Recipe: Pastéis de nata

Small, crispy, creamy and sweet. Once you’ve had one, you’re hooked. Of course, we’re talking about the divine Portuguese pastry pastéis de nata. In Belém in Lisbon, you’ll find the best ones, but you can also save yourself the trip and the queue and simply make them yourself.

Method

• Halve the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the black seeds (the vanilla bean pulp). Can’t find a vanilla pod? Then use vanilla powder.
• Pour 200 ml milk into a saucepan with half the sugar, the vanilla bean pulp and the empty vanilla pod (or the vanilla powder), plus a pinch of salt. Place the pan over low heat and warm the contents while stirring (do not let it boil).
• Crack the eggs and separate the yolks. In a bowl, whisk the remaining sugar with the egg yolks, add 50 ml milk and mix in the flour until a smooth mixture forms.
• Remove the vanilla pod from the warm milk and pour the milk into the bowl with the flour, sugar and eggs. Stir well. Pour the mixture back into the pan and let it thicken over low heat while stirring.
• Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Allow the puff pastry to defrost and grease the tartlet moulds with a little butter. Roll out the pastry slightly on a work surface dusted with some flour and use a glass to cut out round shapes approximately 1.5 cm thick. Carefully press these pastry circles into the tartlet moulds so that the entire inside is covered with pastry.
• Spoon the thickened vanilla mixture from the pan into the tartlet moulds, filling them to just below the rim. Place the moulds in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, until black spots appear on top. Then leave the pastéis de nata to cool.
• Remove the pastéis from their moulds and sprinkle them with cinnamon powder.

Title: Polvo & Pato
Author: Jeroen Jansen
Price: €29.99
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers

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