The City Kitchen - Lemon Tart

Lemon Tart - Crostata di Limone

In 1998, Deborah was on her way back from Italy, and spent a few months in London, when she saw a show filmed at "The River Cafe", called the "The Italian Kitchen". She called the restaurant and arranged to spend a few days with Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at their restaurant. Deborah really loved the lemon tart or crostata di limone. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
Makes 10 servings

The Pasty
12 oz	Flour, all purpose	350 gm
8 oz	Butter, unsalted, chilled, cut into cubes	175 gm
4 oz	Icing sugar	100 gm
3	Egg yolks	3
pinch	Salt	pinch

The Filling
7	Lemons, finely grated zest, juice	7
12 oz	Icing sugar	350 gm
6	Whole eggs	6
9	Egg yolks	9
10 oz	Butter, unsalted, softened	300 gm
Method
The Pastry
1/ In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt and butter until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add the sugar, the egg yolks and pulse. The mixture will immediately combine and come away from the sides of the bowl. Remove from the bowl, wrap in saran wrap and chill for at least one hour. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2/ Coarsely grate the pastry into a 12 in (30 cm) flan tin with a removable bottom, then press it evenly on to the sides and the base. Blind bake for 20 minutes or until light brown. Remove from the heat and let cool.
The filling
1/Put all the ingredients except the butter into a large saucepan over a very low heat and whisk until the eggs have broken up and the sugar has dissolved.
2/ Add half the butter and continue to whisk. When the eggs begin to cook and the mixture coats the back of a spoon, add the remaining butter and continue whisking throughout the cooking process to prevent the mixture from curdling. Remove from the heat, place on a cold surface and continue to whisk until luke warm.
3/ Raise the temperature of the oven to 450°.
4/ Spoon the filling into the pastry shell and bake until the top is brown. This should take about 8-10 minutes.

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