The Italian topchef Massimo Bottura was about to come to The Netherlands to do a presentation at a food festival, as well as an interview with us. Unfortunately because of the earthquakes in Italy around that time he could not make it. But he was kind enough to send us this beautiful recipe for a slightly different lemon tart!

Massimo: “This playful dessert was inspired by my early days in the kitchen. I was totally obsessed with food as a child but very impatient as a young chef. I wanted to be able to create perfection from day one. When my mother was teaching me her technique for Emilian crostata crust, I was not giving her the attention I should have. The first couple of batches turned out crumbly or too hard. Every time I was dissatisfied I would throw the pie on the table and blame her:

“This is not the right recipe!!!!” After many broken pies, I learned how to kneed the dough properly. I never broke another pie until last year when one literally fell on the floor. Only then did I think about how important those first pie lessons were to me and appreciate how very patient my mother was with me. This dessert, by the way, is now my mother’s absolute favourite!

This dessert pokes fun at our daily strive for perfection and pristine beauty. I love the dynamics of a lemon tart but hate all the fuss- cream decorations and stubborn crusts. To get around all that nonsense, we purposefully crushed our tart. Of course, it isn’t just a one liner but full of flavoured experience from the most fragile crust to the peaks of tart, sour, sweet, cured and candied lemon on the plate.”

Do you want to make this beautiful tart? Download the recipe here.