Lemon Chocolate Tart

It has been a long time since I post something, not because I am not cooking or baking anymore,  the only reason is I  am too busy following the football world cup!! yes I love football and I am trying to watch every single game from this world cup.  So far it has been a good world cup with several very good matches and also some big upsets like Italy, France and England going home very early. Argentina is doing good but we play against bad teams so far, this saturday we will have a nice test against Germany. 

This year I have very opposite feelings about our team, I really like most of the players that are in the team but I do not like the coach, Maradona, for those of you that are not familiar with him, he is consider to be the best player in the history of football, I agree with that. He also had a very long story with drugs, his personal life was public mess for a long time, and he thinks he is God, so I do not like the guy, I love the player but not the person. The AFA named him coach of the national team but he did not have any experience as a coach, well he had some and he did very badly. To make it short I do not want Argentina to win the world cup because if he thinks he is God now can you imagine what is going to happen if he wins??? he is going to be the father of God LOL!!! One the other side I want Argentina to win because I am a passionate about football and I am from Argentina.  Anyways, I have the felling that the cup goes to Europe again this year......

The past weekend I was killing for a lemon tart, I remembered I had some lemon juice in the freezer (a friend gave me like 20 meyer lemons and I saved all the juice) so I was ready to go. I made the pastry shell and then the lemon curd, when I finished with it I realized it will be not enough to fill the 9 inches pastry shell so was in a dilemma, should I make more lemon curd or should I use a filler? I went with the second option after search for something usable in the refrigerator, what I found? chocolate ganache from Tomas B-Day cake. Of course the combination was good, I love chocolate with citrus. I also made some italian meringue and piped on top using the saint honore tip.      

Recipe


Pastry shell

Butter 160 grs
Powder sugar 90 grs
Eggs 68 grs
salt pinch
AP or cake flour 270 grs

Cream butter and sugar for a couple of minutes, add the egg and mix until well incorporated, add the salt and flour and mix just until incorporated. Cover with film and refrigerate for at least 30 min before use it.
You will have more than enough dough for a 9 inches tart.
Bake it blind in a oven at 375F

Lemon curd

Lemon juice 150 grs
Sugar            300 grs
Eggs                 6
Lemon zest from  2 lemons

Butter           160 grs
Gelatin             3 grs (optional)

In a saucepan, stir together the lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a simmer. In a small bowl, beat the eggs. Beat some of the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper. Place the mixture back into the saucepan and cook stirring constantly until it thickens up, about 5-8 minutes. Remove the curd from the heat and incorporate the gelatin (dissolved in cold water) let it cool. When the mixture reaches the 28 C incorporate the butter (one tablespoon at a time) using an electrical hand mixer. Let cool completely before using.

Italian meringue

Sugar           200 grs
Egg whites  100  grs
Water             30  grs

In a small pot over low heat, combine sugar and water. Swirl the pot over the burner to dissolve the sugar completely. Do not stir. Increase the heat and boil to 118 C.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the eggs whites on low speed, when the temperature of the sugar reaches the 110 increase the speed to high.

With the mixer running, pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over fluffed egg whites. Beat until the mixer bowl is cold. Use it immediately.

Chocolate ganche

Dark chocolate  100gr

Cream               200 grs

Bring the cream to a boil and place over the chocolate to melt it,  mix very well and let it cool before you use it.