Al Dente

The Most Extraordinary Lemon Cream Tart

There are some recipes that hit you as fabulous even before you taste them.  Reading the ingredient list gives you the first inkling that the recipe’s special, and then, if there’s something about the technique that’s nifty, or something about the way you can serve it that’s surprising, easy or just plain cool, you’re in love.  The recipe that grabbed me like this and has kept me in its thrall is The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart, a recipe from Pierre Herme, France’s (dare I say the world’s?) most famous pastry chef.

Pierre taught me the recipe more than a decade ago when we were working on Desserts by Pierre Herme, our first book together.  It has since become my go-to recipe when I’m looking for a knockout dessert that’s foolproof and easy -- as in easy enough for baking beginners.  In fact, I love the recipe so much that I included it in Baking: From My Home to Yours and, when I posted about it on my blog, it was cheered by bakers around the world.

Here’s what makes the lemon cream that goes into the tart so extraordinary that I’m never afraid to be accused of overselling it:

•    The Taste: Lemon, lemon, tangy lemon softened by butter.
•    The Texture:  Smooth, velvety, a little like pudding, a little like custard.
•    The Ingredients: Lots of lemon, lots of butter, sugar and eggs, in other words, everything that goes  into lemon curd.
•    The Technique:  It’s made just like lemon curd -- but not.  This is what makes the lemon filling so brilliant: everything except the butter is cooked over boiling water until it thickens, then it’s put in a blender and cooled a bit before the butter is whirred in.  Adding the butter when the lemon cream is a little cooler rather than melting the butter as you do with curd is the key -- the secret, really -- to this recipe’s perfection.  Instead of allowing the butter to melt into the mix, you emulsify it and that makes all the difference in the creaminess department.  And, by the way, while you can certainly make the cream in a food processor, you’ll get a smoother, more voluptuous texture if you use a blender.
•    The Versatility:  You can use the lemon cream to fill a tart (see the recipe below), tartlets or a pie, but it’s also good as a cake, cookie or cream puff filling.  And no one -- least of all me -- would blame you if you just ate it off a spoon.

Dorie Greenspan's Mortar-and-Pestle Guacamole

I like to think of myself as an early adopter:  I had a computer when my friends were still pounding away on their typewriters; a modem when my friends were still excited about faxes; and an iPod the instant it was released.  And, of course, I want my kitchen to be up-to-date, too.  Food processor:  Got it early.  Microwave?  Ditto.  Super-duper ice cream maker?  Of course.  Pro espresso machine?  Yup. 

I love tools and equipment and gadgets and technology, and I love when they all come together in the kitchen, which is why I’m so annoyed at myself for waiting way too long to adopt a terrific, if very lo-tech, tool, the mortar and pestle.  I was so in love with my food processor that I figured I didn’t need the ancient tool--but I was wrong.  While I would never, ever give up my food processor -- it’s the perfect tool for making pie crusts and tart doughs, grating vegetables and making the smoothest chocolate pudding in creation--now that my mortar and pestle is close at hand, I find it’s my first choice for pounding, crushing and pulverizing jobs. 

To fall in love with a mortar and pestle, you’ve got to have a big one.  The small ones are fine when you’ve got a few peppercorns you want to crack, but when you’ve got real work to do, when you’re making pesto or a little herb puree, or you’re crushing a head of garlic or a handful of olives destined to become tapenade, you want to have room to move.  You also want to have an inner surface that’s just rough enough to lightly grind the ingredients as you’re pressing against them.  And you want to have some weight.  You want the pestle to be hefty enough that it works more than you do; and you want the mortar to be heavy enough to stay put on the counter while you’re circling the bowl with the pestle. 

The mortar and pestle I fell in love with is a 3-cup Thai stone mortar and pestle.  It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s just a little rough, it’s easy to clean and it’s beautiful.  In fact, it’s so beautiful that when I make guacamole in it, I serve it in the mortar and pestle.  If you want to do the same, here’s the recipe for my house guacamole, one with tomatoes and peppers stirred into it for a little more color and texture. 

Guacamole with Tomatoes and Bell Peppers

Makes 4 servings

1 lime
2 slices red onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno, or more to taste, finely diced
Leaves from 4 to 6 sprigs of cilantro
2 ripe Hass avocados, halved and pitted
About 6 grape tomatoes, quartered
About 1/4 red bell pepper, finely diced
Shredded cilantro
Salt, freshly ground pepper and hot sauce

Chips, of course

Grate the lime’s zest into the mortar.  Toss in the onion, jalapeno, cilantro leaves and a good pinch of salt and go to work with the pestle, pressing on the ingredients and moving the pestle around in a circular motion.  You’ll crush the cilantro, but only just bruise the onion and jalapeno, and that’s just fine.  Spoon the avocado into the mortar, squeeze in all the juice from the lime, and use the pestle to break up the avocado and blend it with the other ingredients.  You can leave the guacamole chunky or stir it until it’s smooth, the choice is yours.  Taste for salt, pepper and hot sauce, then stir in the tomatoes, peppers and shredded cilantro.  Serve the guacamole from the mortar with your favorite chips. 

The guacamole is at its best freshly made, but if you have to hold it for a little while, press a piece of plastic wrap directly against the surface to create an airtight cover and keep it in the refrigerator. 

--Dorie Greenspan

Photos by Alan Richardson

Check out Dorie’s favorite kitchen products in the Kitchen & Home Gift Guide.