Professor Butter Beard’s Lemon Olive Oil Tart
One 9” tart
Crust:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
5 Tbsp granulated sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
A few grinds of black pepper (to taste, I like about ¼ tsp)
2 Tbsp cold water
½ cup of your best olive oil
Filling:
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of one lemon
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
¼ tsp fine sea salt
3 large eggs plus 3 large yolks
Juice of three lemons to equal ½ cup liquid
¼ cup of your best olive oil
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the flour, sugar, salt and pepper together in a medium-size glass bowl. Add the water and oil and fold together until a uniform dough forms. Crumble ¾ of the mix into the bottom of a 9” tart pan with a removable bottom. Press dough to an even thickness in the bottom of the pan. Crumble the remaining ¼ of the dough around the edges and press up the sides of the pan. Bake the crust for 30-35 minutes, rotating halfway through.
2) While the crust is baking, whisk the sugar and lemon zest together in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the flour and salt. In another small bowl, whisk together the eggs, additional yolks and the lemon juice. Add the egg mixture to the sugar mixture and whisk lightly until fully combined. Place the saucepan on medium heat, and while whisking constantly, bring the mixture to 160 degrees. Remove from the heat and whisk in the ¼ cup olive oil. Strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl.
3) Remove the crust from the oven and pour in the curd. Return to the oven and bake 8-12 minutes, just until the filling is set and barely jiggles when shaken. Let the tart cool on a wire rack for at least two hours before removing the metal ring.
Note: When in season, I add 1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves to the strained curd before baking in the crust.
