Product Description

Tessa Kiros believes that food is the essence of any country's people - a quilt that is patchworked together with their language, culture and songs. When she takes her family to live and travel in Portugal, she is captivated by the country and charmed by the old-fashioned way of doing things. Portugal has everything she loves - the markets, the sea, the beautiful old poussadas - but she would have gone for the pasteis de nata alone. In "Piri Piri Starfish", Tessa embroiders the recipes, traditions and Portuguese way of living together with her own unique colours and threads. Some of the present day wonder of this small country can be attibuted to its great history during the Age of Discovery: when the world beyond nearby lands and seas was little more than a mysterious dream to most Europeans, this land of bay leaves, baccala and piri piri stretched out her roots over the globe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17100 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
Tessa Kiros was born in London to a Finnish mother and a Greek-Cypriot father. The family moved to South Africa when she was four, and at the age of 18, Tessa set off to travel and learn all she could about the world's cultures and traditions, and new ways of living and eating. She has cooked at London's The Groucho Club and in Sydney, Athens and Mexico. On a trip to Italy to study the language and food she met her husband Giovanni, and now lives in Tuscany.

Customer Reviews

Portugal Found.......
In my opinion Portuguese food still hasn't been truly discovered, it's always been a hidden gem (maybe there's a small chance of this review being biast as I have a Portuguese mother and a Brazilian father) but still, Portuguese food is something that's always been so personal to me, given me comfort. I always thought it might be just me who had been so deeply in love with Portugal and it's culture....after reading Piri piri starfish I see I'm not alone(there are more of us out there!!) Being raised in a family where food is everything ...my first real memory was seeing my mother soaking salt fish (bacalhau) smelling the onions, garlic, tomatoes, piri piri chillies, & coriander frying in a big pot with olive oil.(it was heavenly). This book truly captures how magical Portuguese food is.

The layout of the book is in true Tessa Kiros style...beautiful layout and beautiful photos of most of the dishes. I've tried the Roast Octopus with Red Wine & Potatoes, it was so tasty....the Grilled Squid with Chourico & Lemon Coriander Oil....was really really good....Piri Piri oil which is always at my table, Pasteis de bacalhau (fish cakes), grilled pork chops with chourico & pancetta, stuffed squid, pineapple cake (delicious)....Piri Piri Chicken with the Tomato Rice....I have to say it was just as tasty as the rice my mum makes. All recipes are authentic and turned out amazingly. I can't wait to continue trying out the others.

Some more recipes included:
Prawns with Piri piri, Whisky & Lemon
Seafood Rice
Stuffed Squid with Chourico
Baked Pork Ribs with Orange (these were AMAZING!!!!)
Roasted new potatoes with Tomatoes & White Wine
Prego Rolls (marinated Steaks in soft bread rolls)
Coffee Creme Caramels
Churros
Melon Sorbet with Port
Prawn Pastries (these are delicious, I promise you)

If I was to try and find fault, it would be the desserts & cake section...even though some lovely cakes were included, caramel cake, honey tart, pineapple cake...I haven't been to one family gathering or friends house in Portugal where Arroz doce (portuguese sweet rice)wasn't on the table...or Tarte de Amêndoa(almond tart with a carmel glaze)Pudim Molotof, Bolo de Bolacha (a biscuit cake) these are cakes/desserts that are very very popular in Portugal so I was suprised when I saw that they weren't included in the book. Still, this is a great book with some great recipes. If you love honest rustic food, then this book will not disappoint. Tessa Kiros has managed to capture everything I love in 254 pages.

A wonderful book about Portugal's food
Portugal's cuisine is not as famous as that of its neighbour, Spain, nor that of Italy or France. It is a simple, humble way of dealing with local ingredients : seafood, the omnipresent bacalhau (salt cod), sardines, chouriço sausage are the main players here. It is honest but tasty, heartwarming and sunny.
Tessa Kiros manages to capture the essence of the food, with a lot of affection for the land and its people, who shine through in the snippets of her travelogue.
This book may not be as eye-catching as her previous two, its colour theme being much more subdued (grey-blue), but it brings back memories of my own travels to that thankfully still mostly undiscovered country.

A wonderful culinary voyage
As someone who is Portuguese it's hard not to be taken away to the cake shops and restaurants of Portugal whilst flicking through the pages of this book. This book feels, tastes and smells like Portugal. The recipes are all authentic and each new page brings with it a new set of directions for making mouthwatering traditional Portuguese cuisine. From seafood to the addictive pasteis de nata, Tessa Kiros has created a book filled with beautiful photographs and enticing and easy to make recipes. This book introduces you to the warm and friendly nature that is Portugal and the culture of its people. Live to eat! Don't eat to live.