Portuguese Dinner

It was my daughters 17th birthday; my school’s second evening of auction previews, and, the graduation for our full time students in a downtown gallery. A bit over the top evening was planned. We decided to go to the graduation and opening of the student show with my daughter, and than we would go out to dinner and she could choose where we would go. Since we were already downtown for the opening, she chose the Wild Orchid, one of Hamilton’s favorite Portuguese restaurants.

We started with drinks, a white wine for my wife, water for my daughter and beer for me.

We started the food portion of the evening with Pao De Aveiro, an appetizer which is an oven baked bread stuffed with Portuguese sausage and brushed with garlic. It is sort of half moon shaped bread.

We followed that with Calamari, breaded and deep fried and served with a tomato sauce.

My main dish was Arroz De Marisco This is Portuguese rice with Clams, Mussels, shrimp, Lobster, Crab, Calamari, Jumbo Tiger Shrimp and Scallops married together in a light pimento and tomato based sauce. Made in a Cataplana.

Cataplana is a Portuguese seafood dish, popular on the country's Algarve coast. It is also the name of the special cookware used to prepare the dish, which is traditionally made of copper and shaped like two clamshells hinged at one end and able to be sealed using a clamp on either side of the assembly.

Much like the word Tagine, Cataplana is the name for both the recipe and utensil in which you cook it. Cataplanas are a feature of many Algarve kitchen and are often used as a centrepiece dish at social gatherings.

This was the first time in living memory that I have ever brought home food from a restaurant! While my family usually has a “doggy bag”, I never have as I eat my meal! Well, this one was too much!

It was so fantastic and so hot (not spicy, but physically hot!) as the Cataplana keeps things very warm. It’s pungent and mouth watering and contains at least a whole crab and lobster (I think) and massive amounts of all the other seafood. They had it for one or two on the menu, and I had the one, but it easily could be for two.

My highest recommendations go out for this dinner. My wife had a beautiful fish dish served with rice and salad and my daughter had a most amazing Stuffed Calamari, the likes of which I’ve never seen. It had two huge stuffed calamari, and one came home for later on this weekend.

If you’re in the Hamilton area, go to the Wild Orchid on James Street North, always a winner!