Citrus in winter. Lemons and limes are NEVER in season in Vermont, but thankfully I have a best bud who has a giant lemon tree in her Arizona backyard. Every January she sends me a huge Priority Mail box filled with big, beautiful lemons. It must cost her a fortune. She’ll be moving to different, non-lemon growing state soon, so I fear my highly anticipated annual lemon delivery will be coming to a screeching halt. I’m very excited and happy for my friend of course, moving on to a new adventure in another fun state and all, but, um… what of my special lemon delivery? Seems like a true friend would have taken that into consideration when planning a major life change like that. Hmm.
This is a classic French Tarte au Citron, from a recipe slightly adapted from David Lebovitz, one of my favorites. I used a combination of fresh lemon and lime juice and added a cheery candied lemon on the side. I also tried the very unconventional tart dough recipe on his website, which was unbelievably easy and turned out really, really well.
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- Zest on 1 lemon and 1 lime
- ¾ cup sugar
- 12 tablespoons butter
- 4 eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 pre-baked tart shell (see recipe below)
- Candied lemons or limes for garnish
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, add lemon and lime juice, zest, sugar, butter, eggs and yolks. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly until butter is melted. Whisk until the mixture has thickened and is bubbling gently. This took me about 10 minutes. Push mixture through a strainer into a clean bowl, pressing with the back of a spatula to get all the curd. Discard the solids left behind.
- Pour the curd into the baked tart shell and bake for about 8-10 minutes until curd is just set. Remove from oven and allow to cool fully before slicing.
- Candied Citrus slices:
- While tart cools, make the candied citrus. Slice lemons or limes thinly and plunge them into boiling water for a minute. Remove them and plunge them briefly into ice water. Drain. In a large, deep skillet, add 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water and heat until sugar is melted. Add the lemons/limes in a single layer and simmer over in sugar over very low heat until golden, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool on a rack.
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon Canola or vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 rounded cup flour
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees F
- In an ovenproof bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar and salt. Put the bowl in the oven and heat, until butter is melted and beginning to brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and carefully dump in the flour, stirring until a dough forms. Transfer the dough to an 8 or 9" tart pan with removable bottom. Spread to fill pan and press dough up the sides of the pan. Patch any cracks that form.
- Prick with a fork and bake for about 15 minutes until golden. Let shell cool before filling.
