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Makes: 1 9 inch tart (serves 8)
Takes: 30 minutes, plus chilling
Bakes: 30 minutes
For the pastry
200g plain flour
100g butter
1 egg yolk
½ teaspoon fine salt
1 egg white
For the filling
5 small lemons, zest and juice
3 egg yolks
3 whole eggs
100g caster sugar
½ teaspoon salt
100g butter
180°C for 6 minutes to set the tart
First make pastry. Rub together the flour, salt and butter until they resemble breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and, using a knife, begin to cut the yolk into the crumbed flour and butter. Get your hands stuck in and bring the dough together: if it remains really crumbly, you can add a few drops of cold water to help it along the way. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Once chilled, remove the pastry from the fridge. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured worktop into a rough circle the thickness of a pound coin. Lightly dust the pastry with flour and roll the pastry up onto the rolling pin, then lay it gently onto a 9 inch loose-bottomed tart tin. Using a spare ball of dough, ease the pastry into the tin so it sits flush against the curves and any grooves. Prick all over with a fork, cover with oven-safe clingfilm or baking paper, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Pour dried beans or rice onto the clingfilmed tart tin right up to the brim, then bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is dry to the touch. Remove the dried beans or rice and the clingfilm, and return the tart case to the oven for another five minutes until it is light golden coloured.
Remove from the oven and brush the pastry with a little egg white, to seal the pastry: the residual heat will cook the egg white.
Next, make the curd: heat the zest, juice and sugar over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, before sieving out the zest and reserving the lemon syrup. Place this syrup in a bain marie (a heatproof bowl sitting on top of a pan of simmering water) with the egg yolks, whole eggs, salt and butter to the pan, and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Push the curd through a sieve and spoon it into the pastry case, jiggling it gently to level out the filling. Bake in the oven (still at 180°C) just for 6 minutes to set the filling. Allow to cool before transferring to the fridge and chilling entirely. Remove from the tin carefully and slice to serve.
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