I have a very good friend who has worked in some of the best kitchens in SA as a pastry chef. Her resume is, needless to say, pretty impressive and when I had breakfast with her yesterday, I was telling her about my hassles with lemon tart and how it always ends up like lemony scrambled eggs or the filling never sets. She told me about this insane lemon tart she used to make at one of the best boutique hotels in the country and how it was fool proof. She gave me the recipe and I got working the moment I got home.
One thing I was happy to see was that there were no fancy-pants techniques or equipment necessary (which is often the case with professional chef’s recipes). I think the trick to a perfect, smooth and tangy lemon tart is to make sure you bake it at a really low temperature so the eggs don’t get a chance to go into shock and curdle. They almost just mellow themselves into a smooth, rich custard. The shortcrust base also needs to be fully baked before you pour in the custard as this will prevent it from going soggy. As a back-up, I brushed the base with beaten egg white and allowed it to dry, just to make sure.
I took the tart out of the oven when it was a little jiggly in the centre and allowed it to cool to room temperature before popping it into the fridge to set completely (pretty much like a Crème brûlée). When it came to serving the tart, I was delighted that the filling was smooth, creamy and just set. I can’t stand it when a custard-based tart has a rubbery filling and this lemon tart was just perfection. I used my tried and tested sweet shortcrust recipe flavoured with a little lemon zest as the base and the light, buttery and biscuity base was perfectly complemented by the tart filling. This, is why I call this tart the Ultimate Lemon Tart (Tarte au citron). Because it well and truly is!
