Since our little baby college years, Ben, my now-husband and perennial life of the party, has requested a lemon tart as his annual birthday treat. The creation I develop each March has evolved greatly over the years, but this one is perhaps the product that best straddles the line between what he sees as tradition and I view as an opportunity to riff. It retains the tart, citrus-y flavor profile he loves so much, and still gives me just enough room to party plan on my own terms, kiwi confetti and all. In fact, it’s good enough to make him overlook the year the lemon tart resembled and tasted suspiciously like a batch of cinnamon rolls.
1 fully baked Basic Tart Pastry Shell
LEMON BASIL CURD
1 cup (198 grams) granulated sugar
½ cup (1 ounce/28 grams) fresh basil leaves
Zest of 2 lemons
1 cup (237 milliliters) fresh lemon juice, from about 8 lemons
4 large eggs plus 4 egg yolks
½ teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine the sugar, basil, and lemon zest in a food processor and blitz until the basil leaves have been completely incorporated into the sugar. Consider slathering yourself in this fragrant green sugar, but resist the urge and forge on.
3. Pour the sugar into a 2-quart saucepan. Add the lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks, and salt and whisk to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until the mixture is warmed through. Add the butter gradually and stir until all the cubes have melted. Continue cooking until the mixture is thick enough to coat a spatula, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping the corners of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and strain the curd through a fine-mesh sieve.
4. Keep the baked tart shell in the tart pan and place it on a baking sheet. Pour the curd into the tart shell and smooth the surface.
5. Bake the tart for 5 to 10 minutes, just to set the filling. The edges should be solid while the center retains the slightest of jiggles.
6. Cool completely before decorating.
KIWI CONFETTI DESIGN PROCESS
2 firm-ripe green kiwis
Chef’s knife
1. Peel the kiwis and cut them crosswise into ¼-inch slices. Cut the slices in half and cut each half into quarters or sixths.
2. Remove the tart from the pan and place it carefully on a plate.
3. Scoop all the kiwi triangles with both hands, shout “let’s tarty!” and toss them up in the air to confetti over the tart. Admire where the kiwis land and the design that has resulted from the enthusiastic festivities. Kidding. Kind of. This is the simplest design in the book. Have a blast with it and take any approach you want—be it free-form improvisation or controlled mayhem! Arrange the kiwis in a scatter, rotating triangles every which way and sprinkling them randomly throughout the tart surface. Thrillingly, the cleanup on this party is a cinch. The only vacuum you’ll need is your mouth.
4. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Then tarty hearty! This tart is best consumed within 2 days.
SUGGESTED SUBSTITUTIONS
Crust alternative: Matcha Green Tea Tart Pastry Shell
Topping alternatives: Strawberry, dragon fruit, peach, plum