Lemon Pie With Olive Oil, Salt and Candied Lemon Slices

Hello again,

This winter we barely had any sunshine here and we are all longing for spring to come, this is why I chose to make this lemon pie today, to brighten up the day with its vivid color.

I love the tangy flavor of lemon, especially Meyer lemon, which is unfortunately only available for a short period, so I usually buy huge quantities in January, squeeze the juice and freeze it in small containers. Lemon tart is something I make on a regular basis, I had been using the very same recipe up until a few weeks back when I came across a lemon curd recipe. As a matter of fact, it was a lemon bar recipe by Melissa Clark, but my attention was caught by the curd part because of the olive oil added. It was weird and tempting at the same time, I thought why not give it a try?

The recipe of the curd is adapted from Clark Bar lemon bar recipe, but I cut down the sugar a bit. As for the crust, I added poppy seeds, which is one of my favorite combinations.

It turned out great, the fresh lemony taste is enhanced by the fruity notes of olive oil, and the salt sprinkled on top (I used smoked Maldon) gives the whole thing an extra twist.

Candied lemons also proved successful, they have this slightly bittery yet sweet and sour taste at the same time, so even the ones that escaped pie decoration disappeared pretty fast.

Easy to make, yet tastes fabulous ... can one ask for more?

Step 1: You Will Need

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 340 g flour
• 50 g almond meal
• 200 g cold butter
• 100 g sugar
• 1 large egg (75 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2-3 tablespoons of poppy seeds (whole, not ground)

Almond meal may be replaced with any other nut meal or - if you prefer - you may just use flour instead. Adding ground nuts gives the dough an extra flavor. I also like to add poppy seed into the dough, it pairs really well with lemon, but that's totally optional.

For the curd:

• 270 g lemon juice
• 230 g sugar
• 2 heaped tablespoons corn starch
• 3 large eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 75 g extra virgin olive oil
• 80 g butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• zest of 1 lemon

And the little this and that:

For the meringue:

• 55 g egg white
• 150 g caster sugar
• 40 g water

For the candied lemon slices:

• 2 organic lemons
• 240 g sugar
• 240 g water
• (plus water for boling)

Please note that if you are planning to make candied lemon slices, they should be made a day ahead, because of the time it takes them to dry. In this case you should start with them, despite that the instructions are towards to end of this post as it's not a main part of the recipe.

To sprinkle:

• 1 handful of sliced almonds (I suggest to use the nut you chose to add into the dough)
• 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds (not ground)
• smoked Maldon salt

Butter for greasing the molds.

Tools:

• digital scale
• cutting board
• small saucepans
• sharp knife
• stand mixer
• rolling pin
• parchment paper
• pie mold (I used 2 mid-sized ceramic pie forms - 18 cm diameter, and 3 individual tart rings 2 of them 6 cm, the third 9 cm diameter)
• spatula
• hand whisk
• sugar thermometer
• piping bag with a tip of your choice
• blowtorch (optional)

Step 2: The Dough (1.)

To make the dough, I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, but you can also make it in a food processor.

Cut butter into small cubes (the colder the butter, the easier it is to work with).

Dump flour into the mixing ball, add butter cubes (scattered, not all in one place!) and mix at low speed until crumbles start to form.

Add almond meal and sugar, mix, then lemon peel and salt. Keep mixing.

Step 3: The Dough (2.)

Whisk the egg with a fork and add it into the bowl.

Mix in the egg, then add poppy seeds and combine.

Transfer dough onto a piece of parchment, and form it into a brick. Wrap it in parchment paper and put it into the fridge for at least an hour.

Tip: you can make the dough 2-3 days before baking the pie, just make sure to take it out of the fridge about half an hour before you want to start rolling it.

Step 4: Roll the Dough

Remove the dough from the fridge. If it spent more than 2 hours there, it may need 20-30 minutes to warm up to a workable state.

Prepare the molds: grease the inside of the tart ring and the pie form with butter. Tart ring is OK like that, but to make sure the pie does not stick, I also sprinkle caster sugar into the pie form on top of the butter,

Roll the dough about 2-3 mm thick between two pieces of parchment.

Step 5: Line the Tart Ring

Place the ring on top of the dough and cut the dough around, 2-3 centimeters larger than the ring.

Put the ring on a piece of parchment.

Lift the dough up and gently and loosely place it on top of the ring leaving it space to sink into the ring. This can be achieved easily by going round and round while lifting the dough with one hand and pressing the dough on the bottom of the ring around the rim with the other. Finally, cut the overhanging dough and place the ring into the freezer for at least 3 hours.

You can find a video on folding the dough into the tart ring in one of my previous Instructables (step 3).

Step 6: Line the Pie Form

When it comes to placing the dough into the pie mold, I like to do it by lifting the dough on the parchment paper. I place my forearm underneath and then with a quick move I flip it over and lay the dough in the form and remove the parchment from top. Then I use the same technique as with the ring: I lift the dough while turning the mold to make sure that it drops down to the bottom of the mold all around, just where it should be.

Press slightly to the sides and cut the excess dough with a knife.

Place into the freezer for a minimum 3 hours.

Step 7: Blind Bake

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Remove the molds from the freezer and place them straight into the preheated oven. Bake the individual tarts for about 8-10 minutes, the bigger ones for 12-14 minutes just until the edges start to get a little color.

Don't worry if the middle of the dough puffs up, just wait a couple of minutes for the dough to flatten out.

Step 8: Make the Curd

While the dough is in the oven, we might as well prepare the curd.

Pour lemon juice, sugar, eggs, yollks and starch into a small saucepan, combine with a hand whisk.

Cook on medium heat, while stirring constantly for about 3-5 minutes after the first bubbles appear on the surface. What we are looking for is a dense, homogenous cream. The spoon test helps to decide whether it's ready. If you can pull your finger across the back of a spoon / spatula and the mark stays, you're done.

Add the rest of the ingredients: cubed butter, salt, lemon zest and finally the olive oil. Combine.

Step 9: Bake Them

Fill the curd into the molds, Smooth the top with a knife and put them back into the oven for a short while (170 degrees Celsius, 8 minutes).

All we have left is decoration.

Step 10: Meringue 1.

Pour 150 g sugar and 40 g water into a small saucepan and dump 55 g egg whites into the mixing bowl. Start heating the sugar at high heat. Use a sugar thermometer to measure the temperature.

Once the temperature of the sugar reached 95-100 Celsius, switch the stand mixer on and beat the egg whites at high speed.

Pay close attention to the thermometer. When the temperature of the sugar reaches 118 Celsius, remove it from the heat and immediately pour it into the mixing bowl (hot sugar should flow down the side of the bowl in a thin stream), while beating the egg whites constantly. Keep it whisking until the mixture cools.

Use your hands to guide you on how long you should keep whisking. At first, the lower part of the mixing bowl feels hot when you touch it (from the outside, of course), but in a couple of minutes it goes back to room temperature.

Step 11: Meringue 2.

In the end, you'll get a thick, shiny cream. It is safe to eat as it is, the hot sugar cooks the egg whites.

Take a piping bag, cut the end off and place the tip in place. When there is nobody else around to hold the bag for me, I place it in a high container , fold the edge of the piping bag back over the top of the container and transfer the meringue into it. Press the meringue towards the tip of the piping bag until it comes out in the front.

Step 12: Candied Lemon Slices

1. Thinly slice the lemons (about 2 mm thin) with a sharp knife.

2. Remove any seeds with the tip of a knife.

3. Prepare a bowl with ice cold water.

4. Place lemon slices in a saucepan with abundant water, bring it to boil and boil for 90 seconds. This is to take away the bitter taste of lemon skin.

5. Transfer lemon slices into the ice cold water.

6. Rinse the saucepan and pour in 240 ml of water and 240 g of sugar. Add lemon slices, bring it to boil and gently simmer for 40-45 minutes.

7. Strain and line them up on a piece of parchment on top of a rack.

8. Let them dry.

Step 13: Sprinkle

Line a baking tray with parchment.

Dump sliced almonds and poppy seeds on it, toast in the preheated oven (180 degrees Celsius) for 10 minutes.

Step 14: What to Do With Excess Dough?

After lining the molds I still had a bit of dough left, with thaI made cookies.

Roll the dough about 3 mm thin on a lightly floured surface.

Cut cookies using a cookie cutter, cut a smaller hole into every second cookie.

Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius or until the edges of the cookies start to get golden.

Stick them together with jam (or the remainder of the curd).

Step 15: Decorate

There are no rules on how you decorate your pies, press meringue on top, toast it a bit with a blowtorch, sprinkle with almond slices, and place candied lemond on top.

Anyhow, enjoy!