However, I do like the pâte sablée although I'll make it a point to reduce the sugar in my next attempt. Pâte sablée is the richest of the French short pastry crusts. It is used to make sweet flans and tarts. While it has the most flavour, it also has more calories than a pâte brisée (shortcrust pastry) or pâte sucrée (sweet shortcrust pastry). Oh dear, no wonder it agrees so well with me. Why do all the food that I particularly like have higher calories ?
Both the pâte sablée and lemon curd filling were adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
You will need:
Pâte sablée
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp salt
130 g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
Lemon curd
1 1/4 cups sugar
85 g unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 large egg
6 large egg yolks
Freshly squeezed juice of 4 lemons
Meringue
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
Preparation:
To make the pâte sablée:
Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses, about 10 seconds each - until the dough, which will look granular after the egg is added in, forms clumps and curds. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, and very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.
Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Don't be too heavy handed - press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces clings to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes before baking.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 190 deg C. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminium foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. Bake for 25 minutes. Carefully remove foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake for another 8 minutes or so, until the pastry is firm and golden brown.
To make the lemon curd:
Put all ingredients in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir to moisten the sugar. Put the pan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring without stopping, until the butter melts and the mixture thickens like custard, 4 to 6 minutes. Keep your eyes on the pan because the mixture can curdle quickly. It is cooked enough when you can run your finger along the spatula and the curd doesn't run into the track you have created. Don't worry if the curd looks thin at this point - it will thicken more as it cools. Remove from heat and put curd into clean bowl. Press a piece of cling wrap against the curd to create an airtight seal and cool to room temperature.
To assemble the pie and make the meringue:
Whisk the lemon curd to loosen it and spoon into the pie shell. To prepare the meringue, whisk the egg whites at medium speed until opaque. With the mixer running, add the sugar in slow stream and continue to whisk until the whites are glossy and form firm peaks.
Spread the meringue over the lemon filling, swirling it if you'd like. Make sure the meringue comes all the way to the edges of the crust, because it will shrink when it bakes. Run the pie under a broiler until the meringue is golden and the tips are dark brown.
Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool, then refridgerate for at least 3 hours before serving.
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