The very Portuguese Vinho Verde
22/05/2015
This wine is unique in the world not produced anywhere else. It is light, fresh, a low alcoholic level (less calories), fruity and thus ideal to accompany light meals: salads, fish, seafood, white meats, snacks, sushi, among others. It also works very well as an aperitif and can be drunk with any meal.
Vinho Verde is produced in the Demarcated Region of Vinho Verde, and is located in northeast Portugal. The territory has been demarcated for over one hundred years and encompasses nine sub regions: Amarante, Ave, Baião, Basto, Cávado, Lima, Monção and Melgaço, Paiva, and Sousa.
In order to get to know everything about this wine and the region which produces it a Vinho Verde Route was created and which includes tours to some of the historic cities of Portugal. This initiative was born out of a partnership between estates, restaurants, accommodation and touristic animation companies so as to create a veritable experience around the wine itself.
Recipes:
Prawns with vegetables and wholemeal bread
Ingredients
4 wholemeal bread rolls
400 g uncooked peeled prawns
200 g diced frog-fish
100 g carrots
30 g green and red peppers
100 g ripe tomato
100 g courgettes
2 medium-sized onions
2 garlic cloves
100 ml olive oil
Bay leaf
Piripiri sauce (hot chilli sauce)
Salt and pepper
Preparation
Open the rolls, scoop out the insides and reserve. Place the rolls in the oven for the crusts to dry.
Cut the vegetables into thin strips and slice the onions. Sauté the onions in hot olive oil with the chopped garlic and a bay leaf. Add the vegetables and the tomato, and sweat them a little. Season with salt and pepper and a little piripiri (hot chilli sauce). Stir in the bread taken from the rolls, previously soaked in water and then squeezed out.
Mix the prawns and the frog-fish and cook a little longer.
Fill the rolls with this mixture.
Accompany these prawns with a white Vinho Verde from the Paiva sub-region, where the Arinto, Avesso, Loureiro and Trajadura grape varieties are combined to produce a white wine with a youthful aroma and light, fresh taste.
Crunchy codfish parcel in tomato and coriander sauce
Ingredients
4 sheets of Feuilles de brick
2 tablespoons of butter
400 g of soaked dried cod
100 ml of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 halved onions
100 g of carrot
300 ml of tomato sauce
1 dessert spoon of chopped parsley and coriander
Preparation
Brown the olive oil, onion and chopped garlic in a saucepan. Add the carrots cut into thin strips and leave to stew for a while. Lastly, add the cod broken into small pieces and cover. Allow to cook slowly. Remove from the heat and fill the Feuilles de Brick with the mixture. Close the parcels with the help of a toothpick and brush them with butter. Put them in the oven to brown.
Once you have heated the tomato sauce, pour it onto the serving dish. Place the codfish parcel in the middle. Sprinkle with the parsley and coriander.
Source: “Sabores de Hoje com Sugestões de Vinho Verde”, Hélio Loureiro, Porto Editora, Porto, 2004
