Adam's lemon tart
Adam Rasmussen of Europa Cafe is a self-taught chef. Growing up in Ballarat he watched his mum, a skilled cook, in the family kitchen. In his 20s, while working front-of-house in pubs and cafes, he always kept a keen eye on what was happening in the kitchen, and continually practised at home.
Ingredients
For the pastry
2 cups plain flour
1 cup icing sugar
200g cold butter, diced
2 egg yolks
For the filling
5 lemons
7 eggs
1 cups castor sugar
300ml pure cream
200ml lemon juice
Method
Preheat oven to 180C
For the pastry
- Place flour, icing sugar and butter in a food processor with the chopping blade. Blend until combined. Add egg yolks and blend further until just combined but still crumbly (this should take about 20 seconds).
- Tip into a large mixing bowl and pinch together using just your fingertips to avoid warming the pastry and softening it. When combined to a smooth, even texture, pat into a ball, wrap in plastic film and rest it in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Unwrap and press evenly into a 30cm-round, 2.5cm-deep, crinkle-edged flan tin with removable base. Freeze while making the filling.
For the filling
- Using the finest side of a grater, grate the lemons all over just taking off the yellow part.
- Place this zest along with the eggs, sugar and cream into the food processor and blend well at high speed for 1 minute.
- Juice the lemons and add to the blending mixture. Leave the processor running while you fetch the frozen pastry from the freezer.
- Place the flan tin on a flat baking sheet or tray to catch any spills and place it on the bottom rack of the oven. Leave the rack out a little and turn off the processor, unlatch the bowl and pour the filling mixture into the pastry flan while it is in the oven. (It is very difficult to carry a full flan tin without spilling any.)
- Gently slide the oven rack in and cook for 20minutes.
- Check by giving the tart a little wobble. If it is still runny, cook for a further 10minutes checking occasionally. The top should be golden when done.
- Allow to cool and serve with pure cream.
The best recipes from Australia's leading chefs straight to your inbox.
Sign up
