03-03-2025
Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray's recipe for lemon tart
Serves 10-12sweet pastry 1 quantity, well chilled (see below)lemons finely grated zest and juice of 7 caster sugar 350g whole eggs 6 egg yolks 9 unsalted butter 300g, softened
For the sweet pastryplain flour 350gsalt a pinchunsalted butter 225g, cold, cut into cubesicing sugar 100g, siftedegg yolks 3
To make the sweet pastry, pulse the flour, salt and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Add the icing sugar followed by the egg yolks and pulse again. The mixture will immediately combine and leave the sides of the bowl.
Remove the pastry, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 160C fan/gas mark 4.
Coarsely grate the chilled pastry into a 30cm loose-bottomed fluted flan tin, then press it evenly on to the sides and base. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and fill with raw rice or dried beans (or baking beans). Bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and rice, then bake for a further 10 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Put all the remaining ingredients, except the butter, in a large saucepan over a very low heat and whisk until the eggs have broken up and the sugar has dissolved.
Add half of the butter and continue to whisk. At this point the eggs will start to cook and the mixture will thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the remaining butter and continue whisking until the mixture becomes very thick. It is important to keep whisking throughout the cooking process to prevent the mixture from curdling.
Remove the pan from the heat and set it on a cold, heatproof surface. Continue to whisk until the mixture is lukewarm. Meanwhile, preheat your grill to full heat.
Spoon the lemon filling into the pastry case and leave to settle for 5 minutes. Grill until the top is mottled brown – this should take 3-5 minutes. Cool before serving.
From The River Cafe Cook Book by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray (Ebury, £30)
