Paul Merrony
Lemon tart
Paul Merroney says – "Everybody loves a lemon tart and this is the classic recipe. Through this, and a dollop of whipped cream, you can get mighty close to gastro-nirvana."
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
250 ml double cream
100g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
435g of whole egg (i.e. white and yolk)
65g sifted icing sugar
40g of flour, plus a further 125 g
20g ground almonds
375g of caster sugar
6 lemons, approximately
pinch of salt
Method
For the pastry, two days in advance combine the butter, icing sugar, 35g egg, ground almonds and 40g flour rapidly in your food processor.
Turn out onto a bench and knead in the 125g of flour quickly and evenly.
Roll into a ball, place in a bowl, cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
One day in advance, remove the pastry ball from the fridge and allow it to sit for 30 minutes.
Roll out the pastry into an even 30cm diameter circle.
Transfer the pastry, using the rolling pin, to a cake ring (22cm x 3.5cm) sitting on a tray. Take care to ensure the pastry sits flush with the tray, the ring and all the corners.
Rest in the fridge for up to an hour. There should be a little pastry left over to repair any holes which may appear after blind baking.
Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees. Gently line the pastry shell with greaseproof paper, fill with your preferred blind baking weights (eg. dried beans, rice etc.)and bake until the pastry is golden brown. This should take about 20 minutes.
Remove and allow to cool.
While the tart is blind baking, whisk the caster sugar and remaining eggs together until the sugar is dissolved.
Add 250ml lemon juice and grated rind of three lemons. Mix well.
Gently whisk this mixture into the double cream.
When smooth set aside.
Remove the paper and weights from the pastry shell and repair any holes with pastry.
Delicately pour the lemon mixture into the shell and return to the oven – turn down to 130 degrees. Cook for 40 minutes.
At no time should the filling bubble or colour ‚ the cooking should be a gradual setting process.
When the tray is tapped gently the filling should not move. This can take up to one hour.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before refrigerating.
To serve, trim the pastry edges, remove the ring and dust with icing sugar.
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