Lemon Cream Tart

I tackled my first TWD offering on Saturday. Having walked the dog and narrowly escaped the major rainstorm - the latest offering from the recently odd English weather (snow, rain and spring sunshine in the last week), dried off, had a cup of tea and wondered what to do next I wandered into the kitchen and made a start.

It has been years since I made a Pate Sucree. Honestly its a bit rich for most things, a bit sensitive and too much like hard work. Having moved on from my college days of making it on a table top by hand the food processor churned it out easily. I cut it into discs to line the tart tin - it means less handling and less change of oiling especially in my warm kitchen. Riverside Cafe books suggest freezing it and then grating coarsely and pressing that in. I struggle with baking in the Aga as I find the ovens are often too hot despite using the cold shelf. I think, being honest, that still having an electric oven I tend to give up too easily. The Aga is more of a pet than an all purpose cooker. The shell ended up as usual slightly over browned.

Next for the Lemon Cream. What an interesting method - a sabayon with added butter. The main issues were mess - the mix was very liquid and therefore very splashy when mixing on top of the Aga - I shall have to clean it later before the cat sticks to it tonight. I also had major problems getting it hot enough - in the end I had to resort to putting the bowl right into the water and using the hot plate, whilst whisking to stop it scrambling. It finally thickened up at about 172 degrees so I gave up there as it was good and thick and I think that I would have ruined it if I had kept going.

So, then I chilled the lemon cream and eventually filled the tart case and got ready to take a photo............. then an interesting thing happened. The tart was in the kitchen, I was in the dining room with my photographic arrangements when older son and friends arrived home and swept through my house like locusts. Suffice to say the slice of tart in the photo is all that was left in an acceptable state to share with anyone.

The locusts all liked it and it certainly is very creamy and lemony if a little rich for every day. It obviously does need to be served very cold and I think the suggestion in the book to serve it with raspberry coulis would cut it well.

I have enjoyed my first TWD day. Using an American recipe is always a challenge as we Brits have to convert the measurements and sometimes work out a substitute ingredient. I look forward to seeing what I will be making next week.