MN brought back a box of these...
While these pastel de nata taste best purchased at a small cafe in Portugal and eaten on the spot, she bought these at the airport before flying back to the U.S. Her husband, who is Portuguese, was of the mindset that pastel de nata should not be taken out of Portugal because of the freshness factor. I didn't mind that it wasn't "fresh" although these were made yesterday according to MN.
Pastel de Nata (also known as pasteis de Belem) are caramelized egg custard tarts that are baked in a a flaky pastry crust. You are supposed to eat them with cinnamon sprinkled on top (which I didn't do since I don't really like cinnamon too much) along with an espresso to drink on the side.
MN was a bit embarassed that the pastries were kind of banged up. I still didn't mind. The box contained size and they were packaged with the tops facing each other and during transit, got smashed together and misshapen.
Each bite was still delicious although the pastry crust was no longer crisp.
Here is another piece (the one that Bert ate) that looks a little bit nicer...
until you look at it on it's side and see that it's lopsided.
Three more left...
These will be enjoyed for breakfast "dessert" tomorrow, heh heh.
To see a better example of what these should look like, please check out Kirk's Lisbon posts from his recent trip to Portugal:
Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3
Plus this interesting article about the famed confection:
"Pasteis de Belem - Hot on the Trail of a Portuguese Legend" (Leite's Culinaria blog)
It sure was nice for MN to share a taste of Portugal with us. We're looking forward to a family dinner so we can hear all about their trip as well as see photos. She remembered to take snaps of their food as well! Maybe she might share some for the blog...we'll see.
4 comments:
Finally! They don't look any worse for the wear.; in fact look really good. I like the box; it seems efficient. Don't like cinnamon either, but maybe would try half of one with it, just to taste the 'intent'.
Brings back nice memories for us CC!
Oh these look like the egg custard tarts you get at dim sum! Can you reheat in the oven maybe? To crisp up the crust?
hi cathy -yeah, they don't look that bad! that was a neat box; i liked how the ends folded in. bert ate his with coffee.
hi kirk - :) nothing beats the real thing when you're there though.
faye - they look similar don't they? but i think the crust might be different. i'm not really a big egg custart tart fan. i was told NOT to reheat the tarts by my neighbor.
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