Tarte Meringuée au CitronLemon Meringue Tart

Make the pâte brisée

• 1 Put 250g cake flour, 20g sugar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Cut 125g cold butter into 1cm cubes, add and rub with your fingertips until sandy.
• 2 Add 1 beaten egg and 30ml water and quickly bring together.
• 3 Shape into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap.

Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour

• 1 Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• 2 MeanwhileWhile resting, grate only the yellow zest of 2 lemons and squeeze the juice of 3.

Smear, roll to 3mm, line the mold and chill

• 1 Put the chilled dough on the work surface, push it forward with the heel of your hand, then gather it together again.
• 2 On a floured surface, roll to 3mm thick and about 32cm across.
• 3 Line a buttered 24cm removable-base tart pan, trim excess from the rim and prick the bottom with a fork.
• 4 Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
• 5 MeanwhileWhile chilling, preheat the oven to 200°C.

Blind-bake at 200°C for 10 minutes, then dry for 5 minutes

• 1 Line the pastry with parchment, fill with weights to the rim and bake at 200°C for 10 minutes.
• 2 Remove the weights and paper and bake for another 5 minutes to dry the bottom.
• 3 MeanwhileWhile blind-baking, boil 350ml water for the lemon cream.

Cook flour and sugar with boiling water, add lemon, yolks and butter, then cook over a water bath for 15 minutes

• 1 Separate 4 eggs into yolks and whites and refrigerate the whites.
• 2 Mix 65g cake flour, 65g cornstarch and 250g sugar in a saucepan, then whisk while pouring in 350ml boiling water.
• 3 Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. When boiling and thickened, take off the heat for 5 minutes.
• 4 Mix in the lemon zest and juice, 4 yolks and 30g unsalted butter.
• 5 Set the saucepan over a water bath and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 6 MeanwhileWhile cooking over the water bath, lower the oven to 180°C.

Fill the shell and bake at 180°C for 10 minutes

• 1 Pour the hot lemon cream into the blind-baked shell and level the surface.
• 2 Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes.
• 3 MeanwhileWhile baking, beat the 4 cold whites with a pinch of salt in a bowl. When peaks begin to form, add 125g sugar and 20g powdered sugar in 3 additions and beat to a firm, glossy meringue.

Cover the hot cream to the edges and bake at 160°C for 25–30 minutes

• 1 Lower the oven to 160°C.
• 2 Put the meringue on the hot cream just taken from the oven. Use an offset spatula to cover firmly to the shell edges and make waves on the surface.
• 3 Bake at 160°C for 25–30 minutes.
• 4 If the meringue is not cooked through at the center, bake in additional 3-minute increments.

Cool on a rack, unmold and slice

• 1 Cool on a rack for 30 minutes and remove from the pan.
• 2 Cut into 8 slices while warm or after chilling in the refrigerator.