Once upon a time I was very afraid to cook. Moving to Portugal opened up a new world for me where seasonal ingredients are easily combined to create a wonderful balance. The cooking process stopped worrying me and I even began to perceive the time in the kitchen as a kind of meditation.

In Portugal, any meal (except breakfast) is almost impossible without a glass of wine, and there is plenty to choose from – there are more than 250 local grape varieties from fourteen wine regions.

As regards my cooking I rarely stick to a recipe. Each dish has a share of my improvisation. But best of all I manage to create unique gastronomic recipes. Unique not because they are complex, but because they cannot be repeated due to the lack of a recipe. The recipe pops into my head based on previous gastronomic impressions and is created based on “what’s in the fridge”.

From time to time I was asked to repeat this or that dish or share a recipe. But I ran into a situation where I couldn’t reproduce the dish because I didn’t remember all the ingredients. So I had to write them down to be reproduced and shared. This is how “NOTES OF GOURMAND” were born.

You are more than welcome to obtain your copy of “NOTES OF GOURMAND” (click the image above or fill in the form below to download).

In this edition, beside the recipe of duck legs with oranges you will find some tips how to balance fat in food to obtain elegance in dish, some stories about wine festivals and grape varieties from around the world and of course my suggestion on duck leg pairing with wines from Portugal.

If you would like to learn more about wines from Portugal, I will be happy to receive you in Portugal for a commented wine tastings and cellar tours. For more information send me a message.