Lemon Curd, one of the basics.

As promised, I have a recipe for one of my personal favorites from one of my classes. I feel like this recipe makes about a quart. Which should be plenty for anything you are going to need it for. It made us about 24 little barquettes (boat shaped tartlettes). I would use lemon curd in place of pastry cream any day. But that is because if you know me, I am a citrus fanatic. I love anything lemon, lime, passionfruit, etc. Just not really orange. Not my favorite flavor. Anywho, this could be replaced with lime as well.

Have ready: an ice bath. A bowl of ice+water, with another bowl on top where you can pour in the curd!

10.5 oz Butter - cubed
9 oz Sugar
9 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Lemon Zest. more or less depending on how lemony you want it.
9 oz Egg Yolks. each egg yolk weighs approximately .5 oz, so you'll need a few eggs for this part. Save the egg whites for something else!

Boil half of the butter, half of the sugar, the lemon juice and zest.
In a seperate bowl (a little larger then necessary), blend together the yolks with the rest of the sugar. Make sure this is well blended with no lumps.
When the liquid comes to a boil, you are going to temper it into the yolks. This means, pour a little bit at a time (or if you're well balanced, pour a slow steady stream) while whisking extremely quickly until you've poured about 2/3s of the liquid into the yolks. Return everything to the pot, whisk over heat until a boil forms. You are looking for a thick consistency around the temperature 170F if you have a thermometer. Remove from heat, stir in the butter. Cool over an ice bath.

Lemon curd can be stored in the cooler for about 4-5 days, though is best the first and second day. My personal favorite way of using it is in these cute little lemon curd meringue barquettes (which will follow). Though it can be used in a large pie, in a fruit tart, napoleon, on a spoon...

This is the only, sad picture I have.
For Lemon Curd Meringue Tarts:
You will need your favorite short dough (I will post the simplest one soon). Line whatever size tart shell you are using with it. Generally, the rule for this is about an ounce per inch of tart shell. Pre-bake the tart at 325-350 until it is golden brown, on the top and bottom. It is very important that you prebake it all the way, because once you add the curd it will insulate the crust and stop the baking of it. To avoid bubbles, if possible use pie weights over the whole tart. If not possible, lightly poke the whole thing with a fork, but make sure to not go all the way through as then the lemon curd will soak through it.
Fill this with your lemon curd. Place back in the oven only for about 4-5 minutes until set.
For the topping, make a basic italian meringue. A basically ration is 1 part egg white (that you could have saved from separating eggs earlier!) to 2 parts sugar. Place the whites in a mixer bowl with the whisk attached. In a pot, add the sugar and enough water to look like wet sand. This is not a lot of water. Put the sugar on med-high heat and let it cook. If you have a thermometer, then when the sugar reaches 216, begin whisking the whites on high. If not, this should be very shortly after it begins to rapidly boil (the entire pot). When the sugar reaches 240 (about 5 minutes after it begins to boil), begin to slowly, consistently pour the sugar down the side of the bowl into the whisking whites. Once all the sugar has been added, whisk a little longer. Then top the curd with the shiny, sturdy meringue however you please! The sugar was hot enough to cook the whites to a safe temperature. You can torch the meringues, if available.