Tomatoes Stuffed with Vegetables and garnished with Turnip Greens Sauce

Preparation

Choose very ripe tomatoes. Remove their skins and sauté them in olive oil seasoned with salt. Add the water and mint and the flour needed to thicken the sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain everything through a Chinese sieve (fine mesh strainer) and place in a bowl. Serve garnished with a quail or partridge egg or half a hen’s egg per person.

Broad bean and cauliflower cream

Preparation

Peel the broad beans and cook them along with the cauliflower, rice, olive oil and salt. When everything is cooked, mash and strain through a Chinese sieve (fine mesh strainer).

Season with Port.

Cold Spring Soup

Preparation

This soup is very quick and easy to prepare. The ingredients are very affordable, making it ideal for holidays.

Chop up the small tomato and dispose of the seeds. Peel the cucumber and cut it into slices. Add the garlic cloves, water (1 litre), olive oil and vinegar. Add salt sparingly. Mix all the ingredients together in a blender until the preparation looks like a broth.

Place the previously toasted bread on a plate and pour the broth over it. Serve it immediately (it can also be chilled for a while before serving).

The soup will take on a rich red colour due to the tomato.

Alentejo Pennyroyal Soup

Preparation

Bring about 2 litres of salted water to the boil until it reaches a constant bubbling state. Finely chop the pennyroyal, coriander and garlic, place them in a bowl and add the olive oil. Add the boiling water.

Cut the typical Alentejo bread into slices, place them on the plate and drizzle the broth over them.

Leek Soup

Preparation

1. Boil the vegetables and potatoes (except for 2 of the leeks) cut into small pieces so they cook quickly.

2. Once boiled, mash up with a hand blender.

3. Place back on the heat and when boiling add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and the remaining leek thinly sliced into rings.

4. Leave to cook.

5. It’s ready to eat.

Cold Cucumber Soup

Preparation

Method:

Place in a blender the cucumber without skin or seeds, cut into pieces, the bread, the sliced onion, water, vinegar and olive oil. Place the lid on and blend until a creamy consistency is obtained. Season with salt and pepper and place in the refrigerator for one hour.

Serve into individual bowls, pour a tablespoon of low-fat cream into each dish and garnish with herbs and cucumber pieces.

Light Lentil Soup

Easy to prepare

Bring the potatoes to the boil in water with salt and olive oil. When they are cooked blend to obtain a light cream. Prepare the vegetables, finely chop them and add them to the cream previously obtained. Season with peppermint.

Vegetable soup with Peppermint

Easy to prepare

Bring the potatoes to the boil in water with salt and olive oil. When they are cooked  blend to obtain a light cream. Prepare the vegetables, finely chop them and add them  to the cream previously obtained. Season with peppermint.

Sweet potato and pineapple pasty

Preparation

For the pastry, lightly beat the egg with a fork and set aside 1 tbsp. Place the rest of the egg in a bowl and add the margarine, sweet potato, yeast dissolved in milk and sweetener. Gradually add the flour until the dough is firm and does not glue to your hands.

Leave it to rest for about 20 minutes. For the filling, peel the pineapple and grate it coarsely. Let it drain. Place the fruit in a saucepan with the sweetener and starch and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the coconut and leave for another 5 minutes. Allow to cool.  

Roll out the pastry thinly on a floured table and cut into slices. Place a bit of the filling on each slice and close the pasty squeezing the edges together well. Place them on a baking tray greased with margarine and brush with the egg that was set aside. Bake in a medium preheated oven (180º) for about 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.