Wednesday 2 January 2008

Classic Lemon Tart


We spent New Years Eve with the husband's parents. I took a dessert and spent a little while trying to decide what to make. I have James Martin's Desserts book and there are lots of lovely recipes and ideas. In the end I decided to make a lemon tart. The recipe in the book was for 8-10 so I halved it as there were only 4 of us. There was still some left for us to have another slice the next day. Sadly I forgot to take a picture but I will definately be making this again. It was delicious and and everyone enjoyed it.
The recipe says to use bought pastry which is fine but I made my own. I do sometimes buy pastry but decided to have a go at making my own this time. I also found it quite difficult to caremelise the icing sugar under my grill. I think it would be easier to do with a blow torch instead so I may have to buy one. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
For the lemon tart:
5 free-range eggs
190g/6¾oz caster sugar
250ml/9fl oz double cream
4 lemons, juice and zest
butter, for greasing
flour, for dusting
225g/8oz ready-made sweet shortcrust pastry
icing sugar, for dusting
For the goats' cheese cream:
110g/4oz mild goats' cheese
50ml/2fl oz double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. For the lemon tart, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk gently to break up the yolks. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the cream and the lemon juice and stir. Pass the mixture through a sieve, then add the lemon zest and set aside.
3. Grease a 20cm/8in flan ring with butter. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to make a circle large enough to fit over the flan ring. Using the rolling pin, carefully lift the pastry over the ring and gently press into the ring. Allow the pastry to overhang the edges of the ring slightly. Line with a circle of greaseproof paper and fill with rice or baking beans.
4. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the beans and greaseproof paper, then return to the oven for five minutes, or until the tart case is lightly browned.
5. Turn the oven down to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and pour the lemon mixture into the tart case. Bake in the oven for about an hour, or until the filling is just set and the pastry is golden-brown.
6. Remove the tart from the oven and trim off the edges of the pastry. Leave to cool completely, then place in the fridge to chill for about two hours.
7. Preheat the grill to medium.
8. Dust the top of the tart generously with icing sugar then place under the grill until caramelised.
9. For the goats' cheese cream, place the goats' cheese into a bowl with the cream and icing sugar and mix well.
10. To serve, cut the tart into wedges and serve with a spoonful of the goats' cheese cream.

1 comment:

violets said...

Teresa, this sounds delicious, thanks for the recipe, I love anything lemony.

Vi xx