Palmela on the table
Deciding the menu is a creative process. As always, we try to choose the most interesting products in season. Most often the natural marriages of the ingredients lead us to the definition of the dishes. We started with an organic red pepper salad as we did last dinner which combined perfectly with the cured Azeitão cheese, roasted almonds and cilantro.
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By AnaMariaGozandoAvida |
This was the motto, sort of speak. After that, Palmela’s great products were making part of the menu! Palmela is a fantastic wine region known for the great Castelão wines and Azeitão cheese.
The wine Serra Mãe Reserva, 2005 was made by a young and talented enologist Filipe Cardoso who is the driving force behind Sivipa, an old wine company from Palmela. 2005 was one of the best years of the last decade in the region and this wine, produced with 35 year old Castelão grapes, was the perfect companion for the dinner.
Since we’re in the summer, we thought shrimps would be a good choice! That’s how we came up with the Ultramarine shrimp soup. A simple broth made with really fresh shrimp heads from Algarve sided by fried shrimps with red chili and cocoa nibs from S. Tomé, an unusual combination and a reminiscence of the old Portuguese colonies which introduced the spices in our culinary.
Once more we baked Algarve’s carob wet cake. This time sided by a granita of Maçã Riscadinha, an old apple variety from Palmela with cherry sauce on top. Great combination!
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Maçã Riscadinha de Palmela |
Besides the atypical summer, the night was great allowing us to set the table outside. And once more we feel really lucky and privileged to welcome in our garden truly generous guests who share with us the pleasure for great food, great wine and good company!
