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Comfort Food

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By Helen Lee Gray
Having seen Julie and Julia over Christmas we were almost inspired to devote this blog to working through the Piri Piri Starfish book by Tessa Kiros.  One of the best Portuguese cookery books available.

Instead I thought I'd pick one of my favorite Portuguese dishes and do a little research,  and by research I mean eating it in lots of places so I can tell you where to buy the best version!

Migas is a Portuguese side dish, made with cabbage, fried bread and black eye beans.   It's a simple dish but with the right amount of garlic, salt and pepper it is delicious. 

Often made with cabbage shredded very finely by the old ladies in the market (the same cabbage in another favorite - Caldo Verde Soup).   


It is fried in the pan with the seasoning and garlic then pre-cooked black eye beans are added along with cubes of fried bread (often corn bread).



The other way to make this, and something you find in a lot of traditional restaurants is to cut the cabbage in larger chunks and boil in stock for much longer than we would ever do in the UK.  Then add to the beans and fried bread. 

Both ways are delicious and I with all that cabbage surely it's almost a super-food?!

Having done some extensive research my favorite migas comes from O'Gill a restaurant in our nearest town.  It's crisp, garlicy and very tasty.  Last time I ate two helpings of it!

That's Migas from central Portugal, but just a few hundred kilometers away in the Alentejo region, migas means something else altogether.  A much heartier dish, fried together almost like bubble and squeak.  



Take a look at this lovely blog about Portuguese food for the recipe.  

I prefer the central Portugal version, and I will keep on the search for the perfect migas...it's a tough job but someone has to do it.

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