So for every home-made lemon meringue pie that emerges from the kitchen, there’s a bowl of excess egg yolks. These, of course, have to be put to use in a manner befitting the gloriously golden hue of the home laid egg! As major custard lovers, our minds automatically turn to that glorious melange of egg, vanilla and cream and the yummy delights that can be created from that unbeatable combination.
Without a doubt, one of the easiest, most versatile and popular of our custardy favourites is this little recipe for Portuguese custard tarts. It actually appeared in our parish magazine two summers ago and is still pinned to our kitchen recipe board. Whether you are a lover of an authentic Pastel de Nata all the way from Lisbon, or just love anything involving custard, this recipe is for you …if you can’t get to Lisbon!
Quick, easy and truly beyond delicious, this easy version of the Mediterranean classic, won’t leave you in any way disappointed! Perfect for a picnic, a cake sale, or just to impress your friends!
To download a copy of this recipe click the following link : Waste Not Want Not Easy Portuguese Custard Tart Recipe..
INGREDIENTS FOR CUSTARD TARTS
- 1 whole egg (large)
- 2 egg yolks (large, or 3 or 4 medium/small – we used 5!)
- 115g golden caster sugar
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 400 ml full-fat milk or 300ml of semi-skimmed milk with 50ml of cream added
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or one real vanilla pod
- 1 sheet of ready rolled pull pastry
METHOD
- Grease a 12 hole muffin tin and preheat your oven to 200c/180c fan/Gas 6.
- Put the egg, yolks, sugar and cornflour in a pan and mix well together, then gradually add the milk/ cream until the mixture is nice and smooth.
- Put the pan on a medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Be careful not to scramble! Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
-
- Ingredients in the Pan for Portuguese Custard Tarts
-
- Warming the Ingredients for Portuguese Custard Tarts
- Put the custard into a glass/ceramic bowl, cover with cling film with to avoid a skin forming, and leave to cool.
- Fold your pastry sheet in half and then roll the pastry tightly from the short side into a log. Cut the log into 12 even sized rounds of pastry.
-
-
- Roll & Cut the Pastry for Portuguese Custard Tarts
-
- Cool the Custard for Portuguese Custard Tarts
-
- Either roll the pasty rounds, or mould in your fingers by turning and pressing them, and put the pastry discs into your muffin tin.
- Spoon the cooled custard into the tart cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top.
- Leave the tarts to cool in the tin and tip out to cool.
- Delicious served warm!
- We also added some little bits of roasted rhubarb, since it’s rhubarb season! One stick, chopped up with a sprinkling of sugar, roasted for 15 minutes, gave this traditional Portuguese delicacy a little English kick!
-
- Portuguese Custard Tart Cases with Roasted Rhubarb
-
- Baked Portuguese Custard Tarts
If you’ve got any great recipes for using up excess egg yolks, we’d love to have them. Or even any other custard-based recipes – we can never get enough of those! Please do get in touch!
