This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
It's no surprise really that my favourite Maeve Binchy books are Scarlet Feather, Tara Road and Quentins. Not only do they have the same cast of characters popping in and out but they've also got a fabulous, mouth-watering foodie focus. Scarlet Feather is a catering establishment made up of Tom Feather and Cathy Scarlet, Tara Road has Ria's home cooking and Quentins is a restaurant. The restaurant.
The managers of Quentins are Brenda and Patrick Brennan. They have made Quentins into a real legend and look like they could rule the world between them. But of course, there is a story there that the customers of the restaurant will never know about. The restaurant is so well known that Ella Brady wants to make a documentary about the place, capturing the spirit and the stories of the staff and customers.
Despite the excitement of the impending documentary there is still the restaurant to run. The routines, the rhythms that has established the restaurant as the place to visit. Every morning, early, Patrick is in the kitchens making the deserts for the day. He is seen making chocolate roulade, chocolate mousse, poached pears, praline ice-cream and lemon tart.
There is something about summer time when you just crave the freshness, sweetness and sourness of lemons so I thought it a perfect time to give you a lemon tart that is incredibly easy to make.
First of all you need a tart base. Or you could buy one (no-one would know!)
I make a tart base using pâte sucrée, not as scary as it sounds, but making it on a hot day was a challenge. It stuck to the rolling pin and work surface. In the end I didn't roll it out I just placed it in the pastry tin and moulded into place. It ended up with a more rustic look but that's fine.
Equipment: tart case, rolling pin, plastic food bag or clingfilm, oven beads or grains of rice.
Ingredients for pâte sucrée
90g soft butter
70g caster sugar
3 egg-yolks
200g plain flour
- Cream the butter and sugar.
- Add the egg yolks.
- Add the flour and mix until smooth.
- Place in a plastic food bag and refridgerate for half an hour or so.
- Roll out and line your tart case. Place a piece of baking parchment over the top and pour over your oven beads or grains of rice.
- Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until the sides just start to go brown.
Ingredients for lemon filling
4 eggs
175g caster sugar
Juice of 4 lemons
Zest of 2 lemons
125ml double cream
Method
- Heat oven to 160 fan.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk in until well combined.
- Get your prepared tart case and pour in the filling.
- Bake for 20 minutes. If it still wobbles too much bake for another 5 minutes.