It's a lemon tart filled with a cooked curd filling, rather than a custard filling which has to be baked. As the idea of the recipe is to get you to buy the supermarket products, it suggests using ready made shortcrust pastry, but I made my own. I followed the curd recipe exactly - I only needed the juice from 3 lemons to make the 150mls needed - and it worked very well. I thought 30 minutes in the fridge to cool the curd before putting it into the cooked pastry case was too long - the curd was very thick and didn't flow to the edges of the case. Coaxing it with a spoon meant that it didn't set with a really flat surface. Point to note for next time!
The flavour of the tart was well balanced between sweet and sharp, very lemony, and despite my worries that the curd wouldn't set well enough to cut, everything worked out fine. I served it with baked rhubarb instead of raspberries, and creme fraiche.
This is the first time I've made a lemon tart with a curd filling, and although it was very good, and you don't have the worry of the baked filling cracking as it cooks and cools, I think I still prefer the texture of a baked filling!
7 comments:
I liked the look of this on the advert - Yours looks so lovely. So elegantly presented - what a lovely plate. Lucie x
Hi Lucie - thanks for the compliment. The plate is pretty isn't it? I bought it at an Antiques Fair, and would guess it dates from the 1950s if not earlier. I think my secondary hobby is going to become plate collecting, so that I can show off my baking to good effect in my photos.
This is another recipe I thought I might try when things get less hectic. Odd though, it doesn't sound anything like Heston's normal format! Ready-made pastry? Tut tut. (Actually. are we pastry-makers now only a minority)?
Will let you know how mine turns out, taking your comments on board.
Wow it really set and looks fab Suelle! I would not trust myself to do that right.
Jude - I think it's more of a ploy to sell Waitrose products than an attempt to get us to cook properly. ;-)
Gillian - I have to admit that making lemon curd directly in the saucepan was a little nerve-wracking!
The little waves from spooning in the filling look very deliberate!
Foodycat - that was a result of trying to smoooth the surface with a wet spoon!:)
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