Tarte au Citron (To brighten a November day)

Lemons are lovely, though often associated with summery dishes. There's no need for this; I think that we should eat them copiously in the dreary fall and the dead of winter.


There is nothing like the taste of lemon to make for a bright, bright, sunshiny day. This recipe is taken from the website of David Lebovitz, who is apparently Living the Sweet Life in Paris.

Tarte au Citron

- 1/2 cup (125 ml) freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- grated zest of one lemon
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
- 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- One pre-baked 9-inch tart shell.( See post date Oct. 12, 2009 for pastry recipe).

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium-sized non-reactive saucepan, heat the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and butter. Have a mesh strainer nearby. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and the yolks. When the butter is melted, whisk some of the warm lemon mixture into the eggs, stirring constantly, to warm them. Scrape the warmed eggs back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and almost begins to bubble around the edges. The lemon mixture when thickened is called 'lemon curd'. Pour the lemon curd though a strainer directly into the pre-baked tart shell, scraping with a rubber spatula to press it through. Smooth the top of the tart and pop it into the oven for five minutes, just to set the curd. Remove from the oven and let cool before slicing and serving.

This recipe makes for a very thin tarte, so the recipe can be doubled if you wish. Personally, I think that the very thin tarte is quite elegant and given the calorific nature of the ingredients, probably quite thick enough.