Rabbit stew with figs/Coelho estufado com figos

Small traditional “quinta” across Portugal commonly have a rabbit hatch to supply a meat treat for the family. This guarantees high quality home-bred rabbit meat which features in a number of traditional dishes. The most famous, “cabidela”, being a wet risotto to which rabbit blood mixed with vinegar is added towards the end of the cooking. This achieves an extremely rich, nutritious and contorting one pot meal.

This recipe is a basic rabbit stew with a flavour twist provided by the sweet and complex aroma of dried figs. Rabbit has a relatively subtle flavour and the figs here add a layer of fruitiness which makes for a unique combination. As with all good stews, any left overs should be deboned and make it into small home made pies (empadas)!

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Bean Stew/Feijão Guisado

There are numerous ways around this dish and they range from full feijoada (a rich bean and vegetable stew will lots of cured and fresh meats) to the simple boiled beans. This recipe is somewhere in between and is ideal as an accompaniment for grilled meats. You can adjust the chilli content to your taste though the dish is not supposed to be spicy. The dish should reach an almost creamy texture with a rich deep taste.

Bean Stew