Tarte au Citron

This tart is adapted from David Lebovitz's Citron Tart and, most importantly, his review and inclusion of a classic French pastry. As a very ad-hoc baker, it is simply the easiest pastry to make. Buttery, thin, and crisp, it is perfect and doesn’t rely on cold hands! Or a warm heart…

You will need a stainless steel saucepan, oven-proof bowl, scraper, spoon and whisk, a sieve, a 23cm tart shell (fluted or unfluted) 

(And look at that colour - it is the inclusion of the best eggs we can get...brightly coloured yolks from happy, free-ranging hens - grazing on grass and bugs and chicken-y things in Stroud, NSW).

 

French Pastry Dough

Ingredients

85g chopped into chunks of unsalted butter

1 tablespoon grapeseed or canola oil

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon Billington golden caster sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

160g white baker's flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 210º C

Combine the butter, oil, water, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized ovenproof bowl

Place the bowl in the oven until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges – this will take about 15-17 minutes

When the butter is starting to brown, remove the bowl from the oven and reduce the temperature to 190ºC.  

Toss the flour into the hot mixture and stir it in quickly – it should form a ball which pulls away from the sides of the bowl

Transfer the dough to a 23 cm tart mould with a removable bottom and spread it with a spatula – you don’t need to grease the mould because the butter is already hot.

Unless you have steel-like hands, allow the dough to cool enough to touch and press it into the shell with the heel of your hand and using your fingers press it up the sides of the mould (reserve a little bit of the dough for the inevitable patch job once it is cooked)

Using a fork prick the dough all over (or come in and buy a dough docker…- my preference)

Pop the tart shell into the oven for 15 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.

Once brown remove from the oven, take the little ball of raw dough, fill the cracks and allow the shell to cool.

 

Lemon curd

Ingredients for curd

250ml fresh lemon juice - depending on your lemons you might want to adjust the sugar quantities

grated zest of two lemons (if these have been sprayed, soak in warm water for ½ hour to dissolve the wax and dry well before zesting)

150g Billington’s golden caster sugar

170g cubes of salted butter

4 large Cornucopia eggs and 4 large Cornucopia egg yolks whisked together

This will fill a 23cm tart shell

Method for curd

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Heat the lemon juice, zest, sugar, butter, eggs, and egg yolks in a medium-sized stainless-steel saucepan.

Using a spoon, stir continuously until the butter is melted. Then, whisk the mixture until it thickens and holds its shape when you lift some of it.  It only takes a few minutes.

Once thickened, using the strainer, pour the warm lemon curd through to catch the solid eggy bits—straight into the tart shell or into a bowl or sterilised jar. You’ll need to scrape with a spatula to press it all through.

Smooth the filling off in your tart shell and pop it back into the oven for about 5 minutes until the curd is just set. 

Let cool and serve with crème fraiche and berries.