I love the times throughout the year when the seasons start to change. One of the things that I enjoy the most is discovering a whole new range of ingredients that suddenly appear at the markets. Citrus fruits one of the things that I love to see and something that I find extremely versatile, they can be equally as good in both sweet and savoury dishes, can be preserved, candied and even dried. Each cuisine has its own unique use for these juicy little morsels.
I am fortunate enough to have an almost endless supply of both lemons and limes because G’s Mum has some wonderful trees that produce an amazing amount of fruit. Limes are in season at the moment so I am doing my bit to help out in using them up by making anything I can think of that includes them. I really wanted to make a silky smooth lime tart. Of course there are so many recipes, varying from simple to extremely difficult so I went hunting for the perfect one.
I finally decided upon a Lime Meringue Tart from David Lebovitz. David is a well respected, talented chef, author and blogger who is a native born American now living in Paris (which makes me so envious). I would highly recommend you try this recipe, it is possibly the best lime tart I have ever made.
lime meringue tart (recipe by David Lebovitz )
makes 22cm tart
My tips/alterations: *I followed this recipe to the letter and it turned out wonderfully. *The only thing I would do differently next time would be to make a standard meringue rather than to heat the mixture. The effort just didn’t seem worth it and the meringue was a little difficult to pipe, for an amateur at least. *I didn’t make the pastry by putting a bowl in the oven, I used a saucepan on the stove instead which made it similar to making a roux.
ease: 6/10 There are several elements to this dessert including making lime curd.
prep time: 15mins for pastry, + 15 mins for lime curd, 15mins for meringue.
cooking time: 15mins for pastry, 10 mins for tart, 5mins for meringue.
total time: 1hour 15mins.
taste: 9/10. When you work hard to create something delicious and it is amazing when you eat it, all the effort suddenly disappears from your mind. The pastry was the easiest and best pastry I have ever made and I will certainly be doing so again. It was light and crunchy yet still had that buttery flavour that is an essential part of a citrus tart. This balance very well with the slightly tart flavour of the lime curd which I also loved. All of this topped off with a small amount of sweet meringue and all I could say was…..bliss. This was also a hit with G and friends that we shared it with. You always know when people are willing to take a doggy bag home that you have created something wonderful.
would I make it again: As many times as I can!
Lime meringue tart – Recipe from davidlebovitz.com
French tart dough – Recipe from davidlebovitz.com
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