4. Lemon Meringue Pie

One of my all time favorites: a nice bit of pastry filled with tart lemon custard and topped with a cloud of meringue gets me every time!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Makes one 20cm pie

For Pastry:

175g plain flour

125g chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1.5 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

60g water

For Lemon Custard:

4 Lemons, juiced (zest of 1)

250g water

100g caster sugar

40g cornflour

4 egg yolks

50g unsalted butter

For Meringue:

4 egg whites

225g icing sugar

pinch of salt

Start by making the pastry. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Rub in your chilled butter until it resembles coarse bread crumbs (don't worry if there are any larger pieces, they will help to make the pastry flaky once rolled). Add in your water a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together and there are no more dry bits. Wrap in cling film and chill for an hour.

Roll the dough out to 2mm in thickness. Line your pie tart, trim away any excess pastry and crimp to your liking. Prick the base with a fork and chill for a further 30 minutes or until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Line your prepared pastry with a bit of parchment paper and fill with baking beans, rice, dried beans, what have you (this is to ensure the pastry doesn't puff up too much during the baking process). Bake for 15 minutes, remove beans and parchment paper and continue baking for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown and nearly cooked. This process is called baking blind. It's important that your pastry case be almost fully cooked to avoid a soggy crust.

While the pastry is cooking, prepare your lemon filling. In a medium sized bowl, mix together your egg yolks, sugar and cornflour to form a paste. Bring water to a boil with the zest of 1 lemon. Strain the mixture into your lemon juice to remove the zest, then slowly add to the eggy paste, whisking constantly to avoid any lumps. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and continue whisking over a medium-low heat for 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Remove from heat, whisk in your butter, line with a bit of parchment or film (to prevent the custard from forming a skin) and set aside until ready to assemble.

For the meringue, prepare a bain marie by filling a medium saucepan with 3-4 cm of water and bring to a low simmer. Whisk egg whites in a heat proof bowl (which is slightly larger that the width of your saucepan) with a pinch of salt until they start to hold peaks. Place over your bain marie, add your sugar and continue whisking until the mixture has thickened and is glossy, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk until cool. This type of meringue is called meringue cuite or swiss meringue because it is cooked over hot water to stabilise the meringue and prevent it from shrinking in the oven when baked.

Lower your oven temperature to 120ºC. Assemble pie by pouring your lemon filling into your pastry case. Add your meringue over top, starting with the sides of your pie so it doesn't sink into the filling. Bake for 1 hr. Allow the pie to cool before slicing into it (if you can help yourself from picking at it... YUM).