05 :: Lemon Curd Tart for Mother's Day
a side of cross-coastal connections & aid for India
I am posting this freshly back from California, my skin a little sunnier and my mind still playing catch-up on the return to normal life (apologies for the lack of posts last week, travel, driving & cooking for a crowd got the better of my hands). But I’m back in Brooklyn, there’ll be multiple/bonus posts this week, and Mother’s Day is just 5 days away (!). Few things say, “mom, thanks for being you” as much as a lemon curd tart bursting with citrusy sunshine goodness and joy. And even if “mom” is not in your orbit, this is a great to make and enjoy by yourself, with friends, with enemies you want to make friends, with neighbors or strangers, really anyone. As with most of the recipes here, I’m giving you a base foundation to work with, and then options to build upon—because options are nice in life, and very helpful when a certain ingredient or item isn’t available, or simply isn’t your jam. And because having a killer lemon curd recipe in your arsenal will make a whole lot of situations, or every day, a little more special.
Disclaimer: the photos above and below are of various lemon tarts I’ve made, the recipe below will achieve a gorgeous plain sea of neon yellow…the topping(s) are your call. 2nd Disclaimer: I personally like a cookie-ish, crumbly shortbready tart crust, a pate sucrée (a sweet dough). So don’t expect a flaky crust out of this guy. The curd recipe below is based on Sasha Piligian’s recipe, (she is a pastry goddess based in LA and is at the helm of May MicroBakery).
Lemon Tart for Mom (or You)
makes 1 tart
Pate sucrée dough
*makes 2 - 9 or 10” discs (freeze one for another use)
2 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup spelt, rye, einkorn wheat or almond flour
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 oz / 2 sticks unsalted butter, just at room temp
1/4 cup heavy cream (half & half will work in a pinch, too)
2 egg yolks
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, salt and butter until a coarse crumble forms. Slowly add in heavy cream and yolks until just combined. Don’t over mix the dough.
Dump dough onto counter and gently bring together with your hands. Divide dough in half and shape into discs about 1” thick. Wrap both in plastic, freeze one for later use, place the other in the fridge for at least 30 mins to an hour to firm up slightly.
When ready to roll out, take the dough of the fridge and allow to come up to room temp about 20-30 minutes so it’s pliable. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disc into a thin 1” circle. (the easiest way to achieve an evenly rounded circle is to turn at a 90 degree angle after each roll, occasionally dusting with more flour underneath / on top if its getting sticky).
Roll the finished dough circle up onto your rolling pin, and gently unroll it overtop a prepared 9 or 10-inch tart pan (sprayed or buttered). Gently press the dough into the pan, pressing down on the corners and removing excess dough from the top of the pan with a knife or by pressing lightly down with your fingers.
Chill the dough for an hour so it bakes crisp and golden without much shrinkage. (It’s killing me not to include a Seinfeld shrinkage reference here).
When the dough ready, preheat the oven to 350F (my oven runs crazy hot, so I’d do 335F so prevent too much browning).
Prick the crust with a fork a few times, line it with a piece of parchment paper topped with baking weights or some dried beans, blind bake for 15 minutes so it sets and can hold all that gorgeous lemon curd (or any custardy or chocolately filling).
Interjection: What’s “blind baking”? If you’re new to the blind bake, it’s simply a term for baking a pie, tart or quiche crust by itself, or empty, so that the crust is stable enough to hold a wet/liquid filling.
Chef’s Kiss / Extra Credit: for an extra flavorful crust you could experiment with adding 1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder/puree or ground cardamom, or 2 or 3 teaspoons citrus zest or finely minced herbs like lemon verbena, rosemary or thyme, or 1/4 teaspoon dried and crushed lavender.
Lemon Curd
makes about 3 cups
3 egg yolks
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup lemon juice (or any citrus juice-lime, orange, tangerine etc)
zest of 3 lemons
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temp
Whisk egg yolks through salt in a medium bowl.
Set the bowl over a small pot of simmering water to create a double-boiler (the bowl shouldn’t touch the water at any point or you run the risk of cooking the eggs and having clumpy bits and that’s just a damn shame and I don’t want you cursing yourself or me or the lemon curd).
Whisk pretty consistently until mixture thickens and nicely coats the back of a spoon or spatula. Turn off heat and add in butter, whisking to incorporate.
Strain curd through a fine mesh sieve if on-hand to make it extra smooth and sexy.
If not using immediately, cool in an ice bath or directly in the fridge. Curd should keep 3-4 weeks refrigerated.
Tart Assembly
Preheat oven to 325F (or 300F for very hot ovens).
Pour lemon curd into the blind-baked tart shell just to the top of the crust, obviously try to keep it just below spillage/overflow level.
Bake until lightly set, about 10-15 minutes. Cool on the counter down to room temp, then further cool in the fridge at least 2 hours or overnight.
A World of Toppings (or none at all) ::
Here’s your opportunity to run wild and flex your culinary creativity or keep it perfectly simple as a traditionalist. A few quick topping thoughts (or think about what mom loves):
* whipped cream spiked with vanilla, rum or limoncello or whatever sounds tasty
* fresh strawberries or raspberries macerated in a touch of sugar and prosecco or rose wine or Lillet (if it’s already open on Mother’s Day why not)
* rhubarb cut into 1” pieces, tossed with sugar and vanilla and lightly roasted at 350F until oozey and unctuous
* fresh edible flowers — springtime abounds for mom
* anything you can think of that sounds delicious
KITCHEN TIP ::
That was a dang long recipe and at the risk of you trailing off from reading the rest of this, I’m going to do a separate post later this week entirely dedicated to some stealth kitchen hacks and sneaky, super-sustainable tips that we used on the daily last week cooking for Good Move’s retreat in California (see previous post). Cooking in a remote setting with limited ingredients, a non-working oven and the nearest grocery store 90 minutes away, my resourcefulness came out in full-effect. I think (hope) you’ll appreciate it, and maybe will think twice about tossing lemon rinds and strawberry tops.
HOT PLATE & COOL JAMS ::
Connecting with colleagues and purveyors seems to happen whenever I travel. It’s one of the things I most cherish and provides for exchange of ideas, products and creative energy. There’s a long-standing joke among friends that I never met a farmers market or provisions shop I didn’t like. This trip was no different. Maybe it was because I hadn’t traveled on a plane in over 18 months and went a little batty, but probably not. A few special places and people if you live or find yourself in California sometime soon:
*Tehachapi Grain Project :: A grain project devoted to preserving and growing heritage organic grains that are naturally healthful and drought tolerant. Tehachapi’s sonora wheat flour is a prized ingredient for home bakers and pastry chefs all over the LA-area. They can’t ship out of state, but if you’re in Cali, track them down (or pack bags of it in your suitcase if you’re crazy like I am). They’re connected to Weiser Farms at the Wednesday farmers market in Santa Monica.
*Miracle Plum :: shout out for Santa Rosa. Gwen and Sallie, the owners of Miracle Plum, have curated the most wonderful California-centric provisions and wines in their neighborhood market and recently opened Miracle Plum Kitchen for baked goods, breakfast and lunch. Both ventures are rooted in food equity and reimagining food systems. They might just be the west coast soul sisters I never knew I had.
*Quail & Condor :: Outstanding whole grain breads and baked goods (and the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookie my lips have ever touched) in Healdsburg. Melissa and Sean are baking magical things (and will sell you some plastic quart storage containers if you’re ever in dire need).
*Lionello Family / Lio Bambino Farms :: It pays to have good friends who know your extreme level of love for fruits and vegetable and farm animals (and 2 really cute toddlers). A dear friend introduced me to this tiny but burgeoning family farm in Santa Barbara. Andrea’s farm is very small at the moment, but she’s starting to do little CSA-produce boxes if you’re in the area. I’m begging her to figure out the occasional cross-country ship (and yes, that veers from my mantra about immediate locality, but her artichokes (above), Sicilian lemons, makrut lime leaves, passion fruit, rosemary flowers and avocados are worth it).
Aid for India :: India’s raging COVID outbreak is devastating and incredibly hard to read about. There are loads of ways to help the relief efforts, but here’s one more to add to your list and consider. I’ve mentioned the incredible equitable spices from Diaspora before, but this is worthy of bringing up again. Diaspora is donating $3 from every jar sold of Kashmiri saffron to pandemic relief materials for Kashmir. News recently broke that the Indian government is purposefully blocking Kashmiri non-profits and relief groups from accepting foreign funds. 600 ventilators for 12 million people and one doctor per 1658 people. This effort employs a stealth import-export work-around. If you’re a saffron fan, get on it!
This month’s own Well Fed donation will also go to aid for India - see a host of additional donation / relief resources here and here.
Ciao, more soon!