Aletria is a traditional Portuguese dessert that combines angel hair pasta and a scrumptious custard infused with lemon peel and cinnamon. It’s the ultimate Portuguese grandmother dessert and quite similar to a rice pudding. What makes it so unique and slightly controversial is the angel hair pasta. But I assure you it’s a delicious dessert and quite fun to make!
Authentic Portuguese Sweet Angel Hair Pasta
Aletria is a very nostalgic Portuguese dessert often eaten during Christmas. Like many traditional dishes, there isn’t a single recipe out there but several recipes with some slight variations and someone’s personal touch. That said, it usually comprises sugar, eggs, milk, broken angel hair pasta, lemon, cinnamon, and butter. The consistency can also vary, you can make a creamy aletria to be savoured like a rice pudding. Or you can cook it for longer making it more dense to be sliced like a cake. I’ve tried both ways, but I personally prefer the creamy version, so without further ado let’s dive into my recipe.
Portuguese Aletria Recipe
The first step is to infuse the milk with some lemon peel strips, a cinnamon stick, and seeds and pod of half of a vanilla bean. Bring the milk to a boil in a medium size pan, add your spices in then cover with the lid, let it infuse for 10 minutes off the heat.
Bring the milk to a boil again, then reduce the heat to medium-low, add in your broken angel hair pasta, the sugar, and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring often.
Gently beat the egg yolks on a separate bowl, then temper them with a spoon of the hot pasta mixture before pouring your yolks into the rest of the creamy pasta. This step prevents the yolks from scrambling when stirred into the hot pasta. Continue to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes stirring constantly. The time might vary, so the best trick is to try the pasta, it should be al dente.
Remove from the heat, use a kitchen tongue to remove the lemon peel, the cinnamon stick, and vanilla pod. Stir in the cold butter, transfer it immediately to 8 individual serving bowls, a big serving bowl works too. Allow it to cool for a couple of minutes before decorating with cinnamon powder. If you want a cake-like texture, all you have to do is cook it for longer and refrigerate before serving.
How to Make Portuguese Sweet Angel Hair Pasta – Aletria
Aletria – Portuguese Sweet Angel Hair Pasta
8
servings15
minutes10
minutes228
kcalAletria is a traditional Portuguese dessert that combines angel hair pasta and a scrumptious custard infused with lemon peel and cinnamon.
Ingredients
125 g 125 Angel Hair Pasta
500 ml 500 Full Fat Milk
1 1 Cinnamon Stick
3 3 Strips of Lemon Peel
1/2 1/2 Vanilla Pod
3 3 Egg Yolks
30 g 30 Butter
1 1 Pinch of Salt
Cinnamon Powder to Decorate
Directions
- Start by bringing the milk to a boil in a medium size pan. Once it’s boiling, turn the heat off, add in the lemon peel, cinnamon stick, and the vanilla pod (both the scraped seeds and the pod itself). Cover with a lid, allow to infuse for 10 minutes.
- Turn the burner back on, bring the infused milk back to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low, add in the pasta, the sugar, and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 3 minutes, giving it a good stir every so often.
- In the meantime, crack the egg yolks into a bowl, give it a gentle whisk. Temper the yolks with a spoon of the milky pasta. Pour the tempered yolks into the pasta base, cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until al dente, stirring often.
- Turn off the heat, take out your lemon peel, cinnamon stick and vanilla pod. Add in the butter, mix well to combine.
- Transfer immediately to your serving bowls. Allow it to cool for a minute or two before decorating with cinnamon powder. Enjoy!
Have you tried this recipe? Let me know in the comments!
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