Tarte au Citron meringuée (Lemon Meringue Tart)

Yum.

This has got to be one of my favourites. Really pretty. The kind of thing you make for your mother-in-law when she comes around for afternoon tea. She will hate you for upstaging her in front of her son, but love you that 'extra much' for making such an effort for her.

What she won't know is how effortless this really is. But we want her to keep thinking how fabulous you are and what a good choice her son made. So the only people that need to know about this is us...


Here's what you need:

* The sweet shortcrust pastry:

200g of soft flour
45g of sugar
A pinch of salt
120g butter
50g egg
1/2 lemon, zest
Vanilla extract


* The lemon curd:

160g of egg
150g of sugar
1 lemon, zest
3 lemons , juice
30g of butter

*The Italian meringue:

120g egg whites
240g sugar
70ml water

*The Decoration:

1 lemon, julienne
150g sugar
150ml water

1) Pre-heat oven to 180C.

2) For the pastry, sieve the dry ingredients. Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk the softened butter and sugar together. Gradually add the eggs to the butter and sugar. Mix well. Add the lemon zest then add flour in stages, making sure all the ingredients are well-incorporated (Use a plastic scraper - it's clean and works well for this).  

3) Time to 'Fraiser la pate'...which is basically French for forming the dough into a ball, and pushing it with the palm of your hands along your work surface. From now on I will use the terms 'fraise the dough'. There's your free french lesson. Anyway...where was I? Oh yes, so you 'fraise the dough' for a minute (NO flour dusting!), cling film it, flatten and chill for at least 15 mins.

4) Once the dough is chilled, roll it out (lightly dust the work surface and brush off excess flour), dock it, and line the tart tin (about 21-23cm) and chill again for 10 mins. Remove excess dough, dip lightly in flour and use to mould it well in the tin. Crimp the edge using fingers or crimper. Prepare a double layer of cling film and fill with baking beans. Place in oven, blind bake, remove beans, then cook further until golden brown. Leave to cool.

5) Next it's lemon curd time. Warm the lemon juice, zest and sugar on a bain-marie. Once the sugar has dissolved, strain and return to bain-marie. Whisk in the eggs and cook until it thickens, then add the butter. Strain and chill. Spread in the tart case using a small palette knife.

6) For the decoration, peel the lemon and cut into julienne strips. Blanch them 3 times to remove wax and to soften them. Make a simple syrup with the water and sugar by bringing it to boil. Add the strips of lemon and leave on low low heat until translucent. Sieve, then place individually onto a sheet of silicone paper so that they don't stick together. Leave to dry.

7) Make the Italian meringue by cooking the sugar and water to softball stage (118C), and slowly add to whipped egg whites on the KitchenAid...slow speed, making sure the syrup doesn't doesn't hit the whisk. Then place on medium speed to cool, not stopping until ready for use. Place in piping bag, with a St. Honore nozzle and starting from the middle, pipe in a line, in a front to back motion one direction, then the same in the opposite direction. It takes a bit of practice, but once you know the technique, you will pipe it all the time...on cakes, on pies, on your face...!

8) Anyway. Here comes the fun part, especially if you're a pyromaniac like me. Blow torch the top of the meringue, moving swiftly along the lines. Be gentle and don't over-do it. We are looking to tan the tips, not burn the house down. This, coupled with beautiful piping is what makes this tart so spectacular.

9) Last but not least, scatter or criss-cross the candied lemon zest on top of the meringue.

This one is a real winner. You can thank me later.

Enjoy.