Lemon Tart

Today's class was the very first complete dessert that we'll be making and I was so excited. But everything seemed to work against us that day.  As we were walking up the stairs towards class, the group ahead of us were coming down with tarts in various stages of incompletion. Some with the almond cream and some with the lemon cream. As luck would have it, we were also working in the kitchens on the 3rd floor for the first time, with gas-powered stoves that no one had used before. I was sous chef and a few tart bottoms had gone missing after the first class, so I had a frenzied dash down to the other kitchen to beg Chef H for more. Now there was an intimidating conversation. He wanted me to scold Chef J for losing the molds... in my 2nd week of class no less! When I returned from that little adventure I had to waste even more time having the Chef explain the kitchen to me again. Definitely not off to a good start.

 Not one of us finished our tarts, except for the girl who will be known as The Wiz. She flies through everything without batting an eye. It's positively frustrating, and awe-inspiring.

All of us were way too slow making the pate sucree and then the double baking with the almond cream took FOREVER. Half of us were dancing in front of the ovens just begging for it to be done. And that italian meringue we'd all made in the previous class proved to be my undoing. I added the syrup too quickly and created a runny mess and had to do it a second time. My arm just about fell off. Should I mention that it was also a double recipe? Try whipping meringue by hand some day. Go on. I dare you! The consistency becomes more and more like glue, but you have to keep on pouring and whisking until it's cool. One poor soul in our class actually had to make it four times.

By the time Chef called stopping time (a full 10-20 minutes late), I had just managed to pipe the meringue on top of the tart. But there was no time to pop it in the oven for it's final browning and then requisite cool-down period. And genius that I am, I hadn't yet realized the importance of documenting my work. Because you're all so eager to see these things, right?

All disasters aside, this was an amazing dish to start the program off with. I took it home and Phil and I just dug into it with our forks. No dainty little slices for us! It was amazing! A sophisticated version of lemon meringue pie. I remade it a few weeks later, just to prove that I could do it. It's composed of a sweet dough with a layer of almond cream, topped with a layer of lemon cream and then italian meringue.

Chef J also made a couple other tarts during his demonstration, which thankfully we didn't have to tackle during practical.

A strawberry tart with mousseline cream:

And a French apple tart with caramelized apples: