Lime Tartlets/Tartelettes au Citron Vert

Lime Tartlets

I am, like everybody else, on Facebook. Only thing is that unlike everybody else, I do not really know how to use it. So I'm just there without really doing anything.

Then I suddenly remember that if everybody else is on Facebook, maybe I could find some of my long-lost friends from my long-lost youth! Of course I didn't do it right at 1st, spending hours looking through alumni lists and all when just by typing the person's name we would be able to know if he or she's on Facebook or not. I did say that I'm no good at this. And I try to avoid going there if I can.

The important thing is that I actually found a few Secondary School and Junior College mates on the site and most importantly - Roy, my best male friend from JC with whom I've stupidly lost contact more than 6 years ago...

With age, I think alot about the kids I grew up with and never saw again. I wonder about where they are now, what they have done, what they are doing now. Sometimes I would even stay awake at night thinking about them. Needless to say, sometimes they would also invade my dreams.

To take my mind off some of these thoughts (I mean, what can you do about this?), I decided to do another spot of simple baking. East Meets West Kitchen has a recent posting on Key Lime Pie and anything that has lime in it attracts me. It's a simple recipe only that I did individual portions (and using ready-made sweetcrust pastry) and used fresh limes as I couldn't find bottled lime juice.

Limes from Brazil

I do not know if the limes I used were Key limes (also known as Mexican limes but they actually originated from S.E Asia!) but they were all I could find here and they came from Brazil.

Normally, a Lime Pie doesn't turn out green due to the high egg yolk content, so don't worry of it is actually yellow in colour. And why do we use condensed milk in this recipe? Because back in Key (Florida) when they started making this pie, they didn't have Tetra Pak or refrigeration to help keep their milk fresh so they usually have it canned. Simple as that.


Tartelette au Citron Vert :

Sweetcrust pastry

4 Limes (for juice and the zest from 1 of them)

3 Egg Yolks

1 can sweetened Condensed milk

Whipped Cream or Egg Whites

Beat yolks and condensed milk and mix in the lime juice and zest. Pour into individual pie crusts and bake in preheated oven (180ºC) for 15-20 minutes. Let them cool.

You can serve it with some whipped cream (in which case whip the cream with some of the lime zests) or with a meringue topping. For the latter, it's a good way not to waste the leftover egg whites. Beat it till it turns light and fluffy, add in sugar and continue whipping, then using a pastry piper pipe the mixture onto the cooled baked tartlets and grill them in the oven till it turns golden.

I had an even easier no-waste solution, I served the tartlets with whipped cream and just fried the egg whites and ate it with a bit of pepper and dark soy sauce.