Polvo à Lagareiro - Homemade

Polvo à Lagareiro(roasted octopus) it's a traditional portuguese recipe, it's easy to make and fast preparation. Below is my latest attempt and I must say it was quite tasteful.
You can get frozen octopus in almost all supermarkets, but sometimes they inject so much water in it that shrinks a lot when cooked, this time I tried "Pingo Doce" supermarket and I was very please with the size and flavour.

Ingredients:
- For 3 meals, ~15 Euros
- 1 red pepper(the vegetable, not the spice)
- Garlic
- 1 Kg frozen octopus
- Small potatoes(the dark red ones for roasting)
- Olive oil
- Spices: black pepper(pt: pimenta preta), salt, bay leaf(pt: louro).

Preparation:
Pre heat the oven to ~200º C.
Defrost the octopus in hot water.
Cover the bottom of a large oven tray with olive oil and put 2 bay leafs, the smashed garlics, the octopus(cut the legs from the head), the potatoes and the sliced red pepper, spray with salt and black pepper.
Put in the oven for ~1 Hour, around 30 minutes check to see if the octopus released too much water, if so, remove almost all and put a bit more olive oil.
Poke the octopus and the potatoes with a fork to see if they are tender, serve with Broa(a traditional portuguese corn bread) and voilá! Bon apetit!

The wine:
You can go with the white or red wine, try the "Encosta de Pias" red for ~2 Euros, it's a simple wine with a good quality/price ratio. If you prefer the white wine go for the "Loios" for ~3 Euros.

Couscous - Homemade

The other day my girl made me Couscous for dinner, I really enjoied it so I decided to add the recipe to the blog.

Being a north African dish, you can expect a rich and exotic flavour with lots of spices, usually couscous is made with lamb, but this time she made it with chicken(good alternative if you don't like lamb).

The best place in Lisbon to get spices and other strange ingredients is Martim Moniz mall and surroundings, located near Rossio, you can find stuff mostly from Africa, India and China. You can buy most ingredients in your local market.

Ingredients:

- 1 red/green pepper(the vegetable, not the spice)

- 1 onion

- Garlic

- Chicken or Lamb

- Potatoes

- Carrots

- Chilli peppers(optional, hot)

- Olive oil

- Spices: cinnamon(pt: canela), cumin(pt: cuminhos), black pepper(pt: pimenta preta).

- Couscous

The meat:

Get a large pan or a wok and pour a bit of olive oil, when hot add the onion(chopped) the red/green pepper(chopped) the chilli peppers(chopped) and the meat in small pieces, fry until the meat is cooked, add the salt, chopped garlic and a teaspoon of black pepper and cinnamon (if you like cumin pour just a bit) and stir for a few more minutes.

The vegetables:

Put the small unpeeled potatoes and sliced carrots(you can add other vegetables that you like) on a recipient(oven resistant), spray the with olive oil and salt, and put it in the preheated oven, remove it when the vegetables are cooked(stick them with a fork to see if they are tender).

The couscous:

Although it is the dish name, it is actually the small wheat semolina grains that accompany the rest.

You can buy it simple or already with spices and other stuff, my advice is to get them already prepared and cook them following the instructions in the box.

For cooking the simple just google it because I really don't know how :P

The wine:

Being in Portugal, you can get very good wine for a very low price, and you can find it in your local market or grocery shop. For this dish I advise a 2 ~4 Euros red wine: "Fontanário de Pegões", "Loios", "Quinta de Cabriz" or "Quinta da Esperança".

After everything is ready just get a large dish and add everything and serve! voilà! Enjoy.