Pasta Pudding - Aletria

This is a traditional dessert from Minho and Douro Litoral provinces. The pasta ( fine noodles or vermicelli) is used in this recipe for a sweet resembling rice pudding, portuguese style. It usually served in large serving dishes or in a bowl and then take out of it only when quite cold.

Ingredients:

4 oz(90 gr) vermicelli, just crumbled

4 oz(110 gr caster sugar)

1/2 pint (300 ml) milk

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons butter

cinnamon

1 piece of lemon rind

Preparation:

Cook the pasta in plain water with a pinch of salt. Drain. Mix with the milk, sugar and lemon rind. Bring to the boil and simmer until creamy. Mix the butter and beaten egg yolks. Bring just to the boil for one second and remove from the heat. pour into a serving dish or in a bowl and dust with cinnamon. Serve cold.

Portuguese egg pudding

This is a traditional portuguese pudding usually cooked to celebrate a special day like a wedding day, christmas, birthday or a family reunion.

Now is in almost every restaurants in Portugal as an everyday dessert.

Ingredients:

4 cups of milk

12 eggs

3 cups of sugar

1 tbsp of flour

zest of a lemon

caramel sauce

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degreesF (200º C).

In a bowl beat the eggs until frothy.

Combine the sugar the flour and the lemon zest and beat the mixture into the eggs. Add the milk and mix again.

Pour the caramel into an ovenproofmold, rolling it aroud the sides to coat the mold evenly.

Pour the custard into the caramelized mold.

Place the mold in a larger pan and add water to come halfway up the sides of the mold.

Bake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the center of the custard comes out clean.

Cool the room temperature. Then place it in refrigerator tree hours.

Unmold the pudding on a reving plate.