Monday 27 February 2012

Lemon Curd Tart


If you’ve never tried making a lemon tart at home, I have to warn you, once you have, you will never go back those commercially prepared ones. Many people have complained that most recipes they have tried did not strike the right balance between sweet and tangy. I don’t know how this recipe fixes this problem, or what the perfect scientific balance is between sweet and tangy, but take my word for it, this is brilliant. At least for me.
You may find from the picture that the crust is a little thick; I did that on purpose. The crust is amazing. You can buy a pre-baked tart crust or use frozen shortcrust pastry and just make the lemon curd. But if you have the right machinery, I urge you to make it yourself. It really takes 3 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to chill in the freezer, during which time you don’t have to do anything. And the flavour is worlds better. You’ll thank me...
As you can see, I didn’t include a picture of the sliced lemon tart or even a decent photo of the whole tart, because it was devoured before I got a chance. That’s a good sign don’t you think?
Please note: the recipe may seem long, but that’s because I have trouble being concise and I wanted to include all the details. It really doesn’t include more than a handful of actions... I promise J
Sweet tart pastry (or cheats shortcrust pastry)
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups plain flour
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp table salt
150g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk, cold
1 tbsp thickened cream, cold
½ tsp vanilla extract
Method:
Combine flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a standmixer with paddle attachment, or in a food processor. Throw in the butter and turn on your machine on low until butter is the size of peas and partially incorporated into the flour mixture. The lumpiness is good here, as it makes a flaky pastry, so don’t over-process your butter.
Add the egg yolk, cream and vanilla and mix until the dough is like wet sand. If you find the dough is still too dry, you can add a bit of the egg whites too.... go slowly though.
Tip it out onto a floured surface or a sheet of baking paper. Press into a ball and roll out dough to fit your tart dish. It should ideally be about ½ centimetre in thickness. You can either roll on the floured surface, and then lift the dough by rolling it around your rolling pin and unroll onto your tart tin. Or roll in between 2 sheets of baking paper and inverting onto the tart tin.
Press into tart tin, until you are happy with the shape. If parts of the dough tears, don’t worry, just use the scraps to fix any holes; you won’t be able to see it once baked. I usually fold the overhanging dough back in, to create a double layer crust. You can do as you wish.
Stab the base a few times with a fork. Wrap in cling to avoid the crust from drying out, and leave in freezer for at least 30 minutes. This is the magic trick to prevent the crust from shrinking when baked.
Blind baking
Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
Lay a sheet of baking paper over the frozen tart crust, and fill with pie weights or uncooked rice. The weight prevents the base of the tart from rising too much when baked. If you find it has risen, just press it down with the base of a spoon.
Bake for 15 minutes, and remove baking paper and pie weights. Bake for a further 10 minutes or until the edges are a deep golden brown.
Remember: colour = flavour; but like with anything, don’t overbake until it is dark brown or (gasp...) black. I don’t think I need to tell you why that’s bad.  
 Meanwhile, prepare the curd. Refer below.
Lemon Curd
Ingredients:
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2/3 cup thickened cream
4 eggs, whisked until whites and yolks are combined but not aerated, at room temperature
40g butter, at room temperature
200g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
Method:
Firstly, I say all ingredients need to be at room temperature, that’s because it’ll take shorter to actually cook. But it’s not mandatory. You’ll just have to pour over the hot stove a bit longer if everything’s fridge cold.
Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl and place over a pan of simmering water (ie double boiler), making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water.
Stir consistently until custard is thickened. Should take about 8-10 minutes.
Once tart shell is cooked, lower oven temperature to 140 degrees.
Pour custard into the baked tart shell and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are set, but the middle still jiggles slightly when you softly shake the tart tin.
Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate thoroughly until set, about 2 hours.
For serving, dust with icing sugar, or decorate with candied lemon slices.
Source: Tart shell from Williams Sonoma; Lemon Curd from Exclusively Food.

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