Christmas

Sweet Angel Hair (Aletria)

December 20, 2009
5
7 Ratings
  • Serves 16
Author Notes

This is a traditional Portuguese Christmas dish. We always prepare it for Christmas Eve. It's simple to cook and nutritious for you (who said Christmas sweets are all bad for you). —Candyland Queens

Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
  • 1 pound of angel hair pasta
  • 2 1/2 cups of sugar
  • 2 cups of whole milk
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 stick of cinnamon
  • 1 piece of lemon rind
Directions
  1. Cook the angel hair in a half full pot of boiled water with salt. Let it boil for 10 min on medium-high until it's entirely cooked. Drain thoroughly.
  2. In a saucepan pour the milk in with the sugar, butter, cinnamon, and lemon rind. Mix everything with a wooden spoon and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
  3. After it is done simmering, add the pasta to the mixture. Let it cook at medium-low and mix it with a wooden spoon at all times until most of the fluid is evaporated (it should have the consistency of a pudding). Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon rind.
  4. The last step is adding the beaten eggs to the mixture. Be careful as this is the most difficult part of the process. You have to mix them together quickly otherwise you will get small pieces of cooked egg in the pasta. After you have added the egg yolks, mix quickly with a wooden spoon until the eggs have been evenly distributed to the whole mixture. It should not take more than 4 min. After that remove from the heat.
  5. Pour it on a serving dish or small bowls and decorate with ground cinnamon. You can make little designs or write something down on it. Be creative! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

See what other Food52ers are saying.

3 Reviews

Rulla August 5, 2011
That's funny! We actually eat a very similar dish in Palestine. I had no idea it originated in Portugal.
Tapestry February 10, 2011
My aunt used to make this at Easter time.
She would put it on a flat oval plate each year and bring it to our house.
My folks loved the stuff but I was never a lemon fan. I made
it for my Dad for Easter 2010 and he said it was really good!
Maria T. December 20, 2009
Well, here you have a Portuguese fan for your Aletria. Great recipe.