We’re all about exploring foreign countries and indulging in worldly cuisines. There’s no better way to get to know a destination than through its food, learning how to really Eat Like a Local and maybe even picking up a few cooking tips while you’re at it.

To help uncover Portugal’s foodie scene, we’ve enlisted the help of some of the best cookery schools, who have all been kind enough to give us one Portuguese recipe each. The Edinburgh School of Food and Wine, Scotland’s oldest cookery school, shared this delicious recipe for clams bulhao pato (named after poet Raimundo Antonio de Bulhao Pato) with us.  Read more →

Portugal and fine cuisine go hand in hand. When you’re visiting sun-kissed regions like the Algarve, you’re immediately struck by the range of dishes on offer – think Atlantic seafood and marinated meats, with a whole dose of Mediterranean influences thrown in for good measure.

As part of our ongoing Eat Like a Local project, we’re on a mission to uncover the ins and outs of Portuguese food. We called on some of the UK’s best cookery schools to help us out and they were all kind enough to provide us with a Portuguese recipe of their choice. First up, we’ve got Billingsgate Seafood Training School.

Billingsgate Seafood Training School

Billingsgate Seafood Training School is located on the first floor of the Billingsgate Fish Market, the UK’s largest inland fish market. With such a huge variety of fish sold at the market, the school are able to take advantage of seafood from all over the world. As well as teaching budding chefs essential techniques, the school educates children on the enjoyment and benefits of eating fish as part of a balanced diet.

Naturally, the school sent us this delicious recipe for caldereta de pescado (fish stew) with saffron and picada (almond paste) to show you how to really Eat Like a Local in Portugal.

Ingredients

1kg white fish fillets (e.g. monkfish, hake or red mullet), pin-boned and skinned
4 small squid, gutted and cleaned
500g prepared mussels, thoroughly washed
500g prepared clams, thoroughly washed
250g large raw prawns, peeled and deveined
150ml dry white wine
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, grated or finely chopped
2 large red peppers, deseeded and quartered
1 large pinch cayenne pepper
1 large pinch saffron
1 heaped teaspoon plain flour
300ml fish stock
1 large bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon juice, to taste

Method

For the stew

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4. Cut the fish fillets into large pieces and the squid into large squares. Chill until needed.
2. Check the mussels and clams are either shut, or that they close when tapped sharply. Put the wine in a large saucepan and bring to the boil, then add the mussels and clams and cook over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes (or until they open). Discard any mussels and clams that remain shut.
3. Strain the liquid and reserve. Remove the shellfish from their shells.
4. Heat the oil in a large casserole dish, add the onion and cook until softened. Stir in the garlic, cayenne pepper, saffron and flour for around 1-2 minutes, then add the mussels liquid, fish stock and parsley.
5. Add the raw seafood and peppers and season to taste. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes, then serve sprinkled with lemon.

For the picada

15g pine nuts
15g blanches almonds
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
25g white bread (without crusts)
4 garlic cloves
1 handful of flat leaf parsley

1. Heat a frying pan and dry roast the pine nuts for one minute and the almonds for two. Leave to cool.
2. Meanwhile, fry the bread in two tablespoons of olive oil for one minute on each side until it turns crisp and golden brown. Leave to cool.
3. Break the fried bread into the bowl of a food processor, add the nuts and grind together finely. At this stage, the mixture should be coarse, similar to sand.
4. Add the garlic and parsley with the remaining two tablespoons of oil. Grind together until it forms a thick paste.

Stay up to date with Billingsgate Seafood Training School on their website, or get more holiday inspiration and look at Villa Plus properties in Portugal.

Portugal isn’t just golden sands and stunning Algarve coastlines – it’s also home to heavenly cuisine renowned across the globe. We’re all about immersing ourselves in foreign cultures and trying new recipes, so we’ve decided to focus on Portugal for the next instalment of our Eat Like a Local series.

To help us get to know Portuguese food, we called on several of the UK’s top cookery schools. This time round we’ve got The Bertinet Kitchen Cookery school, who gave us this delightful recipe for natas, a Portuguese sweet tart.

The Bertinet Kitchen opened its doors in 2005, in Bath. Under the ownership of French baker Richard Bertinet, this award-winning school offers a range of relaxed and fun courses for food lovers of all abilities, along with specialist baking and bread making courses.

Taken from Pastry by Richard Bertinet, photograph by Jean Cazals (Ebury)

Without further ado, here’s how to do dessert – Portuguese style.

Ingredients – natas

Butter for greasing the tin
100g icing sugar plus some more for dusting
1 packet of readymade all-butter puff pastry
250ml full fat milk
1 vanilla pod
3 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
25g plain flour
Cinnamon or nutmeg if desired

Method

1. Put the milk into a heavy based saucepan. Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla pod along its length then scrape the seeds into the milk. Put the pods in too.
2. Add the egg yolks and sugar into a bowl and whisk until pale and creamy, then add the flour and mix until smooth.
3. Put the pan of milk over a medium heat. Bring to just under the boil and then slowly pour in half the egg mixture, whisking well as you do.
4. Add in the remainder of the milk and whisk again, before proceeding to pour the mixture back into the pan.
5. Bring to the boil, whisking all the time, then keep boiling and whisking continuously for one minute. Remove from the heat.
6. Pour the mixture into a clean bowl or jug and scoop out the vanilla pods.
7. Cover the surface with greaseproof paper straight away to prevent a skin forming. Allow to cool.
8. Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tin and dust your work surface with icing sugar. Take your pastry from the fridge and roll out until it’s around 4-5mm thick, sprinkling with icing sugar as you go. Use a pastry cutter to cut 12 rounds of pastry about 10cm in diameter (big enough to line the tin holes and leave a little overhang).
9. Put the tin in the fridge and rest for an hour. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade.
10. Remove the tin from the fridge and fill the pastry cakes with custard, then sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is golden and the sugar is caramelised, while the custard is dark in spots. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin, then cool completely before serving.

Baker Richard Bertinet runs The Bertinet Kitchen Cookery School and The Bertinet Bakery, both based in Bath. Find out more about the school via its website, or look at Villa Plus rentals in Portugaland take the first steps to your Portuguese getaway.

Sun, sea, sand, and a whole new world of culture and cuisine – Portugal certainly has a lot going for it. Many people dream of jetting off to the Portuguese coast to sunbathe and sip cocktails, and really, who can blame them? But it’s also a fantastic destination for activity holidays, especially if you’re a keen cyclist.

In Portugal, mountain biking routes can be found everywhere, although the best are in the Algarve region. If you’re planning a biking holiday here, there are plenty of tracks to suit all abilities and a self-catered villa is perfect for using as a base camp for them. Without further ado, let’s start with mount Foia…

Downhill cycling in Monchique

The highest mountain in the Algarve is called Foia and it’s a popular spot for cyclists. For a fun family day that will suit older children with some cycling experience, hitch a ride to the top of Foia and cycle back down through the Serra de Monchique hills. From the mountain peak to the town of Mexilhoeira Grande (just outside Lagos), this quiet, rural and visually stunning route runs for a little over 20 miles.

Albufeira via the Algibre River

This route takes you from the coastal town of Albufeira, then north through the Quarteira river valley and on to Paderne, home to a Moorish castle. The arm of the Quarteira river that spills into Paderne from the northeast is known as the Algibre, an area of great natural beauty with an extensive network singletrack path network. From Paderne you can cycle west, looping back down to Albufeira through the rocky trails and orange groves of Tunes.

Albufeira countryside and coastal ride

For a sightseeing tour of Albufeira for all the family, start in the centre of town and head northwest to Guia, famous for its vineyards. Afterwards, move south towards the coast, where you can explore the Salgados Lagoon – a popular wildlife hotspot – via specially constructed boardwalks.

From Salgados you can begin to go east back to Albufeira, moving inland from the coast at particularly rocky areas. Coming into the town from the west you can admire the marina, the central stretch of beach and Albufeira’s charming cobbled old town.

Algarve coastal tour

If you really want to make the most of your time in the Algarve, why not take a full-day bike tour along the coast? Setting off from Vila Real de Santo Antonio, start with a flat, scenic stretch west through the resorts of Altura and onto the seaside hamlets of Cacela Velha and Fabrica. Taking a break in historic Tavira, continue on to Luz and the Ria Formosa Natural Park, a huge area of lagoons and marshes which its famed for its bird population. From here, you can trundle back to Luz before unwinding to a classic Algarve sunset.

Regardless of where you’re cycling to, remember to pack plenty of sun lotion and water. That way, you’ll be free to really enjoy Portugal’s renowned cycling routes.

Look at Villa Plus accommodation in the Algarve and make that biking getaway you’ve always dreamt of a reality.

By Isabella Perkins, a freelance travel writer best known for writing about self-catering holidays. Her writing tends to have a family focus, and she is in the middle of writing a new travel guide due to be published next year.