The first time I made this recipe, I was like "Why did Jacques Génin (a french renowned Pastry Chef) use basil on a lemon pie? This is craycray :D", I was really sceptic about this one... But just try it, and you'll know why 😉 I won't ruin it for you. But seriously try it !
Made with the Cook Expert from Magimix.
RICH SHORTCRUST PASTRY
175g cold butter (do not use butter at room temperature)
125g icing sugar
30g ground almonds
1 egg
1g vanilla caviar (or 1/2 vanilla pod)
310 g flour T45
1 pinch of salt
Put all the ingredients into the Cook Expert stainless steel bowl
Run DOUGH/CAKE
If you mix more than this automatic program, the butter will melt... So don't !
Roll out beetween two greaseproof papers
Refrigerate it at least 2 hours
Preheat your oven at 170°C
Line the pastry into a stainless steel square tart ring (20x20 cm)
Poke the pastry with a fork in the bottom in order to keep it from bubbling up
Bake blind for 20 min at 170°C
Cool on a wire rack
Let cool completely
LEMON & BASIL CURD
Lemon Zest
3 eggs
180 g lime juice
170 g sugar
200 g unsalted butter
20 g basil leaf
1 gelatin sheet
Soak the gelatin sheet in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes
Place the lemon zest, the eggs, the lime juice, the sugar and the basil leafs in the Cook Expert stainless steel bowl
Launch EXPERT / 3 min / SPEED 3 / 95°
Remove the basil leafs (if necessary, strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl to remove the basil leafs)
Place everything back in the Cook Expert stainless steel bowl
Launch EXPERT / 8 min / SPEED 3 / 95°
Open the lid and wait for the curd to cool (45/50°C)
Add the butter cut into dice
Launch EXPERT / 4 min / SPEED 3 / 40°
Lift the gelatin sheet from the cold water and wring gently to remove excess water
Add the gelatin sheet into the curd
Launch EXPERT / 1 min / SPEED 3 / 0°
Finally, launch EXPERT / 20 sec / SPEED 18 / 0°
Transfer the lemon & basil curd to a pastry bag fitted with a 14 mm round tip
Refrigerate at least 2 hours
Pipe the lemon & basil curd into small domes on the rich shortcrust pastry
Zest a lemon on the top of the lemon & basil pie
