My Portuguese Family and a Sopa Recipe!

My hubby is the 5th and final child of a woman who belongs to a very large Portuguese family.

Bodega Bay

Last weekend all the siblings and their spouses got together in Bodega Bay, to celebrate the 91st birthday of their lovely mother, Isabel.

Our first night brought us all together at the dining table for a dinner, Portuguese Style!

We all brought Portuguese dishes, and indulged in Portuguese wine. And we had the best view!

We played a game where we guessed Portuguese words, pulled out old photos, and looked through an updated book of the family history.

Fava Bean Crostini

Salt Cod Balls

It was a very fun night with good food, free flowing wine, and wonderful company. I love these family parties!

Acorda de Mariscos or "Dry" Shrimp Soup

Turning to the internet for a Portuguese recipe that I could bring, I had a few ideas rattling around in my noggin. When discussing them with The Hubby, he informed me that he would like to take Sopas. When he was younger, he always had them at the Portuguese Festivals that his dad would take him to.

I hate when he puts a kink in my planning but this time I was glad he did.

I have only made them once before but I never really got to taste them. You see, right before that dinner, I had a gall bladder attach and I never made it to the dinner table that night. So I was a little intimidated to make these for a family who all knew what they were suppose to taste like, when I had no clue.

Sopa is a Portuguese soup that is poured over a thick slice of day old bread and served with fresh mint. Tomato based, it’s flavored with the warm spices of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and cumin. Except in upscale restraints, beef in Portugal is not of the very best quality and is usually shoe leather tough; at least according to the cookbook,  The Food of Portugal. Most of the country’s people actually prefer pork, chicken, and seafood. My recipe, made with beef chuck, it simmers on the stove for about 3, maybe 4 hours until tender, and it makes the house smell like a home!

Sopa de Bife

I pulled from two different recipes and came up with my own! A little bit thicker then the original sopas that the family remembers, but a little beef broth to thin it could have fixed that. But my family liked it just the way it was.

Queijadas de Sintra

Of course no dinner party is complete unless there is dessert. We had plenty.

My favorite? The Queijadas!

The Queijadas de Sintra is a cheese tart that was initially sold by street vendors in Sintra, a lush little town about 15 miles from Lisbon, Portugal. Originally, they were bite size tarts made with Queijo fresco, a smooth white sheep milk cheese that’s unavailable here in the states, but this recipe uses a fresh mozzarella. You would never even know there was cheese in this tart. It was unbelievably good. My SIL let me borrow her cookbook so I have the recipe and I cant wait to make it!

Here’s the recipe for Sopas. Think you want the Queijadas recipe???

The End!