Meyer Lemon Tart

I have finally found Meyer lemons. I always wanted to taste one and yes, I like it. It is sweet and a little sour. I have been reading other baking blogs and envying others from other countries who can get Meyer lemons readily or even grow their own Meyer lemons trees. Singapore is a tropical country which gets so hot, you could hardly grow anything.

Recently I chanced upon an upmarket new supermarket that were selling these Meyer lemons. Imagine my delight! They were exorbitant but I could not help grabbing a packet of 5 lemons inside. They were like almost S$10 for 5 small lemons. I just had to buy it as I have not tried tasting any Meyer lemons before. Then a day later, I saw the same kind of lemons at NTUC Finest selling at S6.95 ! I just have to average the price by buying another packet!

Meyer lemon is a citrus fruit native to China thought to be a cross between a true lemon and either a mandarin or common orange. The Meyer lemon fruit is yellow and rounder than a true lemon. The skin is fragrant and thin, coloured a deep yellow with a slight orange tint when ripe. Meyer lemon fruits have a sweeter, less acidic flavor than the more common lemon varieties. The pulp is a dark yellow and contains up to 10 seeds per fruit. 

Since I love lemon curd, the first thing i did was to make it with the Meyer lemons. Lemon curd is so easy to make and it tasted great with no sour taste to it at all. It is much kinder to the palette and I actually can use less sugar to make the curd. Really tasty and delicious.

I used the curd to make a tart, it turned out beautifully and it tasted lemony but without the sour tone.

The recipe is adapted from  americanfood.about.com which uses egg yolks instead of whole eggs. I happened to have a lot of egg yolks after making financiers. The sweet tart dough recipe is from Pierre Herme.

Meyer Lemon Curd

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (125g butter), cut into cubes

Preparation:

1. Add 1-inch of water to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. In a medium metal bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar for about 2 minutes until smooth. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest until combined.
2. Place the mixing bowl on top of saucepan (the bowl should be wide enough to fit on top of the saucepan, but shouldn't be touching the simmering water). Stir the mixture constantly with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl as you stir, until it begins to thicken, and will coat the back of a spoon. This will take approximately 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Whisk in the butter, one slice at a time until it is all well mixed. Spoon into clean glass containers and allow to cool with a piece of plastic wrap laid on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

Refrigerate until needed. This lemon curd will keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

Sweet Tart Dough

Ingredients

(You can Make this 1 day in advance because you need to chill and rest the dough for a minimum 4 hours or up to 2 days, before rolling and baking)

285g butter (softened)

180g icing sugar

100g ground almond

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

490g plain flour (sifted)

For making the sweet tart dough, put the softened butter in a mixer bowl, put on the paddle and mix till light and fluffy. 

Add icing sugar, almonds, salt, vanilla extract and eggs and mix on low speed. Blend well after scraping the sides.

Add the sifted flour in a few additions, do not add all at once.

Switch off the machine as soon as dough comes together. Do not over mix.

Divide the dough into two or three portions. Roll each portion into a ball and wrap with food plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours preferably. You can store the rest in the freezer if you are not using it. This can be stored for up to a month.

Heat the oven to 180 C, when you are ready to make the tart, cut out a freezer bag or a big clean plastic bag, and put the dough in between to roll out. (no table to clean and you do not need to wash the rolling pin too, how good is that?) 

Cut the dough according to size of the tray. (8 inch)

Press gently onto the tray and poke holes all over with a fork so that it allows air to go around when baking.

For a big tart, put beans on alluminium foil before baking at 180 C for 18 to 20 minutes, remove the beans and bake for another 5 minutes till golden brown.

Cool the tart shells on a rack. 

To assemble the Meyer Lemon Tart (8 inch round)

When the tart shell is cooled, spread the prepared lemon curd (room temperature) onto the shell. you can shave some green lime zest on it. 

Cut and serve.

Alternatively, you can bake the assembled lemon tart in a 170 C oven for 15 to 20 minutes till the tart is just a tad wobbly and a tad golden brown.

Enjoy!