As a child I used to pick the lemons from our tree at home and eat them whilst playing in the garden. This lemon tree was and still is, a prolific producer of lemons. Maybe it was the garden fairies or perhaps my father's secret pruning and feeding regime that made it have a never ending supply of lemons. So I knew exactly where I was sourcing lemons for this weeks dish... "Tarte au Citron".
Julia describes this dessert as a delicious, light tart, which is really a soufflé.
A sugar crust shell was required to be baked first. I got to use my baking balls again and this time I remembered to place the baking sheet between the pastry and the balls. They work well keeping the pastry nice and flat. Not only that, I also managed to keep control of my balls with only a few escaping ... my skills are improving! Success was probably assisted by being on-call and only having water to drink and not over committing to cooking too much in case I was called away.
The filling required the separation of the egg yolks and whites. The whites were beaten to form soft peaks, then sugar was added and beating recommenced until the peaks were stiff. This is a very important step, as Julia states...
"The glory and lightness of French soufflés are largely a matter of how voluminously stiff the egg whites have been beaten and how nicely they have been incorporated into the soufflé base."
The soufflé base was "nicely" coming along... not only did those egg yolks, sugar and lemon rind and juice look good thickening up it tasted good. I knew that lemons were high in vitamin C but I took the opportunity to google search and learn more about this tangy and tasty little number.... well I was shocked... not only was the humble lemon used for culinary purposes it was also sited as a cleaning agent - a halved lemon dipped in salt or baking powder could be used to brighten copper cookware. Not only that, but apparently you can attach electrodes to a lemon and use it as a battery to produce electricity and with several lemons you can power a small digital watch. But wait there is more... one site claimed the health benefits of lemon included its use as a treatment of throat infections, indigestion, constipation, dental problems, and fever, internal bleeding, rheumatism, burns, obesity, respiratory disorders, cholera and high blood pressure, while it also benefits hair and skin care... And just when you thought this is too good to be true, lemons also helps to strengthen your immune system, cleanse your stomach, and it is considered a blood purifier. Crickey I wasn't making a tart, I was making a potion of magnificent powers that even Snape would be impressed with.
I transferred the tarte au citron out of the oven to the dinning room table ready to eat. Little did my family realise when about to embark on a board game with a fairy theme, that their accompanying dessert was also enchanted and magical... perhaps it was fairy's underneath the lemon tree after all!
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| My father (no fairies in sight) |
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| Stiff egg whites |
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| Fairy game |
