Torta della nonna with custard and pine nuts

Wash and dry the lemons. Finely grate the zest of 1 lemon. Rub 450 g flour and 200 g cold diced butter into crumbs. Add 160 g sugar, 2 eggs and the grated zest. Bring together without prolonged kneading. Flatten, cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Peel broad strips from the remaining lemon without the white pith. Heat them in the milk until just simmering. Separate 1 egg and put its yolk in a bowl with the remaining 3 eggs and 225 g sugar. Whisk, then mix in 30 g flour and the sifted cornflour. Remove the lemon strips from the milk. Gradually whisk the hot milk into the eggs. Return to the pan and stir over low heat for about 15 minutes until thick. Spread in a dish, cover the surface and cool completely for about 45 minutes.

Heat a conventional oven to 160 °C. Grease and flour a 26 cm tin with the reserved 10 g butter and 10 g flour. Roll the pastry 3 mm thick between sheets of baking paper. Line the tin, keeping enough pastry for the lid. Prick the base, fill with cold custard and cover with the remaining pastry. Seal the edges, prick the top and scatter over the pine nuts.

Bake on a low shelf for 50 minutes. Move the tin to the middle shelf, raise the heat to 180 °C and bake for another 10 minutes. Cover loosely with foil if the top browns too much. Cool completely for about 3 hours before removing from the tin and dusting with icing sugar.