Summer is here! Well… at least for the Northern hemisphere.

I’m down in the Southern, so… things are a bit chilly, but that doesn’t stop me from making

refreshing summer foods. I made something different last week, a Mediterranean Salad, I like to call it.

It has all of those Mediterranean ingredients, such as lots of olive oil, feta cheese, garlic, tomatoes, etc…

This salad is a close version to the traditional Portuguese chick pea salad.

Although, the Portuguese version is a lot plainer, it only contains tuna, chick peas and olive oil.

I have to say, I got a lot of inspiration from the Mexican guacamole, all of those ingredients are

in this salad. So lets put it this way, this dish is a cross combination between Portuguese and Mexican

flavors!

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INGREDIENTS:

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1 can of chick peas/garbanzo beans

1 small diced onion

1 crushed garlic clove

1 medium diced tomato

1 handful lightly chopped cilantro

1 handful finely chopped parsley

½ an avocado – cut in cubes

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Squeeze of lime juice

1 tsp lemon zest

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt & pepper

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DIRECTIONS:

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Mix everything in a bowl, adding the avocado last, just so you won’t mush it all up while mixing everything.

Add the salt last to not over season, thus the feta cheese is already very salty.

Note: As you can see, I didn’t have any feta cheese in here when I took the picture…

The feta cheese really adds that special something to it all, very important to add!

From time to time I’ll be posting recipes here that I’ve posted 2 years ago on the sugar network.

This is a Portuguese recipe (my moms Portuguese) filled with tiny pieces of the traditional Portuguese chorizo.

The Portuguese love chorizo, it’s in almost all of their savory dishes.

If there’s something the Portuguese love more or as much, that’s bread, in every meal, a piece of bread.

So it’s no surprise that chorizo and bread together was invented!

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Here’s Portuguese cooking for you:

INGREDIENTS:

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1/3 cup warm water

3 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup milk

4 egg whites

1 teaspoon salt

5 cups flour

1 1/2 cup diced chorizo/pancetta

1 cup diced mozzarella cheese in little cubes (optional)

Sesame seeds to drizzle over rolls

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DIRECTIONS:

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In a small bowl, combine water, yeast and a pinch of sugar.

Stir to mix and set aside for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, butter, milk, egg whites, salt and 2 cups of flour.

Beat on medium for 2 minutes.

Add the yeast mixture and an additional cup of flour to the batter.

Beat for a minute or two.

Continue mixing the batter while slowly adding the remaining flour, then the chorizo.

Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes.

Place the dough in a large bowl. Thinly coat the top of the dough with oil.

Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Remove dough from the bowl and place on a floured surface. Divide into 24 equal pieces.

Make rolls (balls) of the dough and open each one, filling with chorizo and cheese,

brush over with a beaten egg.

Add sesame seeds over and place rolls on an oiled baking sheet.

Cover rolls as mentioned above and let rise for 40 minutes.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.