I grew up with a very special recipe book, my mother got on our first trip to Portugal, back in 1984. As the years went by,  it's pages guided us through her Portuguese kitchen.  It seems, the memories I hold the fondest from my mother's kitchen, evolved from when this book was opened. We'd quietly sit beside her, in anticipation, as she gently turned its pages.  

Today, this old tattered book, sits amongst my treasures. And from it, these lemon scented crumbly "sand" cookies emerge.
 

Areias | Portuguese "Sand" Cookies

Ingredients
230g Butter (room temperature)
150g Caster Sugar
320g All Purpose flour (sieved)
Rind from 1 lemon

Sieve flour & sugar into a large bowl. Using your finger tips, gently rub in butter and lemon rind, until mixture resembles a sandy texture. 
Roll together walnut size pieces of cookie mix and place 2cm apart. Chill for 10-15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Bake cookies for 20 minutes at 160deg C. Do not allow the cookies to darken in the oven. 

You may dust with cinnamon and icing sugar once they have cooled down.

Recipe adapted from 'Cozinha Tradicional Portuguesa' by Maria de Lourdes Modesto

Our Sunday tables are invariably a journey back home. Both my husband and I are Portuguese, and can't help but set our table with a little from what we grew up with. We have this weakness for flan. Perhaps because its such a quick an easy thing to make, or perhaps its the satisfaction of making delicate desserts on top of stoves with bubbling pots. 

I'd never thought of making Pumpkin Flan before, but as they sat patiently on my counter tops, and rather than turn them into pie or soup or cake. Flan seemed the natural thing to make. 

Pumpkin & Spice Flan

400ml Milk
6 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs Plain Flour
1/2 cup cooked pumpkin
1/4 tspn cinnamon powder
Orange zest
pinch of nutmeg

To make caramel lining. Place 1/2 cup of sugar in a sauce pan on medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent from burning. When caramel turns a honey tone, remove from heat and line the flan tin, ensuring sides are well coated. Set aside to cool.

For the Flan mix. In a medium sized bowl, blend cooked pumpkin until smooth, add eggs and milk and whisk gently to prevent froth from forming. Dissolve flour and spice, in a small quantity of milk, to prevent lumps. Add mixture and zest to bowl and whisk gently, but thoroughly. Add flan mix to caramel coated flan tin. Cover tin, seal and tie with a string to prevent leakage.

For the "Banho Maria"
Place two fingers depth of water in a large pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Place sealed flan tin in water bath and cover pot with lid to retain steam. Cook on medium heat for 30 minute. Once flan has cooked, remove from heat and set aside to cool fully. 

Turn flan into a deep dish. Serve chilled! 

We grew up at the kitchen table. In a house with a pantry, where we'd find ourselves lost in, even if we were to walk in for a specific ingredient. 
My father made all sort of interesting liquors. I'd find myself staring at lines of antique jars, filled with the most delicious tones.  My mother had a garden, that one month was dotted with carrot tops and gems of lettuce in different shapes and shades, and a few months later a plantation of corn and potatoes would thrive quite naturally.
As a child, I remember sitting quietly, watching my mother, while she gently mixed pots of incredibly fragrant dishes. One that always caught my eye, especially because I was allowed to help with, was the Rissol. I remember her making them so delicately, my little hands had to gently lift them so as to not crush them. To date, these remain one of my favourite Portuguese dishes, and I've kept true to her recipe, as I've yet to taste rissois as good as the ones she makes.

Prawn RISSOIS 

Dough 
50ml of Milk 
50ml water 
1/4 Tspn Salt 
20gr Butter 
100g Plain Flour

In a pan, pour milk, water salt and butter and bring to gentle boil. Just when it starts to boil, add the flour in one go and mix to form a ball of dough. Turn onto clean surface and cover. Let it cool... 

For the filling: 
1 Shallot, finely chopped 
1 Garlic Clove, minced 
1\2 tomato, chopped 
150gr Raw choped prawn 
1 Bay Leaf 
125ml of Milk 
2 spoons flour 
1/3 cup Chopped parsley 
Salt and pepper 

Soften half the shallot in a pan and garlic on a low heat. Add tomato and after a few minutes add chopped shrimp. Add Prawn shell stock, allow to simmer. 
In a bowl, mix flour and milk, add to pan to thicken the filling. Add chopped parsley and finely chopped onion. Allow to cool completely.  

To make the Rissole: 
Bread crumbs 
1 egg 

Dust flour on your working surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough out, Place teaspoon of filling. Fold over and cut out a half moon with cup or cutter. Cut out disks of about 10cm diameter. Pinch the edges together to seal the rissole. 
Beat the egg with a bit of salt and pepper, put the breadcrumbs in a tray. Dip the rissole in the beaten egg, than in the breadcrumbs. 

Fry in fairly hot oil. Bom Apetite!