Lemon Curd and Italian Meringue Tart

Directions

1. First, prepare the lemon curd.
2. Squeeze the lemons and pour the juice, along with 200 grams of granulated sugar and 100 grams of butter, in a saucepan. Whisk over low heat until the butter melts.
3. In a bowl, beat 3 eggs with a fork and stir them into the saucepan. Thicken the curd over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes until you get a thick consistency.
4. Strain your lemon curd using a sieve to remove any bits of cooked egg. Set aside.
5. Then, prepare the pie dough.
6. Place 125 grams of softened butter in a bowl.
7. Add the sifted powdered sugar, the seeds from the vanilla pod, and the ground almonds.
8. Mix to obtain a homogeneous texture.
9. Break 1 egg at room temperature onto the preparation, mix, and then add the sifted flour.
10. Mix without overworking. Form a ball of dough, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
11. Take out your dough and let it return to room temperature before starting the work.
12. Spread the dough on a floured surface and cut out 8 tarts.
13. Butter round stainless steel pastry cutters and press down the tarts.
14. Prick with a fork and bake for 15 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius. If you want, you can add baking paper over the pastry with dried vegetables when prebaking. Allow to cool on a rack.
15. Pour the lemon curd in the tarts.
16. If you make your tarts ahead, you should consider brushing melted white chocolate on your shells to prevent the moisture of the lemon curd from softening them. let harden and then pour the lemon curd.
17. Finally, prepare the meringue.
18. Preheat oven to 220 C.
19. In a small saucepan, heat 130 grams of granulated sugar and 50 grams of water to make a syrup. Allow to boil to reach a temperature of 118 C.
20. As you are making the syrup, begin to whisk the egg whites with the salt gently in a medium-sized bowl until they form peaks. Increase the speed when the syrup reaches 110 C.
21. Once the syrup reaches 118 C, remove your saucepan from the heat and pour the syrup over the egg whites (mixer at low speed), then gradually intensify the speed until the meringue cools.
22. The boiling syrup will gradually cook the beaten eggs that is why it is important to let your robot run until the meringue cools. This should take about 10 minutes.
23. Put your meringue into a pastry bag and form a design on your pie. Cook quickly 3 to 4 minutes your meringue so that it colors slightly.