Pucker Up: Tart au Citron

For some reason, I have only ever made this tart in the winter. It is a ray of yellow in the gray days the west coast seems to have. Its sweet and sour flavour seems to banish my winter blahs. Spring just hasn't taken over yet and the rain feels like a never ending phenomenon, so out comes the lemon tart!

In the bistro, tart au citron was the perfect finishing touch. It cleansed the palate after the deep flavours of the main course and was a light bright dessert option. For me this tart really goes with any occasion: breakfast, afternoon tea or late night with a glass of sweet, bright wine. It is also my grandmother’s favourite of the desserts I have made for her and so always means something a little extra to me.

Ingredients:

Crust:

175g flour

75g butter, cut into cubes and chilled

2 tsp water

1 egg yolk

Pinch of salt

Filling:

6oz white sugar

9 eggs

The juice of 6 lemons, 2 of them zested prior to all of them being juiced

6 oz cream

Method:

For the crust:

• Sieve the flour into a big bowl and toss in the well chilled butter. Use your hands to coat the butter with the flour and break it up into chunks. Run it between your hands to break up the butter to the smallest butter-covered chunks you can. This will make your pastry crumbly and delicious.
• When the butter and flour is a bread crumb consistency, add in the egg yolk, water and pinch of salt. Knead it all together in the bowl until well incorporated and evenly coloured  Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and put it into the fridge to rest.
• Preheat the oven to 325⁰
• Butter and dust a loose bottom tart pan with flour.
• Remove the pastry from the fridge and to prevent it from tearing, roll it out between two sheets of cling film. When it is about as thick as a loonie, take off the top sheet and flip it into the tart pan, pressing it evenly into all the nooks and crannies. If it tears don’t worry, you can always a)re-roll it if it’s bad or b)patch holes with little pieces of pastry.
• Pierce the pastry shell with a fork a couple of times and put it back in the fridge while you get the filling ready.

Filling:

• Whisk all of the eggs with the sugar in a big bowl until all of the eggs are blended in and it’s a bit frothy.
• Add in the zest, the juice from the lemons and the cream. Mix well.
• Taste. Does it need more sour? Add lemon. Does it need more sweetness? Sugar. Don’t be afraid of tasting a mix with raw eggs inside. It won’t be gross tasting and it won’t make you sick.
• Put the crust into the oven and then slowly pour the filling in. This prevents a spill with a full crust on the way to the oven.
• Bake 20 to 30 mins or until the majority of the filling is set but still has a slight jiggle. Don’t worry, it will finish setting as it cools.
• Serve at room temp or slightly cool with a dollop of whipped cream and maybe some raspberry sauce if you’d like: blend up a cup or two of raspberries and put the resulting liquid through a sieve to remove any seeds. Place in a pan and slowly heat with a bit of sugar to taste. Remove from the pan when the sugar is dissolved and cool completely before using.