Ginger & lemon meringue tart

May 8, 2020meza-admin

Prep time: 3 hours

Cook time: 40 minutes

Serves: 8 people

Meringue tart! The queen of “oh f*** I’ve got guests coming in 30 minutes and I need something to impress them with desserts”. And seriously, you can crush two fists of biscuits, pour over two bags of vanilla pudding mix, then dress it up beautifully with swiss meringue and they will look at it in ave. That’s because people eat with their eyes. If it looks amazing, they will convince themselves it tastes amazing. Now, of course I won’t be as unprofessional as to bake a pudding mix cake but that doesn’t mean it’s not just as simple.

Meringue:

There’s fifty ways to beat your egg whites, and they all drop down to three main types of meringue. Meringue is basically egg whites beaten together with a whisk until the air whipped into them greatly increases their volume. During beating, sugar is added to the whites to stabilize the structure. Sometimes, an additional stabilizing agent is added to stiffen the structure further. The additional stabilizator would be lemon juice, salt or cream of tatar.

All these meringues are distinguished by three most common types: French, Swiss, Italian meringue.

French meringue:

SImplest, most commonly used and least stable but lightest of all meringues. It’s made by beating the egg whites low to medium speed until soft peaks appear, after which sugar is added gradually while whipping on high speed until reaching sharp peeks and a glossy finish. The meringue is completed once all the sugar is dissolved. (check by simply pinching the meringue to see if you feel any sugar crystals between your fingers.)

Most common use of French meringue is folding into cake batters.

Swiss meringue:

Swiss meringue is gently cooked on Bain-Marie. The egg whites and sugar are added together in a heat proof bowl then stirred constantly on Bain-Marie on medium heat until reaching 80*C. After that, they are immediately removed from the heat and beaten vigorously on high speed with a whisk attachment until cooled down and stiff glossy peaks are formed.

One of the most common mistake executed while making swiss meringue is under beating it in fear of over beating it. Trust me it’s much harder to over beat it than other way around. Be confident and whisk it for as long as those glossy firm peaks stay upright when you dip in the meringue.

Compared to French, Swiss meringue is denser though softer in texture. Most commonly used as base for butter cream frosting and Pavlova.

Italian meringue:

Italian meringue is a cooked meringue. Equal parts of water and sugar are added to a pot on medium heat and simmered until the syrup reaches 115*C then taken off the heat. At the same time, egg whites are whipped on medium speed until reaching soft peaks. Syrup is then gently poured into the bowl while increasing the speed to high until stiff glossy peaks are formed.

Italian meringue is the most stable of all three and is used mostly for frosting cakes.

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Ginger & lemon meringue tart

  • Prep time: 3 hours
  • Cook time: 40 minutes
  • Total time: 3 hours 40 minutes
  • Serves: 8 people

Ingredients

For the pastry

  • 200 gr all purpose flour
  • 20 gr powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 150 gr butter, cold
  • 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

For the filling:

  • 200 ml lemon juice
  • 3 lemon's zest
  • 100 gr granulated sugar
  • 150 gr cream 33%+ fat
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • 110 gr eggwhites
  • 150 gr granulated sugar
  • 1 pinch salt

Method

To make the pastry:

  • 1)

    In a bowl, sift together flour, salt, powdered sugar.

  • 2)

    Add grated ginger and cold butter cut into small cubes.

  • 3)

    Now work with your hands, grabbing a handful with both hand and passing through fingers as if you were trying to find a coin in a sand box.

  • 4)

    Once your mixture resembles a crumble of combined dry ingredients and butter, add in your egg yolk.

  • 5)

    Now mix the dough with your hand just enough so all the ingredients are incorporated (don’t kneed!)

  • 6)

    Once your dough is rather smooth, all ingredients combined, transfer to work surface, shape into a roughly 3 cm thick disc, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least one hour.

  • 7)

    Once chilled, transfer to a work surface dusted with flour and start rolling.

  • 8)

    So basically the easiest way to make a round shape is to pass the rolling pin back and forth 4-5, then rotate the dough 45* and repeat this step.

  • 9)

    Roll the dough until very think (about 5 mm), and feel free to lightly dust as needed while rolling. Also make sure the diameter of the dough is about 6 cm wider than the diameter of the mold. (the recipe works for up to 28 cm molds)

  • 10)

    Now align your baking mold with parchment paper and grease the edges with butter.

  • 11)

    Place the dough inside the mold (I like to roll the dough over the rolling pin and then just unfold over the mold.)

  • 12)

    Tuck in the edges of the mold, but very gently, as pressing hard would make the dough thin around the edges and collapse the tart.

  • 13)

    Cut off any excess dough with a knife.

  • 14)

    Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the dough set and pre heat the oven to 175*C

  • 15)

    Take out of the fridge and poke the dough with a fork. This is crucial so the dough doesn’t bubble up from escaping steam while baking.

  • 16)

    Now to blind bake the tart pastry, cover the whole dough with parchment paper, it’s important to cover the edges as well, as they would burn off very quickly.

  • 17)

    Now fill the dish with baking beans, rice, beans, lentils or what ever floats your boat.

  • 18)

    Place inside your pre heated oven on 175*C for20 minutes. Once done let cool off 15-20 minutes with the beans still in place, then remove beans and let cool completely.

To make the filling:

  • 1)

    With a whisk, beat the eggs with the sugar in a heat proof bowl until well combined

  • 2)

    Once combined and creamy, add your lemon juice, lemon zest, grated ginger and cream.

    Pre heat your oven on 125*C.

  • 3)

    Place the bowl on a Bain-Marie and cook stirring with a whisk until reaching 65*C internal temperature. (If you don’t have a food thermometer cook stirring until you see first bubbles appearing.).

     

  • 4)

    Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

  • 5)

    Place your tart shell into your preheated oven on 125*C and pour in your filling, give it a gentle shake and bake for 20-25 minutes until fully set.

  • 6)

    Chill completely before applying meringue.

To make the meringue:

  • 1)

    Combine sugar, egg whites and salt in a heat proof bowl and place on bain-marie.

  • 2)

    Cook on medium-low heat constantly stirring with a spatula until reaching 80*C. If you don’t have a food thermometer, cook until very hot to touch when inserting a finger.

  • 3)

    Now pour into a bowl and work with a mixer on high speed until thick, shiny and glossy. It should stick upright when you take the whisk out.

  • 4)

    Place the meringue into a piping bag and use immediately.

  • 5)

    Pipe up desired shapes or patterns using which ever extension you wish, be creative.

  • 6)

    Char your meringue by blowtorching it lightly going up and down around the tart.

Nutrition

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