Marco’s lemon tart
‘This is my most preferred pudding and a wonderful way to finish a meal. I generally allow my lemon tart to speak for itself, but you could add a little whipped cream to garnish or, as shown in the photograph, a small lemon soufflé’
Sift the flour and icing sugar on to a work surface and work in the butter. Make a well in the centre then add the lemon zest and seeds scraped from the vanilla pod. Add the beaten eggs. Knead the mixture with your fingers, working quickly, until everything is combined to a smooth dough. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 4 and grease
a loose-bottomed 20cm/8in diameter, 3.5cm/1½in deep flan tin. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to
a disc large enough to line the tin and allowing an overhang of not less than 1cm/½in. Lay the pastry into the tin then line with greaseproof paper and fill with enough dry baking beans or lentils to ensure the sides as well and bottom are weighted. Blind bake for 10 minutes. Remove the beans
and paper and trim off the overhanging pastry then return the pastry case to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes. Meanwhile, make the lemon filling. Whisk
the eggs with the caster sugar and lemon zest in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice then add the cream. Continue to whisk until thoroughly combined. Skim any froth from the top. Reduce the oven temperature to 120°C, 250°F, Gas
½. Pour the cold filling into the hot pastry case (this will ensure the case is sealed). Bake for 30 minutes. Remove and leave set for about an hour. When ready to serve, preheat the grill to very hot.
Sift the icing sugar over the top of the tart and place it under the grill to caramelise the sugar to a light golden brown. Alternatively, you can just sprinkle the tart with icing sugar without caramelising it. Cut the tart into slices and decorate each slice with a sprig of mint.
SERVES 6 INGREDIENTS
For the pastry 500g/18oz plain flour 175g/6oz icing sugar 250g/9oz unsalted butter, at room temperature Grated zest of 1 lemon 1 vanilla pod, split open 1½ eggs, beaten
For the lemon filling 9 eggs
400g/14oz caster sugar Grated zest of 2 lemons Juice of 5 lemons
250ml/9fl oz double cream To decorate
50g/2oz icing sugar Sprigs of fresh mint
l Recipes taken from Marco Made Easy, published by Orion (£20 hardback) 16
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164