Pastel de Feijão

Pastel de feijao is a conventual sweet tart from Torres Vedras, north of Lisbon, filled with white navy bean puree, sugar and egg yolks. The bean gives a uniquely dense, fudgy texture. Nuns used every available ingredient; beans were cheap and plentiful.

A crisp shortcrust tart filled with a dense, smooth, sweet white-bean-and-yolk paste, golden on top, the bean giving a uniquely creamy-fudgy texture you would never guess was legume. Eaten with espresso.

The tart's surprise is the white bean. Navy beans are cooked until completely soft, then pureed and pushed through a sieve for absolute smoothness. The bean puree is mixed with sugar, egg yolks and butter into a thick, spoonable filling, poured into blind-baked shortcrust tart shells, and baked until the filling is set and golden. The beans contribute starch that gives the filling a dense, fudgy, uniquely smooth body — different from a pure custard, more like a sweet bean paste — and they absorb the butter and yolk richness without becoming cloying. The sieving is essential; any graininess ruins the silky illusion. This is a conventual sweet, born of the nuns' ingenuity with limited ingredients.