A Lazy Girl’s June

WORDS The Lazy Tigers

One of the most wonderful things about the Algarve is how we combine the old and the new seamlessly. In June, the month in which we celebrate Portugal Day on the 10^th, we will be able to walk through the old town on a balmy night and hear from one door families and friends dining on traditional food, even maybe some Fado singing and from another raucous live pop performances from local artists. We are surrounded by an eclectic mix of sensations.

As you know, our advice is always to eat out, if possible, but there is one traditional Portuguese dish that will take you minutes to make and will really impress guests: Ameijoas à Bulhão Pato (clams in garlic and coriander). The dish is named after a 19th-century Portuguese poet, and it is now more celebrated than his body of work. There is a little prep, in that you need to clean and soak the clams ahead of time, but it is the work of moments.

And what shall we have as a pudding after a centuries-old dish? What better than a cake from the internet? Dear reader, we try these ludicrous dishes so that you don’t have to.

This sounds like it shouldn’t work but it does. We have used a mix of flour and sugar for the topping even though most recipes recommend a packet of `yellow cake mix’. If you try the packet version, let us know what brand you use and how it works out. This is a great dish for kids to make (and eat). It can be served with cream, ice cream or custard.

So, what goes well with seafood and sticky pudding? The answer is the cocktail that could have been named for this town: a Sea Breeze.

Enjoy your June. It is the perfect month for Lagos. Come and see us in the Old Town at London Tiger Coffee.

Clams Bulhão Pato

2 to 4 servings depending on how greedy you’re feeling:

1 kg of white clams (get them at the fish market or a big supermarket)
100ml of olive oil (doesn’t need to be extra virgin)
4 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
Juice of 1 lemon
A big bunch of coriander chopped (this very much to taste, we like loads)
A good glug of white wine
Salt and Pepper to taste
Bread to serve

Rinse and wash the clams really well. Throw away any which are open, or you don’t like the look of. Soak them in salt water for about 2 hours.

When you remove them, rinse the salt water off and remove any remaining dirt or clag (we recommend an old electric toothbrush for this). In a large pan, which has a lid, put the olive oil and cook the thinly sliced garlic for a few minutes. Add the clams and the wine. Put on the lid and cook for about 3 minutes

Throw away those which haven’t opened. Add the coriander, lemon, salt, and pepper. Serve with the bread.

Tinned fruit dump cake

Serves 2 to 4:

2 x 400ish grams of tinned fruit (pineapple, peach, cherry etc.)
210 grams of plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
75 grams of sugar (any kind)
1 tbsp cornflour
Pinch of salt
100 grams of butter (extra cold)

Dump the fruit into a small shallow baking dish. One that you would use for a crumble will do.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and sprinkle in a layer over the fruit. Cut the butter into thin slices and spread on top. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown at 180C/160C fan.