Right you want tart?...

...Boy can I give you tart!

This lemon dessert is neither shy nor meek but loud, out and proud. If you're partial to the mouth-puckering charm of citrus then rejoice, because if you love lemons then you'll sing a song for this tart.

It was late night and Laurent Garnier was in the mood to bake (umm twilight baking moods...sounds familiar!). I'm more than happy to share the kitchen of course especially if I can reap the benefits at the end. This is all his handiwork but I'd like to credit myself as an assistant in the pastry making and the oven checking. As always, if making your own pastry sounds like a fate worse than drinking expired milk then by all means, use one sheet of frozen shortcrust pastry instead.

For presentation's sake, our tart was sprinkled with sugar and blowtorched a la crème brulee - a hint of sweetness to balance out the lemon filling. A suggestion if I may...this intense dessert is best served in small quantities in quaint slivers. Divine as well with a dollop of cold cream for a welcome relief from the lemony kick in this smooth as silk tart.

If there is another dessert that showcases everything there is to love about lemons, I've yet to taste it...

Take it away Laurent...


Lemon Tart

Ingredients

Pastry

1 2/3 cups (250g) plain flour
110g icing sugar
110g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
1 egg

Filling

3 eggs
3 egg yolks
165g caster sugar
Grated rind of 2 lemons
200ml lemon juice
180ml thickened cream

Method

Pastry:

Combine the flour and icing sugar in a food processor, then add butter and process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add egg and process until mixture comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out pastry and use to line a 23-26cm loose-bottomed tart pan. Freeze the tart shell for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Line pastry with baking paper, fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice or beans and bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and weights or rice and return the pastry to oven for a further 5 minutes.

Set aside the tart shell and reduce the oven to 175°C.

Filling:

Beat together the eggs, egg yolks and the sugar. Add the lemon rind and juice then beat in the cream and strain into the tart shell.

Bake for 20 minutes until just set (it should be set to the touch but with the slightest quiver in the centre of the custard filling). Remove and cool down completely.

Serve at room temperature with a dollop of cream.

Recipe adapted from taste.com.au