I made this recipe a while back for a dinner party. It was a stinking hot day and all I could think of was my mum and my former home economics teacher harping on about keeping everything cold and not overworking the pastry. I thought it was going to be an unmitigated disaster but it actually turned out very well. I was telling my dinner guests about my episode with the pastry and they looked at me as if I had two heads on me and said who makes pastry nowadays. Part of my was thinking yep that’s a fair point and then when I was tasting the end results I was pretty chuffed with myself. I think it’s a cracker, I will definitely try this one again. By the way, this is a Jamie Oliver recipe. If you have the time or the inclination I would probably make the pastry the day before.
Serves 10
Ingredients
6 egg yolks
5 eggs
270g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways, seeds removed
250ml lemon juice, plus the grated zest from the lemons
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g raspberries
1tbsp caster sugar
Icing sugar, for caramelising (optional)
Pastry
500g plain flour, plus extra
100g icing sugar
250g cold unsalted butter, cubed
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs, beaten with a splash of milk
Method
1. For the pastry, sieve the flour and icing sugar onto a surface, then use your fingers to gently work in the butter till you have ‘crumbs’. Sprinkle in the zest, then gradually add the egg mixture till you get a ball of dough. Dust this with flour, flatten slightly, then wrap in cling-film and chill for about 30 minutes.
2. Grease a loose-bottomed 28cm to tart tin. Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour and roll the pastry into a circle that’s 5mm thick and big enough to line the tart tin. Lightly press the pastry into the tin, trim off the excess, then cover with cling-film and put in the freezer for at least an hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Unwrap the tart case, line it with greaseproof paper, then fill with rice or dried beans. Bake the pastry in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes, then remove the paper and baking beans and return to the oven for about 15 minutes or until light brown.
4. For the filling, put the yolks, eggs, sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon juice and zest into a heavy-bottomed pan; whisk over a very low heat until the mixture starts to thicken. Stir in the button, making sure you get all the bits of curd from the bottom of the pan. When it looks like really thick custard and coats the back of a spoon, take it off the heat and let it cool a little. Give it a whisk, then strain through a sieve.
5. Mash the raspberries with the sugar in a small pan. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring continuously, until it starts to look like jam.
6. Spoon the lukewarm lemon curd into the tart and give it a shake so that the mixture spreads. Spoon the raspberry jam over the lemon and gently stir to create a ripple effect. Cool the tart for 30 minutes, if you like, dust the top with a layer of icing sugar and caramelise it with a kitchen blowtorch.
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