Portugal is a wonderful country to forget that weight loss plan and dive into the national food.

Don't worry if you don't enjoy great food at the start of the day though, portuguese often miss out on breakfast , most often deciding on a continental style breakfast of coffee and a pastry. Quite often you will usually see locals enjoying a quick snack in a cafe on their way in to work.

Lunchtime and Evening meals are a entirely different and greatly enjoyable experience.

The portuguese enjoy their food, and you are likely to be given large portions when eating in cafes. The midday meal is often a lengthy experience, generally taken between 1.00pm and 3.00pm, and regardless of the weather, portuguese eat cooked food in a cafe. The evening meal is eaten between 7.00pm and 9.00pm, and again, generally is a hot meal.

The beauty of Portuguese cuisine can be described as 'simple ingredients, superbly prepared'.

Portuguese cooking is generally based on the best quality, fresh locally produced produce, generally fish, meat, olive oil, tomatoes and spices.

A good portuguese meal should ideally begin with a traditional portuguese soup.

The best known portuguese soup, is known as caldo verde, a wholesome, tasty soup made with shredded kale and cabbage, potatoes and chourio sausage. Caldo Verde comes from the Minho province, but is easily available throughout Portugal, from lisbon to the Algarve holiday resorts.

Here is a Caldo verde recipe that will let you bring the taste of portugal into your own home

Kale soup recipe (portuguese)

1 pound (0.45kg) beef, (stewing) (cut into 25mm pieces)

1/2 lb. linguica or chourio (chop into thin slices)

1.5 qt (1.42 litre) water

A pinch of salt

3 lg. potatoes, 1" cubes

three carrots, chopped into 2.5cm cubes

1.5 lb kale, well chopped, or 1 package frozen kale, defrosted

1/2 cabbage, chopped

half a package macaroni (elbow)

1 tin cannelloni beans (opt.)

1 chili, (remove seeds), well chopped

1/3 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon Olive Oil

Instructions:

Peel and chop the potatoes and carrots.

Fill a big pan with water and add the stewing beef, linguia or chorio and salt.

Bring to the boil and cover until such time as the stewing beef and linguica or chorico are pretty near ready.

Add the the jalapeno chili, carrots, beans, (if using them), paprika, cabbage and kale and stir the pan well.

Replace the pot lid and cook for 45 minutes or until the kale is cooked.

When the kale is ready, add the olive oil potatoes & pasta.

Occasionally stir the kale soup to make sure that the chopped potatoes and macaroni don't end up stuck to the bottom of the saucepan.

Cook slowly (keeping the saucepan lid on) until potatoes and pasta are perfectly cooked..

You can serve this soup as a starter or as a wholesome main course.