(no subject)

[lindsaydotcom]

(Shockingly) The lemon tart turned out really well. I had doubts that people actually liked it and were just saying so because they knew I made it until my 2-yr old nephew decided he didn't want to share it with his dad, K. *Then* I knew I had arrived.

And some puuuuushy lady who I'd been in the same room with maybe twice before (though never spoken to) accosted me and DEMANDED to know the recipe. It was scary.

Posting it here so I don't forget it:

Makes 8-10 slices

Pastry ingredients:
1 1/3 cups Flour
¼ teaspoon Salt
¼ cup Sugar
Zest From ½ lemon
½ cup (1 stick) Cold, unsalted butter
1 Egg yolk
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons Ice water (optional)

Filling ingredients:
2 ½ Lemons
4 Eggs
1 Egg yolk
½ cup Sugar
½ cup Whipping cream
1 tablespoon Powdered sugar

1)      For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, sugar, and lemon zest in a food processor (metal blade) and pulse the machine a few times to lend the ingredients. Cut the butter into pieces, add it to the machine, and pulse about 30 times until the mixture is crumbly. Add the egg yolk vanilla extract, and pulse until the dough starts to come together. (You may need to add the ice water if the ingredients aren't clinging to each other.) Shape the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it for at least 1 hour.
2)      Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll out the pastry between 2 layers of plastic wrap into a circle that is 1 inch larger than the diameter of the pan. Carefully transfer the pastry to an un-greased 10- or 11- inch tart pan and trim the edges. Poke a fork into the bottom of the pastry a few times. Line the pastry with parchment paper, then with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the pastry on the middle oven rack for 10 minutes.
3)      Make the filling: Wash the lemons, dry them, and grate the zests. Squeeze out the juices. Beat the whole eggs, the egg yolk, and the sugar with an electric mixer until they are nice and foamy, then stir in the lemon zest and juice. In another bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff; fold it into the lemon mixture with a hand whisk.
4)      Remove the beans or peas and parchment from the pastry. Pour the lemon filling onto the pastry and return the tart to the oven. Bake at 300F for approximately 50 minutes. The tart should not be brown (yet), but the filling should be set. Take the tart out of the oven and cools it in the pan.
5)      Before serving, turn on the broiler. Sift the powdered sugar over the tart, slip it under the hot broiler, and brown it for about 1 minute. But keep watching, because this can go pretty fast, as sugar burns easily.
 
Time needed: Being active 35 minutes, relaxing 1 ¾ hours.
 
From: Basic Baking, 2001, silverback Books, Inc.

 

Comments

[2happy4most.livejournal.com]

We love the recipes from the Basic ---- series by Silverback, we have the Basic Cooking one are always eyeing the other books in the series. Incidentally, the chili recipe out of Basic Cooking is the last meal I made and ate before my water broke... all that hot and spicy got the kid dancing around too much!

[ves-heill.livejournal.com]

No kidding - I love that book! Everything's so simple and easy to follow - well, except for the "stiff" whipping cream thing, bah. I just saw a Basic Asian one that I'm considering getting. I could use some good recipes for more authentic tasting stuff.