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French Lemon Tart

Welcome back! 
Today, we have another delicious dessert: French Lemon Tart. While this may seem similar to the Key Lime Pie (it's a citrus-y pie, it must be the same, right? No.), it actually uses a special technique that makes the tart unique. The filling, which consists of eggs and sugar, is a type of sabayon, or originally zabaglione in Italian, is cooked in what's called a bain-marie (literally Marie's bath) that cooks the egg yolks so it's safe while retaining the smooth creamy texture. 

French Lemon Tart



Makes a 9" tart pan

Ingredients:

Crust: Check out the crust from our Crust recipe. Use one of those for this recipe.

Filling (Sabayon):
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar (you can do up to 3/4 cup if you don't want it to be so sour)
  • 3/4 cup lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
  • 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and chopped into small pieces

Directions:

  1. Prepare the crust:
    1. Follow the instructions from the recipe before. If you froze it, thaw it in the fridge overnight or on the counter for an hour.
    2. Take a pie pan and put a little of butter on the bottom to oil the surface. Then, sprinkle a thin layer of flour on top.
    3. Put the crust in the pan and flatten around the bottom and sides.
    4. Poke some holes in the bottom and then put it in the oven at 350° for 20 minutes with some pie weights on top. 

    5. Then, remove the pie weights and bake it for another 15 minutes. Let it cool once it's done.

  2. Prepare the filling:
    1. Put the egg yolks and whole eggs in another bowl. Beat them until smooth.
    2. Mix the sugar and lemon zest together and rub it to get the lemon flavor out.
    3. Add the sugar mixture and mix it in.
    4. Set another pot with some water on the stove to boil. Put the bowl with eggs on top of this (you can use a double boiler). The top bowl should not touch the water.
    5. Whisk the eggs continuously while it's on the stove. Every few minutes, add a third of the lemon juice that you have. Keep whisking this until it becomes thick; it should feel like lemon curd. If you have a thermometer, the temperature of this mixture should get to about 160°F. This process took us about 12 minutes.
    6. Once you are at this consistency/temperature, take it off the stove. Add the butter, a couple pieces at a time and mix it so that the butter is evenly spread throughout the mixture.
    7. Once fully incorporated, you can pour the filling into the crust.
    8. Chill the whole tart in the fridge for a couple hours, and it's ready to eat!

Since the pie is not super firm (it gets better once you chill it), many recipes have another step after pouring the filling into the crust, and that's to put it into the oven on broil for 5-10 minutes to give the top some solidity and texture. We didn't do it and it still tasted great, but it's definitely something that you can try. This recipe is also rather sour, as we like it here, but it wouldn't hurt to add a little more sugar or take out a little lemon to neutralize it a little. Either way, the custardy texture and lemony flavor make for a great dessert!

-Chefpo
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