Lime curd tart

Last Sunday being Mother’s Day we invited my family over for dinner. C’s parents have been travelling for the last few months and have not made it back to Perth so we shall have to celebrate with them at another time.

I was still wishing to use our fresh limes in a dish, so I cast around for inspiration. My first thought was to make a panna cotta and there was a Donna Hay recipe for Lime Yoghurt Panna Cotta that caught my eye. My friend MB sent through the recipe and it does look tasty but in the end I decided to put together a couple of recipes that I have tested before to make a lime curd tart.

The pastry recipe is from Gabriel Gate. A couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to make a fruit tart, with a shortcrust pastry base, creme patisserie filling and slices of fresh fruit on top. I searched around on the internet and found Gabriel Gate’s short crust pastry recipe, and it has been a favourite ever since! The recipe makes enough pastry for two tarts, and I usually freeze the uncooked dough to use later.

The lime curd recipe is from Australian Gourment Traveller "Party Food" book.

The pastry is crispy and sweet, the lime curd is tart and zingy and I love the combination.

My sister E took the leftover egg whites home with her to make pavlova. I am hoping to see a photo of her creation, and a taste would be even better! I do need to find some suitable recipes for the egg whites, perhaps I should invest in a friand pan!

Pastry
50g almond meal
150g butter, cubed
1 egg
vanilla essence
pinch salt
100g icing sugar
250g plain flour

Lime curd
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
110g caster sugar
1/2 cup (125mL) lime juice
180g cold unsalted butter, chopped

Place almond meal, butter, egg, two drops of vanilla essence and a pinch of salt in food processor and blitz until the butter is softened and the mix is combined. Slowly add the sifted flour and icing sugar until the mixture comes together. Remove from processor and form into a ball. Flatten slightly, cover in cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Remove pastry from the refrigerator. Roll between two pieces of baking paper to a size to fit in removable base tart shell. Carefully place pastry into the shell. Place pastry into the freezer for at least half an hour.

Preheat oven to 180C. Remove tart shell from freezer. Place on a baking tray and blind bake the tart shell for approximately 20 minutes. Remove baking paper and beads and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Place egg yolks, lime zest and caster sugar into a heatproof bowl. Whisk over a pot of simmering water until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is a pale yellow. Gradually stir in the lime juice.

Add pieces of chopped butter one at a time, stirring to combine and adding the next piece when melted. Continue to stir until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not boil.

Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Allow the bowl to sit for five minutes then cover the surface of the bowl with cling wrap.

When the tart shell and lime curd are cooled to room temperature, pour the lime curd into the shell and spread evenly.

Serve with a dusting of icing sugar if desired.

Notes
- I attempted to zest the lime to use as a garnish on the tart. The limes were too soft however and I was only ably to get short pieces of zest or huge chunks of rind!
- My (Mum’s) food processor let me down again. My Sunbeam Mix Master came to the rescue. I was about halfway through adding the flour. I think it is dying, I have previously made this pastry with only the processor.

- A tip I read off the internet for blind baking is to scrunch up baking paper before you line the pastry. This makes the baking paper more manoeuvrable and will fit into the pastry better. I tried it and it works so well!
- For the tart that I made I used half of the pastry. The rest is double wrapped in cling wrap, placed into a container and frozen.
- Must buy baking beads!!