Kidney beans soup with cabbage

This is a very heavy soup (in Portugal, sopa de feijão encarnado).

What you'll need:

- 2 cans kidney beans
- 1/2 green cabage (couve lombarda ou couve-coração)
- 1 big potato
- 1 onion
- 2-3 carrots
- 2 cloves of garlic
- a bit of vermicelli
- salt

How to do it:

In a big pan put water with salt and add the liquid from the cans of kidney beans. Peel the potato, onion, carrots and garlic cloves, add to the water and boil until tender. Add half of the beans. Blend the whole thing to a liquid cream. Add the shredded cabbage and bring to a boil again. Add the vermicelli and cook until the cabbage is tender. Then add the rest of the beans.

Arroz de Polvo (octopus rice)

This is a famous recipe by my father who, I must say, is a specialist! It's actually very easy, I have tried it for the first time today and it is delicious. Since I don't have a pressure cooker like my parents, it takes longer to cook the octopus. It took me 1 1/2 h to get it really soft like it should be. In a pressure cooker it takes only 30 min.

What you will need:  

- 1 octopus (fresh or frozen)

- 1 onion (medium to large)

- 2 garlic cloves

-  piri-piri (Portuguese dry pepper; if not available use chili peppers)

- salt to season

- basmati rice

How to do it:

First, cook the octopus in water and salt. Cook for 1 1/2 h in a regular pan or 30 min in a pressure cooker.

Remove the octopus and save the cooking water. The octopus must be tender! Cut it into small pieces. In the same pan fry the garlic and the chopped onion until soft. Add the cooking water (measure how many cups you have of it), some salt, the piri-piri and the octopus in pieces. Add an amount of rice which is 1/2 the amount of cooking water you added. Let it cook until done and sprinkle with cilantro.