Lemon meringue pie

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Lemon Meringue pie

This is one of my mum's recipes I converted for a more interesting taste. If you make without the sugar in the curd, it really needs the sweet case. What you end up with is a sweet case and meringue sandwiching the sharp lemon.

This was a set of evolutions: I started putting less and less sugar in the meringue and the curd until the texture was light and fluffy but the lemon had some bite. Not for the faint hearted but once tried, other pies seem tame.

Recently, I updated this to make use of a microwave to make the curd. Great results, feels a little quicker, and everything then goes in the dishwasher!

Pastry Ingredients

4oz. shortcrust pastry (or pre-bought sweet pastry case)

• 4 oz plain flour.
• 2 oz butter.
• 1 egg yolk (from the eggs used for the meringue).
• ¾oz icing sugar.
• 15ml cold water.

Directions

1. Mix between speed 1 and 2 in food processor until a ball forms.
2. Cool for 20 mins before rolling out (could be done the night before).
3. Roll out the pastry and line a 7" flan case or deep pie plate.
4. Trim the edges and bake towards the top of a hot oven (220°C, 200°C (fan)) for 15 minutes.

Lemon curd

• 4oz. sugar (optional).
• 45ml corn flour.
• 5 fl.oz. water.
• 2 eggs yolks.
• Juice and rind of 3 lemons.

Directions

While the pastry is baking...

On the hob

1. Mix the corn flour with the water in a saucepan.
2. Add the lemon juice and rind and bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the mixture thickens.
3. Then add the 4oz sugar if desired - or swap for an extra spoon of corn flour for weight.

In the microwave

1. Mix the corn flour with the water in a large microwavable bowl with a lid, preferably glass.
2. Add the lemon juice and rind, add lid to bowl.
3. Heat for 1 minute at 1000W, remove from microwave and stir until smooth, recover.
4. Heat for 40 seconds at 1000W, remove from microwave and stir, recover.
5. Heat for 40 seconds at 1000W, remove from microwave and stir until smooth.

If it is not "boiling" at the end of this final session, recover and do for 20 second bursts until boiling.

If you used your combination microwave to par-bake the pie, do not use a plastic or silicone lid to make the curd. Glass is your friend.

At the end of either way...

1. Then add the 4oz sugar if desired - or swap for an extra 15ml of corn flour for weight and consistency. It can be very runny otherwise.
2. Remove from the heat, cool slightly and add the egg yolks.
3. Spoon into pastry case.

Meringue

• 2½oz caster sugar.
• 2 egg whites, from the separated eggs used in the curd.

Directions

1. Having separated the eggs into a litre pyrex measuring jug, whisk the egg whites stiffly using a hand blender whisk, whisk in half the caster sugar and once incorporated, whisk in the rest.
2. Add to flan and curd as the top layer.
3. Now bake: pile the meringue on top of the lemon and bake in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes at (350°F, 180°C (fan), gas mark 4) or until the meringue is crisp and lightly browned.

Decorate before serving, if desired.

If the curd is made without the caster sugar, the whole pie is circa 200g carbohydrate. A standard pie is about 500g carbohydrate. But this one has all the taste: in fact, it can seem much more lemony.

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