Portugal is a land of culinary miracles, where humble ingredients are transformed into transcendental food. Before the dissolution of the religious orders in 1834, many of these wonders came from convent kitchens. But miracles also come from the hands of lay cooks.
One such culinary prodigy is the Pastel de Feijão, a pastry made with white beans in the town of Torres Vedras, just 30 minutes north of Lisbon. The city is celebrated both for its heroic stand against the French during the Napoleonic wars and for its bean pastries.
The first written mention of these pastries is in the catalogue of the Portuguese Ethnography Exhibition published in 1896. Local tradition credits Joaquina Rodrigues, a home cook, with creating the recipe at the end of the 19th century. By the early 20th century, growing demand led to the opening of the first pastry workshops in Torres Vedras.
Each pastel cradles within its paper-thin, crispy shell a golden cream of almond, flour, sugar, egg yolks, and white beans. Today, the most acclaimed are the Pastéis de Feijão from Serra da Vila. First sold in a modest hillside café in the 1990s, the pastries gained such renown that production had to expand to meet the ever-growing stream of admirers.
If you have a sweet tooth and find yourself traveling north of Lisbon, be sure to stop in Serra da Vila. It is your chance to savor a miraculous creation.
The Serra da Vila Pastry Store is located at Rua Miguel Jerónimo Nº19A, Serra da Vila, tel. 261 321 552.
