Tarte au citron Lemon Tart To make the pāte (crust): (NOTE: this is a double batch, can freeze half) 250 g. (2 cups) flour Pinch of salt 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar (sucre glace) 125 g. (8 3/4 T) butter, softened yolk of one large egg Make a fine meal of these ingredients, kneading them by hand. This is called pāte en sable. Mix the yolk of one egg with two tablespoons of water, combining with a rubber spatula. Work into the pāte mixture with the rubber spatula, but don't work it too much. Crush the mixture together and form into a ball. If the ball is still very crumbly, work in a little more water with your hands until the dough hangs together. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. (Can be frozen at this point.) Butter a tart pan, then line with parchment paper. Then butter the parchment paper and sprinkle flour on it. Take the pāte from the refrigerator (remember, above is a double batch, so only actually use 1/2 of it for one tart pan) and flatten it with your hands to make a disc with a low spot in the middle and "walls" around the edges. Fix any cracks that appear during this working of the pāte. Roll it out, then fold in fourths, put the center of the fan-shaped piece of dough in the center of the mold, and unfold it so it is evenly spread over the mold. Press the dough into the corners of the pan (if there are any) and the junction between the bottom and sides. Prick liberally with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove, line with buttered parchment paper (butter side down), and fill with pie weights (a lot) (or pinto beans, if you happen to be short on pie weights as I always have been and always will be). Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Then remove pie weights and cook for another 10 minutes, until it is golden brown. (If you're a home coffee roaster, you know how to cool hot beans!) Filling: Zest three lemons (yellow part only!). The zest of three lemons will make almost 1/4 cup. Then juice the lemons, about 10-15 cl. (3/8-5/8 cup) Strain through sieve. Place zest and juice in saucepan; add 100 grams (7T.) of soft butter. Heat till butter is melted. In a separate bowl beat four eggs with 150 grams (3/4 cup) of sugar (more if you like the tarte sweeter, less if you want it more tart). Add the egg-sugar mixture to the casserole. Stir (one "0", follow by 8 "8's" is proper way to stir), cooking till it thickens enough to coat a spoon. (The "pifometer" is the device used to determine when the butter mixture is ready to have the egg mixture added.) Pour mixture into baked pastry crust and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. If you are not baking right away, move mixture to a bowl to stop the eggs from cooking.