Many restaurants across the country feature lemon tart on their dessert menus these days. Few do it as well as Crescent Heights pastry chef Regan Briggs.
Open just a couple months, Crescent Heights, in downtown San Diego, is already making big waves with the imaginative, well-executed dishes of chef/owner David McIntyre; a simple, sophisticated décor; and the limited but lovely selection of desserts by Briggs.
This Lemon Ricotta Tart captures the very essence of a San Diego day -- bright, breezy, radiant. The richness of ricotta and eggs is well balanced by the acidic jolt of fresh lemons in both custard and curd. It’s the rare dessert that actually perks up the palate rather than KOing it.
Here’s Briggs’ recipe. If you’re short on time or energy, you can skip the compote. The beauty of this creation lies in the luminous filling.
Any by the way….if you choose to skip the baking experience altogether, and go to Crescent Heights to taste the Lemon Ricotta Tart instead, be sure to also try Chef McIntyre’s superlative Sauteed Diver Scallops, anointed with brown butter and set atop some of the most perfect renditions of risotto I’ve had in years; and his salad of Chino Farms beets and first-rate burrata cheese moistened with 25-year-old balsamic vinegar.
CRESCENT HEIGHTS LEMON RICOTTA TART
Yield – 1 8”-9” tart
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
SWEET DOUGH
5 oz butter, soft
2.5 oz sugar
1 egg, lightly whisked
7.5 oz pastry flour
FILLING
4 oz sugar
¼ oz all purpose flour
4 oz ricotta
½ each vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
¼ c. lemon juice
1 lemon zested
1.5 oz cream
CURD
4 oz lemon juice
3 oz sugar
2 eggs
1.5 egg yolks
3 oz butter, cut into cubes
COMPOTE
4 oz red wine
4oz port
1 oz sugar
8 oz huckleberries
FOR THE CRUST
- In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, mix butter & sugar together
- Alternately add your dry & wet ingredients starting with the flour
- Mix until the dough comes together & no streaks remain
- Wrap tightly in saran wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
- Roll chilled dough to ¼” thickness. Lay rolled dough on into 9” fluted tart shell. Press the dough firmly to the pan removing any air bubbles. Cut off any excess dough from edges.
- Poke holes using fork on bottom of shell. Bake for 5 min. turn shell for even baking and bake for another 5 min. Let cool.
FOR THE FILLING
- Using whisk attachment in a stand mixer, mix sugar, flour, ricotta & vanilla bean until combined.
- Continue by adding eggs & yolks. Scraping the bowl well after each edition.
- Add the lemon juice & lemon zest mix & scrape.
- Add the cream & mix on speed for 30 seconds
- Use immediately or store for 3 days
- Line a baking sheet w/ parchment paper & place prebaked (cooled) tart onto sheet.
- Pour filling 1/4” inch below top of shell.
- Bake for 10 min, turn the tart in the oven and continue to bake until set, approximately 8 to 10 minutes.
FOR THE CURD
- Over a double boiler on medium to low heat, whisk together lemon juice, sugar, eggs & yolks
- Continue whisking until the thin mixture becomes pudding like in texture (approximately 12 min.)
- Remove thickened curd from heat & place on heat safe surface. Gently whisk in butter
- Store in airtight container with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Chill for 1 hour before serving.
FOR THE COMPOTE
- In a sauté pan, combine port, red wine & sugar
- Over a med – high heat reduce the mixture to a quarter of its original volume
- Add in huckleberries & remove from heat. Stir the huckleberries just until combined. Cool the compote. Store until ready to plate. (***Note – if huckleberries aren’t available use a combination blueberries & raspberries)
ASSEMBLY
- Cut a slice of the lemon ricotta tart & place atop a spoonful of lemon curd. Drizzle some of the huckleberry compote onto the plate around the tart.
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