Our 11 day stay in Lisbon continues here with more tasty bites to share.
Cheese is big in Portugal. Here is a small round of hard aged goats milk cheese, a light yellow medium aged cows milk cheese and a creamy soft goats milk cheese with an edible moldy rind. All are not pasteurized, so we can’t buy them in the US. The red jelly is quince paste, a thick, sweet, fruity, sliceable match for cheese.
Here is a medium aged cheese with an orange edible rind that was baked and topped with chopped jamon, a salted cured ham. The surprise is a drizzle of truffle oil! Magnificent! Truffle oil can jazz up a mellow food in a flash! Spread the warm cheese tapas on bread.
Jamon can stand on its own. When a food tastes as good as this, it needs no accompaniment. There are many varieties and prices. Most expensive is the jamon made from free range pigs who eat nothing but the large long acorns from the cork trees. That’s the wine bottle stopper cork made from the bark of cork trees. 
These fried fish balls are extremely popular. They are made fresh at the markets and sold to fry at home. Fillings are a variety of chopped fish, cheese, vegetable and breadcrumbs. Deep fried and lightly breaded fish are also a favorite at the tapas bars. 
Thinly sliced raw/tartare scallops layered over an avocado purée, and then sprinkled with finely diced red onion, toasted bread crumbs and cilantro. Excellent! A perfect tapas for me!!
This is a salad with crispy fried jamon pieces, croutons, and a poached egg. You drizzle on olive oil and vinegar. 
Thinly sliced calves liver that’s been quickly sautéed with a wine sauce over roasted potatoes. Hearty food the Portugese love! Not so common in the US anymore, but it should be!
Grilled lamb chops with couscous and zucchini. A Middle Eastern influence.
A cute dessert layered in an old style canning jar. This was a “light” mix of whipped cream, a cream cheese and raspberry purée with graham cracker crumbs on the bottom.
Tasty memories from Lisbon, a beautiful city!
nina in the kitchen 