Pasteis de Belem

The Belem egg custard tarts are world famous. Coach loads of visors pile into the cafe in Belem to sample the tarts, and they have spread world wide. The first time I tried these tarts was actually in Hong Kong. Lisbon is one of my favourite cities, and is much closer these days, so I always make some time to try the original Pasteis de Belem (Portugese custard tarts).

Here's a recipe I tried a couple of times for a low fat version, from NotQuiteNigella, (itself based on an original recipe by celebrity Aussie chef Bill Granger). While not as creamy as the the original they are still very good. Also the pastry is never quite as flaky as the original. I used real vanilla pod instead of the vanilla extract mentioned. This was halved and the seeds scaped out and added to the milk. The milk was boiled before adding it to the eggs, flour and sugar mixture, before it was heated on a bainmarie to thicken.

This article suggests that the flakiness of the originals is due to furnace like ovens they use. I must try higher temperatures to see if that helps.

Queijadas de Sintra

While not as visually striking as their conterparts from Belem, I prefered the taste of Queijadas de Sintra cakes. Immediately I assumed they were made with some almond based batter. However I was wrong. THey are infact based on a fresh cheese.

This cheese is a locally produced and so the recipe below uses Ricotta instead. The first time I made these cakes I used only Ricotta cheese, and didn't first pass it through a sieve. THe result tasted authentic but the texture wasn't right. Too much of the ricotta texture. Not as smooth as the original. The next time I used 1/2 Ricotta; 1/2 fresh buffalo mozzarella. Also I passed both cheese through a sieve first to smooth out their texture. This was far more successful.


Queijadas de Sintra
Recipe based on this blog entry
Ingredients below
Dough:

* 120g plain flour
* 60ml water
* large pinch salt

Filling:

* 120g ricotta
* 100 g frsh buffalo Mozzarella
* 2 eggs yolks (medium eggs)
* 160g sugar
* 20g plain flour
* pinch salt
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon

* You
need one or more standard muffin trays or individual muffin/tartlet
pans. Each pan is about 7cm in diameter at the top and about 2.5cm
high. The recipe also works well with pans slightly larger or smaller
in diameter.
* Prepare the dough first. It can be made up to
24 hours ahead. Mix the flour, water and salt, and knead to a smooth,
firm dough. Leave it to rest.
* Finely mash the ricotta or
push it through a sieve. Do not use a food processor. Add the egg
yolks, sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Mix until fairly smooth.
* Preheat the oven to 250C.
* Grease
the pans. To make the pastry cases, roll out the dough thinly on a
smooth surface or use a pasta machine. Keep the surface and your
rolling pin lightly floured at all times. You need sheets of dough no
more than 1.5mm thick. The pans in a standard muffin tray have bases
about 5.5cm in diameter, and you will need to cut circles of dough of
8.5cm diameter, to make walls about 1.5cm high. If the bases of your
pans are larger or smaller, adjust the size of the circles. If the
dough is soft, leave it to dry a little before cutting the circles, as
this will make it easier to handle.
* For each circle of dough, use a sharp knife to make five 1cm incisions from the edge inwards, equally spaced around the circle.
* When
you finish each circle, place it over a pan, push the centre down to
form the base of the tartlet. Overlap the edges of the incisions and
press them lightly against the walls of the pan. The walls of the
pastry case do not have to reach the top of the pan. Try to avoid gaps
at the bottom of each incision, as the filling could leak.
* Spoon filling into each pastry case up to about 3mm below the rim.
* Bake
for 10-15 minutes, until the filling begins to turn dark-brown in
places. Remove. Allow to cool briefly, remove the tartlets from their
pans and transfer to a wire rack.
* Eat at room temperature. The tartlets keep for a few days stored in an airtight container.