Lemon pie

Crostata di limone
I love lemon pies so much that I would like to become self-sufficient with the fruit, but the three lemon trees planted in Puglian soil so far fail to deliver. Agrumi are finicky plants that need lots of love, water and fertilizer to grow.

This recipe requires only the most meagre lemon harvest to give the cream a touch of freshness, and still the result is magnificent.

Ingredients
For the pastry:
2½ dl all purpose flour
½ dl sugar
Seeds from ½ vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla sugar)
125 g butter

For the cream:
3 eggs
2 dl sugar
½ dl all purpose flour
1 big lemon (zest and juice)
½ dl icing sugar for dusting over the pie

Preparation
Scrape seeds off the vanilla pod and mix well with 1 tbsp of sugar.
Place vanilla sugar, sugar and flour in a large bowl.
Cut the butter into the sugar-flour until the mixture resembles small bread crumbs.
Mix quickly until the dough forms a ball. Add a little water if necessary.
Roll the dough out between two sheets of cling-film, and use it to line a well-greased pie dish.
Cover crust with baking paper and fill with dried beans to keep the pastry in shape.
Pre-bake at 190 C (375 F) for 15 minutes:
Meanwhile prepare the filling.
Mix egg and sugar with an electric mixer until foaming.
Add flour, grated lemon zest and about 1 dl of lemon juice and mix well.
Take the pie crust out of the oven. Remove baking paper and beans, and pour in lemon cream instead.
Bake for another 8-10 minutes. The cream should remain rather soft.
Leave the pie to cool and dust with icing sugar before serving.