Lemon Ricotta Tart

I had been planning to make an orange tart for our bookclub dinner, but had some freshly made ricotta which I didn't want to go to waste. I had just made the ricotta for my lasagna, when I read the recipe and realized it didn't call for ricotta. Oops! I still had plenty of Meyers lemons on hand, so decided to make this tart, thinking that a lemon tart would make an enjoyably cheery winter dessert.

The crust for the tart is adapted from Baking with Julia. The filling is adapted from The New Regional Italian Cuisine Cookbook via the Accidental Hedonist. And the only reason I adapted the recipe is I misread it, including the juice of two lemons rather than one, as the original recipe calls for.

Pasta Frolla recipe (enough for 1 bottom crust)

1 cup flour
2 1/2 TBLS sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 TBLS cold butter
1 egg-beaten


Combine the first 4 ingredients into a mixing bowl and blend together well.
Cut up the butter into 8 pieces. Place it all in mixing bowl, and use a pastry blender to “cut” it into the flour until until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Make a well in the middle of the mixing bowl then pour the beaten egg in. Mix as best as you can with a wooden spoon and don’t worry if it still looks like a bunch of dry crumbs and clumps, it’s suppose to.
Dump all of the dough and crumbs onto a flat working surface, then knead the dough until it forms a smooth ball. It should come together very quickly once you start kneading it. Pat it into a disk,wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes. It is now ready to be rolled out.



Lemon Ricotta Filling

4 Large Meyers lemons
2 eggs
1 1/4 sugar
16 oz Ricotta Cheese
2 Tbsp powdered Sugar
10 TBS water


Zest and juice two of the lemons.
Whisk the eggs together with 3/4 cup of sugar until smooth. Fold in ricotta, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix until smooth.

Assembling and Baking

Preheat oven to 375º.

Roll out the crust and place in a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Pour in ricotta filling. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until filling is set.

While tart is baking, thinly slice lemons. In a saucepan, stir remaining 1/2 cup sugar into 10 tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer. Simmer lemon slices for 5 minutes in the syrup. Allow slices to cool in the syrup. Remove and dry the slices. Place atop baked tart. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Slice and serve.

Put the Lime in the Coconut

Although I'm not really all that into desserts, I've been pretty much designated the dessert person in my book club. I could bring a chocolate tart every time and there would be no complaints. (Well, maybe from my wife.) But I try to mix it up some and bring different types of desserts.

Tonight's effort is a variation on a lemon pudding cake I like. I normally cook it in one larger vessel, but for tonight I thought I'd try individual ramekins. While I don't generally test recipes out on guests, this is for the book club, and they'll pretty much eat anything I put before them ;-). I sampled one and found it a little drier than my usual recipe. Whether this is because of baking it in individual ramekins or the use of coconut milk, I don't know. I do prefer a moister, more pudding-like cake.

Coconut Lemon-Lime Pudding Cake

1 stalk lemongrass, lower half only, outer leaves removed
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 can of coconut milk, Chaokoh brand is what I prefer
3 TBS butter, softened
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
7 TBS lemon juice
zest of one lemon, finely grated
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350º.

Steep the lemon grass and two of the kaffir lime leaves in the coconut milk in a pan over low heat for half an hour. Strain and cool the coconut milk.

Mix flour and sugar together.

Microwave the other kaffir limes for about 40 seconds to 1 minute, until crisp. Crush in mortar or spice grinder to make a fine powder. Stir into the flour mixture.

Whisk the yolks and butter together until smooth. Add in the cooled coconut milk, lemon juice, and zest. Stir the flour mixture into the coconut milk mixture.

Whip the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form. Fold them into cake batter.

Pour the batter into individual ramekins or a 1 quart baking dish. Place into a roasting pan that can accommodate them and create a bain marie by adding boiling water until it reaches half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 25--30 minutes. With tongs, remove the ramekins from the bain marie and allow to cool on racks. May be served warm, room temperature, or cold.

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Fried calamari with lemon aioli

I'm submitting this recipe to Weekend Wokking, a world-wide food blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks to celebrate the multiple ways we can cook one ingredient. The host this month is Wandering Chopsticks. If you would like to participate or to see the secret ingredient, check who's hosting next month.

When I learned lemon was the ingredient for this month's challenge, my thoughts immediately turned towards desserts. I was thinking of napoleons with lemon curd, or something else with lemons and strawberries. But everything that I considered called more for baking than using the wok. I don't recall reading anything in the rules that says a wok must be used, but it did seem it would go against the spirit of the challenge to totally ignore the wok. So I had to rethink things.

Call it squid, calamari, muc, or cumi-cumi, I love it quickly fried and served with a simple sauce. Lemon ailoi with slivers of kaffir lime leaf is a perfect complement to the fried squid. There is the temptation to add too much of the lime leaf, but I think it works best when it is a background note rather than front and center.

Fried Calamari with Lemon Aioli

Clean the squid, separate bodies from tentacles; slice bodies into rings.
Marinate for 15 minutes in a little fish sauce, minced garlic, and black pepper
Dredge drained squid in mixture of cornstarch and rice flour.
Fry briefly (about 30 seconds) in hot oil. Serve with the lemon aioli.

Lemon Aioli

2 egg yolks
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup olive oil
4 tsps lemon juice, or to taste
3 kaffir lime leaves, center vein removed, finely sliced
salt to taste

In blender or food processor, blend yolks, lemon juice, and garlic. With the machine running, slowly add olive oil in a steady stream. Add salt to taste and fold in slivered lime leaves.