Fried Cornmeal (Milho Frito)

Milho Frito is one of the most traditional dishes in Madeiran cuisine. They are deep fried cornmeal based treats filled with kale and other typical seasonings. They have unbelievable flavor and are perfect when being served on their own or typically as a side dish to meat skewers.

Ingredients:
1 cup white corn meal
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cube chicken broth
4 kale leaves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups water
Vegetable oil for frying

Directions:
1) In a saucepan on high heat, add the garlic and olive oil.
2) Let it cook for a minute and then add the water, chicken broth, and corn meal. Mix until the corn meal is totally dissolved.
3) Add the salt and kale and stir consistently until the water is boiling.
4) Turn the heat to low and let it cook for about half an hour while stirring occasionally until the cornmeal thickens.
5) Once thickened, pour the mixture into a greased and flat bottomed dish. Let the mixture rest for 2 hours.
6) Now cut the corn meal into squares and begin to fry them in a deep frying pan on high heat with vegetable oil.
7) Fry them a couple at a time until they are golden brown and then once they are done place them on a platter with papers towels to dry.
8) Once they are all done, let them cool for 5 minutes and serve immediately.

Dreams

Dreams, or Sonhos, are fried cakes which resemble small distorted doughnuts but much lighter in texture. There are many variations on the theme all over Portugal. Generally speaking, fried cakes are intended for the Christmas season, but in Madeira sonhos are prepared during the Carnival as well.

Ingredients

1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
Pinch of salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Confectioner’s sugar
Cinnamon

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to form a ball. Take the pan off the heat and place it in the sink half filled with water.

2. After cooling the mixture a bit, beat in the eggs, one by one. Continue beating to aerate the dough. When ready, deep-fry spoonfuls of the dough in hot oil (360°F/180°C) until golden. Remove and drain on paper towels.

3. To serve, sprinkle the sonhos with a mixture of confectioner’s sugar and cinnamon. Serve warm.

Christmas Fruitcake

Ingredients:

·      6 oz dried pruneschopped

·      6 oz dates chopped

·      8 oz dark raisins

·      6 oz golden raisins

·      6 oz currents

·      ¾ cup butter

·      1 cup dark brown sugar

·      ¾ cup molasses

·      ½ cup coffee liqueuror ½ cup strong black coffee

·      Zest and juice of 2 oranges

·      8 oz glace cherries

·      8 oz candied citrus peel

·      8 oz toasted pecans roughly chopped

·      2 tsp allspice

·      2 tsp cinnamon

·      2 tsp powdered ginger

·      1 tsp cloves

·      2 tsp nutmeg

·      3 tbsp cocoa

·      3 eggs

·      1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

·      ½ cup ground hazelnuts or almonds

·      ½ tsp baking powder

·      ½ tsp baking soda

Instructions:

1.   In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat and add the raisins, dates, prunes, currents, brown sugar, molasses, spices, coffee liqueur (or coffee) and the orange zest and juice.

2.   Bring to a gentle boil and very slowly simmer for 10 minutes.

3.   Remove from heat and allow to cool for 30-45 minutes.

4.   When cool stir in the beaten eggs.

5.   Sift together, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda.

6.   Add the ground nuts and fold through the boiled mixture. Fold in cherries, citrus peel and pecans. Pour into prepared baking pan. You can decorate the top with additional pecan halves, cherries etc., if you like.

7.   Bake at 300 degrees F for 1 ½ to 2 hours depending upon the size of your pan. Mine took the full two hours in a 10 inch spring form pan.The cake should feel firm to the touch at the center and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. The cake should be cooled completely in the pan on a wire rack before removing.

8.   At this point you can poke small holes in the top and bottom of the cake with a fork and pour on 4 ounces of dark rum or your favorite whiskey, half on the top, wait ten minutes, then flip it over and pour the remaining half on the bottom.

9.   Soak several layers of cheesecloth in additional rum if you like and wrap completely around the cake, then cover with several layers of plastic wrap and store in a COOL place.

10.     When serving, you can add a layer of marzipan or if you have decorated the top with fruit and nuts, brush with a simple glaze of equal parts water and sugar boiled together for about 10-15 minutes.

 

Buttered Rum Christmas Cake

Serves 15-20

 

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

225g light muscovado sugar

4 large eggs, beaten

225g plain flour

2 tsp ground mixed spice

zest 1 small orange

85 pecans or walnuts, toasted, then roughly chopped

 

For the fruit

150ml cloudy apple juice

50g unsalted butter

2 tbsp maple syrup

5 tbsp dark rum

800g mixed dried fruit (the kind that includes mixed peel)

175g dried cranberries 

2 tbsp dark rum

1 tbsp maple syrup

Preparation:

1.    Start with the fruit. Pour the apple juice into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the butter, let it melt, then take off the heat and add the syrup and rum. Put the mixed fruit and cranberries into a large bowl, pour over the hot rum mix, then cover tightly with cling film and leave overnight.

2.    The next day, heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and double-line a 20cm round, deep cake tin with non-stick baking parchment. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and pale, then gradually beat in the eggs until light and fluffy. If the mix starts to split or look lumpy, add 1 tbsp of the flour and keep beating. Sift in the flour, spices and 1/4 tsp salt, and fold in using a large spoon. Fold in the orange zest, nuts, soaked fruit and soaking liquid.

3.    Spoon the batter into the tin, level the top, then make a slight dimple in the middle using the back of the spoon. Bake for 1 hr 30 mins, then reduce oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1 and bake for a further 1 hr 45 mins or until it has risen, is a dark golden colour and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Put the tin on a cooling rack and leave until warm.

4.    To feed the cake the first time, use a cocktail stick to poke all over the top of the warm cake. Stir together the rum and maple syrup, then slowly spoon over the cake. Cool completely, then remove the baking parchment, wrap loosely in clean baking parchment and store in an airtight tin. Feed the cake every week to 10 days until you decorate it.

5.    To cover, ice and decorate your cake, see 'goes well with' for instructions on how to make our Midwinter candle cake, Sparkly bauble cake or Sparkling snowfetti cake.

Filet Mignon with Mushrooms and Madeira

Note: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

·         3 tablespoons butter

·         2 tablespoons olive oil

·         12 ounces button mushrooms, thinly sliced

·         1/2 cup minced shallots (about 3)

·         4 garlic cloves, minced

·         1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

·         4 5-ounce filet mignon steaks (each about 3/4 inch thick)

·         1/2 cup Madeira

·         1 1/2 cups canned beef broth

·         1/2 cup whipping cream

Preparation

1.    Melt 2 tablespoons butter with 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add 1/4 cup shallots and half of garlic and sauté until shallots are soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in thyme; season with salt and pepper. Transfer mushroom mixture to medium bowl.

2.    Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Add to skillet and cook to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer steaks to plate. Add remaining 1/4 cup shallots and garlic to same skillet. Sauté 2 minutes. Add Madeira and boil until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add broth and boil until mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup, about 6 minutes. Add cream and boil until sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Stir in mushroom mixture. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Return steaks to skillet and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Transfer to plates. Spoon sauce over and serve.

Passion Fruit Pudding

Ingredients

1 litre cream                                                        

400g passion fruit pulp (about 8-10 passion fruit)

1 tin condensed milk 397g                              

8 leaves of gelatin

Preparation

Mix the cream, condensed milk and passion fruit in a bowl. Melt the gelatin in a bowl with a cup of warm water, add each leaf one at a time. Once the gelatin is liquid you can add to the cream mixture stirring it well in. Pour the mixture into a large bowl or 8-10 individual ice cream bowls, and leave in the fridge for about 4 hours till set. You can also leave some of the passion fruit to the side just to put a little on the top once set.

You can use this method with any other fruit pulp, just replace the passion fruit. Raspberries, strawberries, mango all work well, just pulp the fruit down.

Flower Cake

What better way to celebrate the Madeira Flower Festival than by baking a delicious Flower cake. That’s right, this classic white cake comes out very moist with a delicate chewy texture that everyone will love. The buttercream is made with a meringue which is the most stable type of meringue and is used to make frozen desserts and soufflés. This is a two layer cake. If you wish to have a three or four layer cake, make an additional cake layer. When choosing edible flowers make sure they are organic.

Ingredients:

Cake:

1/2 cup whole organic milk
3 organic egg whites
1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons organic cake flour
3/4 cup organic sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 ounces organic sweet butter, plus a little extra about 1/2 ounce to grease cake pan

Buttercream:

1 pound sweet organic butter at room temperature or soft
1 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup filtered water
5 organic egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 tablespoon dark rum or another liquor of your choice
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

30-40 edible organic geraniums (or other edible organic flowers of your choice) for decorating top of cake plus additional petals to put around bottom of cake. To see a list of edible flowers go to article “Edible Flowers For Your Garden”.

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°

Grease a 9 inch cake pan with removable bottom with one once of butter and cover bottom with parchment paper. Grease parchment paper and dust with 2 tablespoons of cake flour.

Mix wet ingredients: milk, egg whites and extracts in a medium bowl with a fork and set aside.

In a bowl of a heavy duty electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 1 cup of flour, sugar, baking powder and salt on slow speed. Add butter and continue to beat on slow speed until the mixture resembles moist crumbs. Do not over beat because mixture will then become too moist.

Add 1/2 cup of milk mixture to the moist crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes (please follow time guidelines; otherwise if the batter gets overworked, it becomes rubbery). Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds longer. Stop mixer and scrape down sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium speed and beat an additional 20 seconds.

Pour batter into prepared pan and level top with offset spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick when inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

When cake is done baking, let cake rest in pan for about 3-4 minutes. In the meantime grease a cake rack. Invert cake onto greased cake rack, invert again and let cool completely about 1 1/2 hours.

To make buttercream:

In a heavy duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat butter until it is of spreading consistency, soft and smooth. Scrape butter onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and wrap and set aside until needed.

Bring 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup filtered water to a simmer in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and sugar has dissolved. Do not stir otherwise crystals will form in the mixture.

Once sugar has dissolved, brush down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water and repeat as needed. Increase heat and using a candy thermometer bring mixture to 248°- 250° – firm ball stage. It can take up to 30 minutes to reach this point.

In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy and add the cream of tarter. Beat until soft peaks form. Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until whites are glossy and firm.

Slowly pour the sugar mixture in a steady stream into the meringue keeping the stream between the bowl and the whisk so the mixture is not splattered by the turning whisk. Whip until the mixture has cooled to room temperature. This could take about 15-20 minutes. You can tell it is cool by touching the bowl of the mixture (if you do not let the mixture cool, the butter will melt when added to the meringue and you don’t want that). Mixture will look like marshmallow cream.

Add softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time to cooled meringue. Keep mixing after the last tablespoon of butter has been added and buttercream is perfectly smooth. Add the rum or chosen liquor and vanilla and beat to blend.

Use buttercream immediately or keep cool in the refrigerator until ready to use. Buttercream must be tightly covered and can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days or in the freezer for one month. Make sure there are not any strong odors in your refrigerator as buttercream can easily pick up strong odors which will taint your flavor. To bring buttercream to room temperature when ready to use, beat in a heavy duty mixer with the paddle attachment to bring back its smoothness. If buttercream looks curdled do not worry. Keep beating as its smooth consistency will come back.

Constructing the Cake:

Put the cake on a turntable or a cake plate set on a Lazy-Susan so you can rotate the cake as you cut it. Mark the middle of the cake at 2-3 inch intervals around the cake with tooth picks. These tooth picks will be your cutting guide. Using a serrated knife, hold it against the cake and toothpicks and gently rotate the cake allowing the knife to create a guide around the cake which becomes your marker for where to cut. Insert the knife at your midway marker point you just created and cut the cake using a sawing motion while rotating the cake; this will create even layers.

Place one cake layer cut side up on your cake plate. Dollop 1/3rd of the buttercream on top of the cake layer. Using an offset spatula, neatly spread and smooth buttercream across the top of the cake layer and down the sides (the sides do not need to be perfect as you will do this in the end, but do create a smooth even top layer). Place second layer of cake on top of first cake round covered in buttercream. Dollop remaining buttercream on top of cake and smooth over cake and sides with your offset spatula. This is where you can get creative making inspired patterns with your spatula. Once buttercream is smooth and you are happy with the texture, place edible geranium flowers (or other edible flowers of your choice) around the cake starting with the edge of the cake and working towards the center. Once the top of the cake is covered place loose petals around the base of the cake.

Tangerine Liqueur

Ingredients:

1 l sugar cane rum
1 l water
1kg sugar
Rinds of 6/7 tangerines (large and ripe)

Preparation:

Finely cut the tangerine rind, with no white so as to not be bitter. Steep the rinds in thesugar cane rum for 15 days. Once the steeping time has passed, add water and sugar and heat to make simple syrup. Add simple syrup to the sugar cane rum, removing rinds andfiltering the liqueur. It is now ready to serve.

Family Cake

Ingredients:

500 g flour
500 g sugar
250 g butter
125 g lard
6 teaspoons of sugar cane molasses
Ground cinnamon, to taste
Nutmeg, to taste
Lemon zest
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 L milk
1 wine glass of Sweet Madeira wine
6 eggs
Dried fruit (raisins, nuts, etc.)

Preparation:

Mix well all the ingredients. Pour in a greased pan and bake in a very hot oven.

Secret: the drier the fruit, the longer the cake lasts, up to 5 days. This cake is initially beaten vigorously by hand.

Cabbage Soup

Cabbage soup is a well-known dish in the north of Madeira, especially in the parish of São Roque do Faial.
Locals of this parish have always dedicated themselves to agriculture. It’s not surprising then that  most of their daily diet is made up of vegetables, especially green sprouts. 

Ingredients:

1 green cabbage
0.5 kg pumpkin
250 g of potatoes
350 g of sweet potatoes
300 g of salted pork
1 handful of savory
2 carrots
pasta (as needed)

Preparation:

Add half pot of water in a pot and bring it to a boil.

Add all the ingredients into the pot and allow it to cook until the vegetables are tender. This usually takes up to an hour, unless you use a steam pot in which case a quarter of an hour would be just right.