This weekend was insane. I made these tarts, as well as the soup from my previous post, did like 20 photoshoots for my upcoming cookbook (which doesn't have a publisher so I don't know if I can even call it a book, but whatever), watched like 45 hours of Netflix, and just generally drank the clouds away. It was fun but now I want to die :)
Anyway, I was looking for a way to spice up my standard lemon tart recipe, and magic happened. I added crushed up sage to the sugar before mixing it into the other curd ingredients! It added a super floral note to the tarts, which is a welcome change of pace for me because I usually find lemon curd to be a little too sweet and a little too astringent. The sage ended up cutting that sugary acidity and added a great depth to the flavors. I only wish I had remembered to add sage to the dough as well!
Butter Count: 18 Tbsp
DOUGH:
3 Tbsp heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups + 2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
1. Whisk the heavy cream and egg yolk together in a large bowl.
2. Add the flour, sugar, and salt to a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse again until the mixture becomes a coarse meal. Transfer the dough ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix it all together with fingers until a dough forms.
3. Press the dough down into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat six fluted tart pans with removable bottoms with cooking spray.
5. On a floured work surface, divide the dough into six equal portions. roll each portion into circles to about 1/4 inches thick. Ease the dough circles into the tart pans, gently pressing it into the corners. Use a pallet knife or a rolling pin to remove the excess pastry from the corners of the tart pan. Refrigerate for 10 more minutes.
6. Line the tarts with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake on the center rack about 10 minutes, then remove the parchment paper and weights and bake another 10-15 minutes until golden and completely cooked. Allow the tart shells to cool completely.
LEMON CURD:
1 cup sugar
15 sage leaves
4 eggs
4 egg yolks
1 cup lemon juice (5 or 6 lemons worth)
1/8 tsp salt
10 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
1. Microwave the sage leaves 10 seconds at a time until they are completely dehydrated. Place the dried leaves in a food processor with the sugar and blitz until the sage is fully broken up and incorporated.
2. Set a sieve over a bowl near the stove. In a heavy pot, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and salt until smooth. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened. The mixture should coat the back of a wooden spoon so that when you slide your finger across it, distinct custard lines form and the mixture does not bleed into the finger trail. It should be quite thick.
3. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the butter, a little at a time, and whisk until the butter is melted and fully mixed into the rest of the filling.
4. Strain the filling into the prepared bowl. Divide the filling evenly into the tart shells (do not overfill them. You might have leftover curd) and refrigerate until chilled, two or three hours. The tart can be refrigerated overnight, or left out on the counter in a cool area (the latter option tends to prevent condensation from forming on the top of the tarts after removing from the refrigerator).