Lemon-Olive Oil Tart
Olive oil in the crust and the filling — no butter anywhere on the run card. ATK's pitch is that ditching butter makes the crust dead simple (no rolling, no chilling, just crumble and press) and lets the lemon's acidity actually do some work instead of hiding behind dairy fat. That's a bold claim for a dessert. Today we find out if it holds up under firehouse conditions or if it's just test-kitchen theory.
Recipe by Andrea Geary, America's Test Kitchen / Cook's Illustrated Lemon–Olive Oil Tart
Fuel
Crust
1½ cups (7½ oz) all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons (2¼ oz) sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil. I agree with ATK: use the highest grade EVOO you have; don’t skimp.
2 tablespoons water
Filling
1 cup (7 oz) sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon table salt
3 large eggs plus 3 large yolks
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest plus ½ cup juice (3 lemons)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil. See note above about the EVOO.
Tools
9-inch tart pan, removable bottom
Rimmed baking sheet
Medium saucepan (nonreactive)
Fine-mesh strainer (nonreactive)
Whisk (nonreactive)
Instant-read thermometer, used my Thermopen
Tactics
Rack in the middle, oven to 350. Sift, then whisk flour, sugar, and salt together. Add the oil and water and stir until it comes together into a dough — no kneading, no chilling, no drama.
Crumble three-quarters of the dough into the tart pan and press it flat across the bottom. Crumble the rest around the edges and work it up the fluted sides. Even it out with your thumbs or the bottom of a flat measuring cup (I used the ½ measuring cup).
Pan goes on a rimmed baking sheet, into the oven, 30–35 minutes, rotating halfway, until the crust is deep golden and firm to the touch.
About 5 minutes before the crust comes out: whisk sugar, flour, and salt in a saucepan. Whisk in the eggs and yolks until smooth. Whisk in the zest and juice.
Cook over medium-low, whisking constantly and scraping the corners, until it thickens slightly and hits 160°F — 5 to 8 minutes. Keep whisking and don't walk away from this one.
Off heat, whisk in the oil until it's fully incorporated. I would recommend straining through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl to catch any curdled bits, then pour the curd straight into the warm shell. However, I left the zest in; see the after-the-fire critiques for more.
Back in the oven for 8–12 minutes, until the filling is set but still gives a slight jiggle when you shake the pan. This one took 8 for me, so check soon and often.
Cool completely on a rack — minimum 2 hours, no shortcuts. Pull the outer ring, slide a thin spatula under the tart, and transfer to a serving platter. Wipe the knife between cuts.
MODIFICATIONS: Except increasing the salt slightly and keeping the zest, none. Ran it as written, ingredient for ingredient, step for step.
AFTER-THE-FIRE CRITIQUES
This one packs serious ROI for the time and ingredients required — mostly pantry items, sans the lemons. You'll be done before you know it, and the payoff makes it look like you worked a lot harder than you did.
One note from years on this: the recipe has you straining the zest out, but leaving it in gives citrus-based curds a whole other level of zing, so I rarely remove it. But — and it's a big one — that means staying vigilant with your whisking. Treat it like a delicate French-style omelette: consistent motion, pan on and off the heat as needed, until you hit target temp. Get lazy here, and you're risking the dreaded curdling.
Indulge.