Baked Goat's Curd & Lemon Tartlets

When I am stressed, I like to bake or look for new recipes. Lately, work has been very busy and a tad stressful so I have spent a bit of time browsing the recipe archives at Gourmet Traveler.

This recipe was found on one such morning. The recipe is from Gourmet Traveler's Fare Exchange column, where readers can request the recipe of a fantastic meal they have enjoyed in a restaurant.

I love a lemon tart. The addition of goats curd initially sounded intriguing, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised the two foods would work very well together.

These tarts were yummy. The goats curd makes the filling velvety soft. Next time, I will probably use the rind from two lemons, not one, because the lemon flavour was pretty subtle.

The recipe says it makes 8 x 9cm tart tins but I made 6 x 7.5cm tarts and 6 x 9cm tarts. I also had enough pastry (but not filling) to line 4 x 11cm tins.

I served the tarts with some homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Yummy!

Baked Goat's Curd & Lemon Tartlets (with very slight adjustments)

From Gourmet Traveler but originally from a cafe at Port Willunga called Star of Greece. Chef: Jonathan Kemble.

Tart filling

180 gm goat's curd (I bought some at James St Markets. I think it was from the Yarra Valley Dairy)

100ml pouring cream

2 eggs

55gm caster sugar

1 lemon, finely grated rind and juice only

Shortcrust Pastry

75 gm caster sugar

300 gm plain flour

150 gm unsalted butter, coarsely chopped

125 ml pouring cream

For the pastry, combine sugar and flour in a bowl and rub in the butter until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add the cream and mix until combined. Give it a couple of kneads to bring it together, wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins or until cold.

I like to then roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking paper, line my greased tart tins with the pastry and put the pastry lined tin in the freezer until frozen. I find it helps to prevent shrinkage when you blind bake the pastry.

When you are ready to make the tarts, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Blind bake the pastry. Straight from the freezer is best. First for 15 minute with paper and weights (although I skipped this step) and then about 10 minutes until golden. The original recipe then says seal the cooked pastry case by brushing with egg yolk and putting back in the oven for a minute, but I didn't do this and my tarts were fine.

Reduce oven temperature to 160 degrees. Combine goat's curd, cream, eggs, sugar and lemon rind and juice in a jug. Pour into the prepared tart shells. (I fill my shells in the oven to avoid spillage. But I'm very clumsy.)

Bake for 18 minutes or until set. Serve the tarts at room temperature, dusted with icing sugar.