siya – lemons
{More of Siya’s work + interview is here}
You know the old saying “When life gives you lemons…” ? Today I am making my favourite lemon tart. Why?
Well, one of the wheels fell off my car yesterday. I mean LITERALLY FELL OFF. Car was heading north and wheel decided to head west.
BANG.
Broken ball joint. Yikes. I am so very thankful I was not driving 100kmh down a country road (which I normally do several times a week). Instead, I was driving about 20-30kmh down the main street of town, and so the car just came to a shuddering, grinding halt.
In the middle of the main street. Traffic backing up behind me. Car full of groceries, kids to collect from school. And o.m.g. just look at that WHEEL…
But being so obvious meant that help was nearby. Tow truck, borrowed car, and I’m safe home and it’s all (almost) good. (Just got to deal with the insurance now, and wait for the car to be fixed.)
OH!
So let’s do something special with those lemons. I LOVE lemon desserts. This one is a favourite, adapted from an old Women’s Weekly cookbook.
FANTASTIC LEMON ALMOND TART
SHORTCRUST PASTRY
1 cup plain flour
60g butter
2 tblspns castor sugar
approx 1 1/2 tblspn cold water
Sift flour into bowl, add sugar, rub through butter. Add enough water to mix to a firm dough. Roll out to cover the base of a 23cm flan tin, and bake blind {cover pastry with baking paper and filling with rice or beans} in a moderately hot oven for 10 minutes. Remove paper and beans and return to oven for another 5 minutes. Cool slightly.
LEMON BUTTER
60g butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
2 egg yolks
Combine butter, sugar, lemon juice and eggs in the top of a double saucepan and stir over simmering water until the mixture thickens to the consistency of custard. Cool, and spread over the cooked pastry base.
FILLING
90g butter
1 tspn vanilla
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 cup ground almonds
2 eggs, lightly beaten.
Cream butter, vanilla and sugar with an electric mixer; stir in almonds and eggs until they are well combined. This mixture is quite thick and hard to spread over the lemon butter, so place spoonfuls evenly around the tart, then use the back of your spoon to gently spread it to cover the base properly.
Bake the tart in a moderate oven 30 minutes until set.
Fantastic on its own, or serve with whipped cream if you must.