Lemon Cheese Cake

This is a lemon curd baked in a pastry shell, and the whole thing hinges on how you treat the eggs. The original gives no temperature and no timing for the oven, so both need supplying.

• Weights in cups1 pound sugar is about 2 to 2 1/4 cups; 1/2 pound butter is 2 sticks. Six eggs plus that much butter and sugar makes roughly 4 cups of curd, enough to fill a 9-inch shell generously with some left over.
• The juice of 6 lemonsExpect 3/4 to 1 cup of juice, depending on the fruit. Taste the mixture before it sets and hold back a little juice if it is aggressive.
• "Until like honey"This is the hinge. The curd is done when it coats the spoon and leaves a clear track when you draw a finger through it, around 170-175F. Water in the lower pan should stay at a bare simmer, never a rolling boil, or the eggs will scramble in threads.
• Strain and coolPass the finished curd through a sieve to catch any set egg and the zest, then cool it fully. Filling a shell with warm curd will soften the pastry before it ever reaches the oven.
• Blind-bake the shellThe filling is already cooked, so the crust must be too. Bake it lined and weighted at 400F for about 15 minutes, then uncovered until dry and pale gold.
• The final bakeThe original gives no oven temperature; 350F for 20 to 25 minutes is a reasonable assumption -- only long enough to set the surface and colour the decorative pastry pieces. Longer and the curd cracks and weeps.
• Grated rindTake the yellow zest only and grate it fine. A fine rasp gives more perfume with no bitterness.
• YieldOne 9-inch tart, eight small slices. It cuts cleanest chilled, and keeps three days covered in the refrigerator.