Recipe: Bergamot Tart with meringue: LA CUCINA di TERRESA

The wonderful Bergamot Orange, which looks like a small lemon, appears in French marketplaces in the depth of winter. Less sour than a lemon, yet more bitter than a grapefruit, its aromatic scent is best known in Earl Grey tea. But it can also be used to make delicious lemon tart, with a nice meringue on top. Tangy and refreshingly fragrant, it’s a dessert that’s hard to resist. Give it a try! Ingredients Pie dough: 2 cups Unbleached white flour 7 Tbsp Sweet butter at room temperature 1/3 tsp Unrefined sea salt 2-4 Tbsp water Filling: 7 Bergamot Oranges (zest and juice–about 1 1/4 cups juice) 3 Eggs 5 1/2 Tbsp Melted butter 1/2 cup Unrefined cane sugar Meringue: 4 egg whites (placed at room temperature for 30 minutes) 1/2 cup very fine unrefined cane sugar (grind regular cane sugar in a coffee grinder) Directions For the dough: Sift flour with salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the room-temperature butter cut into small pieces. Use your hands to rub the flour and butter together until the mixture turns crumbly. Add water and stir lightly with a fork to mix until it begins to hold together (add more water if needed). Gather dough into a ball, wrap in waxed paper or plastic food wrap and set aside in a cool place for 1-2 hours. For the filling: While the dough is resting, mix together eggs and sugar until slightly creamy Add melted butter, mix again Add juice and zest, and mix until blended. Set aside. The tart: Preheat oven to 425˚ F. After the dough has rested, on a lightly-floured surface, gently knead the dough with the heel of your hand. Shape it again into a ball, flatten and roll out into a circle. Place it in a 10-inch pie plate, cut off excess and crimp the edges. Bake blind in the preheated oven until the crust just begins to brown and has become slightly crisp. Remove from oven and pour in filling. Return to the oven and cook for 20 minutes at 425˚ F. Meringue: While the tart is baking make the meringue. Make sure the bowl and beaters are very clean and free of any grease. Beat the egg whites at medium speed until they form soft peaks. At high speed, slowly add the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon, whipping constantly until the egg whites form stiff peaks. Set aside. After the tart crust and filling have baked for 20 minutes, remove the tart from the oven spread the meringue over the top, making sure to seal the edges. Return the meringue-topped tart to the 425˚ F oven and cook an additional 10 minutes Let cool before serving. To Serve Serves 6-8 people Pair your Bergamot Tart with a late-harvest California white dessert wine, perhaps a Moscato, or a tasty Beaume de Venise from the southern half of the Rhône Valley.   Theresa Murphy is La Cucina di Terresa. An American, she moved from the San Francisco Bay area to Paris in 1996. She shares her love of all things Italian through cooking classes, wine tasting, tours, and vegetarian catering. Click on her name to read more about her life and the many recipes she’s written for BonjourParis.   Subscribe for FREE weekly newsletters. BonjourParis has been a leading France travel and French lifestyle site since 1995.     Readers’ Favorites: Top 100 Books, imports & more at our Amazon store We update our daily selections, including the newest available with an Amazon.com pre-release discount of 30% or more. Find them by starting here at the back of the Travel section, then work backwards page by page in sections that interest you. Current favorites, including bestselling Roger&Gallet unisex fragrance Extra Vieielle Jean-Marie Farina….please click on an image for details.               Click on this banner to link to Amazon.com & your purchases support our site….merci! <br>