Aye, aye, lemon meringue pie

I had lemons, i had eggs and i thought, Mel, it's about time you tried making a lemon meringue pie. Never made one before, ate plenty and have fond memories of sitting in tacky new jersey diners watching them in the rotating cake display case. I don't know, until now lemon meringue pies have been something that somebody else makes. I just never thought to do it myself.

This particular pie was meant to make 8 individual pielets, but i don't yet have a set of individual tart tins (see i don't really have EVERYTHING in the kitchen yet). Instead i made one big pie, and well, being the piggies we are, kels and i finished this off in 2 days -- that's 2 portions x 2 days. Yup, that good.

This recipe is courtesy of one of last year's issues of
Olive Magazine.

Lemon meringue pie

For the pastry:
125g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
75g unsalted butter,diced and chilled
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 egg yolk

For the lemon curd:
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
75g unsalted butter, diced
100g caster sugar
2 unwaxed lemons, zested and juiced

For the meringue:
2 egg whites
50g caster sugar

1. To make the pastry, put the flour, butter, icing sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor and pulse until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Whisk the egg yolk and 2 tsp cold water, add to the pastry mix and pulse until it comes together. Tip onto a lightly floured work surface, lightly knead then wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.


2. Dust the work surface with fiour and roll out each piece to thickness of a £1 coin. Carefully press the pastry into a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin and prick the base with a fork. Chill for 5 minutes.


3. Heat the oven to 180C/160C/gas mark 4. Line the pastry case with a square of foil and baking beans or rice. Cook for 20 minutes or until golden.


4. To make the lemon curd, beat the eggs and egg yolk together in a heatproof bowl. Add the butter, caster sugar and lemon juice. Put the bowl over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir until the mixture reaches the consistency of very thick custard. Take off the heat, strain into a clean bowl and add the lemon zest. Cover the surface of the lemon curd with clingfilm then cool. Fill each pastry case with lemon curd and chill for 20 minutes.


5. Turn up the oven to 230C/fan 210C/gas mark 8. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Gradually add the caster sugar, beating, until the meringue is stiff and glossy. Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe a generous swirl of meringue over the lemon curd (or just spoon it on top). Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the meringue is tinged golden brown at the edges. Cool before serving.