José Ramos PT

I want to reach 100

To 100 years old. To 100 kg. Preferably both.

Some people count calories. I count lunches. Some look for the perfect diet. I look for my mother's recipe, my grandmother's, my friends', my uncles' and aunts', my neighbours', and anyone's who still knows that cooking is not following a list of instructions. It is telling stories while you stir a pot.

The project grew from a simple idea: if I want to reach 100 one day, I might as well enjoy the journey. And eating is not enough. You have to choose a recipe, the best ingredients and someone special to teach it. Cook without hurrying. Open a bottle of wine. Hear stories that never made it into books. Eat. Have seconds. And keep the memory.

There is a risk, of course: between 100 years and 100 kg, the gap may be shorter than we think. But some risks are worth taking.

Coming soon: My Mother's Rice with Greens · My Grandmother's Golden Salt Cod · Broad Beans with Salpicão · Moscow Mule.

COOKING

Arroz de CouBe NaBiça com Moira

Rice with turnip greens and moira blood sausage

Quinta Fonte Rainha (QFR) recipe · Trás-os-Montes cooking

José Ramos and a woman looking into the pot of rice with greens and moira
In the kitchen at Quinta Fonte Rainha.
In short. Rice with turnip greens and moira, the local blood sausage: a Trás-os-Montes classic where simplicity rules. It starts with an onion base, goes on to well-toasted rice and finishes with turnip greens and a moira worthy of respect. Served with cornbread and red wine.

Ingredients

  • Olive oil
  • Onion
  • Rice
  • Hot water
  • Greens, ideally turnip greens (nabiça)
  • Moura blood sausage (moira in Vila Real)
  • To serve: cornbread and a good red wine

Method

  1. Pot with olive oil and chopped onion sizzling
    Estrugido

    In a pot, make an estrugido: olive oil and chopped onion.

  2. Rice being fried in the onion base
    Fry the rice

    Add the rice and keep stirring until it turns translucent.

  3. Rice boiling in hot water
    Hot water

    Add hot water and bring to the boil.

  4. Turnip greens on top of the rice
    CouBe

    Add the greens. Any kind will do, but turnip greens (nabiça) are best.

  5. Moira heating in a pot of water
    Moira

    Heat the moura well. Back home in Vila Real we call it moira. Buy it in Vila Real: the one from Aleu is good.

  6. Sliced moira on the rice, with cornbread
    Moira in the rice

    Add the moura to the rice, slice it and let the juices spread through the rice. Warm up a little cornbread and pick a good red wine.

  7. Pot of rice with moira on the table next to a bottle of red wine
    Love

    This recipe only works when served with love, to family, friends or sweethearts. With a good wine, it brings on good conversation. Anyone who turns their nose up at it for being a blood sausage is missing out.

"The main rule is simple: serve it with love, cornbread, red wine and interesting people at the table. The rice does the rest."

Frequently asked questions

What is moira?

It is moura, a blood sausage from Trás-os-Montes. In Vila Real we call it moira.

Which greens go into arroz de couBe?

Any kind will do, but turnip greens (nabiça) are best.

What do you serve it with?

Warm cornbread and a good red wine, at the table with family or friends.

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