Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Anne of Green Gables: Lemon Lavender Tart

“Since you are determined to be married, Miss Cornelia," said Gilbert solemnly, "I shall give you the excellent rules for the management of a husband which my grandmother gave my mother when she married my father."

"Well, I reckon I can manage Marshall Elliott," said Miss Cornelia placidly. "But let us hear your rules."

"The first one is, catch him."

"He's caught. Go on."

"The second one is, feed him well."

"With enough pie. What next?"

"The third and fourth are-- keep your eye on him.”
~ Lucy Maude Montgomery from Anne's House of Dreams



Dumb things husbands say #21: "You should take cooking lessons from my mom."

In Hubby's defense, his mom is like a super human mutant combo of Martha Stewart and Julia Child, only with a way better figure than either of them. And he honestly thought he was suggesting a fun activity, instead of insulting every thing I had ever placed on our table up to that point. Silly man.

Flash forward a year to our first real Thanksgiving away from our families. I cooked a masterpiece meal of Panzanella, Winter Vegetable Soup, Cardamom Cranberry Sauce, Citrus Stuffed Turkey,  a whole lot of other stuff that I can no longer remember, and an assortment of eight pies. This might have been overshooting the mark (Especially considering that we were only feeding us and another couple), but I had something to prove. At the end of it all, he looked at me with big eyes and said, "Honey, I knew you could make good food and all, but you can really COOK!" Maybe it was just the pies talking, but I have never been so proud.

All that being said, I can tell you right now that when he gets home from work tonight, he will wonder why I stuck flowers in the crust, and proceed to tell me "You know what would make this better?" And the answer is almost always "Steak."

Ladies, you understand. I know you do. So here it is:




Lavender Lemon Tart
by BeBookBound
(Filling adapted from America's Test Kitchen)

Crust:
1 1/4 C. All Purpose Flour
1 TBSP Lavender Flowers
1 TBSP Sugar
1/4 C cold butter
1/4 C Shortening
 Water

Pulse the flour, lavender, and sugar together in food processor to combine and break up the flowers a bit (Mine were dried) and add the fats, pulsing til you get a crumb texture. Then add water a tablespoon at a time until you have a dough. Mine only took about 3 tablespoons.

Press into bottom and sides of a tart pan. Freeze for half and hour and preheat oven to 350.  Bake with pie weights for about 30 minutes, or until it turns golden.

WHILE that is cooking, make the filling.

Filling:
2/3 C Lemon Juice
Zest of those lemons
1 1/2 C Sugar
7 Egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1/4 C Butter
Pinch Salt
3 TBSP heavy Cream

Combine all ingredients except the cream in a sauce pan (Non reactive) and cook at medium low heat until it thickens into a "thin sauce" consistency. (About 5 minutes.) Then strain through a sieve and add the cream. Pour into the shell hot from the oven and return to bake for 10-15 minutes (Until center just jiggles and the rest is set. Cool and enjoy!


Happy Eating!!


Linking Up:
Lil' Luna Savvy SouthernStyle - A Delightsome Life
Delightful Order  - StoneGable

12 comments:

  1. That "you gotta talk to Mum" just cracked me up ahahahah.

    Men are clueless but they mean no harm, I think.

    I don't have that problem as my mother-in-law was always meh (the generous me) or a disaster (her son approach) in the kitchen. She's clueless in tablescaping and when she sees my efforts she always brush them off as silly ideas. So everything I make is welcomed with applause by Dear Hubby :).

    I think he'd consider the lavender sprig on top (and I wouldn't tell him about the lavender in the crust until he said he liked it ahahah) a bit over the top LOL. We love Lemon "Things" so I'm going to give this Tart a Chance.

    Thank you for sharing the lovely story and the pie.

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  2. Lovely post. Lovely pie. I love all things 'lemon'..........so I will certainly giving this a try.
    Lemon and Lavender justs SOUNDS so pretty, doesn't it?

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  3. Wow, what a beautiful tart! I love lemon and lavender--hope to try this soon.

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  4. This looks and sounds amazing!! :) Husbands are so funny about their Mom's home cookin'. They love us though, in spite of our own cooking styles don't they?! Too funny! ~ Jamie

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  5. this sounds absolutely amazing. I so have to try this sometime since I've always wanted to bake something with lavender.

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  6. two of my FAVORITE things. Oh YUM!! thanks for sharing. gorgeous pics too.

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  7. Too beautiful to eat!! Oh well, dig in!!

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  8. Ooooo! Must try that! I love it :) Love the Anne month/months you're doing :).

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  9. Looks supurb, and can only imagine the tangy tingling of zesty 'tarty' lemon...lemons are in abundance at the moment,so ths 'tart' is in order...have a great day. x

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  10. This looks so delish! We just got a new lemon tree, and I think they would be a perfect fit for this recipe!!

    I would love it if you would link up at Watch Out, Martha!’s link up party: Martha Mondays (every Monday through Wednesday)! Hope to see you there!
    http://www.watchoutmartha.net/

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  11. Miriam, this is so beautiful. First of all - love the Anne of Green Gables quote - my all time favorite story! Second, I can completely understand - last night I fixed Julia Child's Coq Au Vin - my husband loved it - but he asked, 'where's the biscuit'? No matter what I cook, there must be biscuits! I can empathize too on the mother-in-law comment - she's a true Southern cook and there are a few things I just leave to her...potato salad for one.
    I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday - your post will be featured in tonight's post!
    Thank you,
    Kathy

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  12. Your pie looks picture perfect! I had to chuckle about your dumb things husbands say #21 :) Love your blog~ I'm book bound too! Visiting from OTMM, enjoy your week~

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