SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Place flour and butter in a bowl and mix it with your hands squashing the butter into the flour.

Add vanilla powder and sugar.

Grate lemon rind of 2 lemons and mix together well until you get a crumble.

To get the egg yolks, you need to separate them from the egg white by cracking each egg in half and keeping the yolk in one shell, then pour the yolk back and forth into each shell until all the egg white is gone, then drop the yolk into the bowl with mixture.

Add 1 more whole egg.

Combine all of the mixture together so that it begins to bind and soften.

Once all the dough has come together, place it on a chopping board and create a ball by kneading it a little bit more.

Sprinkle some flour on the board and on top of the dough and keep working it until it is soft and starts to smooth.

Create a sort of oval shape instead of a big, round ball, so it is easier to roll out later on!

Wrap the ball tightly with cling wrap.

Put the dough in the fridge.

LEMON CREAM

Cut each lemon in ½ and squeeze the juice out. I like to do this with my hands and a small strainer to catch the seeds.

You need 75ml of juice so it depends on how big your lemons are!

Put the butter into a non-stick small pot and turn the stove on to a medium heat.

When the butter melts add lemon juice, then 3 eggs and sugar and stir well using a whisk.

Continue to stir until the cream thickens and your kitchen will start to smell DIVINE!

Pre heat the oven at 180C degrees.

Once you have a nice thick cream, take it off the stove and leave it to the side to cool down.

ASSEMBLE THE LEMON TART! (The FUN part!)

Get the dough from the fridge, remove the cling wrap and put it on top of the board. Press down on it using your fingers, then get a rolling pin and flatten it from front to back and side to side, opening it up.

Turn it on the other side and roll it again using the rolling pin.

Get the tart pan and rub a generous amount of butter all over it, including on the sides. If you like, you can melt the butter, then spread it using a brush.

Sprinkle flour all over the base making sure it sticks to the base and sides. This will stop the cake from sticking to the pan once it is cooked The easiest thing to do is shake it from side to side to move the flour around.

Place the rolling pin vertically on top of the base and gently fold the base around it guiding it with your hands.

Place the base on top of the tray, rolling the pin from one end to the other, so that the base begins to fall into place then very delicately help it mould to the shape of the tray pressing down with your fingers.

Using the rolling pin again, roll over the edges , trimming the excess dough off.

With a fork, make small deep holes all over the base to help it cook through in the oven.

Place it in the oven to cook for 15 minutes at 180C degrees.

Remove from the oven and let it cool for around 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, pour the lemon cream into the base filling it up.

Switch OFF the oven and put the tart back inside for 20 minutes. The heat from inside the oven will help to make the cream harder without over cooking the entire tart.

Let it cool down, then place it in the fridge to set. You will get a great result if you leave it fo

E ora si mangia, Vincenzo’s Plate….Enjoy!