Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie is perhaps my favourite pie. I love anything lemony, and the combination of tangy lemon curd and fluffy, sweet meringue is pairing I can never resist. I developed this recipe from one of my lemon curd recipes, because I like my lemon base to be bursting with lemon flavour, and most of the lemon pie filling recipes I have tried don't give me that. However, my lemon curd recipe has amazing flavour, so this is essentially that recipe, just tweaked a bit to result in a lemon curd that keeps its form when you cut the tart.


Recipe for one Pie:

Crust:

Buy 1lb of Tenderflake lard, and make recipe as on Box.

If not available, use a normal butter recipe for pie dough or pate brisee.

- Line a large pie plate with the crust, poke it all over with a fork, and bake in the oven for 10-20 minutes, or until just browning. When ready, leave it to cool off a bit at room temperature.

Lemon Curd Filling:

¾ C. Fresh lemon juice (from appx. 6 lemons)

Grated zest (peel) of 2 lemons (this is what makes it so lemony.)

2 eggs

7 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue topping)

3/4C. sugar

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup cornstarch dissolved in the lemon juice

- In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together until combined. Add the lemon juice and zest and whisk until just combined.

- Set the bowl over a pan of boiling water but don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened to a pudding-like consistency, about 6 min (might be more).

- Remove the bowl from the pan and whisk in the butter gradually, one cube at a time, until emulsified. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl to remove lemon zest chunks (don’t skip this!) Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside at room temperature while you make the meringue.

- ** You might want to add some flour and/or cornstarch to make the curd less gushy.

Meringue Topping:

7 egg whites

1 ¾ c sugar

½ tsp cream of tartar

- Put the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk on medium speed until foamy and starting to expand. Add cream of tartar and continue whisking on Med speed. Gradually add sugar, beating between each addition, until stiff, glossy peaks form. You may have to continue beating for a while after all the sugar is added. 

 ** you could just use 4 egg whites, 1 cup sugar and ¼ tsp cream of tartar, if you want a normal amount of meringue on your pie. (The above recipe made 2 pies worth of meringue for me). 

Assembly:

Put the warm lemon curd into the crust of the pie, and top with Meringue. Put into a preheated oven on Broil (keep the oven door open), and watch very carefully - it might only take about 5 min for the meringue to brown - and when it gets just a little brown, take it out immediately.