I decided that making time for what I enjoy is almost as important as the choirs that I know I have to get done. I LOVE Tuesday with Dorie! I have missed it so much, even to the point of staying up till 1:30 this morning, finishing the lemon tart. Yea, I know. I have to get up in 3 hours to go to work but this is my first "back to baking with the fun group" tart. Doesn't that make the tart extra special? Babette from Babette Feasts was the one in line to chose this week's baking event. Babette...HUGE standing applause for your choice. I just bought a bag of lemons at Costco and wanted to use them for "something", what - I didn't know. I just wanted something sweet and the inspiration had not hit me yet. Then I looked at my welcoming back recipe. I went to work and talked about my welcoming back recipe. A whole lemon, zest, pithe, and the actual juicy lemon flesh "all" goes into the blender. All of it. Humph! Is this right? Pithe is icky, bitter. And a whole and extra half of pithe and lemon. Interesting. Okay, I'm in. The tart crust has almond meal in it too. Very nice!
I have a paper to write after work, due tonight, and dinner to make. Not just any dinner, but green asparagus and white asparagus blanched, then baked until crispy soft along with a Chorizo and Manchego cheese tart. So much to do. Make the Lemon Tart shell is the first on the list because I can cool the shell while writing my paper. Oh Wow, the crust dough is yummy! I know the recipe says to set a little dough aside for after-baking emergencies but I ate mine. I didn't share or let anyone know either. Evil but it was so good!
I really enjoy pushing dough out to form the tart shell. Nothing like rolling a pie dough. Very easy to do and the removable bottom to the pan makes the dessert look special when the baker is all finished. Dying to sneak another piece of the almond tart shell....and nobody is even looking.
The idea of freezing the shell first and then just putting a buttered, shiny side down, piece of foil over the top is another easy step. Love IT! I am in a hurry here. Dinner is not yet started and I am working on 8 o'clock. I even wrote out a time schedule before getting home.
Dinner is now done, paper is written, summary for the week is written, and I can start on the filling. Everything is thrown into the blender. I am cutting lemons as we speak. The seeds are such a pain in the butt.
I can't believe this. I am running around the kitchen, cradling 3 eggs to get them to room temperature. I forgot to take them out of the refrigerator ahead of time. Great, I was seperating the eggs, and one of the yolks slipped out and went down the sink drain. Now I am cradling another egg and trying to work one-handed.
It is now 1:30 a.m., on a Tuesday morning and the tart is out. Some of the filling drizzled over the sides. Grabbing a little portion from the side, I am curious to know how the tart will taste. Forgot that the texture might be a little different. It is. I love the sweet/tart flavor but the texture is catching me off guard. The tart is not cool enough to cut a slice but I want to wait until breakfast and add whipped cream. This is really good though. I can not wait to try it with the crust attached.
