Pan-Baked Lemon-Almond Tart

I love Mark Bittman's column, The Minimalist, in the New York Times - it's all about simple recipes for delicious dishes. This caught my eye - a flourless lemon-almond tart that is done in under 20 minutes. I reduced the sugar a tiny bit and it was lovely - it had a really fresh lemony tang and an amazingly creamy texture. The recipe says it serves four - those are very generous portion sizes, but it is yummy, so plan accordingly.

Pan-Baked Lemon-Almond Tart

4 eggs
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup sliced almonds, more for garnish
1 lemon, zest and juice
2 tablespoons butter
Powdered sugar, for garnish.

1. Heat oven to 400F/200C degrees. In a bowl, combine eggs, sugar, salt, ground almonds, cream, sliced almonds, lemon zest and juice.

2. Melt butter in an 8-inch ovenproof skillet over low heat; when foam has subsided, add almond mixture to pan, tilting pan to distribute batter evenly. Continue to cook tart on stovetop until edges just begin to set, then put pan in oven and finish cooking, about 15 minutes more.

3. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and sliced almonds. Serve.

Yield: 4 servings.