A Time to Share

Since the wedding, we have been asked quite a bit about the food so Shannon and I thought we would post a selection of the recipes we used to cater out rehearsal dinner and wedding. The first is our black bean recipe. The only difference to the recipe is the fact that we did not use chorizo or a ham hock due to the fact we had vegetarians present. We also used canned beans instead of soaking dried beans (which I prefer). When using the sherry, if you use cream sherry, you may want to adjust the sugar a little so it will not be too sweet. Now, I have always wanted to try making the sofrito first and then cooking the beans and sofrito in a slow cooker for at least a day. I have the feeling that they may achieve and ethereal flavor cooking low and slow.

Click on the image for the recipe.The next recipe is an excerpt from the cookbook I am working on. It is the Portuguese Mussels. A great tip is to use lemons (fresh squeezed) to really heighten the flavors of the dish. If you can, use a Vinho Verde as the wine, If you add a little spice (heat with red pepper paste or crushed red pepper flakes) to the dish, I might add a more full bodied, white wine for steaming the mussels. BTW, the sausage I prefer is Gaspar's Chourico. It is a Portuguese sausage. If you cannot find it a Spanish or Mexican chorizo will work, plus you can switch out the lemons for limes in the case of Mexican chorizo.

Click on the image for the recipe.

We will be working on getting together the rice and pork recipes soon. Hopefully we can get the chicken and sausage gumbo recipe together for you as well. These recipes are also available with others on our other blog La Spiaggia.

Shannon & Robert