Castelo Branco is located on a plateau by the mountains. The soil is not particularly fertile, which is reflected in the food. “The region sustains a lot of livestock farming, but less agriculture. People there traditionally eat lots of meat: pork, chicken and sheep, and cheese too. My mother used to make this delicious soup with big pieces of meat, cabbage and beans. A lot has changed over the years, but for my parents the same applies now as it did then: meals have to be large and very filling.”

The food supply used to be largely regional. “I don’t think there’s anywhere in Europe that supermarkets have grown as much as they have in Portugal. They’re bigger and have a more diverse range than the AH XL here, for example. I do miss that; in Portugal you get fresh meat and fish in the supermarket. I never make a shopping list, I just look at what’s there.”

Army food

Barata started cooking when he went to university. “There was a canteen on campus with very basic food, a kind of military fare: rice, meat and vegetables, all prepared in seconds and often tasteless. I figured there was room for improvement. I bought some equipment and started cooking myself. Nothing complicated, just simple but tasty pasta dishes, that kind of thing. Soon a bunch of us were eating together and taking turns to cook. That’s what I enjoyed the most: cooking and eating together.”

During his master’s degree, Barata met his wife Joana, who was studying organic chemistry. He seduced her with a dish that would be his masterpiece for years to come: lasagne with shrimps and spinach, fried in olive oil and garlic. “In Portuguese cuisine, everything starts with a splash of olive oil and some garlic. In the past, rural families, like my grandparent’s, made their own olive oil. You had to estimate how much you’d need for a year; we’d go home with a barrel of about 80 litres. These days people buy olive oil in the supermarket, combined with other oils, which is cheaper.”

Portuguese cuisine = codfish

Occasionally Barata and his wife make his lasagne together, though having two sons—aged 6 and 2—complicates the act of cooking together. He likes using whatever ingredients are available; his wife is more into recipes and cookbooks. “When we have dinner parties, she usually makes the main course. I organise everything around it: wine pairings, good cheese.”

Joana is the bigger fan of Portuguese cuisine, bringing over ingredients from Portugal. “Especially Bacalhau (codfish), the traditional Christmas dish, boiled in water with potatoes and chard. I’m not into that; it’s quite tasteless. I prefer the oven version, with cream and cheese. But when we visit my parents at Christmas, we’re the guests, so we have to adapt.” When his parents came to visit the Netherlands, he surprised them with his famous shrimp lasagne. “My father didn’t like it at all—pasta with a few stray shrimps in it.” Barata laughs. “But they were the guests then.”