Francesinha as an appetizer... oh, the humanity!?

[Steve E.]

My wife and I like to create everything that is paired in the form of appetizers or deserts with any gathering we have at the house. Our next gathering, as I've mentioned elsewhere on the forums, is our first Port tasting. So we've got a couple of weeks to work out what we want to pair with the Port. We've got some standby app's that go good with most wines, and pretty much are favorites even if they aren't paired.

However this time the rules have changed [insert dramatic music]. This time we will be drinking Port. So for this event we will likely choose or accompaniments carefully. I'm already thinking the Roaring 40's cheese must be worked into the mix. And my wife has been experimenting with custom chocolates that we call 'Infusions'. They include chocolates with infused flavors from rosemary to cardamom to peanut butter to grenache with a variety of contrasting, yet complimentary flavors. However it can't all be cheese and chocolate.

Since I made a Francesihna for my neighbors upon arriving home from Portugal and Spain (where we finished my gift, compliments of Sandeman, of a 40 yr Tawny, I thought it would be nice to try and create a custom version in a bite-sized appetizer.

Version 1.0 was interesting and flavorful, however I learned a few things along the way that will make it more palatable as a single-bite appetizer. But I thought I should share the images with the group. The first is before melting the cheese (a 6 month Manchego) and then after - prior to adding the sauce.





What we've decided to do is to use a smaller diameter bread and mix the sausage, ham, and roast beef, and cheese together for cooking. And then add a small amount of the sauce to be absorbed into the meat. Then we'll have additional sauce over a low heat for covering the top. I prefer to have all the pieces layered, as I did when I made it as a sandwich, however that does not translate over well to being a bite-sized appetizer. I hope to give it a try next weekend to see how it goes.

[Andy Velebil]

Looks mighty tasty...do keep us updated on how this goes and what works best.

[Steve E.]

Hopefully this weekend I'll get at least one chance to experiment. My sister and her 18-month old will be coming to our house Wednesday through the weekend, so I'm not expecting anything to be 'as expected' this weekend.

I still need to get to the store to round out our Port selection. I'm sure I'll find time for that!

[Roy Hersh]

Nice idea, but consider not cutting this to bite size although i realize this can be achieved, it is a sandwich which should still make a statement and even as an appetizer you can do that without reducing it to a tidbit. Good on ya for trying and I am looking forward to your progress report and photos too. Sometimes more is just better.

[Steve E.]

Nice idea, but consider not cutting this to bite size although i realize this can be achieved, it is a sandwich which should still make a statement and even as an appetizer you can do that without reducing it to a tidbit. Good on ya for trying and I am looking forward to your progress report and photos too. Sometimes more is just better.

Roy, I think you're right. Ultimately, even in appetizer form, it should remain a sandwich. At this point, I've made version 2.0 based on my wife's thoughts of combining the meats with the sauce and topping the bread. I don't have any photos, but I hand chopped the ham, the roast beef, and the cheese. The sausage is a Habanero-green Chile (we like spice). I sauteed the sausage (after removing it from the casing) and then heated up the sauce. Once it started to get a light boil and had reduced, I transferred the meats into the sauce. Then I toasted up the sliced rounds of bread (a bit smaller than above in diameter) with some olive oil in the oven. While the sauce/meat mixture was thickening, I put about 25% of the chopped cheese into mixture. Once the sauce/meat mixture was thick enough, I spooned it onto the toasted bread slices and then sprinkled the remaining cheese on top.

Although I can only, at best, reference the appetizer as being inspired by Francesinha, I think we've got a great bite-size appetizer to go with the first couple of Ports. There are a few serving-size tweaks to make, but I'm happy with the meaty and spice flavor, with the cheese to round it out.

My biggest regret is that I'm relying on cheese from Spain instead of Portugal, as I didn't see any Portuguese cheeses at the Bellevue (WA) Whole Foods. If I could find Portuguese ingredients, I would prefer them over what is available, however the meats and cheeses I'm using are very good.

[Steve E.]

With the Port tasting now over, I ended up going with the "inspired by" theme for this appetizer. It made it a lot easier ultimately. But during my initial presentation, I mentioned the sandwich it was inspired by. A couple of the guests enjoyed Francesinha (and a 40 yr Sandeman) with us when we first returned from our trip.

Although it was far from the original, the appetizer was a hit.

[Andy Velebil]

Steve,
Thanks for the update on how this went. While a bit different than the original appears to be, I like the idea of the appetizer size one you did. I wouldn't say no, especially if there was a 40 year old Sandeman tawny to wash it down with

[Steve E.]

Andy,

The one above was version 1.0
The final product was more like 2.5, whereas I chopped up the hams and roast beef along with opening up the sausage and cooking them all together - then pouring the sauce over to simmer and thicken up to the point where it stayed on the bread. Someone took a lot of photos. I haven't gotten copies yet.

The 40 yr Sandeman was a gift "compliments of George Sandeman" when I finished my tour of Offley, Ferreira, and Sandeman for my 40th birthday in March. Amazingly that was the first stop in a 10-day trip and it made it all the way home.

[Andy Velebil]

George Sandeman is truly a great guy and I still vividly remember the first time I met him in 2006 at the Sandeman Lodge. He gave me a gift as well, and it still proudly hangs on my wall at home as a momento of my first visit to Portugal. Recently, I was very glad to have been able to spend part of an afternoon with him in June when I was there. His knowledge about Port is stagering as is his willingness to share that knowledge with others.

[Steve E.]

I didn't get to meet George during the tour. Helder Silva conducted the tour and presented me with the Port. I still have the wooden box it came in as my memento. While our way up the underground hallways of Ferreira, we passed someone in a big hurry. Helder said it was the President of Sogrape - I assume it was Salvador Guedes. He had a big event planned that day from what Helder said.

In addition to the 40, we also got a box of truffles.