Since I can’t be in Portugal for a traditional Portuguese Easter, I decided to bring some of the tradition to me. On a Portuguese table, codfish is a must, it represents abundance, it has a festive symbol and is part of Portuguese culture, along with the Portuguese custard tarts and the traditional music called Fado. Thus, I chose a codfish recipe that you could definitely have it, if you would go to Portugal, it’s called: Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa. It doesn’t have a translation, besides bacalhau, which means codfish, but Gomes de Sa, it’s a person’s name, hence it can’t be translated. Before I get to the recipe, I googled why it has a person’s name, in case you are curious as much as I was and this is what it says in wikipedia:
Gomes de Sá was the son of a rich 19th century merchant (apparently he dealt with cod) in Porto. The family fortune dwindled and the son had to find a job at Lisbonense Restaurant, a restaurant in downtown Porto where he created this recipe.

On to the recipe – Bacalhau a Gomes Sa
Ingredients for 2 people
- 500gr of potatoes
- 4 cod fillets boneless and skinless
- 200gr of milk
- 1 big onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 bay leave
- 2 eggs
- fresh parsley
- 1dl of Olive Oil
- 2 teaspoons of vinegar
- salt and pepper
- 50gr of black olives
Preparation:
- Peel and wash the potatoes. Boiled them in water seasoned with salt for 20 minutes.
- Also cook the cod in boiling water mixed with the 200gr of milk with the bay leave for 10 minutes. Let cool in the broth.
- At the same time, place the eggs to be boiled for 6 minutes in boiling water seasoned with salt.
- Meanwhile, sizzle the onions and garlic cut in thin slices in olive oil and distribute this preparation over the potatoes that have already been cooked and cut into slices.
- Add the cod roughly shredded, without skins and bones.
- After mixing all the ingredients above, add salt and pepper.
- Drizzle with vinegar and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
- Wrap everything and serve decorated with slices of boiled egg and black olives.
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As a sweet tooth, I could not include a Portuguese dessert too. A very traditional dessert recipe in Portuguese Easter is called pão-de-ló which is like a sponge or madeira cake. There is different versions and the best for me comes from a city in centre of Portugal, called Ovar.
Ovar pão-de-ló is a sponge cake filled with a sweet tasty egg layer that melts easily in your mouth. To make this recipe even more irresistible, I transformed it into a chocolate Ovar pão-de-ló. This is how it looks like:

All that chocolate dripping from the cake it’s a perfect temptation for Easter, right? Here goes the recipe.
Chocolate Ovar pão-de-ló
Ingredients for 5 people
- 4 eggs
- 5 yolks
- 90gr of dark brown sugar
- 45gr of self rising flour
- 10gr of cocoa powder
- 20gr of hot chocolate powder
Ingredients for cake glaze (optional)
- 300ml extra thick double fresh cream
- 10gr of cocoa powder
- 20gr of dark brown sugar
- Colourful cake flakes
Preparation
- Butter a cake pan without a hole and line with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 200º C.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar with an electric mixer, for 5 minutes without stopping or until the dough triples in volume.
- Apart, beat the egg yolks well and add them to the previous preparation, beating for another 3 minutes.
- Sift the flour, cocoa and chocolate and gently wrap the dough with the help of a balloon whisk;
- Bake in the oven for 8 minutes.
For the cake glaze
- With an electric mixer, beat the extra thick double cream together with the cocoa powder and sugar for just 1 minute. Avoid the mixture getting too thick
- Glaze cake with mixture and sprinkle with some colourful cake flakes
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Which recipe do you feel like trying? Let me know in the comments bellow. Or if you have a recipe from your home country that deserves to be shared, DM on my Instagram.
Wish you a very happy Easter, full of Easter eggs, laughter and love Xx
They both sound delicious unlike Finnish Easter food, mämmi which I never liked. Plenty of Finns love it though.
Let me see what is it on Google, I’m curious 🤔
Just saw the look and recipe for Finnish Mommy and I think it’s not for me, but when I go Finland, I’ll have to try it to know for sure.
[…] Portuguese Easter […]
I’m very glad to see you sharing our Easter traditions. I can’t wait to taste your chocolate Ovar pão-de-ló! I ❤️ YOUR BLOG!
Thank you for so much support! And i will bake the cake with pleasure ❤