Lemon meringue tart

Method

This dessert is such a classic and, at the same time, one that everyone makes in their own way. I was always super scared of baking the custard inside the dough, so I developed a recipe where I could assemble the tart in layers. You can add any lovely citrus fruit in season for a bright kick: limes, Meyer lemons, yuzu, grapefruit, oranges, or blood oranges. However, I recommend keeping at least half the filling lemon for the acidity and to avoid making the tart too sweet. Adding white chocolate is another option. You can brush the pie crust with melted white chocolate or spread a layer of white chocolate ganache. Allow the pastry to cool down before you add the lemon cream on top. For the sweet pastry 1 Preheat oven to 170°C. 2 Combine the cold butter and icing sugar in a mixer or food processor until it’s just mixed. 3 Add the egg and mix to combine. 4 Combine flour, almond flour, and a pinch of salt, then add wet ingredients. Mix until it’s just blended to a dough. 5 Shape the dough into a round ball, wrap it in kitchen film, and let the dough chill in the fridge for 2 hours. 6 Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Roll it out to 5–8mm thick and line the moulds with dough. Blind bake the dough with small ceramic beads or beans for 12–15 minutes. The pastry should be golden brown when it’s finished. 7 Remove the pastry from the oven and let it cool. For the lemon cream 8 Combine all the ingredients, except the butter, in a steel bowl and whisk them together well. Sit the bowl on a pot of boiling water and keep whisking it until the cream reaches 85°C. 9 Take the bowl off the pot and whisk in cubes of butter. 10 Let the cream cool. Transfer it to a piping bag or pour it directly into the prebaked crust. Let the cream set for 1 hour. For the meringue 11 Whisk the egg white with 40g sugar until it expands, about four times its original size. 12 Add the water and the rest of the sugar to a pot and bring it to a boil to make a clear syrup. Cook the syrup until it reaches 121°C. 13 Using a mixer, slowly pour half of the warm syrup into the whisked egg white while mixing on slow speed. Then, increase the speed to high for 1 minute. Return to low speed and pour in the rest of the syrup. Stir the meringue on high speed again until the meringue is stable; this might take 1–2 minutes. 14 When the meringue is done, you can either use piping bags to make funny little mountains on the tart or spread it evenly over the lemon cream layer with a spoon or spatula, making small swirls. 15 Finally, toast the meringue with a kitchen torch, but be careful because the meringue will burn very quickly. 16 Serve with an intense cup of espresso; the union of citrus and dark coffee is wonderful.