Wanderlust – Tarte de Limão

Since this article about Portuguese cuisine was published I have bookmarked it on my computer. It brings back memorys of one of our best holidays about three years ago when we traveled through Portugal by car and when we both fell in love with this great country full of contrasty beautiful nature, bustling cities, great food and super friendly people.

The article of Alexandra Klobouk who moved to Lisbon just brings back all these Portugal feelings and a backpack full of wanderlust. So forgive me for adding some three years old pictures from our trip.

[BTW 1: I love the English word wanderlust, because this German loan word in German literally means something like ‘hiking desire’, while in Germany we use the word Fernweh to describe the wanderlust feeling – which is more melancholic, a painful longing for the far way. Lust vs. pain – does this say something about different mentality?]

What makes this article so lovely, besides Alexandras personal stories, are her beautifully illustrated recipes. And the best: the book is in the making!

[BTW 2: Do you know the lovely illustrated food blogs Pan y Peter and Kokblog – heartwarming!]

So, the first of Alexandras recipe collection I chose to make was tarte de limão – a typical portuguese party tarte (similar to key lime pie) … and when I was looking out of the window I just had to make this cake to at least feel the summer on my tongue.

How many lemons can you pack in one tarte? Alexandra asked – and the answer is: a lot of. This tarte contains juice and zest of two lemons. The nifty thing: the lemon zest is equally distributed on crust and cream. The tartness of the lemon is balanced by the sweet condensed milk and topped with a fluffy meringue topping. Wow!

[BTW 3: This tarte gave me the chance to work with the new microplane zester I got from my parents, and – I am not payed for this statement – it’s great. The handling is so easy and the result perfect: thin little curls of lemon zest sparing out all the white!]

And if you’re planning to visit Portugal one day (I think you should) here are some recommendations – the  best places we stayed during our trip: Quinta da Dourada (Portalegre), O Facho Guesthouse (Foz do Arelho), Anjo Azul (Lisbon).

Tarte de limão

ingredients
2 eggs, 100 g sugar (+ 1 tablespoon), 100 g cold butter or margarine, 180 g flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, pinch of salt, 2 organic lemons, 1 can sweet condensed milk (400g)

preparation
Seperate egg yolks from whites. For the crust knead together in a bowl flour, baking powder, sugar, butter, egg yolks and zest of one lemon. Form a ball and rest in the fridge for at least 30 min.

Preheat oven to 180°C and lay out tarte crust in a cake or better tarte pan. Bake for 20 min.

For the cream whisk together condensed milk, zest of second lemon and juice of both lemons. When baking time of the crust is nearly over, start beating egg whites and 1 tablespoon sugar until its really stiff.

Take crust out of the oven, fill with cream and top with beaten egg whites. Bake for another 20 min.

Switch off temperature and leave your tarte in the oven for another 10 min. Then let fully cool down.