I made this tart as part of the Thanksgiving spread. Its main attraction is Pierre Hermé’s famous Lemon Cream, a sumptuous concoction that is quite unlike a regular pastry cream or lemon curd. Its secret, I think, must be the truly wicked amount of butter in the recipe. The cream is perfect for lemon lovers, with a smooth and velvety texture infused with powerful lemon flavor. The lemon gets even stronger overnight, so it’s excellent to make ahead.
I spooned it into a pistachio crust that was based on the one used for Alice Medrich’s Warm Mocha Tart. I chose this one because we were making three dishes to bring for Thanksgiving and didn’t have the time (or counter space) to chill and roll dough. Any simple pâte brisée in a 9-inch tart pan would be fine. Inspired by Tartelette, I topped the tart with chopped crystallized ginger, which adds a subtle spicy kick.
As mentioned above, the cream has a somewhat frightening amount of butter added; so frightful in fact that I impetuously cut it down a smidge just for fear of what wickedness would be wrought on my butt and thighs. I’m glad of this, actually, since the result is just on the edge of my butter limit, but so deliciously rich and lemony that one quickly ceases to care about how naughty it is.
Here’s the tart recipe, as I made it.
Lemon Cream Tart with Pistachio Crust
Lemon Cream
Adapted from Pierre Hermé’s Desserts
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
strips of peel from 3 lemons
1 cup less 2 tablespoons sugar
4 eggs
12 tablespoons (about 5 oz) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and softened slightly
Set a saucepan over low flame with about 2 inches of water. Bring to a simmer. Combine the sugar, zest, eggs, and lemon juice in a metal bowl and place it over the water bath, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk all ingredients to combine. Cook the mixture, whisking continuously, until the cream thickens and reaches about 180ºF (a whisk will leave light tracks in the mixture). This might take a while - it took me almost 15 minutes.
As soon as the mixture reaches 180º, immediately remove the cream from heat and strain out the strips of lemon peel. Put the strained cream into a blender and let cool for about 5 minutes. Add the pieces of butter and blend until mixture is completely smooth. Spoon into a container and refrigerate (cream will thicken slightly when chilled). Lemon cream can be made a few days ahead, and the flavor will become stronger over time.
Pistachio Crust
Adapted from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet
1/3 cup pistachios
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place the pistachios and flour in a food processor and process until nuts are finely chopped. Mix the melted butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture and stir until well blended (dough will be very soft). Press the dough thinly and evenly into a 9″ tart pan. Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes or until the crust is lightly golden. Cool completely on a rack.
To assemble, spoon chilled lemon cream into the fully chilled pistachio crust. If you like, top with 1/4 to 1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger. Keep tart chilled until ready to serve.
I love that lemon tart recipe. Having an immersion blender makes adding the butter super easy.
Pierre Hermes pate sucree and pate sablee recipes are fantastic, even if they aren’t as easy as Alice Medrich’s crust. There’s a good selection of his recipes in “The Cooks Book.”
November 24th, 2007 at 7:42 pm