are usually high and strong.

In Portugal, the best place for you to find this delicious food is in my home region, the Algarve (south Portugal) namely in the South-Western tip of Continental Europe. Famous for its natural beauty this region has the Natural Park of the Saint Vincent Coast. Sagres and this region is world famous as a meca for Surfers and also for the first maritime school in the time of Discoveries.

There’s a very small village called “Vila do Bispo” where many nice restaurants prepare delicious Perceves dishes and other fresh fish/sea food delicatessens.

Perceves not only have an enormous gastronomic value but also is very high in protein.

If you have the opportunity to visit Portugal, please pay a visit to the west coast, true that the waters are colder than the warm south coast, but the natural beauty, the waves and the food merits your visit and your appetite.

I am sure that the romantic sceneries of the ocean plus, amazing sunsets plus aphrodisiac Perceves will set both you and your partner in the mood.

If you manage to get some Barnacles in your city, do not forget to cook it currently, in Portugal the tradition is three times more water than the weight of the Barnacles, plus a garlic clove and a Bay Leaf. Fisherman cook it with seawater. Serve it with a nice chill dry white wine, I suggest Portuguese Porta de Murça.

Bon Apetit,

Chef Gourmet Du Art

I proclaim Venice as the Romantic Capital of the world

Dear folks,

much has been said and declared about romantic places and/or cities.

Yes Paris is wonderful, what about Rome, but I fancy Vienna and also Prague. Lisbon is a city to walk hand in hand, Seychelles is where you want to be with your love one and so on and so on…

I proclaim Venice as the romantic capital of the world!!!

It is the only place in the world that gave me more than I was waiting for, and believe me I was waiting for a lot.

The city is just unique, you cannot find anything like that in the all world. The history, the views, the escapades, the weather, the culture, the romance, the food, the intrigue and the sex… Venice has it all.

To visit Venice is to walk in the past, to a time that does not exist any longer, you can actual feel how people use to live before.

Walk hand in hand and get lost in the many narrow little streets, take the vaporetto and feel the sea breeze in your face, take a Gondola and pass under the “Ponte dei sospiri”, enjoy a Bellini cocktail, take a hot chocolate in the same place of Casanova, buy a Venetian mask and play a role with your lover, seat down by the canals and watch the sunset, walk during the day, walk during the night, have a meal in the many cute small restaurants, visit the museums, visit the Cathedral, visit the Palaces, visit the S.Marcus square, visit the tower, visit Murano glass factory, visit the Lido, go the Casino, go to the Opera, go to the city festivities, enjoy it, enjoy it all.

So next time you fancy a romantic escapade, go to Venezia.

Here’s a list of small restaurants, that not only you will have a proper Venetian meal with excellent quality but also you will not over pay just because you are a Tourist, luckily there are still places where Venetians go and have a wonderful meal at decent prices.

1)      Osteria alla Vedova – Calle del Pistor

2)      Trattoria da Gigio – Campo San Leonardo

3)      Anice Stellato – Fondamenta de la Sensa

4)      Bancogiro da Andrea – San Polo, 122

Hope that you enjoy it as much as my wife and I did last weekend.

Bon Apetit,

Chef Gourmet Du Art

J'aime "French Riviera" - a tale of Cannes

Dear readers,

my wife and I love the “French Riviera”, from Menton to Monte Carlo, from Antibes-Juan Les Pins up to Cannes, we love it. We love the scenery, we love the tows we love the summer life.

Just in front of cosmopolitan, hype, rich and famous Cannes you can find a natural paradise called “Iles des Lerins”, there’s two little islands reachable by boat after 15 minutes.

The biggest of these islands is “Ile de Saint Margherite”, it’s about three kilometres long and 900m wide, no cars or pollution allowed. A natural paradise made of Pine trees and wild beaches. Time seems to have stopped there.

Water is warm and clear, you can relax and forget about the hectic city life all day long.

Nightlife is intense in Cannes, with venues for all tastes. From world famous nightspots (that present for example DJ Bob Sinclair) to Moroccan Cafes where you can smoke flavoured Sisha in the Hookan. But if you talk about France you have to talk about food. I love promenading with my wife in old town Cannes, the Croisette, there’s a small little street called Rue de Saint Antoine, also known as “Le Suquet”, this narrow street that goes all the way to upper Cannes is full of little restaurants, galleries and shops. It’s a place to see and be seen. It’s actually possible to be sited next to a famous VIP in one of the many restaurants.

The place that I am going to talk about today is “Maitre Renard” restaurant, a tiny, cosy restaurant of Chef Renard that in person greets visitors and exchange a kind word and advice. The atmosphere is that of the “Suquet” but with added touch of class and sensibility because his restaurant is also a Jazz place. He invites known pianist that jazz along talented singers.

The menu is not huge, but in my view it’s better that way cause all in it is delicious.

My wife and I had different starters and different main dishes so that we could taste the variety. All dishes had a wonderful mix of flavours, smells and colours, the end result exquisite. We finished with a wonderful tris of flaming Crème Brulee.

If you have the chance go and pay a visit, you will not regret it. Here’s the contacts: Restaurant Maitre Renard – Rue St. Antoine, 4 – Cannes, Tel. 0033 (0)4 93399938

As they say in France…

Bon Apetit,

Chef Gourmet Du Art

My fair Verona - wine districts

Last week I had the opportunity to travel around two of the most famous Italian wine regions, both located near the city of Verona (yes, the city of Romeo and Juliet).

The Valpolicella region is located at the north of the city of Verona, and produces world renowned Reds like Amarone, Valpolicella Classico, Superiore. Its produces a White called Soave and also the Red Recioto desert wine.

Valpolicella has been for millennia a wine region, as a matter of fact, "Vallis-Polis-Cellae" is Latin for valley with many cellars, meaning since Roman times that wine has been produced there.

Now-a-days, this wine district is more famous for the Amarone wine than for its Valpolicella Classic Reds. Amarone is a very peculiar Red, it is not a every day consumption wine, still amazing.

The story behind this wine is just like any lucky strike moment.  Someone forgot in a baric the Recioto sweet wine for years and once opened the wine changed colour, aroma and taste.

All wines from this region are produced from the grapes: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Oseleta e Negrar. The differences between the various sorts of wines vary from aging to fermentation technics.

Amarone (bitter good), is a Red wine, full body normally 16° alcohol. It is usually an expensive wine, thus if you came across an Amarone that under €30 a bottle it’s a fake. Prices can reach €200 or more, pay attention to the DOC or DOCG label for authenticity.

In my humble opinion, wines like this must be considered precious and enjoyed in special moments, both with food (red meats, cheese) or also for meditation.

Oh, in Italy, it is considered very rude to open a bottle of Amarone alone. To be opened with close family and friends.

The other region, just next door to Valpolicella is Bardolino Wine district left of Verona by the Garda Lake (Italy’s biggest lake).

This incredible beautiful area produces Bardolino Reds (Rondinella and Corvina grapes), the famous Rose Chiaretto and the White Custoza.

There are many cellars that are open to the public, where you can enjoy wine tasting, talk with the producers, visit the vineyards, learn about wine in the museum and of course purchase directly the wine at very reasonable prices before it enters the market mark-up.

So, my suggestion, next time that you pay a visit to northern Italy, pass through this wines districts enjoy history, taste and take some nice bottle home with you.

Bon Apetit,

Chef Gourmet Du Art

There's a new cork in town. Here's Helix.

Portugals’ main export to the world is cork, and Corticeira Amorim is the world leader company in cork products. Using its expertise Corticeira Amorim joined forces with the American company Owens Illinois, world’s largest glass bottle producer and created a unique bottle and a unique cork, which will be revealed in this year’s Vinexpo, world largest wine fair.

This novelty in the market will make it possible for one to open a wine bottle that has cork with our fingers only.

Such novelty is supposed to hit the markets only in 2014 and its main destination according to its producers is fast consumption wines, with price range vary from 5 to 10 euros.

During tests, the reception both from wine producers and consumers were excellent. The cork made out of cork composite is a state of the art addition to wine.

This cork was produced in order to preserve and not change any of the characteristics of wine.

At last some good news and a fine response from the cork industry to the uprising of plastics taps and metal screw tops that in my humble opinion do not belong to the wine world.

Has they say in Portugal “Haja saude”

Chef Gourmet Du Art

The origins of Curry

Little is known about the true origins of Curry, and of course that present history is much influenced by the ones that write history books, without polemic but history is always made by whoever wins the war, giving a partial, bias or simply wrong report of the actual fact.

Curry is not a spice but a mixture of several spices, apparently the term Curry derives from Malay word Kari that means sauce. As a matter of a fact, when Portuguese first arrived in India back in 1498 (Vasco da Gama), Curry simply meant soup, any kind of vegetable or meat soup made with several spices.

Curry powder mixture is composed mainly by: Coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek and red pepper in the main base and then variants made by adding: ginger, garlic, asafoetida, fennel seed, caraway, cinnamon, clove, mustard seed, green cardamom, black cardamom, nutmeg, long pepper, black pepper and chilli pepper.

The chilli (one of the main ingredients used in Curry) was brought to Asia from America by the Portuguese and with the cultural exchange in the various colonies was adopted by locals and influenced for good their cooking habits.

Goa (a former Portuguese colony in India) is a wonderful melting pot. Some of the hottest curries come from this region and also one of India’s most famous recipes “Chicken Vindaloo”. Vindaloo derives from the Portuguese “Vinha de Alhos” a marinade  (used for meat) made with White Wine, Sweet Paprika paste, Chilli and loads of Garlic (alhos).

If you try to research the origins of Curry, you will find that  credit is given to English traders and their relations with India are in the basis of the curry. It is not the truth, but in good faith English have helped and still are, in the proliferation of curry and curry recipes throughout the all world. Because Curry was adopted as the national dish of the UK.

The English left India in 1947, Portugal lost India in 1961 (Goa, Damao and Dìu territories were invaded by India).

When the portuguese Princess Catarina de Bragança married the King of England Charles II (1662), some territories in India were offered by Portugal to England . There is a famous tale, already posted in this Blog “The true origin of Tea”, that the Queen to be, when she first arrived in Portsmouth did not feel well and she requested her favourite drink (hot tea). This event marked the introduction of Tea in England. Apparently, she was also responsible for the introduction of Orange Marmelade (Marmelada in Portuguese is a sweet jam made with Quince or in Portuguese “Marmelos”), the Tea and Cutlery at the Kings table.

So now you know the true story of how the English have came to be in India, a dowry from the Portuguese King.

Dear folks, Portuguese were in India since 1498 and started the so called “Age of Globalization” still in force now-a-days. Lisbon became the world capital of trade with the arrival of all the spices, richness from all over the world.

England arrived in India after 1662 and left in 1947. Portuguese arrived in 1498 and their territories occupied in 1961.

I hope that now you understand that many facts of the world history have mutated and change for good the cultural habits of many countries.

Today’s Post is not to arouse polemic but to celebrate diversity and how beautiful mixture is, for example the Curry Mixture.

Bon Apetit,

Chef Gourmet Du Art

New Wine Trends - 2013

1.       USA became the first wine market in the World. Even though it is not a sophisticated market and not the biggest wine consumer market per capita (like the European countries), the USA is living a Wine rush. It became popular, trendy and hype to have wine during the meal in North America. Like someone said, “Wine is the new Black”;

2.       The advent of web and the proliferation of social media is hammering the famous wine critics, folks take into account Blogs (such has mine) to seek for advice;

3.       Craft Beer is becoming popular, as a matter of a fact, beer tastings events are becoming more and more common leading for a new discovery of Beer values, such novelty could affect wine consumption;

4.       The present economic crisis is actually changing the wine lists of most Restaurants, the famous “small is beautiful” phrase is actually in motion now-a-days, and restaurants are limiting their wine offer because of stock costs;

5.       Counterfeiting famous wines is and will remain an issue as long as consumers are ready to pay enormous sums of money for a bottle of wine;

6.       Wine auctions register a slowdown, mainly because of a certain standstill of the Chinese economy;

7.       Burgundy is replacing Bordeaux, both in wine auctions and in the famous Restaurants shelves;

8.       Moscato, Sweet Reds and Porto are becoming more and more popular, especially for new wine fans;