LEMON TART

I can happily spend hours in the kitchen working on a dish but like anything in life there are a few things which I just do not enjoy doing.  No. 1 on the list has to be peeling potatoes - definitely one for hubby to deal with.  No. 2 is making pastry cases.  I find it so stressful especially when it comes to making a rich shortcrust pastry.  You have to get the pastry really thin so that it is not too doughy and then of course it tears just as you drop it into the tin.  Of course you can patch it up but it never looks the same.  The next problem is getting it to dry out nicely without going too brown and of course last but not least is getting it out of the tin without breaking the edges.  No, no, no - life is too short to make your own pastry cases.  Thankfully there is a good selection of ready made ones in the shops for cowards like me.  Of course if you are a domestic goddess and prefer to make your own then this tart requires a rich shortcrust pastry case.

 I did in fact make the pastry case for my lemon tart and all was going well until I went to fill the case with the filling.  Yup - not enough filling - my tin was too deep.  I went ahead and baked the tart and when it had cooled slightly I went round the edge very carefully with a pair of kitchen scissors and trimmed down to the filling edge. 

This is not a traditional lemon tart but only because I find them too eggy (not a real word but very descriptive)?  It is nevertheless a lovely tart and very tangy and very easy.  No need to worry about the egg curdling or splitting.  It can be served plain with some icing sugar dusted over the top. Alternatively you can fancy it up a bit for a special dinner by caramelising some caster sugar on the top and serving with some sharp raspberry coulis on the side.

LEMON TART

 

For the printable version - click here



 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

 

Ingredients

• 1 shallow 20cm sweet shortcrust pastry case
• 3 egg yolks
• 397g tin of condensed milk
• Rind from 3 lemons
• 160 ml fresh lemon juice, strained

Cooking Directions

1. In a large bowl pour condensed milk, rind and lemon juice onto egg yolks.
2. Mix well and pour into prepared pastry case.
3. Bake at 180°C (350° F) for 30 minutes or until just set.

To caramelise the top

Cut the tart into slices.

Sprinkle with caster sugar

Using a cooks blowtorch, caramelise the sugar

Sprinkle another layer of caster sugar over the top

Caramelise again.

Do not refrigerate after this step as the sugar will soften.

 

Written by : Angela Darroch