Lemon Meringue Pie

Dr Doolittle has been ‘collecting’ lemons! There must be over a dozen sitting in the fruit bowl this morning, he says he’s going to be preserving them…. I was very tempted to remake the recipe I’m sharing with you today, just to take some more photographs- but I thought better of it!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and although I’m not American, I love the idea of giving thanks. I also love the idea of a gathering of people celebrating life with food. I must admit when I think of American desserts, I think of pies; pumpkin pie, apple pie, mississippi mud pie and the one I’m bring to Fiesta Friday, lemon meringue pie.

The base of the pie is ‘pate sucree’, a sweet pastry.

Ingredients:
110g plain flour
Pinch of salt
55g softened unsalted butter, diced
2 egg yolks
55g caster sugar
1 drop fesh vanilla

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Place the butter into the centre and work into the flour until it forms breadcrumbs and add in the sugar. Add the egg bit by bit and stir in the vanilla. Work the mixture until the pastry comes together. Pop the pastry into the fridge until ready to use.

Lemon Curd:
50g butter
110g caster sugar
100ml lemon juice and zest of 3 lemons
5 egg yolks

Meringue
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
225g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and lightly grease a 20cm flan tin.

Roll out the pate sucree and use to line the tin. Prick the base well with a fork, then cover with parchment paper and place baking beans on top. ‘Blind bake’ in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove paper and beans and pop back in for a further 5 minutes.

To make the curd, melt the butter in a heavy based pan on a low heat. Add in the lemon juice and zest and blend well. On a low heat, slowly add the eggs and sugar and stir until a custard is formed. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, this will thicken as it cools. Spoon into the flan case and spread out.

Beat the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl for a minute, then add the sugar and salt bit by bit. Place the meringue onto top of the pie and place in an oven at 160 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Next time, i’ll make sure that the meringue is whipped until it’d fluffier and that the top is slightly burnished…

Melissa xx

Tasty books #5 Apple pie

Just after we moved into The Glen House in the autumn of 2013, we realised that we had an abundance of apples, (you can read all about it in the original post here). Suffice to say, we still have apples in the freezer! Guess what’s coming next….

This apple recipe is brought to you from James Martin’s book ‘Great British Dinners’. It’s full of classic British dishes like Lancashire Hot Pot and Spotted Dick and Custard. It also has some ‘new’ British favourites such as Chicken Tikka Masala and Mousska. All the recipes are extremely easy to make and follow.

APPLE PIE
Ingredients:

700g cooking apples (I used Bramleys, as he suggested)
finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemons
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100 g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 lightly beaten egg
25 g butter
675 g ready-made shortcrust pastry
flour, for dusting (I used puff pastry AND YES it was shop bought…. If it’s good enough for James, then it’s good enough for me).

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.

Quarter, core and peel the apples, then slice them thickly into a bowl. Sprinkle with the lemon zest and juice. and the cinnamon. Stir in the sugar and mix well.

Brush the rim of a deep pie dish with beaten egg. Tip the apple mixture into the dish and dot with the butter.

Roll out pastry on a floured board and place on top of apple mixture, trimming about 1cm beyond the edge of the pie dish.

Cut three small holes in the top of the pastry to let out the steam.

Brush the pastry with egg wash, then dredge with caster sugar and then bake for 35-40 minutes until the fruit is tender and the top is golden brown. Serve with custard!

Melissa xx
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