Lemon Tart with Torched Meringue

Slofoodgroup Team August 18, 2019

A delicious lemon tart topped with a Tahitian vanilla bean torched meringue

Have a craving for something sweet with your coffee or afternoon tea? Ever think of baking lemon tart? Lemon tart offers a sweet, flaky, and relatively light way to indulge in something sweet during that afternoon reading session to tame any sweet tooth.  For this lemon tart, we used a pre-made pie dough for ease and convenience, but if you're dying to truly see just how splendid it comes out from scratch, feel free to use that family recipe for your own pie crust. 

Ingredients you will need for your lemon tart

For the pastry:

• 1 pie crust pastry

For the Filling:

• 250 grams/1 ¼ cups Sugar
• 3 tbsp flour
• Pinch of salt
• Zest and juice from 2 lemons
• 300 ml/ 1 /4 cups Water
• 5 egg yolks
• 4 tbsp butter

For the Tahitian vanilla bean meringue:

• 5 egg whites
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 50 grams of water
• Seeds from a half pod of Gourmet Tahitian Vanilla Beans, Tahitensis

Method:

1. Start by baking the crust with some pie weights on top in the preheated oven at 180C/350 ºF; once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to completely cool.
2. In the meanwhile, prepare the filling by mixing the sugar, flour, pinch of salt, lemon zest, lemon juice, and water together in a saucepan; mix over medium heat until it thickens, about 5-7 min.
3. In a bowl, gently whisk the egg yolks and add 1/3 of the lemon curd over it while continuously cooking; transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and cook for 2 more minutes while stirring continuously.
4. Remove from heat and add the butter until it melted; set aside.
5. Add the lemon curd to the pie crust and allow to cool for a minimum of 4 hours, or overnight.
6. When ready to serve, prepare the meringue by whisking the egg whites with a pinch of salt until it forms soft peaks; add 1/3 cup of sugar and the vanilla bean seeds and mix until it hardens; set aside.
7. In a saucepan, add the remaining 1 cup of sugar with the water and allow the sugar to dissolve on medium-high heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, cook until it reaches 240 ºF; slowly whisk the sugar syrup to the egg whites until it appears to be glossy.
8. Gently add the meringue on top of the pie and gently blow torch it; serve cold.

 
This is a very easy and decadent dessert to be best enjoyed alongside a cup of coffee.

Although very easy to make, keep in mind, the crust and the curd need ample time to cool. Our recommendation would be to bake the crust and the curd the night before serving. Also, for preventing the crust from getting soggy, we recommend brushing the dough with egg wash or with a thin layer of white chocolate.