This lemon and lime tart is a recipe from Julie Goodwin from the first serie of the Australian Masterchef. Â Julie ended up winning the competition, you can follow here progress on her website.
The tart is tangy, the lime softens a bit the flavour. Â I have done it a number of times, sometimes adding a soft meringue on top.
The pastry can be prepared a day ahead if required.
Serves 10-12
• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 35 minutes + chilling time
Ingredients
Base
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- ¼ cup self raising flour
- pinch of salt (not necessary if you use salted butter)
- ½ cup icing mixture – I used icing sugar, it works perfectly well
- 100g butter
- 1 egg
Filling
- ½ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- ¼ cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 2/3 cup thickened cream
- 5 eggs, lightly beaten
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced). Grease a 25 cm fluted, loose-based flan tin.
- Place flours, salt, icing mixture and butter in a food processor and process until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the egg and process again until the dough comes together in a ball. Turn out onto a board. If the dough seems very dry and crumbly, add a teaspoon of cold water and briefly knead it in. Wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out to about 5 mm thick. The pastry is very short – it will be very difficult to move in one piece. Tear pieces from the pastry and bit by bit, cover the base and sides of the flan tin. Press the edges of the pastry pieces together, taking care to keep it the same thickness throughout.
- Put a sheet of baking paper into the flan tin and fill with baking weights or rice. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights and bake for a further 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- Combine the lemon and lime juice, sugar and cream in a bowl. Whisk in the beaten eggs a bit at a time until it is mixed. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for 25 minutes or until set. Refrigerate until needed.
I decorated with mint leaves from the garden and candied lemon and lime slices.
