Cooking Across 4 Generations

On our last menu was a luscious lemon tart which is served with some slightly sweetend mascarpone, pistachio praline and a slice of caramelised lemon. Not as heavy as the lemon curd tart we used to make but just as delicious.

All measurements are metric and spoon/cup measures are Australian Standards.

You will need a digital thermometer and food processor for this recipe.

LEMON TART

Pastry: (Enough for two and freezes well so you can make another one later)

Flour – 300grams

Unsalted butter, softened – 150grams

Egg yolks – 3

Icing sugar – 120grams

Vanilla bean 1,

Lemon fine zest of 1/2

Salt – pinch

Egg extra for brushing and sealing the tart case

Slice the vanilla bean down the length and carefully scape the seeds from each half out. Keep the pod and place it in your sugar pot to infuse.

Place all ingredients except egg yolks in processor and blitz until mixture looks like sandy texture.

Slowly drop in the egg yolks one at a time. the mixture should come together and form a ball.

Turn machine off and remove the pastry.

Weigh pastry and divide in to two balls, place on cling film and press down to a circle, wrap completely. Place 1 piece in refrigerator for an hour and freeze the other for future use.

Remove pastry from refrigerator, place on to a piece of gladbake/silicon paper, allow to soften slightly and then roll to 3mm thick.

Spray a loose bottomed flan tin with oil spray and being careful pick up the paper and turn the pastry over and in to the flan tin. It will break a bit but you can press the gaps together and fill in any spaces with the pastry that breaks off. Grab a fork and prick the base all over.

Return to the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. Take a nap if you like or grab a Jackie Collins novel and read for a bit.

Preheat oven to 150Celsius. Put the flan tin on a baking sheet this will catch drips and make it easy to carry.

Place a sheet of silicon paper over the tart shell and fill with beans/rice/bakers beads, pushing in to the corners. Blind bake for approximately 18 minutes, then remove the paper and whatever you used as weight, CAREFUL IT IS HOT!!

Return the pastry case to the oven to cook out a bit more around 5 -6 minutes. The pastry should look cooked but not too brown, think of a shortbread biscuit.

Crack the extra whole egg, whisk it up and then brush the pastry case with the egg. This is to seal the pastry and make it a bit more “water proof”. Return to the oven to cook for around 5 minutes.

Now you are ready to fill!!

LEMON FILLIING

Caster sugar – 195grams

Cream – 150grams Yeah I know I often weigh liquids)

Eggs – 5 (4 whole and 1 yolk)

Lemon –  2 1/2 juiced and strained

While your pastry is resting you can make the filling instead of reading or having a nap.

Whisk together lemon juice, cream, sugar, whole eggs and yolk until well combined but not frothy.

Strain in to a saucepan and over medium heat stir until you reach 60 celsius(digital thermometer time)

Strain in to a dry jug.

It needs to stand for a little bit and you will notice that the top has a layer of froth.

If you time it right this should coincide with the tart case finishing the final cook after being brushed with the egg.

Remove the tart from the oven and cool the oven down to 120 celsius and choose NO FAN. Return the tart to the oven, skim the froth off the top of the filling and pour the mixture slowly over the back of a large spoon in to the tart case. Pour slowly as you don’t want to form any bubbles. Having the fan off also helps form a nice smooth top.

Close the oven door and set the timer for 25 minutes. When the timer goes off give the tart a little jiggle, if it just wobbles a little it is ready. if it still looks quite liquid give it a couple more minutes until it just wobbles.

Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

Serve with some mascarpone or whipped cream. You can sweeten the mascarpone a little if you like. You could also glaze the top of the tart by sprinkling a little sugar on top and caramelising with a butane torch.

Enjoy!