Introducing Rosie from Whats the Recipe Today! She’s got a wonderful and simple recipe for you! Thanks so much for sharing this with us Rosie!! 

Hi there, My names Rosie and I’ve just dropped by from whatstherecipetoday.com to give you a taste of life in central Portugal. I moved here from the UK 2 years ago with my partner kelvin, who I affectionately like to call baldy locks and the three hairs on account of his hair falling out after a three month hike around S.E.Asia several years ago.

Fed up with the English weather and driven by the fact that neither of us were getting any younger we bought a little small holding (quinta) with a house to renovate and it’s own little olive grove and woodland, but surprisingly no orange or lemon trees, very unusual for a PT property. Not that it’s a problem though as at this time of year I am inundated with fruit from friends and neighbors.

I read a book recently about life in rural Spain called ‘driving over lemons’, the Portuguese version would be called ‘driving over oranges’, wind blowns are everywhere. It’s one of the things I love about living here, Portugal isn’t third world by any means but fruit and veg in the supermarkets are still very seasonal and a lot of what you buy is locally grown. So most of the year my kitchen is usually overtaken with boxes and tubs of whatever is in season at the time, which makes you really appreciate the wonderful fresh produce that this county has to offer rather than the bland, tasteless stuff that’s been flown halfway around the world only to sit in cold storage for months, sometimes years, before it’s laughingly sold as fresh.

The recipe I’d like to share with you is a Portuguese side dish found in the Algarve region, often served as a starter in restaurants along with olives and sardine pate. It’s very simple too make but does benefit from being left over night so that the flavours have plenty of time to ‘get to know each other’. They will stay will stay in the fridge for up to a week.

I do hope you like it.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz (340g) sweet carrots, peeled and sliced

2 tbsp (30ml) cider vinegar

4 tbsp (60ml) olive oil

1 tbsp (15ml) parsley, finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp (5ml) paprika

salt to taste

few chopped fennel leaves

Steam the carrots until crunch tender. Do not over cook.

Plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process then drain well and allow to cool completely.

Transfer to a small serving dish or container.

Mix all the remaining ingredients together and pour over the carrots, tossing them gently to coat well with the marinade.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 8 hours but preferably overnight. Remove from the fridge one hour before serving. Serve at room temperature.