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Food
Translating tradition
Cookbook author Ana Patuleia Ortins, who lives in Peabody, calls herself first-generation Portuguese-American, though her mother was Italian. "I say that because I was primarily brought up in the Portuguese style," she says. Besides the food, she explains, that meant learning the traditional crocheting, the folk songs (called fados), and the dances. "I was brought up with the whole culture - the domestic crafts and sharing with family and friends," she says. "But one of the strongest things I learned was the passion with which to enjoy food." She describes her father, Rufino Patuleia, who died 15 years ago, as a passionate man. He taught her how to cook when she was a girl. She also learned from his sister, Ana, for whom she is named, and from her grandmother, Teresa Patuleia. It occurred to Ortins that since no one in her family measured anything, and everyone in the Portuguese community seemed to keep their family recipes in their heads, she should write everything down. The result is her first cookbook, Portuguese Homestyle Cooking (Interlink Publishing Group, Northampton), due out next month. "It started because a lot of our family recipes were not recorded," Ortins says. "Little by little, it grew into something bigger." When she found other cooks in the Portuguese community and watched them in their kitchens, "they dumped ingredients into bowls," without measuring. She worked hard to duplicate their food, to get the right consistency with exact proportions. "It was a process," she says, "but it was a lot of fun." It all felt very familiar. She had stood beside her father as he improvised in their Peabody kitchen. "My father was always very enthusiastic. Cooking was his passion - after soccer. Sunday mornings he would go out and buy bags and bags of fresh Portuguese bread and rolls." He offered the hot rolls to the children while he cooked Sunday dinner. "I still remember the smell of the warm bread and the aromas of his simmering pots waking me up in the morning," recalls Ortins, now 49. Rufino Patuleia was born and raised in the Alto Alentejo region of Portugal, east of Lisbon in the southern part of the country. He was 24 when he moved to Peabody in 1937. His daughter Ana was the first child bornxr to him and Filomena Santilli Patuleia, a first-generation Italian-American. Filomena died when Ana was an infant. A few years later, Rufino Patuleia married Evelyn Petti, another Italian-American. That's when Patuleia began making his favorite dishes, like tomato rice, in which very ripe tomatoes and bacon are simmered with white rice, and Portuguese-style shrimp, which arrive at the table still in their shells with the winy cooking liquid as an accompaniment. Whatever he cooked, he demonstrated a technique to Ana, and then she would take over. "He would show me how to cut the kale and clean the fish, and then he would hand me a knife and expect me to help out," she says. Laid off as a medical secretary in the early 1990s, Ortins got a degree in culinary arts from Essex Agricultural and Technical Institute, now North Shore Community College. She and her husband, Philip, also Portuguese-American, have a daughter, Nancy Savage, 27, and a son, Marc, 26. Ana Ortins had already taught both of them her father's cooking style. Now she teaches cooking at North Shore Community College and gives private Portuguese cooking lessons as well. "I love teaching people about different dishes," she says. "It's a lot of fun to pass that on." Unlike her own teachers, Ortins gives out precise proportions. Her students get Old World tastes by using measuring cups. CAMAROES A PORTUGUESA Ana Ortins's father made this shrimp dish when she was a girl. Though he served the broth as is, she occasionally purees it. The broth is passed as a dipping sauce for the shrimp. This is a messy family dish meant to be eaten with the hands. 1/4 cup olive oil In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook it, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until it is golden. Stir in the tomato, bay leaf, garlic, and crushed red pepper. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until the mixture is soft and the tomatoes have almost dissolved. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and add the cilantro, shrimp, and salt. Stir thoroughly and cover the pan. Cook for 3 minutes or until the shrimp are tender. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp, because they can toughen. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a serving dish and cover it tightly. Add the butter to the shrimp cooking juices. Work the juices through a food mill into a bowl or use a blender to puree the mixture. Return the pureed mixture to the saucepan and reheat the liquid to boiling. Transfer it to a bowl. Serve the shrimp with plenty of napkins, with the pureed juices as a dipping sauce. SERVES 4 ARROZ DE TOMATE The first time Ortins tasted this dish, she was a young girl visiting her cousin Marguerida on a farm in Portugal. In winter, Ortins substitutes tomato paste for fresh tomatoes. 2 slices bacon, coarsely chopped In a medium saucepan, render the bacon over medium-high heat until it is golden brown. Remove the bacon from the pan and transfer it to paper towels to drain. Remove and discard all but 2 tablespoons fat from the pan. Add the onion and cook it over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until it is lightly browned. Stir in the tomatoes and garlic, turn down the heat, and cover the pan. Cook the tomatoes for 15 minutes or until they are very soft. (If using tomato paste, blend it thoroughly with the onion.) Add the water and salt. Bring to a boil, add the rice and bacon, stir thoroughly, and cover the pan. Lower the heat and simmer the rice for 20 minutes. Stir in the parsley and continue cooking about 5 to 10 minutes or until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Spoon the rice onto 4 salad plates, garnish each one with an olive, and serve at once. SERVES 4 CALDO VERDE Originally from the northern Minho province of Portugal, this soup, made with potatoes, kale, and the mild smoked linguica sausage (or spicier chourico), is now prepared throughout the country. What varies from region to region, says Ortins, is the ratio of water to potatoes. She thinks the soup should have the consistency of light cream. If it is too thick, thin it with water. 6 cups water In a large flameproof casserole, combine the water, potatoes, and onion. Add salt and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and lower the heat. Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender. Meanwhile, trim the thick central stem at the back of each kale leaf. Rinse the leaves thoroughly. Stack several leaves lengthwise, roll them up tightly, and set them on a cutting board. Slice crosswise into thin slivers. Repeat this until all the kale is cut up. Set it aside. In a skillet, brown the sausage slices, turning them often, until they are golden brown. Set them aside. When the potatoes are cooked, work the mixture through a food mill into a bowl. Return the mixture to the pot and bring it to a boil. Add the reserved greens and olive oil. Return the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes or until the greens are tender but not mushy. Add the sausages, and ladle the soup into the bowls. SERVES 6 |
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