Lemon Tart Parfait

I've given up on pie crust. I think even really good pie crust is only kind of good. To me, it's just not worth the calories. And, my pie crusts are terrible. I also don't quite get meringue. It's just not for me. I do like the lemon part of the pie however. My Aunt went to visit her cousin in California. She brought me back this lemon from her cousin's (or maybe her cousin's daughter's) tree. It's was huge. I thought it deserved a bit more reverence the just being squeezed into iced tea. So, I made half a recipe of lemon curd and made that into parfaits. I didn't strain out the zest, as called for in the recipe. It's still fine, but you might want to. People with texture issues will want it strained out. This recipe is adapted from "Cooks Illustrated The New Best Recipe". My sister gave it to me for my birthday. She refers to that cookbook as "the dictionary". It's 1,026 pages.

Lemon Tart Parfait

INGREDIENTS

7 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

1 C plus 2 T sugar

2/3 C lemon juice (from 4-5 lemons)

1/4 C lemon zest

pinch salt

4 T butter, cut into 4 pieces

3 T heavy cream

gram crackers

berries

In a medium non reactive bowl, whisk together the yolks and whole eggs until combined, about 5 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk until just combined, about 5 seconds. Add the lemon juice,zest and salt. Whisk until combined, about 5 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a nonreactive saucepan, and add the butter pieces, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (or a silicon spatula or a silicone whisk), until the curd thickens to a sauce like consistency and registers 170 degrees on an instant read thermometer, about 5 minutes. Immediately pour the curd through a fine-mesh stainless steel strainer (to remove the zest) set over a clean non reactive bowl. Stir in the heavy cream. Cool in the refrigerator. To serve: layer the lemon curd, berries, and gram cracker crumbles in a martini glass.