The most famous Portuguese pastry!
There are some recipes that instantly transport you to the origin, and for us, the iconic pastel de nata will always be one of them.
Back in 2020, when we couldn’t travel, we were “savouring the world” from our home kitchen. Our last trip to Europe prior to our borders closing had to been to Spain and Portugal. With these tasty pastries fresh in our mind, one of the first recipes we had to try was these golden, caramelised Portuguese custard tarts.
We’d been longtime followers of James Blick from Spain Revealed & Devour Tours so when they released the Devour Tours digital cookbook, Recipes from the Devour Tours Kitchen, we couldn’t wait to dive in and give David’s recipe for Pastéis de Nata a go.
Here’s the original recipe from Devour Tours (credit to the author).
Our Kitchen Experience
The recipe was easy to follow and gave us a true taste of Portugal, right from our own oven. These little tarts are best eaten fresh, straight out of the oven, when the pastry is crisp and the custard is still warm.
Savour Tip: Make them on the day you want to eat them. They will taste authentic and are way too good to save for later.
Here is a quick video of us cooking the recipe so you can see how much fun it is.
From Home Kitchen to Belém
Fast forward to our travels in Portugal 2024, and of course we couldn’t resist heading to Belém in Lisbon, the birthplace of the original pastéis de nata.
There’s something special about tasting them in the very place they were first created. But we’ll always remember that first batch we made at home, and the way food can connect us to travel even when we’re so far away.