This recipe is an all-time favorite - easy enough to be knocked up in a flash but with such a wonderful lemony creamy texture you will become addicted.
Prep Time 30 Minutes
Serves 2
Cook Time 30 Minutes
Difficulty Easy
Ingredients
- Plain flour, 125g / 4oz / 1 cup
- Salt, a pinch/ 1/4 tsp
- Sugar, ½ tsp
- Cold butter, 75g / 21/2 oz / 1/3 cup
- Cold water, roughly 2 tbsps
- Lemons, 2 good-sized & unwaxed if possible - For the custard filling
- Eggs, 3 large
- Sugar, 100g/3½ oz/ 1/2 cup
- Butter, 30g/1 oz / 1/8cup
- Milk, 1 cup - For the gelato
- Double cream/whipping cream, 1 cup
- Egg yolks, 3
- Sugar, 1/4 cup
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/4 cup
Method
- For the pastry, You need to keep this short so no overworking! Sift the flour into a large bowl with the salt. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture is like breadcrumbs
- Add 2 tablespoons of cold water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough on a floured board without overworking. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for an hour.
- Heat the oven to 180 C / 350 F/ Gas Mark 4.
- Grease an 18cm/7-inch pie dish or flan tin (we use an old enamel plate) with a little butter or line it with baking paper.
- Sprinkle the rolling pin lightly with flour and roll out the pastry until it is about 5cm/ 2 inches larger than the baking tin using short strokes so as to avoid stretching the pastry, turning it as you do to form a circle.
- When the dough is about 5cm/ 2 inches larger than the tin, lift it up using the rolling pin and lay it across the dish. Press the dough into the corners of the dish using your fingers and don’t trim off the edges.
- Cover the pastry base with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans.
- Pop it in the heated oven for about 20 minutes so that it starts to change colour and is firming up.
- Whilst the pastry is cooking, peel the zest from one lemon without removing any of the pith and carefully cut it into strips.
- Squeeze the juice from both lemons so you have about half a cup of juice.
- Put the eggs, sugar, and butter into a small pan over a bain marie.
- On low heat mix together using a wooden spoon. When the custard starts to thicken mix in the lemon juice and add the lemon zest keep stirring and take off the heat.
- Remove the baking beans and baking paper from the pastry and pour the custard over the pastry filling it up but taking care not to over full so it leaks over the top.
- Finally, decorate with slices of lemon and cook for about 10 minutes until it is set and cool.
- Serve while still warm but it is equally as delicious served cold.
- For the Olive Oil gelato – use your Nudo extra virgin olive oil to create a perfect ice cream that retains all of the flavours of your oil including that wonderful peppery kick … absolute perfection on a plate. Put the milk and cream in a saucepan and bring just to a boil removing it quickly from the heat
- Put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together until it is light and fluffy. Whisk in the olive oil. Very slowly whisk in the cream and milk.
- Return the mixture to low heat stirring well until the mixture is thick and custardy and reaches 185 F on an instant-read thermometer. Put aside to cool.
- Pour the cooled mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn for about 10 minutes until it is a creamy consistency.