Cabidela rice (or pica no ground), monkfish rice, rabbit rice, wet tomato rice, bean rice, sweet rice… In the national recipe, we have no shortage of delicacies in which the use of rice carolino is mandatory. And what would a bitoque be if it didn’t come served with rice, fries and egg?
Rice sits at the table with us every day, and carolino is the one that is produced most in the national territory. However, it is still the one that is least loved – a friend, sitting next to me as I write these lines, with her hands full in the kitchen, confides in me that she doesn’t like using carolino. I just advised her reading Edgardo Pacheco (as I advise everyone), who, this week, explains to us the reasons why carolino is the ugly duckling of rice. But, just like in the fable, he seems to transform into a beautiful swan. From January onwards, there is a 100% Portuguese variety: Caravel“an easy-to-cook carolino, with a plump, shiny berry, with a velvety texture and that gum that greedily absorbs any broth”. And, to put an end to the idea that someone can’t reach the carolino’s cooking point, the chef Victor Sobral Give us a hand and share with us recipes that promise to be foolproof. Below: Rice with cork oak loins with mushrooms and sage (anyone salivating besides the scribe?).
But cereal is more than what appears on the plate. For this reason, the Fábrica da História – Arroz space has just been inaugurated (precisely a week ago), in Estarreja, a museum unit born from the requalification of the old Hidro-Eléctrica, where, as testified by Maria José Santana and Nelson Garridoseeks to “value the berry that still grows in the fields of Baixo Vouga Lagunar and preserve the memory of traditions”.
It was also the memories that made this year’s harvest in Soalheiro specials. After all, it was 50 years ago that the first continuous Alvarinho vineyard was planted in Melgaço, a parcel that was named Soalheiro. The rest is history, testified Alexandra Prado Coelho and Paulo Pimenta, who realized that the entire community still comes together when it comes to harvesting the bunches “out of passion and addiction”.
In the Algarve, one is grateful that tradition has not taken hold. The Negra Mole grape variety, which today produces wines that are highly sought after and valued by foreign tourism, was for a long time the poor relative of the vineyards. And Miguel Mimoso, resident winemaker at Arvad, in Estômbar, where Clara Silva went to workdeclares that the variety “is every winemaker’s dream”. The thing is, Miguel explained to Clara, Negra Mole “has a great variability of colors in the berry: more white, more pink, more red. We can take advantage of this and try to make a white, a rosé, a red or a sparkling wine base It’s almost a dream to be able to play with her in every way.”
Pedro Garcias also attended the harvest, where he realized that he was so cringe — English slang for anything that is outdated or causes shame in others — “like Nuno Melo, the Minister of Defense and president of the CDS, in relation to Olivença; or like José Miguel Júdice when, a few weeks ago, during his Sunday lecture at SIC, wanted to give a lesson in journalistic deontology to the service interlocutor, Nelma Serpa Pinto”. AND, in this return to the weekly chroniclesalso assures us that, this year, “there will be good wine”.
What always seems to be good for us are olives. But wait, you need to know how to buy them. And Miguel Esteves Cardoso gives us a guide so we don’t make a “big mistake”.
Still within borders, Bárbara Wong revisited the Penha Longa to inform us about the renovation of the roomswhich maintained its focus on the luxury customer, without forgetting families. Especially because, there, in the heart of the Sintra-Cascais Park Natural Reserve, “children are very welcome”.
If the idea is to set out to discover international territories, Maria João Guimarães advises us to include Chemnitz on our itinerary, the German city chosen to host the European Capital of Culture in 2025, and where there is much more to discover “beyond the big-headed Karl Marx”.
Happy escapes!
