And now for something completely different...

Round about now, you just get a bit bored with all the trad festive fare and in need of something rather fresher tasting... try this delicious lemon tart - rich and luxurious but tart and refreshing as well. Just the thing for a jaded post christmas  palette

 For the crust

This is a very good use for my luxury almond pastry if you used it for mince pies and have some leftover or you can use a pack of ready rolled shortcrust from the supermarket if you're feeling too cooked-out from Christmas to be bothered.

Roll out and line an 8" deep metal flan tin. Because the filling for this tart is delicate and only lightly cooked, you really need to bake the pastry blind, which is not something I normally do, as it's a fiddle faddle, but in this case it's worth the extra effort. Just line the tin with pastry as normal, cover with a sheet of greaseproof paper and weigh it down with dried peas or beans, and bake for about 20 minutes, until firm but not browned. Remove beans and paper and allow to cool.

For the filling you will need

4 lemons, grated zest and juice

4 eggs

8oz 200gr caster sugar

 half pint/300g pot of double cream

Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy, add the lemon zest and juice, and the double cream.  Pour into the flan case and bake for 40 mins in a slow oven, the bottom oven of the Aga or gas 3 until set but not coloured. Cool in the tin and chill in the fridge before serving.