You know how grandmothers are supposed to be really good cooks, like it's some sort of law that pot roast should taste 'just like grandma used to make'? Well, one of my grandmothers is. But the other one certainly isn't. (Don't worry, she won't be offended by my insolence - she's the first to admit it.)
This shouldn't really come as a surprise given that Granny learned her way around a kitchen in England during the war - not the nation's finest culinary hour. My dad remembers one particularly delightful dish of stuffed cucumbers. Stuffed with what?
But while dinner at my grandparents' house was never the culinary highlight of the week when I was growing up, dessert was a whole 'nother story. We always, always had dessert. Usually it was ice cream or Jello (a treat we were never allowed at home), but if we were super lucky it was heavenly lemon meringue pie, made with Shirriff mix. Oh, how I loved that pie!
So when I stumbled upon Delia Smith's lemon meringue pie in a cookbook I had taken out of the library, it instantly reminded me of my Granny's. And I had the brazen thought... why don't I try making one? To you this probably sounds like everyday baking - to me it was a challenge to rival climbing Kilimanjaro. Blind. With one leg.
Why? I am hopeless with meringue. Remember the macaroons?
Once my pie had been baked and cooled for about two hours, Ed asked me, 'When are you going to finish your pie, hon?' Puzzled, I led him to it. 'But where's the meringue? I thought it was supposed to be tall and white.'
Two hours later, I gave our dinner guests a sneak peek at dessert. 'Lemon meringue pie,' I said. Rae peered down at the pie. 'Where's the meringue?'
Sigh. You see, I have a mortal fear of overwhipping egg whites, causing them to separate. As a result I underwhipped, whipping to 'soft peaks' rather than 'stiff peaks'. So when I spread the meringue onto the pie, one teensy little peak in the middle of the pie was all I could manage.
No matter. The proof is in the eating, right? And I can proudly say that four of us demolished the entire thing, save one small slice, deflated meringue and all.
Lemon Meringue Pie
Adapted from Delia's How to Cook, Book Three by Delia Smith
Pastry adapted from In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley
Pastry (for two pie shells, one for the pie and one to freeze):
9 oz / 260 g / 2 cups plain / all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 oz / 95 g / 1/2 cup lard or vegetable shortening, diced
2 1/2 oz / 70g / 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
1/4 cup ice water
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Filling:
grated zest and juice of 2 large or 3 small lemons
275 ml / 1 cup + 2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons cornflour / cornstarch
2 oz / 50 g / 1/4 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 oz / 40g / 3 tablespoons butter
Meringue:
3-4 large egg whites (depending on quantity of meringue desired)
6 oz / 175 g / 3/4 cup sugar
To make the pastry, all the ingredients should be very cold - refrigerate everything before assembling dough. To make the dough, sift flour and salt into a food processor or stand mixer. Add diced lard and butter and pulse (or mix with paddle attachment) until the largest lumps are the size of small peas. In a small bowl, stir together ice water and egg. Add half this mixture to the flour and pulse two or three times (or mix briefly). If the dough does not hold together when squished, add slightly more of the liquid. It should be moist and soft but not sticky or crumbly.
Do not overmix the dough or you'll end up with a tough crust. When it is the right consistency, form into two flat disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (preferably for two hours). You can freeze the second disk at this point, which can be thawed overnight in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 350F / 176C. When ready, roll out the dough to 1/2 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Line a 9inch / 25cm pie plate with it and prick the bottom all over with a fork. Line the pastry with a circle of foil or baking or parchment paper a bit larger than the bottom of the pie shell and fill the bottom with dried beans or pie weights (this prevents the shell from puffing up). Bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the edges start to get dry. Remove the liner and weights and bake for another 7-10 minutes, until the shell is completely dry, the edges are golden and the bottom is beginning to colour. Set on a rack to cool. Leave the oven on but turn down to 300F / 150C.
To make the filling, mix the sugar and cornflour and add enough of the water to form a smooth paste. Then pour the rest of the water along with the lemon juice and zest into a small pot and bring to the boil. Turn down to low heat and stir in the cornflour paste, mixing all the time until it's smooth. Simmer gently while stirring, about a minute, then remove from the heat and beat in the egg yolks and butter. Let cool slightly, then pour into the pie shell.
To make the meringue, in a large, grease-free bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Beat in the sugar gradually until it is all incorporated. With a palette knife, spoon the meringue on top of the pie, making sure to go to the very edge of the pie plate so the edges are completely sealed. Make a few decorative swirls and peaks with the knife.
Bake in the middle of the oven at 300F / 150C for 30-35 minutes. The meringue will be a pale golden colour and crisp on the outside, while still soft inside.
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