(pastéis de Belém)
(homemade pastel de nata)
After coming back from Lisbon last spring, I tried several times to recreate the famous Portuguese egg tart pastry ‘Pastel de Nata’, before finally succeeding. The original version comes from Belém, a beautiful district in the West of Central Lisbon. I think everyone who has been to Portugal is familiar with this delicious pastry but maybe not so many people have managed to make them at home, as they are not the easiest thing to make. However, after trying several recipes, I found this one which is quite easy to follow and the result is delicious.
Ingredients:
1 roll of puff pastry, 8 egg yolk, 180 g sugar, 300 ml cream, 200 ml milk, peel of 1 lemon, 1 tablespoon starch flour
•Unroll puff pastry, roll it up again and cut in 12 pieces; squeeze each piece flat and put them in muffin moulds; put in fridge
•For the cream, whip egg yolk with sugar, starch flour and a little of the milk. Heat up the remaining milk and cream and slowly add the egg and milk mixtures. Stir as much as you can and allow it to boil for 1 minute; remove from stove, add the lemon peel and allow the mixture to cool down; cover with plastic wrap
•Fill the cold cream in the puff pastry baskets and pre-heat the oven to 250°; bake for 15 minutes until the top is dark and has almost burned parts.
•Add cinnamon and enjoy while they are still
If you are in Paris, make sure to go to the pastelaria ‘Comme A Lisbonne‘ in the Marais district. They sell delicious and authentic pasteis de nata at 2 Euros/piece.
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