So this is basically my favourite dessert/tart/sweet treat of all time. If I come upon a patisserie or a cake shop which looks even remotely like it has a proper pastry chef at the helm I will buy a lemon tart. Or Citron tart if we feel like getting fancy.

I adore my lemon butter but it is not right for a proper lemon tart. Similarly, that time I made the lemon meringue tart when I so bravely tried to keep up with the Daring Bakers produced a very easy lemon ‘curd’ but I could not bring myself to say a mix that involves cornflour is a proper lemon curd.

This comes from Jane and Jeremy Strode who own Bistrode, a 40 seat bistro in Sydney. They also do the weekly recipes in Good Living, which I always find very hit and miss. In fact, I bought their cookbook bistrode purely on flicking through it in the bookshop and chancing upon the page with their lemon curd tarts. There is much in the book I will try, far more than what they offer in GL, and this lemon curd is absolutely sensational.

The shortcrust pastry below is the one I use for everything. I think it is a Bill Granger recipe from recollection. (The picture below features double the curd recipe and is made in a 10cm x 33cm tart case w/ removable base.)

Lemon Curd Tart
Jane and Jeremy Strode, Bistrode
For the pastry

• 4 cups plain flour
• 350g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/4-1/2 cup cold water

For the curd

• 120g butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 175ml lemon juice
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

For the pastry

1. Process the flour with the butter and add enough water for it to come together as a dough
2. Refrigerate for 30 minutes
3. Roll the pastry to 2mm thick and line a tart case or 12 x 10cm diameter round discs (Jane Strode says here to cut out the discs and then refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight but I am never so organised – I cut them out, line the cases and then refrigerate)
4. Make sure you avoid any air bubbles between the pastry and the tin
5. Line and fill with pie weights and bake for 10 minutes or until golden-brown and cooked through then allow to cool.

For the curd

1. Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan then add the sugar and stir to combine
2. Add lemon juice and eggs and cook over a medium to low heat, stirring continuously, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon
3. Make sure you don’t let it boil as this will curdle the eggs
4. Take off the heat and pass through a fine strainer into a clean container
5. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing gently onto the surface so a skin doesn’t form and cool in the fridge before spooning into the tart case(s)
6. The curd will keep in the fridge for a week.

Seriously, I could eat this until my head fell off.

Oh, and that pastry quantity will mean you have some left over. Just wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for another day.