Tarte au Citron Meringuee

Ingredients

• 200 g plain flour
• 100 g cold unsalted butter, diced
• 70 g icing sugar
• 25 g ground almonds
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp cold water
• pinch of salt
• 4 unwaxed lemons, zest of 2 and 150 ml juice
• 3 whole eggs plus 1 yolk
• 150 g caster sugar, for the lemon cream
• 180 g unsalted butter, cold and diced
• 3 egg whites
• 180 g caster sugar, for the meringue
• 60 ml water

Before you cook

• Rub the 100 g cold diced butter into the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds and salt until it looks like coarse sand.
• Stir in the egg yolk and cold water, bring the dough together without kneading, then flatten it into a disc and chill for 30 minutes.
• Zest two lemons and juice enough lemons to give 150 ml.
• Butter a 24 cm loose-bottomed tart tin.

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 170C fan.
2. Roll the chilled pastry to 3 mm and line the tart tin, pressing it well into the corners and leaving an overhang.
3. Prick the base, line it with baking paper and fill with baking beans, then chill for 15 minutes.
4. Bake blind for 20 minutes, lift out the paper and beans, and bake for a further 10 minutes until sandy and golden.
5. Trim the overhanging pastry flush with the tin using a small knife while the shell is still warm.
6. Set the shell aside to cool completely.
7. Whisk the whole eggs, extra yolk, 150 g caster sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice together in a heatproof bowl.
8. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk constantly for 10 minutes, until the cream thickens enough to coat the whisk heavily and reaches 82C.
9. Take the bowl off the heat and let the cream cool to about 45C.
10. Whisk in the 180 g cold diced butter a few pieces at a time until the cream is thick and glossy.
11. Pour the lemon cream into the cooled tart shell and level the top.
12. Chill the tart for at least one hour until fully set.
13. Bring the 180 g caster sugar and 60 ml water to 118C in a small pan.
14. Whisk the 3 egg whites to soft peaks, then pour in the hot syrup in a thin stream down the side of the bowl.
15. Keep whisking for eight minutes until the meringue is stiff, glossy and no longer warm.
16. Spoon or pipe the meringue over the set lemon cream in generous peaks.
17. Scorch the meringue with a blowtorch until the tips are deep brown and the valleys are pale.
18. Serve within a few hours, cutting with a hot wet knife.