No.20 St Clement’s Tart

Thinking of the old nursery rhyme “oranges and lemons rings the bell of St Clement’s” I thought about a lemon and orange tart.  I went to books and adapted recipes and trialled my formulary for this orange and lemon tart.  Then upon writing this I realised it has already been done however my version deserves a go after all the work. This recipe just works for an ocassion, dinner parties to afternoon tea.

The easy part here is the citrus liquid mixture you make.  The hard part is the pastry which is something I never been able to get right.  Somehow my pastry has a life of its own and never quite behaves.  Oh well, I confess I make my life easier with some ready prepared pastry kept in the freezer. However at the end of this page is basic sweet shortcrust pastry if you would like a challenge.

Time: 1 hour 30 mins            Serves 6-8 people

1 orange

1 lemon

175 grams of caster sugar

4 whole large eggs

2 large egg yolks

200 ml of double cream

Either ready made short crust pastry (preferable made with butter) or if you feel adventurous follow the sweet shortcrust recipe after the main recipe

1. Line your dish with your pastry and blind bake at 190 degrees Celsius until just turning golden brown.  This should take 15-20 minutes.  Use baking beads or dried chickpeas if you don’t have the former to keep the pastry shape.
2. Whisk together your eggs and sugar to form a smooth paste and add the double cream whisking again to blend.
3. Add in the zest of half of both the orange and lemon, and the juice from both the orange and lemon and whisk until well mixed.
4. Pour onto the pastry and bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 50 minutes until set.
5. Let cool and dust with icing sugar and grate extra orange zest

 

Simple Sweet Short-crust

1 egg

80g of castor sugar

225g of plain flour

110g of butte

1. Crumb together flour and butter
2. Add the sugar and mix well
3. Add the egg to the mixture to form a soft dough.
4. Flour your work surface and roll pastry to 0.5-1cm thickness dependant on preference