It's January (in case you hadn't noticed).
Not only that, it's El Día de Los Reyes. Huzzah?
Now,
that might not mean a huge amount to you and it doesn't really mean a
massive amount to me. I'm not Spanish (despite pretending to be on
occasion) but after years of living and working in Spain & Portugal
the date has become imprinted on my mind.
Across
the Spanish speaking world it represents another day of feasting, family, gift giving and general all round loveliness. Now, this may jar a
little with our Anglo-Saxon and vaguely puritanical instincts. In January, we
expect to be hunkering down to grimly endure our winter of discount
tents and deny ourselves all but the dryest morsels of fat-free,
sugar-free, fun-free foods.
But,
I'm sitting here in my slightly chilly office in our oh-so-English
timber frame home and thinking about what we would be doing if we still
lived in those warmer climes. For one thing, I wouldn't be so bloody
cold. Need to get the fire lit. And for another, I'd probably be sitting
in some lovely little street cafe listening to the hubble bubble of
voices, drinking the most perfect coffee and ideally eating a Pastel de Nata.
Pasteis de Nata. Mmmmmmm.
They are little pockets of heaven, which sounds much better than a mini custard tart.
Crisp,
squidgy pleasure with the added risk of leaving your smile like that of
a bit part player in a Dickensian winter scene - beware the slightly
blackened topping on the custard filling... you have been warned.
Now, the only place I know in Blighty (and I want to be vigourously disavowed of this assertion) that makes really good Pasteis de Nata is Bar Italia on Frith Street in Soho. Excellent coffee and a damn fine pastry to go with it.
So, in an effort to recapture that singular oral sensation closer to home, I have hunted for a recipe.
This
one from Olive Magazine feels like it will give the closest authentic
experience - obviously I could have asked one the Portuguese mothers of
one of our Portuguese friends.
But I didn't. Tudo bem.
Besos!
xxx
INGREDIENTS
-
250.0g
golden caster sugar
-
2
lemon
slices
-
2
cinnamon sticks
-
250.0ml
semi-skimmed
milk
-
30.0g
plain flour
-
20.0g
cornflour
-
few drops
vanilla extract
-
3
egg yolks
, plus 1 whole egg
-
375g
puff pastry
-
flour
, icing sugar and ground cinnamon, for dusting
-
butter
, for the muffin tray
METHOD
- Tip the sugar, lemon and cinnamon into a pan with 125ml water
and bring to a boil. Mix the flour, cornflour and vanilla with a small
amount of milk until you have a smooth paste. Bring the rest of the milk
to a boil, then pour it onto the flour mixture, whisking continuously.
Pour back into a clean pan and bring to a simmer, whisking until the
mixture thickens. Remove the cinnamon and lemon then stir both mixtures
together and add the eggs, bring back to a simmer and whisk until
smooth. Pour into a jug, cover the surface with clingfilm and allow to
cool.
-
Heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7 and put a baking sheet in the oven
for bottom heat. Roll out the puff pastry on a clean work surface
lightly dusted with flour and icing sugar. Cut the pastry in half and
lay one sheet on top of the other. Roll the pastry sheets up like a
Swiss roll and cut the roll into twelve slices about 1 cm - 2cm thick.
-
Lay each of the pastry slices flat on the work surface and roll them out
into 10cm discs. Press a pastry disc into each of the wells of a
buttered muffin tray. Divide the custard between the pastry cases.
-
Bake the tarts for 18-20 minutes on the preheated baking sheet, or until
the custard has puffed up and is pale golden-brown, and the pastry is
crisp and golden-brown. Allow to cool in the tin. Before serving dust
with some cinnamon and icing sugar.
