short, buttery pastry filled with a tart, lemony curd; all topped off with sweet, snowy, golden meringue... what more can you ask for in a humble sweet pie? i recently took this pie to a dinner party with some friends, and it was scoffed down enthusiastically by all. here are some pictures of a few stages of the making of this pie, along with the recipe.
my rested dough, about to be rolled
out and gracefully placed in the pie dish.
a beautiful pastry shell, just hanging out,
before being docked and popped in the oven.
gloriously golden pastry shell! ...yes,
i may have been a bit enthusiastic with my docking.
the maillard reaction on my meringue,
resting atop of the unctuous lemon curd.
a snowy heaven of fluffy meringue!
you will need:
- for the pastry
- 2 cups plain flour, sifted
- pinch of salt, sifted
- 1 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
- 185g butter, softened and diced
- approx 2 tbsp water
- for the curd
- 4 tbsp plain flour, sifted
- 4 tbsp cornflour, sifted
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 3/4 cup lemon juice (generally 3-4 lemons)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 90g butter
- 4 egg yolks
- for the meringue
- 4 egg whites
- 1 tbsp water
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 castor sugar
method:
1. add all dry ingredients into bowl or food processor, and rub in or pulse butter into the flour until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs, with no lumps of butter. add enough water to make a firm yet pliable dough. refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. roll out pastry on a floured surface to fit a 30cm pie dish, you may have some leftover, which yu can freeze and re-use. use rolling pin to lift pastry onto the pie dish and gently ease pastry into the edges of the dish. dock the base of the pastry and bake at 180*C for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. cool.
3. combine flours, sugar, lemon rind and juice and water in a saucepan and blend until smooth. stir constantly over a medium heat until the mixture thickens and boils. reduce the heat and stir for a further two minutes. remove from heat and stir in butter, until it is incorporated and then mix in the egg yolks. cool.
4. pour cooled lemon curd into pie shell, and jiggle it about to make it level. beat eggwhites, salt and water in a bowl with an electric mixer, on high until soft peaks form. gradually rain in sugar until it is all dissolved. spoon meringue on top of curd, spreading to the edges of the pastry and create wispy bits of meringue with a palate knife or spatula. bake at 180*C for 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned. cool and then serve.
enjoy.
- thefridgeraider
