Tartelette au Citron

Did you know that nine out of ten lemons produced in Italy actually come from Sicily? Indeed, in the Province of Messina the production of lemons even exceeds that of the more famous oranges. The climate means a long growing season and the gathering of lemons takes place over three distinct periods. First is the autumn harvest or 'primo fiore', followed by the cultivation of the 'bianchetti' in Spring and the 'verdelli' between June and July. The most common variety of lemon is the 'femminello' which also has its own strains, some with seeds some without. (source:deliciousitaly.com) I was more than happy when I discovered some beautiful Sicilian lemons right from the bottom of the Etna, at least that is what they said in the shop. I remembered a lemon tartelette I saw lately in a book of Alain Ducasse. It is simply fantastic, - you will love it if you are lemon addict like me- and his pâte sucrée was the best I have prepared so far! It is served among orange, grapfruit, mandrain and lime with some candied oranges slices, in my case I chose blood oranges and also added some candied slices of lemon.


Ingredients:
180 g flour
30 g powder sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
120 g cold butter


Mix flour, powder sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Add cubed butter and crumble it with the flour mixture. Knead in the egg and knead a dough. Let it rest for at least 2 hours in the fridge. After roll out (it makes 6 tartelette of the size of 10 cm) about 3 mm. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge and after blind bake for 13-15 minutes on 175°C.


125 ml lemon juice, fresh
55 g butter, melted
180 g powder sugar
2 eggs

Whisk lemon juice, powder sugar, melted butter together, add egg, whisk well and fill the blind baked tartelettes. Bake for 17 minutes on 150°C. Decorate and serve warm.