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: German Potato Salad

Every year I throw an Oktoberfest party. I'm not German and I'm not particularly fond of a lot of German food, but I love Autumn and I can appreciate getting together with friends, eating all kinds of sausage and tipping back big draft beers from a nice stein. Which leads me right to Hawaii 1986.

I was staying at my popular Brady Bunch refuge the Sheraton Waikiki. In front of the hotel lies the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Mall. It's a pretty nice mall. Its first level stores are occupied by overpriced outlets and the kind of jewelry stores that advertise quality and tradition, but really just sell status. Well, if status could be bought, but I'm getting too political. The second and third levels over the years have seen a number of shops and restaurants come and go. In 1986 there was a German restaurant on the 3rd level. I do not remember the name of the place, I do not remember the interior, I do not remember anything of what I ate except for the potato salad.

I am not even really qualified to judge potato salad as I'm not an especially big fan of it. In fact the first time I ever had a warm potato salad was that night. The recipe below isn't even for the potato salad I had that night. I did ask for it though. Yeah, I've got big balls. The server excused himself and went in the kitchen and returned to the kitchen door with the chef a few moments later. They kind of looked me over for a moment and disappeared back into the kitchen. A short time later my server returned to say "I am sorry but the chef doesn't want to give it to you."

I often wonder why I didn't get the recipe. I mean the chef must have considered it. He came to have a look at me to size me up and perhaps my motives. Did I not get it because I look like some kind of spy in the German restaurant world? I don't know. Maybe he didn't want to give up the recipe because it was remarkable. Maybe I instinctively knew what he knew all the time, that this was the best damn German potato salad in the world! Or not.

In the end it was all moot. They were out of business by the next year and I forgot about him until my 2003 Oktoberfest party. Along with all the sausages and beer I wanted to have a nice warm German potato salad to offer my guests. I found one on line and monkeyed with it and produced the recipe to the right. I really like it and so do my guests.

I wish that bastard would have come across with his recipe though.

German Potato Salad

3 lbs of potatoes cut into 1" cubes
1/2 cup of chopped onion
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 olive oil
1/2 cup of cider vinegar
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs dried parsley
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the cubed potatoes and cook until tender while still firm.

Drain the potatoes and then place them in a large bowl. Carefully mix in the onions until well blended.

In another bowl add the mayonnaise, oil, vinegar, sugar, parsley flakes, salt and pepper. Mix these ingredients together until well blended.

Carefully fold the liquid mixture into the potatoes and onions.

Let set for 1-2 hours before serving.

Adjust seasoning to your taste.

German Potato Salad by Henry Krauzyk, Chop Onions, Boil Water

Recipe: Sweet Potato Pie

Much like the Brady Bunch influenced my lodging decisions in Hawaii, a host of 1970’s African American-based television sitcoms influenced my first venture into piedom (pausing for your laughter). I cannot count the times I heard the characters of various shows praise the promise of a sweet potato pie! Strange huh?

Mostly, it was out of odd curiosity. I remember thinking “ugh, how good can a pie made from potatoes be?” So, a number of years later that curiosity and wonder got the best of me and I decided to see for myself. I am here to tell you their praise was justified because sweet potato pie is (clap) DY-NA-MITE! Its flavor hovers somewhere in the area of pumpkin and squash pies, but in my opinion it offers subtle complex nuances and just a better overall taste.

I’m not the only one who thinks this either. The first pies I ever made were sweet potato pies, a few of these made their way to my parents home, and since then it has become a Thanksgiving tradition. My mom insists that I bring them, and it seems no one else objects either, especially my wife who insists I make a few for home as well. There’s nothing like a cool slice o’ sweet tater pie and some fresh whipped cream to top off a holiday meal.

Interestingly enough, during my various trips to Hawaii, I was introduced to a purple sweet potato. In the future I’d like to try making a pie from it. The idea of a purple dessert intrigues me (stay tuned). Anyway, there’s no secret to baking this masterpiece, if I had to add anything I’d offer that you should mash and whip the potatoes to a silky smoothness and also, after cooking, let the pies cure in the fridge overnight.

Sweet Potato Pie

1-1/4 lbs Sweet Potatoes (approx. 2)
1/2 stick unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
3/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 Tbs dark rum
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Prick the sweet potatoes with a fork and roast them on a shallow baking pan in the middle of the oven until VERY tender. Allow to cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 400°F.

Remove the flesh from the sweet potatoes and thoroughly mash them until smooth.

Melt the butter in a small pan and slowly stir in the sugar.

When the sugar melts stir in vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum, salt and flour.

When thoroughly mixed add butter/spice combination, milk and eggs to mashed sweet potatoes. Mix well. Pour the mix into the pie shell.

Move pie into the oven and bake until the filling rises and just sets. Remove from oven and allow pie to cool before serving topped with whip cream.

Recipe: Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Well for my first post I figured I'd post a recipe. Something useful and perhaps universal. Mashed potatoes work!

There are all kinds of mashed potatoes folks and they all have their place in specific aspects of my dining choices. I have my favorite instant mashed potatoes, my favorite Thanksgiving mashed potatoes, my favorite on-top-of-shepherds-pie mashed potatoes and yes, even my favorite frozen dinner mashed potatoes.
(Right now there are other guys out there thinking “You know what? Me too!”).

Well, the recipe below represents my favorite barbecued food mashed potatoes. This recipe was not that easy to come across or tweak to get it to where I like it. Fortunately, I just kept plugging away and now I’ve got my perfect taters for a barbecue feast.

You’re going to notice that they’re not the lowest calorie recipe you’re going to come across, but they are going to be some of the best tasting. Besides, when you’re busy sucking the last bits of barbecue sauce off a rib, are you really thinking about fat and cholesterol anyway?

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

1 head of garlic
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 Tbs olive oil
2-1/2 pounds red-skinned potatoes
(unpeeled, cut into 1-inch pieces)
3/4 cup whipping cream
4 Tbs sour cream

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Cut the top 1/4 inch off head of garlic to expose tops of cloves. Place on top of a sheet of foil. Spoon oil over, sprinkle with salt and pepper and wrap tightly in the foil. Bake until garlic cloves are tender, about 45 minutes.
Squeeze garlic cloves from skins into a small bowl, add butter and mash together thoroughly.

Cook potatoes in heavy large pot of boiling salted water until tender (about 18 minutes).

Drain potatoes, return to pot. Stir over low heat to allow excess water to evaporate. Add whipping cream, sour cream, and roasted garlic butter and mash together. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I often add a 1/4 cup of chopped chives or chopped fresh parsley.

You want to make some “champ”? Slice some collared greens into strips, boil them until tender and fold them into the garlic mashed potatoes instead of the chives and parsley. Put ‘em in a bowl and sit out on your front porch with your dog, eat ‘em up and play your banjo!