Recipe: João Grande (Chourico and Chip Sandwiches)

All cultures have fast food. Here in the USA we have more than our share. The selections are endless and the icons of the industry are omnipresent. Names like the "Big Mac" and "The Whopper" are synonymous with fast food around the world let alone just here in the states. That got me to thinking what our local Portuguese equivalents might be.

We have a decent variety of Portuguese fast foods, Principally among them are Portuguese-style steak sandwiches and chourico sandwiches. Having covered Portuguese steak sandwiches in previous posts I figured it was time to focus my attention on another local favorite: The chourico sandwich.

Chourico sandwiches come in many incarnations. There are ground chourico sandwiches, chourico and pepper sandwiches, chourico and sauce sandwiches, chourico and egg sandwiches, chourico hot dogs, chourico burgers, chourico EVERYTHING! Chourico is a ubiquitous part of our local food culture. Chourico is food religion in Southern New England. Why? Because EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH CHOURICO!

What I write three times is law:

EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH CHOURICO!
EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH CHOURICO!
EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH CHOURICO!

One of my favorite types of chourico sandwiches comes from a great little hole-in-the-wall bar called "Billy's Cafe" in Fall River, Massachusetts. Billy's is one of those funky little places that doesn't change with the times, instead it just drags its time along with it. It is unpretentious and unrepentant. I ordered a glass of red wine there one night and I was asked if I wanted a small or a large! I can get behind that! Billy's is food and drinks their way, and their way is good.

They do a "chourico and chips" sandwich there that's great. Just good bread stuffed with fried chourico and french fries. It's just simple Portuguese fast food goodness. A couple of shots of Tabasco sauce on that and a LARGE wine or a cold beer and I'm in heaven. Check out Billy's if you're ever in the Riv. It's not for everyone, but it is certainly for ME!

I've made a few changes in my version of the chourico and chip sandwich. I butter and grill the bread a bit and I add some pimenta salgada and hot pepper rings to add a little more texture and a wider range of flavors. In keeping with the fast food motif, I've also named my version of the chourico and chip sandwich the "João Grande" (The Big John). I do that in honor of my Azorean great-grandfather: João de Lima da Ponte. As far as my Azorean Portuguese ancestors go, he was first to set foot on these shores and that at least merits naming a great Portuguese sandwich after him! It was also his daughter that introduced me to many Portuguese foods!

The "Big Mac" and "The Whopper" cannot compare to The João Grande!

João Grande (The Big John)

1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 package of chourico (cut into 1/4" disks)
Frozen french fries (enough to fill the desired number of rolls and some extra for sides).
2-3 soft torpedo sandwich rolls (sliced like hot dog buns)
2 Tbs sweet butter
1 pimenta salgada (rinsed well and cut into slices)
Hot pepper rings
Tabasco or Piri-piri sauce (optional)

There aren't many recipes this easy. If there is one trick to preparing a João Grande perfectly, it's timing! Try to have everything ready at relatively the same time. Keep that in mind when you're preparing the components!

Ready your fries for cooking. If you fry them (better-tasting) have your frying rig ready and hot. If you're baking them (healthier), preheat your oven. Time your fries to be ready just after the chourico and rolls are done.

Place two large skillets over medium heat. In skillet number one, add your olive oil. When the oil begins to shimmer add the chourico and cook, stirring occasionally.

While the chourico is cooking. Butter the inside surfaces of the rolls and place them one at a time (buttered side down) on the second skillet grill until they are well toasted. You may want to use a small plate to push them down a bit on the hot skillet surface.

Continue cooking the chourico stirring occasionally until the edges of the chourico begin to brown or even blacken a little. Remove from heat, immediately add the french fries, pimenta salgada and hot pepper rings (to taste) and toss together well.

Overfill the buttered and toasted rolls with the chourico, french fries and pepper mixture and serve plated with the extra french fries. Offer the Tabasco Sauce or the Piri-piri as condiments.

Couple these with giant mugs of extra-cold beer and make some friends!

Morcella Especial

Morcella (say "muh-sal-uh") is the Portuguese version of the blood puddings or blood sausages that show up in just about every major cultural cuisine. "Boudin Noir" to the French, "Black Pudding" to our British friends, "Blutwurst" to the Germans, "Soondae" to the Koreans and known by many other names to people from many other cultures. The stuff is universal.

I'm not going to pull punches here. It's made from blood and that tends to put people off. Even people who'll eat the rarest of rare meat will pass on morcella and its international kin. It is kind of an acquired taste. Most people I know that eat it started doing so as children and ended up liking it long before they learned what it was. Some, once they learned what it was, stopped eating it. Bummahs for them!

My earliest memories of morcella are the sandwiches my dad and mom used to make, or how my Portuguese grandmother used to mix it with scrambled eggs for breakfast. The latter I enjoyed again for breakfast when I was in the Azores in 2004 and it was still damn good!

Recently, the good people at Mello's Chourico in Fall River, MA asked me to come up with some recipes for their fine line of Portuguese sausage products. While anyone who reads Chop Onions, Boil Water knows, doing anything with chourico is easy because EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH CHOURICO! Morcella presents a little more of a challenge.

So I did a little research on all the different international types of blood sausage (as evidenced in the introductory paragraph of this entry) and came up with a number of recipes to work from. For my first morcella recipe on Chop Onions, Boil Water I chose a traditional French preparation but of course used Portuguese blood sausage instead of boudin noir.

The result? It is delicious! That's not just my opinion but also my wife Michelle's. Prior to eating this dish, she was NOT a fan of morcella but Morcella Especial made a believer of her. She liked it a lot. So did my mom, who proclaimed it the "Best morcella ever!"

Why is it good? It's all about the green apples. They balance and harmonize with the flavor of the morcella to create something really delicious and different. In fact, if you're a little evil, you might even serve this without telling anyone what it is and fool more than a few people. In doing so, you could make some people angry, but hey that's a risk you take. One can have too many friends!

Try it friends, you'll be surprised!

Morcella Especial

1/2 morcella link (7 or 8 ozs.)
2 large tart green apples (cored, peeled and sliced into 12ths)
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes (peeled and sliced thin)
4 tablespoons sweet butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tbs fresh parsley (chopped)

Place the morcella in the freezer at least an hour before you are going to need it. This allows it to harden and makes it much easier to peel and slice.

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

Place a cast iron (or suitable facsimile) 10" skillet on a medium-high flame. Add 1 tablespoon of the sweet butter, allow it to melt and spread it around the pan. Immediately add the apple slices and sauté, turning frequently, until the edges of the apples begin to caramelize. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until tender (about 15 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a second skillet melt the remaining 3 tablespoons sweet butter over medium-high heat. Add the potato slices and fry, turning frequently, until they are golden on both sides. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour them over the baking apples.

Quickly deglaze the potato pan with the 1/4 cup of wine. Stir continually until the liquid is almost completely reduced, then pour the resulting liquid over the potato and apple mixture. Place the apple and potato mixture back in the oven and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes.

While the potatoes and apples are baking, remove the frozen morcella from the freezer. Slice the link shallowly along its length and peel off and discard the skin. Slice the morcella in 1/8" slices and set aside.

When the apple and potato mixture finishes baking remove the pan from the oven and cover the entire apple and potato mixture in a layer of sliced morcella.

Place the mixture back in the oven and bake until lightly browned, crumbly and crispy on top, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve at once to surprised people.

Recipe: Linguini with Chourico and Red Pepper Sauce

It's no secret that I am a fan of the spicy portuguese sausage known as "chourico". Why I am a fan of chourico is no mystery either, it's because chourico is a ubiquitous ingredient in the cuisine of my hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts (where the word chourico is pronounced something like: "SURE-dEESE"). Fall River has a large Azorean Portuguese community and that means we have great Portuguese food. From what I hear, Portuguese people on the island of Saint Michael now consider Fall River the tenth Azorean island. I like that.

So, like I said, chourico is a ubiquitous ingredient in our local cuisine. It is in sandwiches, pies, paired with seafood, a pizza topping, a breakfast side, it is served as an appetizer, a main, it can be used with or in a variety of things. It has even penetrated the most American of feasts: Thanksgiving, where our local variety of turkey stuffing has a good deal of chourico in it. Hell, one of my friends even eats it dipped in chocolate. I prefer to cook mine in a flaming bath of Portuguese moonshine.

That's why, I can't even consider a collection of personal Italian recipes that doesn't include one that uses chourico. This is probably the oldest of the chourico sauce recipes I have. I've been preparing something like this since around 1980. In those days the recipe was basically a marinara with ground chourico in it. I've refined it now and I also add some sweet and crunchy red pepper that works great against the spicy chourico.

If you don't have chourico where you live, I've included a link below where you can get some of the best. Don't be afraid to try a different kind of spicy sausage with this dish. Italian, Cajun or Brazilian sausage will work fine, and while I haven't tried it with Mexican or Spanish chorizo, I'm sure that would work as well.

Linguini with Chourico and Red Pepper Sauce

2 TBS olive oil
3 large links (about 1.5 lbs.) of chourico cut into 1/4" slices
1 large leek (white part only) chopped (substitute onions if you like)
4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 bay leaves
2 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1-2 TBS dried basil
1 healthy pinch of dried oregano
2 cups of chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large red pepper (cut into matchstick sized pieces)
Parmesan-Reggiano cheese (grated)

While you are preparing the sauce as outlined below, cook your linguini the normal way.

Place a large pan or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil to the pan.

When the oil begins to shimmer, add the leeks, bay leaves and chourico and sauté stirring regularly until the leeks get translucent and the chourcio begins to cook and brown a little.

Add the garlic and continue to cook stirring frequently for 1 to 2 minutes. DO NOT BURN THE GARLIC!

Raise the heat to high and deglaze the pan by adding the two cups of chicken broth to the mix. Stir well and be sure to scrape up and hard bits from the pan.

Allow the chicken stock to reduce. When it does, add the two cans of ground tomatoes, the tomato sauce, the basil and the oregano and bring the sauce to a boil. Lower the heat to a low simmer and cook like this for 20 to 30 minutes.

Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.

2-3 minutes before you are ready to serve the sauce, add the red pepper and stir in well. DO NOT OVERCOOK THE RED PEPPER. You want it to remain a little crunchy.

Serve the sauce over your linguini with a generous sprinkle of parmesan-reggiano cheese.

Recipe: Linguini with Chourico and Red Pepper Sauce from Chop Onions, Boil Water - World Food at Home by Henry Krauzyk http://www.choponionsboilwater.com

Recipe: Chourico and Polenta

Today's world food that you can prepare at home comes at you straight out of the Azores via some Italian inspiration. Chourico and Polenta despite its peasant leanings is a visual and taste sensation worthy of a place on the finest of menus.

I originally wrote this recipe the morning after I first made this dish. I usually reserve those times for informally jotting down recipes from the previous night if I've cooked something new. Sometimes there is an advantage of spilling my fresh memories via stream of consciousness, right onto the keyboard. Hell, my editor has to clean up that mess anyway! Since I first made this dish though it has gone through a great deal of tweaking and refinement and while it is a bit complicated, it is well worth the effort.

This dish was originally inspired by a dinner I had at the celebrated Al Forno Restaurant in Providence, RI. I was there celebrating my one-year wedding anniversary, (I highly recommend the restaurant, the food is excellent, especially the grilled pizza). That evening I had delicious homemade Italian sausages served on an onion, celery, carrot and tomato sauce, with an amazingly light polenta. All this was baked to harmonious affect in a casserole dish and served al forno of course! The resulting blend of flavors was subtle, impressive and well balanced. Of course I immediately thought it would have been better with chourico!

Now, I've obviously made some dramatic changes to the original dish. Principally, the sauce had to be more robust to stand up to flavor of the spicy chourico. I did this with the inclusion of a good amount of just-cooked onion and red pepper and the use of a similar but more robust mirepoix-based tomato sauce. The result is a hearty sauce and ingredient combination that complimented not only the chourico's flavor, but texture as well. The crunch of the red pepper and onion matched that of the baked chourico's casing.

As for the polenta, what I write three times is law:

DO NOT BUY PREPARED POLENTA
DO NOT BUY PREPARED POLENTA
DO NOT BUY PREPARED POLENTA

Sure, preparing homemade polenta can be a little labor intensive, but homemade polenta is going to be creamier, lighter and tastier. When you eat this you are going to get bursts of tart and spicy flavors that are pleasantly contrasted by the sweetness of the polenta. The polenta's cool, silky creaminess is also going to contrast with the crunch of the chourico casing and the green peppers.

It's a multi-tasking dish surely, but well worth the effort because it looks so colorful on the plate and the "Circus-comes-to-town" texture and taste experience makes it a home run.

Chourico and Polenta

For the polenta:

6-1/2 cups of water
2-1/2 cups of polenta
2 tsp salt

For the sauce:

2 TBS olive oil
1 carrot (chopped fine)
1 stick of celery (chopped fine)
1 onion (chopped fine)
1 bay leaf
1 cup of dry white wine
2 cups tomatoes (chopped)
1-2 TBS tomato paste
4 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced)
1 TBS parsley (finely chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste.

For the vegetable and chourico mixture:

1 TBS peanut oil
1 red pepper (cut into large 1" dice)
1 large onion (frenched)
1-1/2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
1 lb. (approx) of chourico
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Set the oven to 350°F

While the oven warms prepare the polenta:

In a large pan over high heat bring the 6-1/2 cups of water and 2 tsp of salt to a high boil.

Whisk in the polenta in a slow steady stream. When the polenta begins to thicken switch to a wooden spoon and continue constantly stirring until the polenta begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer the polenta into a large, square glass dish to a depth of 1 inch. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the fridge until it sets (about 1 to 2 hours).

Place the chourico in a lightly oiled oven-proof pan and place it in the oven for about 30 minutes. You'll want to keep an eye on it. You want it to roast so that the skins crisps up nicely without drying out the rest of the sausage. When done remove from the oven and keep warm. Do not shut off the oven.

To prepare the sauce:

Place a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and when it begins to shimmer add the carrot, celery, onions and bay leaf. Sauté well until the vegetables begin to brown.

Add the wine to mixture and deglaze. Allow the wine to boil off and let the mixture thicken.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley and garlic to the mixture and lower to a simmer. Check for, and adjust seasoning.

To prepare the vegetables and chourico:

Warm the polenta in the oven while you prepare and cook the vegetables and chourico.

Slice the chourico into 1/2" thick pieces. Set aside.

Place a large fry pan or wok over high heat. Add one tablespoon of oil and immediately add the red pepper, frenched onion and cherry or grape tomatoes. Cook them stirring frequently. You want them heated and cooked through, but still crunchy. Add the chourico at the end for a few moments to warm it further.

To serve, place the polenta on a plate. Spread some of the sauce over the polenta. Add the vegetable and chourico mixture and then top with a little more sauce. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

Recipe: Chourico and Polenta from Chop Onions, Boil Water - World Food at Home by Henry Krauzyk http://www.choponionsboilwater.com

Recipe: Portuguese Roasted Chourico and Potatoes

Today my world food for the home kitchen comes from the island of Saint Michael in the Azores by way of the large Portuguese communities of Southern New England.

This is an adaptation of a recipe that has become quite famous amongst my group of friends. Each year on the hottest day of the year (don't ask me how they continually accomplish this, but they do), the good folks of Saint Michael's parish on the North side of Fall River, Massachusetts throw their annual Portuguese feast or "fashtah" as we like to call it. This feast celebrates the Archangel Michael, the soldier angel that cast Satan into the fiery pit of hell. He's the only non-human saint, did you know that? I did, weird huh?

Anyway, the highpoint of the feast is not the parade (even though Mr. Raposo marches in it as one of the parish's elite), nor is it the many games or flower petal-decorated streets, it is not even the "carne espit" which is seasoned meat roasted on long metal skewers. No, the high point of the feast is the Portuguese dinner we have at the Raposo's house each year.

Space prohibits me from listing every delectable dish that we are presented with but standouts include Portuguese beef, braised quail, pork and clams, sweet rice, octopus stew and much, much more. Consensus among my many friends however decrees that principal and chief among the multitude of great dishes is Mrs. Raposo's roasted chourico and potatoes. It is a dish of simple and delicious perfection. It is always a topic of conversation at the table that day or on any other day of the year when someone cares to bring it up. It is worthy of an expenditure on great wine and good bread to enjoy along with it. It is one of those great food stuffs that though it is of simple ingredients, the finished product is sublime. It is a transcendent food. Below, you will find my adaptation of this recipe.

Chourico, in case you are not familiar with it, is a spicy Portuguese pork sausage. Similar to Spanish chorizo, but different enough to make a difference. Of course, you can make this dish with just about any similar spicy sausage, but if you can source it, I highly recommend chourico. It's a head-spinning delicious dish with it and you can even order it here.

Portuguese Roasted Chourico & Potatoes

2-1/2 to 3 lbs egg-sized potatoes (peeled)
3/4 cup peanut oil
2 tsp of Portuguese paprika (colourau)
1 cup white wine
2 medium sized onions (chopped)
6 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 bay leaves
Chicken broth
2 Tbs tomato paste
4 links of chourico (about 2 lbs)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 500°F.

Peel the potatoes and place them in a bowl of water while you prepare the other ingredients.

Mix the paprika in the peanut oil, blend it well. Set aside.

In a roasting pan (I use a 9" x 13" x 2" Pyrex), add the wine, onions, garlic, bay leaves and tomato paste. Be sure to blend all the ingredients well.

Space out the chourico links in the the roasting pan, then the potatoes equally around and between them.

Drizzle all of the peanut oil/paprika mixture over the potatoes.

Add as much chicken broth as needed until the liquid just over half covers the potatoes.

Place it in the oven until it reaches a boil. Then reduce the temperature to 350°F and continue cooking another 30 minutes.

Turn the potatoes and chourico over, then replace the pan in the oven and continue cooking another 15 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Remove from the oven allow to cool for 5 minutes. Then cut up chourico and return to pan. Coat all in the juices.

Serve with a hearty red wine and a good crusty bread.

Recipe: Portuguese Chourico and Potatoes from Chop Onions, Boil Water by Henry Krauzyk
http://www.choponionsboilwater.com

Recipe: Bolos Levedos Acorianos (Portuguese Sweet Muffins or Portuguese Pancakes)

Okay, allow me to let you in on a little secret. Big, snazzy New York City burger joints are scoring high praise and big dollars with their burgers that are gently nestled in Portuguese rolls that are shipped in from my hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts. Of course they're using good beef, but what is really setting these burgers apart are the Portuguese sweet muffins. I blogged about it a little while back, you can find that post here.

The people from the South Coast towns of Massachusetts and Rhode Island have always enjoyed these rolls and they're available in most markets. We call them Portuguese sweet muffins or Portuguese pancakes, but their real name is "bolos levedos" (sounds like "bhoulzsh levezsh"). Of the varieties you get in the market, some are good and some could be better. The best ones I ever had is when I visited the town of Furnas on Saint Michael in the Azores. Now those bolos levedos are something. Larger and more tender than the American variety and just a little more special. It could of course be the locale, but I'm also betting on the Portuguese butter and a few other things.

We always have a supply in my house. We use them for breakfast sandwiches, hamburgers, fish sandwiches or just toasted with some butter or guava jelly. Recently, I decided I wanted to make them for myself and set out to do so. I wanted something closer to what I got in Saint Michael and I'm certain I was able to do that. I found the recipe I based mine on on a Portuguese cooking website. With the help of a good friend and her mom whom are both fluent in Portuguese I was able to translate the instructions and recipe amounts. I made some pretty big adjustments and got exactly what I was looking for. So now I can make my own bolos levedos Acorianos and anyone out there who really wants them can have the best hamburger buns in the world. These things are addictive, you've been warned.

Bolos Levedos Acorianos

1/2 cup whole milk (70-80°F)
1/2 cup + 1 TBS sugar
2-1/2 tsp instant yeast
4-1/3 cups unbleached bread flour
2 eggs (beaten)
9 TBS sweet butter (softened)
1/2 tsp zest of lemon (grated then minced fine)
2 TBS vodka (if you can get Portuguese moonshine use that, but I imagine everyone can't get it like we can!)
1/8 tsp salt
A little water as necessary.

Mix the instant yeast into the warm milk and set aside.

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl.

Form a well in the middle of the flour/sugar combination add the milk/yeast combination and mix it in a little. Add the eggs, butter, lemon zest, vodka and salt. Mix together until it forms a rough dough ball. If you need to add a few drops of water to make it gather into a ball, do so in small increments. Once the ball forms, cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. This allows the dough to hydrate evenly.

Turn the dough ball out on to a floured surface and knead for 12 minutes. If you need instruction on kneading refer to the instructions on kneading in the homemade naan recipe here.

After kneading cover the dough with plastic film and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Gently form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled container that will allow it to increase to twice its size. Press the dough down gently and then cover with the container cover or plastic wrap. Mark the container with tape where the dough is and allow it to rise to twice its size (30 minutes to 4 hours).

Turn the dough back out onto your floured surface and divide in to 9 equal sized pieces. Gently form each piece into a smooth ball and cover with plastic wrap and let rest 15 minutes.

Pat each ball into flat patty. Let rest 15 minutes covered with plastic wrap.

Place a comal or flat griddle over medium-low flame and allow it to heat up.

Flatten and expand each piece of dough again. Let rest 15 minutes or more covered with plastic wrap. You want it to rise a little bit again.

When they are ready, place a patty on the heated comal or griddle. Cook it SLOWLY on medium-low heat, or the outside will burn before the inside is cooked properly. Turn over when nicely browned, remove when evenly browned on both sides and cooked through. It'll take a little testing at first but is easy once you sort it out. Eventually, if your comal or griddle are large enough you can cook four at a time.

You now make the best hamburger or fish sandwich buns in the world. You can also use them for breakfast by splitting them, buttering them and toasting them on a comal or griddle. Add your favorite jelly. My wife toasts them this way and then makes a sandwich of fried egg whites, cheese and split sausages. Those things are great!

Bolos Levedoes are very versatile and can be used a number of ways!

Recipe: Bolos Levedos Acorianos from Chop Onions, Boil Water by Henry Krauzyk