i was at the bookstore the other day and came across this book called the cook's book by jill norman. its almost encyclopedia-ish and is very informative. the book covers a wide range of topics on cooking, from step by step instructions on making various sauces to deboning a chicken to making roast lamb and gutting fish. its an amazing book, plus each chapter is written by different chefs, all famous! there's ferran adria on foams & sauces, charlie trotter on meat, rick bayless on mexican cooking, ken hom on chinese, dan lepard on bread etc. i couldn't decide if i should buy the book since i don't do much cooking, but when i came across the chapter on desserts written by pierre hermé, i was sold! the desserts are mostly rustic and is nothing like his ph10, but this lemon tart caught my eye and i especially love the decor so i just had to try it out. plus when was the last time i made a tart? it was eons ago.


and this is just amazing. i know some people are not fond of lemon curd/lemon tart and some even need to use a meringue topping to balance the tartness. but really, after today, i think a meringue topping is just so redundant and unnecessary. having made so many lemon curds now, this is my utmost favorite coz its really smooth, creamy and doesn't make your mouth pucker. i think its creamy coz it uses so much butter so its definitely not friendly to the waistline. the candied lemon peel and lemon gelee really complemented the tart and gave it a new dimension.

both the candied lemon peel and gelee were not included in the recipe even though on picture it was decorated like that, so for the peel i used this recipe from his chocolate desserts book which i posted before. for the gelee i made it using bottled lemonade. the guideline (my preference, at least) is to use 2g/1 sheet gelatin to every 100ml of lemonade. you could make your lemonade then add gelatin to it or just use a readymade variety. i used florida's natural lemonade. of course, you could skip the peel and gelee altogether though i think its nice to have them.



recipe source : pierre hermé for the cook's book by jill norman

*recipe removed due to copyright restrictions.