Lemon Ginger Tart

Here's another recipe from Sam Sifton's New York Times Cooking column, and more specifically, from someone by the name of Alison Roman. 

So, this attractive dessert was a difficult bake for me. I ended up altering the recipe somewhat because a) I didn't have enough sugar, so decreased the amount called for in the lemon filling by almost a half cup, and b) I didn't have enough butter because I spilled 3/4 cup of melted butter on my kitchen floor during the course of this baking adventure. I ended up with about two-thirds of a cup of butter in the crust; that's all I had left in my fridge. I actually think the recipe may have been improved by the dearth of sugar, or at least, made more to my taste. The lemon filling was certainly more tart than it would have been had I used the called-for amount.

I was a bit baffled by the author's instruction to sieve the lemon mixture after adding the grated ginger since I was sure that I thereby removed most of the ginger I had just put in. However, I have to say that despite the sieving, there was a certain subtle heat to the lemon filling which I attribute to ginger having been briefly in the mix. The turmeric merely enhances the colour of the tart.  

It's gorgeously sunny looking and tastes like pure gold (would taste, if gold had a taste). 

Ingredients for the crust:

•         1 ½ cups all purpose flour
•         ⅔ cupconfectioners’ sugar
•         1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
•          ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted (try not to spill this)

Ingredients for the filling:

•          1 cup fresh lemon juice
•          1 ¼ cup granulated sugar (I used a scant cup)
•          4 large egg yolks
•          1 large egg
•          ¼ cup all-purpose flour
•          1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
•          ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
•          ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
•          ½ lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed (optional)

Methods:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

Whisk together the flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Drizzle in the melted butter and, using a spatula, mix until it’s well combined. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake the tart shell until it’s a pale golden brown on the edges and baked through on the bottom, about 15 to 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, sugar, egg yolks, egg, flour, ginger, turmeric and salt, then pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Add the lemon slices, if using, and stir to coat. Pour the filling into the crust and bake the tart until the edges of the lemon filling are set and the center no longer jiggles, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing.  

Lemon leftovers